242 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
issituated,however,justwhereonemightleastexpect
tofindit;namely,inthemiddleandbrightestpartof
thenebula. This portioncontains apparently sixor
morestars,fourofwhicharesomutuallyrelatedas
tomarkthecorners ofa rude square ortrapezium.
Ofthisinterruptioninthenebula.SirJohn Herschel
hassaid, *ltis remarkable,however, thatwithinthe
areaofthetrapeziumnonebulaexists." ("Outlines,"
page609,"Observation attheCapeof GoodHope."
Notonlyisthere anopeninginthenebulaatthis
place,butthewholenebulaitselfisconicalorconcave,
withthelargerrimdirectednearlytowardtheearthly
observer. Iquoteregardingthis
:"ThemultiplestarOrionis formingthetrapezium
mightbe called the foundation stone ofthe edifice.
Allthelinesofitsarchitecturearelaiddownwithref-
erencetoit;andintimatephysicalassociationsofthe
stars with the gaseous stuff surrounding them has
been spectrographicallydemonstratedbySirWilliam
andLadyHuggins, andamplyratifiedbyProfessors
FrostandAdams.
"Surroundingthetrapeziuminthebrightestofthe
nebula,... emanations (or what seem such) from
... [this] corestretchawayinwidecurvesto form
outlyingportionsofthenebula.
"Thewholefabricofthenebulaisconcavetowards
anaxispassingthetrapezium inanortheasterlyand
southwesterlydirection."
—"TheSystemoftheStars."
Theinterruptionorbreakinthenebulaaroundthe
multiplestarorthetrapeziumhasbeennotedbyNew-
comb. Hesays
: