196 A NEW LOCUS STANDI. 



capable of satisfying equally every mind ? With this question, 

 dear reader, I close my parenthesis. 



To understand clearly the variable duration of the day at 

 all points of the terrestrial surface, let us so place ourselves 

 as to see our planet distinctly in front. I need hardly say 

 that this invitation is not addressed to the visual organs of the 

 body, but to the "mind's eye, Horatio." With the former, 

 fixed as we are on the surface of the globe, we can only see 

 the shadows of objects standing out in relief upon it, and still, 

 with the sun at our back, can perceive but a comparatively 

 insignificant portion. With the second, on the contrary, we 

 may detach ourselves from the earth, may mount afar into 

 space, may plant ourselves on some aerial height, whence we 

 may embrace, at a single glance, all the illuminated hemi- 

 sphere of our globe : we shall have but a single shadow on 

 the prospect, that which our brightened planet casts be- 

 hind it, and which, in four -and -twenty hours, traverses 

 the entire surface of the globe, producing light wherever it 

 passes. 



Having completed our preparations, let us note what we 

 perceive with our eye thus disjoined from our body, an eye 

 equally well adapted to fix every moving object, and to see 

 at any distance bodies extremely small, or bodies extremely 

 large. What a marvellous eye ! And it is for us to develop 

 its power, and freely to increase its range. What an arduous 

 task ! 



