ASTRONOMY IN HIGH-SCHOOLS, *oi 



soon as they learned the Dippers in Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and 

 Cassiopeia, I put them to making observations at an interval of several 

 hours on the same night, so as to find out the daily apparent motion. 

 Thus far they knew Polaris only as "the star in the handle of the Lit- 

 tle Dipper." It was some days before all reported observation, and 

 I did not indorse any report until we had full concurrent testimony 

 that from 6 p. M. to 12 the Great Dipper moved down toward the 

 horizon and then east (it was autumn), that Cassiopeia moved up and 

 then west, and that the bowl of the Little Dipper had turned on the 

 handle until it was nearly upside down. They drew the Little Dipper 

 on the blackboard, and made arrows to indicate the direction in which 

 the other constellations moved. They remarked, without prompting, 

 that the arrows made a kind of circle. After another night's observa- 

 tion, the report was brought that at 6 p. m. the constellations had 

 returned to the positions occupied by them at G r. m. of the previous 

 day. They said the stars must have gone entirely round that star in 

 the handle of the Dipper, or else have moved backward. By this time 

 the interest had become so great that a number of girls rose before 

 day to take a look ; so we had a further report. When they had set- 

 tled as fully as they could the fact of the apparent motion, I asked 

 them, " When an object seems to move, does it always prove to be in 

 motion ? " Many cited in answer the apparent motion of the trees 

 when one journeys by rail. After drawing from them the fact that 

 the real and the apparent motions are always in opposite directions, I 

 asked, "Do you think the earth is turning round, or are the stars 

 moving round it ? " Up to this time several intelligent girls had been 

 without suspicion that they were coming round to the familiar fact of 

 the earth's rotation on its axis, learned from the beginning of their 

 geographies. Their surprise, when my question flashed this result on 

 them, was very amusing. It was to me a striking illustration of the 

 inadequacy of learning things about nature from books alone. 



I will not weary the reader with an account of the observations 

 which detected the apparent annual motion of the stars, and the facts 

 and questions which led them to conclude that it resulted from a real 

 motion of the earth, in a circle, with the sun in the center. They also 

 detected the apparent motion of the sun north and south, and had a 

 very interesting discussion whether this was real or apparent. In the 

 course of this study, they experimented in a darkened room with a 

 light, and a ball revolving on its axis. The ball was held at the sol- 

 stitial and equinoctial positions, and revolved, and they drew the con- 

 clusions regarding length of days. The work was just as much as 

 possible their own. 



One of the most interesting studies made by my pupils was that of 

 the moon. They began with the new moon, and of course very soon 

 accounted for its daily apparent motion west, Then they watched the 

 real motion from night to night. I must not forget to say that regu- 



