* KNO^A?'LEDGE ♦ 



[January 2, 188?. 



VENUS AS A JIOEXING STAR. 

 It seems impossible to imagine tlmt the numerous correspondents 

 who have descended upon us with a flood of more or less nonsensical 

 questions about " The Star of Bethlehem " can ever look at the 

 column headed " The Face of the Skjv' which appears in every 

 monthly part of this magazine. Eefercnce to that column for 

 November and December will show that its writer specifically 

 speaks of Venus as " a brilliant object to the south of east about 

 3 a.m.," and as "a most brilliant and conspicuous object in the 

 south-east before sunrise " ; but, ignoring this, a number of persons 

 who are, or profess to be, readers of Knowledge, have inundated 

 us with queries as to whether a new variable or periodical star has 

 become visible ? whether the Star of Bethleliem has reappeared ? 

 whether it is the one that appeared to the Wise IMcn?— (in 

 which category this particular querist as modestly as properly omits 

 to inchide himself ) — whether the original apparition (Matthew ii. 2, 

 9, and 10) was miraculous or not ? and so on. Once for all, then, 

 the star which has recently shone so gloriously in the morning sky 

 is Venus, and nothing else in the world. She goes round the sun 

 inside of the earth's orbit in about 224| days, and if the earth 

 were stationary would, at the end of that period, come approximately 

 into the same position in our (then) fixed sky. But, as every 

 one knows, the earth herself revolves round the sun in some- 

 thing like 3C.")i days, and hence Venus does not return to the 

 fame phase until after a lapse of 584 days— i e. in one year, 

 seven months, and about a week. Hence it will be seen that what 

 we have been viewing is simply a recurrence of what happened 

 during the early mornings in December 1S85 and January 1886. 

 Venus is now travelling away from the eartli, and on July 11 will 

 be behind the sun. Pursuing her path, she will emerge from his 

 rays and reappear to the east of him, after which she will become 

 an evening star, and in February and ILirch 1889 will be as striking 

 an object after sun.set as she recently has been before sunrise. 

 About Ladj' Day in that year she will be distinctly visible to the 

 naked eye (of any one who knows precisely where to look for her) 

 in bright sunsliine. The Star of Bethlehem of Matthew's gospel — 

 if it ever really existed and is not the mere embodiment of a 

 m)th— must in all probability have been a comet. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR JANUARY 1888. 



HE sun presents but few features of interest for ob- 

 servers under existing circumstance?, although one 

 fine group of spots appeared last month upon his 

 disc. The night sky is delineated on map i. of 

 " The Stars in their Seasons." Minima of Algol 

 (" The Stars in their Seasons," map xii.) will occur 

 on Jan. 3 at 6h. 55m. P.M. ; on the 20th, at lib. 

 48m. P.M. ; on the 23rd, at 8h. 37m. P.M. ; and on 

 the 26th, at 5h. 26m. P.M., as well as on other 

 occasioDs inconvenient to the amateur observer. Jlercury is a 

 morning star up to the 14th, but subsequently souths after the 

 sun. His great south declination, however, renders liim practically 

 invisible throughout the month. Venus is a morning star through- 

 out January, and is very nearly as badly jjlaced for the observer as 

 Mercury. JIars does not rise until after midnight at the beginning 

 of the year, and a little before llh. 30m. P.M. bj' January 31. More- 

 over, he only looks like a large red star, and detail on his surface is 

 quite beyond the power of ordinary telescopes. Jupiter is a morn- 

 ing star, and very badly placed to boot. In fact, Saturn is now tlie 

 only striking object in the night sky. Starting from a point almost 

 on a line joining 7 and Cancri (" The Stars in their Seasons," 

 map iii.), he will travel in a westerly and northerly direction. 

 The closing up of his ring sjstem since his opposition in 1885-86 

 is now very perceptible. Titan, his brightest satellite, will be at its 

 greatest elongation east of him (between 11 and 12 diameters of the 

 planet) at 3h. A.M. on Jan. 12 ; and at midnight on the 27th. Uranus 

 is, for our present purpose, invisible, and Neptune is very much 

 where we left him last month. The moon enters her last quarter at 

 llh. 42'6m. A.M. on the 6th, is new at 8h. SSTm. on the morning of 

 the 13th, enters her lirst quarter at 4h. 49 3m. A.M. on the 21st, and 

 is full at llh. 18-9m. on the night of the 2Sth. There will be a total 

 eclip.se of the moon on this night (that of the 28th), visible in this 

 country, the leading details of which we subjoin in a tabular form : — 



H. jr. 

 First contact with the penumbra 

 First contact with the shadow 

 Beginning of total phase 

 Jliddle of the eclipse 

 End of total phase. 

 Last contact with the shadow 

 Last contact with the penumbra 



If we call the moon's diameter 1, she liViU be immersed 1643 of tlidt 

 diameter in the earth's shadow at the time of the middle of the 

 eclipse. Measuring from the northernmost point of the moon's 

 limb towards the east, the lirst contact with the shadow will take place 

 93° fromsuch northpoiut,andthe last contact at 74°towards the west. 

 This is as s;en with the naked eye, not as viewed in an inverting tele- 

 scope. Only three occultations of fixed stars by the moon will happen 

 this month at all at convenient hours. The first happens on the 25th, 

 when x' Orionis, a star of the 61 h magnitude, will disappear at the 

 moon's dark limb, at 36 minutes after midnight, at an angle from 

 her vertex of 178°, reappearing at ih. 20m. the next morning at a 

 vertical angle of 258°. Then, on the 2!lth, 7 Leonis, a 6^ magnitude 

 star, will disappear at the moon's bright limb, at 5h. 41m. P.M., at 

 an angle of 332° from her vertex, and reappear at her dark limb at 

 5h. 55m. P.M. at an angle from her vertex of 298°. And, lastly, on 

 the same evening ;}/ Leonis, of the 6th magnitude, will disappear at 

 the bright limb of the moon, at 9h. 13m., at a vertical angle of 320°, 

 reappearing at her dark limb, at 9h. 24m. P.M., at an angle of 300° 

 from her vertex. These last two reappearances will happen very 

 near to the illuminated part of the moon. The beginning of the 

 new year finds the moon in Cancer, which, at oh. A.M. on January 22, 

 she quits for Leo ("The Sea.sons Pictured," plate xxiv.). She is 

 travelling through Leo until 7h. P.M. on the 4th, at which hour she 

 enters Virgo (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxv.). Her journey 

 through Virgo occupies her until 9h. 30m. P.M. on the 7th, and she 

 then crosses the boundary into Libra (" The Seasons Pictured," plate 

 xxvi.). As she travels over Libra, she arrives, at 2h. 30m. P.M. on 

 the 9th, at the western edge of the narrow northern spike of Scorpio, 

 and when 9 hours later she has traversed this, it is to emerge in 

 Ophiuchus. At 1 P.M. on the 11th she leaves Ophiuchus and enters 

 Sagittarius. Here she continues until 7h. 30m. P.M. on the 13th, 

 then quitting Sagittarius for Capricornus ("The Seasons Pictured," 

 plate xxi.). Her passage through Capricornus is completed at 

 7h. P.M. on the 15th, and she then passes into Aquarius. Here she 

 remains until lOh. p.m. on the 17th, passing at that hour into Pisces 

 (" The Seasons Pictured," plate xxii.). Journeying through Pisces, 

 she, at6h. P.M. on the 18th, arrives on the confines of Cetus, into 

 which she plunges. From this she emerges at Ih. A.M. on the 20th, 

 and re-enters Pisces ; only, however, to pass for a second time into 

 Cetus at 2h. A.M. on the 21st : when at 8 o'clock that night she 

 finally leaves Cetus it is to pass into Aries (" The Seasons 

 Pictured," plate xxiii.). She is travelling through Aries until 

 9h. P.M. on the 22nd, when .she enters Taurus. In the course of her 

 passage over Taurus she comes at 6h. 30m. P.M. on the 25th to the 

 western edge of the most northern prolongation of Orion. This it 

 takes her eleven hours and a half to cross, and when at 6 o'clock the 

 next morning she has traversed it, she emerges in Gemini (" The 

 Seasons Pictured," plate xxiv.). She leaves Gemini for Cancer at; 

 Ih. A.M. on the 28th, and Cancer, in turn for Leo, at Ih. P.M. on the 

 29th. She is still in Leo at midnight on the 31st. 



A Quick Calculator. — Reuben Fields, a most extraordinary 

 individual, has returned to his home in Kentucky, after an ab- 

 sence of some years in the West. Fields is known far and wide 

 as the " Mathematical Prodigy," and, indeed, he is a wonderful 

 creature. Perfectly illiterate, not being able to tell one letter or 

 figure from another, he bears the same relation to the science of 

 mathematics that Blind Tom does to music. Fields is now about 

 twenty-eight years of age, and his ability to quickly and correctly 

 solve the most difficult problems was discovered when he was eight 

 years old. That faculty continued to develop until he is able to 

 solve, with amazing rapidity, any problem in simple or compound 

 fractions, or anything in the higher branches of mathematics. For 

 in.stance, the moon is a certain number of miles from the earth ; a 

 grain of corn is so long ; how many grains will it take to connect 

 the points ? The answer to this or any other problem comes like a 

 flash. He can also tell to a second the time of day or night I This 

 marvellous man has been tested by the most expert mathematicians, 

 and his answers to problems have been found to be invariably 

 correct. He claims that his power is a direct gift from the Creator, 

 and liable to be taken away from him if not properly used. The 

 possessor of this gift never went to school a day in his life, and 

 never did a d.ay's work, except to occasionallj- aid merchants in 

 invoicing their goods, and in this business he has been known to 

 keep a score or more of clerks busy footing up columns of figures. 

 He is a very large man, and has a look the reverse of intelligent. 

 Having no occupation, he lives among his acquaintances, putting 

 up wherever night overtakes him. He is very proud of his gift, and 

 frequently compares himself to Samson. Fields gave an exhibition 

 of his powers before Governor Crittenden and other distinguished 

 men of Missouri on a late visit West, and they gonsider him one of 

 ■ the greatest wonders of the century. 



