THE SUN. 9^ 



to bear the whole weight of indignation that was ready to 

 burst upon the disturbers of a prejudice so old and so deeply 

 rooted. He was arrested, and seven cardinals clothed with 

 the authority of the church sat in judgment upon him, and 

 sentenced him to the prison of the Inquisition for opinions, 

 which they pronounced false in philosophy, heretical, and 

 contrary to the word of God. After a year's confinement he 

 was liberated, but continuing his discoveries, and apparently 

 persevering in his opinions, he was imprisoned a second 

 time. After being made to abjure what were deemed his 

 errors, and to do penance for his offences, he was again re- 

 stored to liberty. Indignant at the cruelty of this treatment, 

 and the bigotry and blindness of his persecutors, he yet 

 continued his pursuits ; but in silence and fear. His ex- 

 cessive application, and the constant use of his telescope, 

 together with frequent exposure to the air by night, had such 

 an effect upon him, that he lost his sight. He died in 1642, 

 at the age of seventy-eight. 



Questions. — 1. Of what does the solar system consist ? 2. Wi^t 

 are primary planets ? — secondary planets ? 3. What is the order in 

 which the eleven primary planets move round the sim ? 4. What 

 planets have moons, and how many have each ? 5. What are interior 

 and exterior planets ? 6. How are the planets retained in their orbits? 

 7. Define year, day, axis, poles. 8. What was the first material step 

 in the progress of astronomy .' 9. What is remarkable with respect 

 to the true doctrine of the solar system ? 10. What course did Coper- 

 nicus adopt? 11. What is said of Galileo? 12. Explain Engr. IV. 



LESSON 42. 



The Sun. 



Spher'oid, a body approaching to the form of a sphere, but not 

 exactly round. 



EIHp'tical, oval, — an ellipse is produced from the section of a 

 cone by a plane cutting both its sides, but not parallel to the 

 base. All the planets move round the sun in elliptical orbits, 

 and the sun itself is situated in one of the foci of each ellipse : 

 that focus is called the lower focus. See the Earth's orbit in 

 fig. 40. 



Great source of day ! best image here below 



Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide, 



From world to world, the vital ocean round ; 



