252 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



comet striking the earth or the sun, 

 seeing that it is so far away from both. 

 We may, however, pass through its tail, 

 which may cause certain imaginative 

 persons to foretell that the earth will 

 be visited with disease and pestilence, 

 for, does not the comet's tail consist 

 of hydro-carbons and are not some 

 compounds of carbon and hydrogen 

 very poisonous? As the tail consists 

 of matter in a finely divided stale, al- 

 ways directed away from the sun, it is 

 probable that we will have no more 

 serious a catastrophe than a shower 

 of meteors. The ephemeris follows : 



Right Decli- Magni 



Date Ascentions nation tude 



Dec. i 4I1 26m 56s + 15 ° 52 12.0 



6 4 6 13 15 23 11. 8 



11 3 44 24 14 45 1 1.6 



16 3 22 19 14 11.4 



21 3 o 34 13 18 1 1.3 



26 2 40 11 12 28 1 1.2 



A glance at the magnitudes shows 

 that it will soon be visible in a six- 

 inch telescope. 



THE PLANETS. 



Mercury will be invisible during the 

 month, being too near the sun. Venus 

 reaches its greatest elongation from 

 the sun on the second of the month, 

 but it still continues to increase in 

 brightness. The planet has been so 

 far south of the equator at this elonga- 

 tion that it has not been as remarkable 

 an object as it usually is. Though 

 Mars is increasing its distance from 

 the earth the astronomers are still in- 

 tently watching it. Early in the sum- 

 mer Mars showed so little detail that 

 the British Astronomical Association 

 feared that a catastrophe had happen- 

 ed on Mars, and that all life there was 

 extinct. On the contrary, according 

 to the observations of Jouckheere, and 

 Jarry-Deloges in Europe, and Lowell 

 in America, a great man, new canals 

 are appearing, and frequent changes 

 are taking place on the ruddy planet. 

 Mars is moving northeast, and at the 

 end of the month will be in Pisces 3 

 12/ north of Saturn. The rings of 

 Saturn now present a fine sight in a 

 small telescope ; we are looking at the 

 southern side of them and we are io° 



from their plane. Jupiter is a morn- 

 ing star, not rising till after two o'clock. 

 Uranus is too near the sun, but those 

 who have a powerful enough tele- 

 scope may see Neptune during the lat- 

 ter half of the night in Gemini. 



CONSTELLATIONS. 



As usual, the map shows the constel- 

 lations, the most magnificent in the 

 whole heavens, as they appear at seven 

 o'clock on the first of the month, at 

 eight o'clock at the middle and at 9 

 P. M., at the end of the month. 



There will be an eclipse of the Sun 

 on December 12, but it will not be visi- 

 ble in the United States. 



The Winter Brooklet. 

 When you know any brooklet that 

 runs down a hillside, be sure to go and 

 take a look at him. You will never 

 find him so cheerful. 



As he shrank away after the last 

 thaw, he built for himself the most ex- 

 auisite caverns of ice to run through, 

 if not "measureless to man" like those 

 of Alph, the sacred river, yet perhaps 

 more pleasing for their narrowness than 

 those for their granduer. What a cun- 

 ning silversmith is Frost ! The rarest 

 workmanship of Delhi or Genoa copies 

 him but clumsily, as if the fingers of 

 all other artists were thumbs. Fern- 

 work and lacework and filagree in end- 

 less variety, and under it all the water 

 tinkles like a distant guitar, or drums 

 like a tambourine, or gurgles like the 

 Tokay of an anchorite's dream. Beyond 

 doubt there is a fairy procession march- 

 ing along those frail arcades and trans- 

 lucent corridors. 



''Their oaten pipes blow wondrous 

 shrill. 



The hemlock small blow clear." 



— James Russell Lowell. 



Henry David Thoreau and His Views 

 of Nature. 



A man of such deep, underlying 

 tenderness as puts to shame all sur- 

 face emotionalism, and of so sweet and 

 lofty a serenity, so exquisite a purity 

 and so complete a truthfulness, that 

 earth seems a fitter dwelling-place for 

 all the virtues because he shared its 

 life. — Mary Fisher in "A General Sur- 

 vev of American Literature." 



