NEWS FROM HERSCHEL S PLANET. 141 



Uranus to be represented by a very large wooden hoop 

 floating on a sheet of water ; then, if a small wooden 

 hoop were so weighted as to float almost upright, with 

 one half out of the water, the position of that hoop 

 would represent the position of the path of one of the 

 planet s satellites. It will be seen at once that if we 

 suppose a body to travel round (and upon) the former hoop 

 in a certain direction, then a body travelling round the 

 latter hoop could scarcely be said to travel in the same 

 direction, whether it circled one way or the other. 

 Or to employ another illustration if a watch be laid 

 face upward on a table, we should correctly say that its 

 hands move from east through south to west ; but, if 

 it be held nearly upright and the face rather upwards, 

 we should scarcely say that the hands moved from 

 east through south to west ; nor if the face were tilted 

 a little further forward, so as to be inclined rather 

 downwards, should we say that the hands move from 

 east through north to west. 



The great slope or tilt of the paths is undoubtedly a 

 more singular feature than the direction of motion. 

 Implying as it does that the planet s globe is similarly 

 tilted, it suggests the strangest conceptions as to the 

 seasonal changes of the planet. It seems impossible 

 to suppose that the inhabitants of Uranus, if there are 

 any, can depend on the sun for their supply of heat. 

 The vast distance of Uranus from the sun, although 

 reducing the heat-supply to much less than the three- 

 hundredth part of that which we receive, is yet an 

 insignificant circumstance by comparison with the axial 



