Et4i


lie finds to have a Pa rallax O f 20 Seconds. A Admitting fli4
we have Data enough to determine their Diflane, a thing
hitherto defpair'd of.
For thus, the Sun's Parallax being had, and his mni iDi-
fiance being 34 7 7 Semi-diaineters of the Earth, the Diflance
of irius from the Earth wvill be found to be 354 7 7064 Semi-
diameters of the Earth. See PAAALLAX.
Mr. Hz2gens attempts the Diftance of the Stat's by another
Method, viz. by making the Aperture of a Telefcope fi
mall, as that theSun through it appearsno bigger than Sirjss.
In this State he found the Sun's Diamneter only -L4 of his Di-
ameter when feen with the naked Eye. Were the Sun's
Diflance, then, 2 7664 time; as great as it is, it would be fen
of the fame Diameter with Sirius; ifo that allowingSirius to
be equal in Magnitude with the Sun (which is a very reafoti-
able Suppofition) the Diflance of Sirius from the Earth, will
be fodnd to be to that of the Sun from the Earth, as 27664
to i. On which Principle, Sirius will be 951005328 Semi-
diameters diffant frotn the Earth.
If it be urged, that theme Methods are too precarious, to
conclude any thing from them, yet this we can demontfrate,
that the Stars are remoter than Saturn; nay, that they are
vaftly more remote than Saturn, as Saturn has a great Pa-
rallax, and the Stars fcarce any at all.
Magnitude of the fv'd ST Rs.
The Magnitudes of the fix'd Stars, appear to be very
different; which Differencearifes, notfrom any diverfity in their
real Magnitudes, but from their Diflances, which are different.
From this Difference, the Stars become difiributed into Seven
feveral Claffes, call'd Magnitudes. See MAGNITUTDE.
The firft Clafs, or thofe of the firft Magnitude, are thofe
neareft us, and whofe Diameters are, therefore, biggeft.
Next thefe, are thofe of the fecond Magnitude, and fo on to
the Sixth, which comprehends the fmalleft Stars vifibie to the
naked Eye. All beyond, are called 7ielefcopic Stars: Not
that all the Stars ot each Clafs appear jufily of the fame
Magitude i there is a great Latitude in this refpedt; and
thofe of the firfl-Magnitude, appear almoft all different in
Luffre and Size. Other Stars there are, of intermediate
Magnitudes, which Aftronomer cannot refer to this, rather
than the next Clafs, and therefore place them between the
Two.                                                 I
Procyon, for Inflance, which Ptolomy makes of the firff
Magnitude, and fYycho of the Second, Mr. Flamftead lays
down as between the Firfl and Second.
Thus, ih{+ead of Six feveral Magnitudes, we have really
Six times Six.
Some Authors lay it down, that the Stars of the firfl Mag-
nitude, are feen under ani Angle of at leafl a Minute ; but the
Earth's Orbit feen from thefix'dStars, we have obferved only
fubtends an Angle of 20 Seconds; and hence they conclude,
That the Diameter of the Stars is vaflly greater than that of
the Earth's whole Orbit.
Now a Sphere, whofe Semi-diameter only equals the
Diflance between the Sun and Earth, is Ten Millions of
times greater than the Sun; consequently, the fix'd Stars
mufl be much more than Ten Millions of times greater than
the Sun.
But here is a Miflakle; for the Diameters, even of the
largerf Stars viewed through a Telefcope, which magnify,
e. gr. ioo Times, fubtend no fenfible Angle at all, but are
mere lucid Points.
T The Stars are likewife diflinguifhed, with regard to theit
Situation, into Afterifms or Confellations, which are nothing
but Affemblages of feveral neighbouring Stars, confider'd as
conf'ituting fome determinate Figure, as of an Animal, Cc.
and denominated therefrom : A Divifion as ancient as the
Book of 5rob; wherein we find mention of Orion and the
Pleiades, Lc. -See CONSTELLATION.
Befide the Stars thus diflinguifhed into Magnitudes and
Conjiellations, there are others not reduced to either. Thofe
not reduced into Conftellations, are called Informes, or un-
form'd Stars; of which Kind, feveral fo reputed by the
Ancients, have been fince form'd into New Conflellations by
the Modern Afironomers; as Cor Caroli by Dr. Halley,
Scutum Sobiefci, by Hevelius, Cse'c. See INFORMEs.
Thofe not reduced to Claffes or Magnitudes, are call'd
Nebulous Stars, being fuch as only appear faintly, in Form of
little lucid Nebulz or Clouds. See Nebulous;
NumbeP of the STARS.
The Number of Stars is vafily great, almoRf infinite; yei
have Afironomers long ago, af'crtain'd the Number of thofe
vifible to the Eye,; which are found vaflly fewer than one
would imagine.   ipprchus, 125 Years before the Ihcarna-
tion, oh octafion opfa new Star then appearin, made a
Catalogue of the Stars, i. e. an Enumeration thereof with an
exaft  uefctiption of their Magnitudes, SitdatiqI;4 Longitude,
Latitude. Eec. that it might be known, if fs'y the like
Change mhould be made for the future in the Heavens.
pvcius, made the Number-of vifibbeStars zO22. Theif
fHliJ


)ut thefe lafi are omnewliat 4ore difficult to
afon of the three Verfes to one Rhime.
lay it down as a Rule, That if the firfm Stanza
Mafculine or a Feminine Verfe, the Second is to
with the fame. Every Stanza ought not only
perfile Senfe, but to be terminated with fome
genious Thought, or fome juft and pertinent
re firfA introduced from the Italian into the
about the Year 158o, and thence transfer'd
bz.
Stanza's in Tragedy or Comedy, is condemn'd
I Criticks: For though we fpeak Verfe on the
L prefumed we are fpeaking Profe. Stanza's
fingenuity, on the Part of the Poet, which has


nothing of Nature in it on the Part of the Ador. Add to
this, That Stanza's are not fit to exprefs every thing. Wrath,
'Threatening, e5. lit very ill on a regular Stanza: Though
Irrefolution, Reveries, and every Thing that leads the Aftor
to think on what he is to refolve, agrees well enough with
the unequal Cadence of the Stanza.
STAPES, in Anatomy, a little Bone fituate in a Cavity of
the Fenelra ovalis; thus call'd from its refembling a StirroP.
See EAR.
The Stapes, is one of the Four little Bones faflened to the
Tympanum of the Ear; firft difcovered and published, as
Fallopius tells us, by 9ohn Philal Ingraffia, a Phyfician of
Sicily. Its Ufe is in Stretching or relaxing the Membrana
gyjwpani. See TYMPANUM; fee alfoHEARING and EAR.
STAPLE, primarily, fignifies a publick Place or Market,
whither Mqrchants, $ec. are obliged to bring their Commo-
dities to be bought by the People; fuch as the Greve, or rather
the Places along the Seine, for the Wines and Corns at Paris;
*hithe'r the Merchants of other Parts are obliged to bring
thofe Commodities.
Menage derives -the Word from Staplus, which is found in
the Ripuary Laws, to fignify a Place where ,Jufice is admi-
nifli*ed. Others derive it front the German, Stapel, or rather
Stapulla, which . oxhornius derives further, from the German,
&tapelen, to put in a Heap.
STAr LE alfo fignifies a City or Town, where Merchants
jointly agree to carry certain Commodities, as Wooll, Cloth,
Lead, Tin, Tic. in order to their being commodioufly fold by
the Great.
In England, Staples were fettled and appointed, to be con-
fllntly kept at Y"ork, Lincoln, Ne'wcaftle upon Sine, Norwich,
WeJtminfler, Canterbury, Chrichefter, WXinchefler, Exveter and
GBriJfol; to which Places Merchants and Traders were to
carry Goods to fell in thofe Parts.
;   the Staple Commtodities of England, were chiefly \Vooll,
Leather, Cloth, Tin, Lead, Tic. though by Staple Goods,
is now generally meant, any proper faleable Commodities, not
eafily fubjedS to periffi. See WOOLL, SC.
T~he Principal Staples now exiliing, are Amfierdam for all
-Goods from the Eafi-Indies, Spainz, the Mediterranean, and
the !Baltick: FlZulhinzg for thofe of the Wefi-I~ndies; Middle-
bougr for~ French Wines; V~ort for Rhenzifh Wines and Englift,
Cloth; Verre in Zelan~d for Scotch Merchandizts, Tic.
The Staples in the Levant, call'd by the French, Efhelles
Scales, ar'e fuch Cities where the E3'sl'h, French, SD~utch,
Italians, ß. have Confuls, Fad~ors and Magazines; and
whither they fend Veffels- regularly each Year. The principal
of thefhe are Smyarna, Alexavndretta , Aleppo , Se yda , Cyprus6 ,
Sallee, Alexandria, Cairo, fi'nis, Algiers,  lripoli, the Aforea,
Candia and the Iflandsof the Archipelago. See FACTORY.
STAR, in Afironomy, a general Name for all the heavenly
Bodies. See HEAVENLY BROdY.
The Stars are diflinguifh'd, from the Ph enomena of their
Motion, Sc.X into Fix'd and Erratic.
Erratic or 'wandlering STARS, are thofe whofe Diflcances and
Places, with regard to each other, are continually changing.
Thefe are what we properly call SPlanets. See PLANET.
Thosugh, to the fame Clafa, may likewife be refer'd, what
'E epopularly call 7Blazing Stars or Comrets. See COMET.
F;iX'dSTARS, call'd alfo, by way of Eminence, fimply,
.Stars, are thofe which continually keep the fame Difiance,
'rWith regard to each other.
Co>2cerszing tefiX a! ST Ain


Concernin'g the fltd ST ARS.
The principal Points that have come under the Confider-
ation of Afironomers, are their Diftance, Magnitude, Number,
Nature and Motion.
DiDflanee of the i'd STAvRS.
The FiRcd Stals, are Bodies exceedingly remote from us;
fo remote, that we have no Diflances in the Planetary Syflern
tocompare to them. See DISTANCE.
Their immenfe Diflance is arguedtence, That they have
Do fenfible Parallax: that is, that the Diameter of the Earth's
Orbit bears no fenfible Proportion thereto; but they are Seen
Ahe very fame, in all the Points thereof. Mr. Famfiead, in-
.  efueemsto  have difcovered a fmall Parallax:  Sirius. e.gor


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