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subject and has endeavoured to lead the minds of his readers to the contemplation of the attributes and the agency of that Almighty Being, by whom the vast system of universal nature was at first brought into existence, and by whose superintending care it is incessantly conducted in all its move

ments.

The subject of a plurality of worlds has been resumed, and additional arguments, both from reason and revelation, have been brought forward so as to exhibit this position, not merely as conjectural or highly probable, but as susceptible of moral demonstration. For the gratification of amateur observers possessed of telescopes, particular descriptions have been given of the positions of some of the more remarkable phenomena in the sidereal heavens, that they may be induced to contemplate them with their own eyes. For a similar reason, the author has described the various aspects of the heavens throughout the year, and the positions of the planets for 1840 and 1841. As the subject of comets was unavoidably omitted in the preceding volume, the author has condensed, in the concluding chapter, the greater part of the facts which have been ascertained respecting the nature, phenomena, and influence of those anomalous bodies.

It was originally intended, had the limits of the present volume permitted, to direct the attention of

the student to other objects related to the scenery of the heavens, and to the construction and application of some of those instruments which are devoted to celestial observations. Should the work now published meet with a favourable reception, the author intends, in a smaller volume than the present, to elucidate some of the subjects to which he alludes, especially the following: the construction and use of optical instruments, particularly the reflecting and achromatic telescope, and the equatorial. As the author has performed a great variety of experiments in relation to such instruments, he hopes to have it in his power to suggest some new and useful hints in reference to their construction and improvement. The doctrine of eclipses and occultations; the precession of the equinoxes, &c.; the construction of observatories, and the manner of using astronomical instruments; the desiderata in astronomy, and the means by which the progress of the science may be promoted; the practical utility, physical and moral, of astronomical studies; their connexion with religion, and the views they unfold of the attributes and the empire of the Creator, with several other correlative topics, will likewise be the subject of consideration. The whole to be illustrated with appropriate engravings, many of which will be original.

Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, &

ON THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS.

Measures of Distance.-Annual Parallax.-Mode of investiga-
ting it.-Galileo, Hook, and Flamstead's Methods.-Moly-
neux and Bradley's Observations.- Aberration.- Supposed
Distance of the nearest Star.-Herschel's Investigations.-
Professor Bessel's Determination of the Parallax of 61 Cygni.
-Amazing Distance of this Star.-Reflections on the immense
Spaces of the Universe.-Scriptural Representations of the
Deity. Whether Man may ever traverse distant Regions

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Descriptions of the Periods and Phenomena of some of these
Bodies, Stella Mira, Algol, Eta Antinoi, &c.-Conjectures re-
specting their Nature.-Probable Causes of the Phenomena
of Variable Stars, illustrated by Figures.-Stars which are

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