| Magnitude. | Observed | Calculated from, 38. | Calculated from 32,360. |
| 2.0 | 38 | (38) | 8 |
| 3.0 | 111 | 151 | 32 |
| 4.0 | 300 | 603 | 129 |
| 5.0 | 95 | 2,399 | 513 |
| 6.0 | 3,150 | 9,550 | 2,042 |
| 7.0 | 9,810 | 38,020 | 8,128 |
| 8.0 | 32,360 | 151,400 | (32,300) |
| 9.0 | 97,400 | — | 128,800 |
| 10.0 | 271,800 | — | 512,900 |
| 11.0 | 698,000 | — | 2,042,000 |
| 12.0 | 1,659,000 | — | 8,128,000 |
| 13.0 | 3,682,000 | — | 32,360,000 |
| 14.0 | 7,646,000 | — | 128,800,000 |
| 15.0 | 15,470,000 | — | 512,900,000 |
| 16.0 | 29,510,000 | — | 2,042,00,000 |
| 17.0 | 54,900,000 | — | 8,128,000,000 |
By the time we get to the eighth magnitude the numbers are so far behind the calculations that it seems useless to go further. But we can make a fresh start; let us assume that there is something peculiar about the first few rows—perhaps they are too closely packed, and let us start fair again with the eighth magnitude and the number 32,360 as shown in the last column. We can calculate both downwards and upwards, and we see that for the bright stars the calculations give fewer than there are, and for the faint stars many more.
We see then that the back rows are not properly full; and we get the idea that probably the stars do not go on for ever; they may not actually come to a sudden stop, as this audience does, owing to the walls of the room; because we cannot think there can be containing walls for the stars; but they seem to thin out and ultimately fail, as a small audience
