...heavens whose mutual distance shall be equal to that of any other two given stars. To this it is replied, that, when we take all the stars collectively, there...distance which may be assumed as the general one; and an argument founded on such a supposition will have in its favour the greatest probability of not...

...heavens whose mutual distance shall be equal to that of any other two given stars : lint ¡t bhmild be considered, that when we take all the stars collectively,...mean distance which may be assumed as the general one ; and nn argument founded on such a supposition will have in its favour the greatest pro- as bability...

...inaccurate, as most probably no such arrangement exists in reality ; but taking all the stars as a whole, " there will be a mean distance which may be assumed as the general one." No unusual collections or clusters of stars were included in the " gages," and he found that the difference...

...approximation only. In his paper of 1785 he admitted that "in all probability there may not be t\vo or three of them in the heavens, whose mutual distance...of our galactic system into many small independent nebuke. From this it was but a step to his recognition in 1802 of the fact that " this immense starry...

...fully clear to Herschel that the distribution of the stars in space was not uniform, but he remarks that "when we take all the stars collectively there will be a mean distance which may be assumed as a general one." He also suggests that "we perhaps might recollect that a greater condensation towards...