When we cast our eyes to the heavens on any clear and, by preference, moonless night, our attention is attracted by apparently in numerable points of light, of all degrees of brightness. These are the stars, which in all ages have drawn to themselves the attention of mankind. Mr. E. W. Maunder, in a previ ous volume of this series, has Shown how man's attention was first directed to the heavenly bodies, and how the mere recognition of the phases of the Moon, the varying positions of the planets and the seasonal changes Of the stars has developed stage by stage into the science of astronomy as we know it at the present day.