290 A UNIFORM MOVEMENT. 



serve and win the glorious title of " legislator of the heavens,* 1 

 a title which we must not, however, understand too literally ; 

 it bears witness only to the power of intellect. 



Let us attempt, at a modest distance, to proceed like 

 Kepler; let us make astronomy without troubling ourselves 

 concerning astronomers. This is the sole means of seizing 

 the luminous point which should guide our steps. 



The movement, in virtue of which every star performs the 

 circuit of heaven in four-and-twenty hours, is incessantly re- 

 produced in a uniform and a constant manner. The acqui- 

 sition of this first fact, simple as it seems, was a somewhat 

 laborious task, and undoubtedly dates back to a distant 

 antiquity. But now comes another fact, where observation 

 demands the closest mental attention, and which is of a more 

 recent discovery. 



To comprehend it clearly, let us first call to mind that the 

 moment when the sun crosses the Equator, whether to return 

 into the northern hemisphere (at the spring equinox), or into 

 the southern (at the autumn equinox), is instantaneous. More 

 than one way exists of determining this moment exactly ; but 

 here we need not enter upon the subject 



Is the interval of time occupied by the sun in travelling 

 from the spring to the autumn equinox equal to the interval 

 which our luminary requires to pass from the autumn equinox 

 to the vernal ? 



A singular question, you reply. Who, indeed, would ven- 

 ture to maintain that the number of days, hours, minutes, 



