In the vicinity of both, near
their margin, we find unresolvable nebulae, of which that on the western
edge of the opening Scorpio is one of the most richly thronged of the
clusters of small stars by which the firmament is adorned. Herschel
ascribes these openings or starless regions to the attractive and
agglomerative forcesof the marginal groups.*
[footnote] *"An opening in the heavens," William Herschel, in the 'Phil.
Trans.' for 1785, vol. lxxv., Part i., p. 256. Le Francais Lalande, in the
'Connaiss. des Tems pour l'An.' VIII., p. 383. Arago, in the 'Annuaire',
1842, p. 425.
"They are parts of our starry stratum," says he, with his usual graceful
animation of style, "that have experienced great devastation from time." If
we picture to ourselves the telescopic stars lying behind one another as a
starry canopy spread over the vault of heaven, these starless regions in
Scorpio and Serpentarius may, I think, be regarded as tubes through which we
may look into the remotest depths of space. Other stars may certainly lie
in those parts where the strata forming the canopy are interrupted, but
these are unattainable by our instruments. The aspect of fiery meteors had
led the ancients likewise to the idea of clefts or openings ('chasmata') in
the vault of heaven.
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