He scattered peas over a chess-board, and then counted the number which rested on each square. His figures seem to show that the general appearance of the stars is much the same as that produced by such a plan of
Some recent investigations by Mr R. A. Proctor seem to show, however, that there are at least two exceptions to this tolerably uniform distribution. (1) He has ascertained that the stars are decidedly more thickly aggregated in the Milky Way than elsewhere. So far as this is to be relied on the argument is the same as in the case of the double stars; it tends to prove that the proximity of the stars in the Milky Way is not merely apparent, but actual. (2) He has ascertained that there are two large areas, in the North and South hemispheres, in which the stars are much more thickly aggregated than elsewhere. Here, it seems to me, Probability proves nothing: we are simply denying that the distribution is uniform. What may follow in the way of inferences as to the physical process of causation by which the stars have been disposed is a question for the Astronomer. See Mr Proctor's Essays on Astronomy, p. 297. Also a series of Essays in The Universe and the coming Transits.