Astronomy and the Bible;

166 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE

photographsoftheMessrs.HenryandofMr.Roberts
showthesevenstarsofthePleiadestobeimmersedin
a single nebula,invisible tothe eye, andperceptible
only to the delicacy of the photographic plate. In
otherfamousgroupsalsothereareindications ofre-
lationshipdrawn fromtheircommonmovements. If
sevenfishwere seentogetherintheseatherewould
be a certain presumption that they formed a re-
lated group, and this presumption would be greatly
strengthenedifitshouldappearthatallthefishwere
swimminginparalleldirections. Wecan sometimes
applyasimilarprincipleto thestudyofaconstella-
tion. Ifsevenbrightstarsliecomparativelyneareach
otherinthesky,andifitbe foundthattheypartici-
pateinacommon motionso faras directionis con-
cerned, wemaynotunnaturally conclude thatthese
starsbelongtoanorganizedsystem,andthattheyare
notmerelyanumberofdiscreteobjectsscatteredpro-
miscuouslyonthesky."

—

"InStarryRealms,"by Sir

RobertS.Ball,D.Sc,LL.D.,F.R.S.,page266.

Regarding this common motion. Young's "As-

tronomy" (page 459) says: "The brightest stars in

Pleiadesarefoundinthesamewaytohaveacommon

motion. Infact,itappearstobetheruleratherthan

theexceptionthatstarsapparentlyneareachotherare

really connected as comrades, traveling together in

groupsoftwosandthrees,dozens,orhundreds. They

show,as MissGierke graphicallyexpressesit, a dis-

tinctly^gregarioustendency.'

"

Fromthe samebook, page 501, we take this ex-

pression: