COSMOS:


A SKETCH

of

A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE.


BY


ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.


Translated from the German by

E. C. OTTÉ


In Four Volumes.

VOL. III

Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt


New York:

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS

1858.

This electronic edition prepared by Dr. David C. Bossard
from original documents in his personal library.

December, 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by David C. Bossard.


CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

Historical Review of the attempts made with the object of considering the Phenomena of the Universe as a Unity of Nature   5-25  005  006  007  008  009  010  011  012  013  014  015  016  017  018  019  020  021  022  023  024  025

SPECIAL RESULTS OF OBSERVATIONS
IN THE DOMAIN OF COSMICAL PHENOMENA


A. URANOLOGICAL PORTION of the physical description of the
world.--ASTROGNOSY    26-28 
026  027  028

I. The realms of space, and conjectures regarding that which appears to occupy the space intervening between the heavenly bodies   29-41 
029  030  031  032  033  034  035  036  037  038  039  040  041

II. Natural and telescopic vision, 41-73;  
041  042  043  044  045  046  047  048  049  050  051  052  053  054  055  056  057  058  059  060  061  062  063  064  065  066  067  068  069  070  071  072  073
Scintillation of the stars, 73-83;   073  074  075  076  077  078  079  080  081  082  083
Velocity of light, 83-89;   083  084  085  086  087  088  089
Results of photometry, 89-102   089  090  091  092  093  094  095  096  097  098  099  100  101  102

III. Number, distribution, and color of the fixed stars, 103-139;  
103  104  105  106  107  108  109  110  111  112  113  114  115  116  117  118  119  120  121  122  123  124  125  126  127  128  129  130  131  132  133  134  135  136  137  138  139
Stellar masses (stellar swarms), 139-143;   139  140  141  142  143
The Milky Way interspersed with a few nebulous spots,  143-151   143  144  145  146  147  148  149  150  151

IV. New stars, and stars that have vanished, 151-160;  
151  152  153  154  155  156  157  158  159  160
Variable stars, whose recurring periods have been determined, 160-177;   160  161  162  163  164  165  166  167  168  169  170  171  172  173  174  175  176  177
Variations in the intensity of the light of stars whose periodicity is as yet uninvestigated, 177-182   177  178  179  180  181  182

V. Proper motion of the fixed stars, 182-185;  
182  183  184  185
Problematical existence of dark cosmical bodies, 185-188;   185  186  187  188
Parallax-measured distances of some of the fixed stars, 188-194;   188  189  190  191  192  193  194
Doubts as to the assumption of a central body for the whole sidereal heavens, 194-199   194  195  196  197  198  199

VI. Multiple, or double stars--Their number and reciprocal distances.--Period of revolution of two stars round a common center of gravity    199-212  
199  200  201  202  203  204  205  206  207  208  209  210  211  212

INDEX TO VOLUME III  215-219  
215  216  217  218  219

TABLES


Photometric Tables of Stars  100-102  
100  101  102

Clusters of Stars  141-143  
141  142  143

New Stars  155-160  
155  156  157  158  159  160

Variable Stars  172-177  
172  173  174  175  176  177

Parallaxes  193  
193

Elements of Orbits of double Stars  213  
213