SECTION 7. 



DISCOYERY OF A NEW RING TO SATURN. 



THE planet Saturn has long been known to be sur- 

 rounded by two rings. In the year 1610, Galileo, with a 

 very indifferent telescope, saw the planet like a central 

 globe between two smaller ones. In 1656, Huygens gave 

 the true explanation of these appearances, and showed 

 that the planet is surrounded by a luminous ring, in the 

 center of which it is suspended. In 1675, Cassini saw 

 the dark elliptic line which divides the ring into two 

 concentric portions, and he noted the unequal brilliancy 

 of the rings, the inner one being the brightest. Several 

 astronomers have suspected the existence of more than 

 two rings about Saturn. On the 25th of April, 188T, 

 Professor Encke, at Berlin, saw the outer ring divided into 

 two nearly equal parts, and several divisions were recog- 

 nized on the inner edge of the inner ring. On the 7th of 

 September, 1843, Messrs. Lassell and Dawes saw what 

 they considered to be a division of the outer ring. The 

 division of the outer ring has also been noticed by Cap- 

 tain Kater in England, M. De Yico, at Rome, and 

 Quetelet, at Paris. The newly-discovered ring of Saturn 

 can not be classed with the subdivisions of the old ring, 

 as it Hes within its inner edge. 



