THEBANDSOFORION 165"Thegroupingofevensixstarsvisibletothenaked
eyeinsosmallaspaceisveryremarkable. Consider-
ingthenumberofstarsvisibleinthewholeskywith-
out opticalaid, Mitchell, writing in 1867, calculated
by themathematical theory of probabilities thatthe
chancesare500,000toiagainsttheclosearrangement
ofthesixstarsinthePleiadesbeingmerelytheresult
ofaccident. Hethereforeconcludedthat'thisdistri-
butionwastheresultofdesign,orthatthereisreason
orcause forsuchanassemblage.' Modern observa-
tionsshowthathisconclusionwassound. Thecom-
mon'propermotion' ofalargenumber of thestars
composing thePleiades showsthattheyare insome
wayphysicallyconnected."
—''StudiesinAstronomy/'
byJ.EllardGore,pages6g,70.
"MostofthebrighteststarsofthePleiadesarealso
movinginoneandthesamedirection,andthiscom-
munityofpropermotionhasreceivedthename 'star
drift.'"—"A NezvAstronomy"byDavidTodd, page
430.
Clearly asthis statementpresentsthe fact,the ar-
gumentofferedin thefollowingquotationis perhaps
moreconvincing:
"Inasimilarwayweareentitledtoinferthatmany
otherremarkablegroups ofstars giveevidenceofa
certainphysicalconnectionwhichcorroboratesthepre-
sumptionobtainedfromthefactthatthestarshappen
tobecloseneighbors. Idonotsupposethatanyone
evercouldhavedoubtedthat so strikingagroupas
thePleiadeshadsomenaturalconnection. Butifthere
were such doubts they must be dispelled when the