Amplius (quod magis mirabile) stellae, ab astronomia singulis in banc
usque diem nehulosce appellatse, stellarum mirum in modum consitarum
greges sunt : ex quarum radiorum commiztione, dum unaquaque ob ex-
ilitatem, aeu maximam a nobis remotionem, oculorum aciem liigit, can.
dor ille consurgit, qui densior pars cceli, stellarum aut solis radios re-
torquere valens, bucusque creditus eat." — Opere di Galileo Galilei, Pa-
dova, 1744, tom. ii., p. 14, 15. " At first I had resolved to describe
the whole constellation of Orion ; but the multitude of the stars and the
want of leisure compelled me to postpone the undertaking till another
occasion. Since not only in the Milky Way may be observed that brill-
iancy aa of a whitish cloud, but several areoles of a similar color are
scattered through the firmament ; if you direct the glass to any one of
them, you will meet with a host of clustered stars. Moreover, the stars
(still stranger to say) which, by every astronomer, are to this day call-
ed nebulous, are clusters of stars lying close together in a wonderful
manner, from the combination of whose rays (while they can not be
separately distinguished by the eye on account of their minuteness, or
their very great distance from us) arises that whiteness, which, from its
capacity oi reflecting the rays oi^the stars or of the sun, has been hith-
erto supposed to belong to a denser part of the atmosphere." — Side-
reus Nuntius, p. 13, 15 (Nos. 19-21), and 35 (No. 56).
