to Herschel's sagacity
and accuracy of observation, cannot be over-estimated; what was
previously conjecture and surmise, now became precise knowledge
established upon a sure and accurate basis. It was ascertained that the
law of gravity exerts its power in regulating and controlling the
motions of all celestial bodies within the range of telescopic vision,
and that the order and harmony which pervade our system are equally
present among other systems of suns and worlds distributed throughout
the regions of space. The spectacle of two or more suns revolving round
each other, forming systems of greater magnitude and importance than
that of ours, conveyed to the minds of astronomers a knowledge of the
mechanism of the heavens which had hitherto been unknown to them.

During the many years which Herschel devoted to the exploration of the
starry heavens, and when engaged night after night in examining and
enumerating the various groups and clusters of stars which passed before
his eye in the field of his powerful telescope, he did not fail to
remember the sublime object of his life, and to which he made all his
other investigations subordinate, viz., the delineation of the
structural configuration of the heavens, and the inclusion of all
aggregations, groups, clusters, and galaxies of stars which are
apparently scattered promiscuously throughout the regions of space into
one grand harmonious design of celestial architecture.

Having this object in view, he explored the wondrous zone of the Milky
Way, gauged its depths, measured its dimensions, and, in attempting to
unravel the intricacies of its structure, penetrated its recesses far
beyond the limit attained by any other observer. Acting on the
assumption that the stars are uniformly distributed throughout space,
Herschel, by his method of star-gauging, concluded that the sidereal
system consists of an irregular stratum of evenly distributed suns,
resembling in form a cloven flat disc, and that the apparent richness of
some regions as compared with that of others could be accounted for by
the position from which it was viewed by an observer. The stars would
appear least numerous where the visual line was shortest, and, as it
became lengthened, they would increase in number until, by crowding
behind each other as a greater depth of stratum was penetrated, they
would, when very remote, present the appearance of a luminous cloud or
zone of light. After further observation H