d object, so called from its likeness
to a dumb-bell, turns out, from recent photographs taken by Professor
Schaeberle, which bring additional detail into view, to be after all a
great spiral.

There is a nest, or rather a cluster of nebulae in the constellation of
Coma Berenices; over a hundred of these objects being here gathered into
a space of sky about the size of our full moon.

[Illustration: PLATE XXIII. THE GREAT NEBULA IN THE CONSTELLATION OF
ANDROMEDA

From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory.

(Page 314)]

The spectroscope informs us that spiral nebulae are composed of
partially-cooled matter. Their colour, as we have seen, is white. Nebulae
of a greenish tint are, on the other hand, found to be entirely in a
gaseous condition. Just as the solar corona contains an unknown element,
which for the time being has been called "Coronium," so do the gaseous
nebulae give evidence of the presence of another unknown element. To this
Sir William Huggins has given the provisional name of "Nebulium."

The _Magellanic Clouds_ are two patches of nebulous-looking light, more
or less circular in form, which are situated in the southern hemisphere
of the sky. They bear a certain resemblance to portions of the Milky
Way, but are, however, not connected with it. They have received their
name from the celebrated navigator, Magellan, who seems to have been one
of the first persons to draw attention to them. "Nubeculae" is another
name by which they are known, the larger cloud being styled _nubecula
major_ and the smaller one _nubecula minor_. They contain within them
stars, clusters, and gaseous nebulae. No parallax has yet been found for
any object which forms part of the nubeculae, so it is very difficult to
estimate at what distance from us they may lie. They are, however,
considered to be well within our stellar universe.

Having thus brought to a conclusion our all too brief review of the
stars and the nebulae--of the leading objects in fine which the celestial
spaces have revealed to man--we will close this chapter with a recent
summation by Sir David Gill of the relations which appear to obtain
between these various bodies. "Huggins's spectroscope," he says, "has
shown that many nebulae are not stars at all; that many well-condensed
nebulae, as well as vast patches of nebulous light in the sky, are but
inchoate masses of luminous gas. Evidence upon evidence has accumulated
to show that such nebulae consist