June 15, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



357 



present a scene of exceeding beauty as the party of 

 observers take their places under the stars. The 

 last lingering rays of twilight faintly sufl'use the west ; 

 the new moon, only a day old, holding the old moon in her 

 arms, is nearing the horizon ; and the zodiacal light spreads 

 its cone of pale gold high up among the eternal stars. 

 Under the dark dome arching above us the brightest stars 

 and clusters of stellar space look down with friendly eyes, 

 and seem to hang low, as if they would hold communion 

 with mortals. Among them tliread the planets Jupiter 

 and Saturn, whose mysterious portals we audacious invaders 

 are seeking to enter this night with necromantic art. Ris- 

 ing from a surface of unbroken snow, and looming up with 

 shadowy indistinctness, the huge telescope seems to pierce 

 the skies, while the observers at its base dwindle to 

 pigmies. 



Aft«-r a short time the instrument is ready for action ; 

 its open eye is turned upon the planet Saturn. The serene 

 star, upon which a moment before we had turned our 

 unaided eye, is suddenly transformed into a creation of 

 surpassing beauty. A superb golden sphere, as large as 

 the full moon, lies before us. Saturn is softly cradled in 

 the protecting embrace of his engirdling rings, and seven 

 of his eight moons are visible as bright points on the dark 

 background of the sky. Titan, the largest moon, has a 

 perceptible disc. Every detail of the magnificent and 

 •complex Satumian system is complete. The outer ring, 

 with its faint line of division ; the division between the 

 outer and inner rings ; the inner or second ring ; the third 

 or crepe ring, closely joined to the second ; the break on 

 the rings formed by the shadow of the planet; and 

 the soft markings on his disc. Nothing is wanted 

 in the minutest details, and there is but one 

 imperfection in the picture. The definition is not 

 good ; the outlines are not clearly defined. The 

 view does not difl'er greatly in dimensions from that pre- 

 sented by a smaller telescope, but planet and rings are 

 flooded with light of delicious brilliancy and softness. 

 Here lies the advantage of a great telescope. It brings to 

 the eye all the light that enters it, so that, within certain 

 limits, the larger the telescope the larger the amount of 

 light it collects, the more easily visible will faint objects 

 become, and the greater the number of objects before 

 ■tmseen that will be revealed. 



Terrestrial colours are muddy in comparison with the 

 celestial hues of liquid gold of the disc and rings, and the 

 ■creamy tints of the belts that cross the disk with the 

 lightness and grace of scudding cloud-bands. The sphere 

 seems almost to stand upright within the encircling rings, 

 only a small portion of the planet being seen beneath 

 them. We have fallen upon favourable conditions for a 

 view of Saturn, for his rings are opening to their widest 

 extent, his northern declination is increasing, and he is 

 •approaching perihelion. 



Jupiter is the next object to test the space-annihilating 

 j)0wer of the instrument. The Prince of Planets is superb — 

 larger than the full moon, though but little larger than we 

 ■have seen him many times in a telescope of 8 in. aperture. 

 He is, however, much brighter ; and though by no means as 

 ■magnificent as Saturn, we have the pleasure of feeling that 

 we see him on a much larger scale. He seems so near that 

 'vre are impelled to put our hands behind the glass and touch 

 him. His broad belts are delicious in colouring, now 

 ^suffused with pale rose or mottled with soft grey, while 

 shades of purple, brown, and delicate green are interspersed. 

 Never before did we behold the variety of tone and tint, 

 the flood of light we see this night. Never did our giant 

 brother seem so near, so grand in proportions, so S3-m- 

 metrical in equipoise. His four satellites are brightly 



beaming on his left, and bear testimony to the power of 

 the telescope by presenting disks instead of points. The 

 famous red spot is wanting in the view. We mourn its 

 absence, for, since 1878, its well-known features have 

 become as familiar and firmly fixed as if they were a per- 

 manent feature on the planet's disk. 



What shall we see next? is the question now discussed, 

 for the extreme cold has congealed tlie oil, and the monster 

 refuses to move. His eye is turned to the meridian, and 

 no eflbrt will make him swerve one inch to the right or 

 left In this emergency, a member of the party volunteered 

 to mount to the top of the pier and lubricate with fresh 

 oil the joints of the giant. The plan is successful, and, 

 with many a shriek and groan, the lower end of the tube 

 rises and the upper end falls, until the Cyclopean eye points 

 to the great nebula in Orion. 



The little wisp of cloud haze visible to the naked eye is 

 transformed into one of the most glorious visions that ever 

 breaks upon the entranced eye of the observer. The most 

 wonderful nebula the northern sky reveals lies before us, 

 filling the whole field of view, and suti'used by a light that 

 never was seen on sea or shore. Now we appreciate the 

 power of the great telescope, the triumph of the optician's 

 art. For definition is of little consequence in observing 

 the shadowy nebula. Light is needed, and light comes. 



The delicacy of the celestial glow that pervades the 

 scene is beautiful beyond comparison. The central point 

 of interest is the famous trapezium, consisting of four 

 bright stars and two smaller ones. ' Around this sextuple 

 group radiate what seem to be the head and Ijranching 

 horns of some huge animal, the trapezium occupying the 

 open mouth, and surrounding a space of sky within which 

 reigns the blackness of darkness. Spiral curves of 

 nebulous haze fill in the field of view, the radiating mass 

 being of a delicate green tint, while dotted over the 

 shadowy haze are many brilliant stars, throwing an element 

 of life into the formless void, and lielping to light up this 

 scene of loveliness and grandeur which no pencil may 

 paint nor pen describe. We feel, while with reverent 

 eyes we gaze upon the picture, that we are looking within 

 tlie eternal gates, and enjoying a glimpse of the glory to 

 be revealed, that " eye hath not seen nor ear heard." 



FIRST - COUSIN MARRIAGES. 



AT a meeting of the Academy of iledicine in Ireland* 

 (Sub-section of State Medicine), Dr. C. A. Cameron, 

 the President, read a paper on consanguineous marriages 

 in relation to deaf-mutism. He described the practices and 

 prejudices in respect of consanguineous marriages amongst 

 ancient and modern nations, civilised, barbarous, and 

 savage. He next reviewed and criticised the memoirs on 

 the subject of the effects produced by the marriage of 

 cousins. On the whole, the evidence seemed to show the 

 effects were somewhat injurious. The statistics in reference 

 to mutes published in the Irish census reports for 1881 and 

 the previous decennial reports were closely examined by 

 the author. It appears that in Ireland in 1881 there were 

 5,13G mutes, of whom 13.5 were the children of first cousins. 

 The author endeavoured to ascertain the proportion of the 

 population who were children of first cousins. He ascer- 

 tained that amongst nearly 8,000 persons the proportion 

 was only 0.57 per cent., or less than one-fourth of the rate 

 amongst deaf-mutes. As the statistics were in great part 

 collected amongst Protestants, the author believed that 

 there were not in all Ireland one person in 200 the oflspring 

 of first cousins, as marriage between persons so related was 



• Keported in the Med ical Press. 



