THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION. 5 to traverse the vacant central space. Nor is this all. Sir William Herschel, so early as 1783, detected a motion in our solar system with respect to the stars, and announced that it was tending towards the star X, in the constellation Hercules. This has been generally verified by recent and more exact calculations,* which fix on a point in Hercules, near the star 143 of the 17th hour, according to Piozzi’s catalogue, as that towards which our sun is proceeding. It is, therefore, receding from the inner edge of the ring. Motions of this kind, through such vast regions of space, must be long in producing any change sensible to the inha bitants of our planet, and it is not easy to grasp their general character; but grounds have never theless been found for supposing that not only our sun, but the other suns of the system, pursue a wavy course round the ring from west to east, crossing and recrossing the middle of the annular circle. “ Some stars will depart more, others less, from either side of the circumference of equilibrium, according to the places in which they are situated, and according to the direction and the velocity with which they are put in motion. Our sun is * Made by M. Argelander, late director of the Observatory at Abo.
