490 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



Fig. 533- Jupiter. 



light that we can enjoy or command can ever do. It is remarkable that 

 only this moon is specially mentioned in the Bible in connection with the 

 sun. The stars are usually grouped, although, of 

 course, the sun and moon are equally " stars " in 

 the firmament. Mars possesses two moons and 

 Jupiter four ; Uranus also rejoices in the latter 

 number ; Neptune, like the Earth, has only one. 

 It is reserved for Saturn to outstrip all the rest in 

 his attendants, for no less than eight satellites wait 

 upon that enormous planet. No doubt there are 

 many more of these moons to be found, and every 

 year will doubtless bring us further knowledge 

 respecting them. Mars' moons were only dis- 

 covered very lately (in 1877), although they were known to exist; but 



being very small, unlike the others, 

 they were missed. So we may con- 

 clude that the remaining satellites will 

 remain for some time undiscovered, 

 even if they actually are in existence. 

 Jupiter's moons are supposed to be 

 as large as our own moon ; Neptune 

 and Uranus can boast of equally- 

 sized attendants. But it is impossible 

 to estimate the riches of astronomical 

 lore which are beyond our ken.. Mil- 

 lions of tiny planets are believed to exist, but their immense distance from 

 us precludes all investigation. We are but mites in the scale. 



METEORS, to which we have already referred, are small erratic bodies 

 rushing through the planetary system, and getting hot in the process, appear 

 in the atmosphere surrounding our earth as " shooting stars." Some of these 

 falling bodies have reached the 

 earth, and several can be seen in 

 the British Museum. Numbers, 

 of course, are burnt up before 

 they reach us, and who can tell 

 what destruction such a catas- 

 trophe may represent, or whether 

 it be or be not an inhabited 

 world which has thus plunged 

 to destruction by fire? They 

 are of a metallic or stony nature. 

 On certain nights in August and 

 November it has been calculated 1Mg " sas-Meteor shower, 



that these meteors will appear. They fall from certain constellations 



Fig. 534. Saturn. 



