July 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



153 



actually be seen sometimes a few degrees outside this belt. 

 This extra wandering beyond the tropics of Cancer and 

 Capricorn lias not been taken into account in the figure. 



Venu! 



•^ectijon of Equatorial Bell 

 f/)oki/iff due W. atSiin.sct Lot SZ" ~V 



Jupiter 



The, same. JLat. 36' 

 ■i vv- 30" 



Ji'. 



Secondly, the people of Chaldiea and Southern Europe 

 have an infinitely belter climate than we have. Their sky 

 is more free from clouds and haze, and the transparency of 

 the air is greater, often allowing bright celestial objects 

 to be seen down to the horizon. Sir R. F. Burton speaks 

 of the " glorious desert " with its '• translucent skies that 

 show the red stars burning upon the very edge and verge 

 of the horizon." 



Thirdly, in Eastern cities, especially in ancient days, the 

 buildings were probably not, as a rule, very high, and the 

 flat roots were conducive to studying the heavens without 

 inconvenience. 



Moreover, as a general rule, fires would be little needed, 



aud this alone tends to preserve the clearness of the air. 



The circumstances of the East, 



♦ therefore, are highly favourable to 



naked-eye observation, and even 



invite it. 



Those who have sojourned in low 

 latitudes — not necessarily within 

 the tropics, but from 30° to 40° 

 either N. or S. latitude — will no 

 doubt remember how favourably the 

 heavenly bodies are seen, especially 

 after sunset and before sunr-ise, owing 

 to the shortness of the twilight. I 

 have frequently observed in S. latitude 2.5° to 34°, with a 

 feeling akin to awe, some three or four lustrous orbs blazing 

 in the evening sky, and Ihey look, perhaps, still more 

 mysterious when seen in the early dawn. One needs to 

 have been bivouacing, rolled up in a blanket, to appreciate 



an early morning sky. Then no window glass impedes the 

 view, and as soon as one is awake the bright stars are seen , 

 nnd if there are any planets visible, they cannot fail to be 

 observed. Those who have 

 travelled on the upland 

 rolling plains of South 

 Africa (without tents) will 

 probably recall such sights, 

 albeit they are not addicted 

 to a study of Urania and ^ 

 her charms. ^' 



The planet Mercury is 

 generally considered a diffi- 

 cult object in our latitude 

 for naked-eye observation, 

 although with a little care 

 at favourable elongations, 

 and with a clear sky, there 

 is no difficulty in seeing 

 him. 



In lower latitudes Mercury becomes a 

 brilliant object, and a very important factor 

 in all planetary collections where he is 

 present. On the evening of February 

 26th, 1894, at Gibraltar, Mercury was seen 

 after sunset as a brilliant star in the 

 western sky, when no other celestial body 

 was visible in the neighbourhood. It seems 

 to be generally inferred in the text-books on 

 astronomy that it was somewhat remarkable 

 that the ancients were acquainted with 

 Mercury ; but to anyone who has seen that 

 planet in the latitude of Greece, it would 

 seem a most remarkable thing if the planet 

 had not been seen and noted as such. 



To illustrate this, two diagrams have been 



prepared representing a configuration of 



Antares, Venus and Mercury witnessed in 



The first represents the planets and star 



c 



Vcniis 



+JutHter 



South Africa. 



(as they were seen in S. latitude, 20°) on the 30th Octo- 

 ber, 1880, and the second the position three days after- 

 wards. Independently of the fact that both Venus and 

 Mercury were much brighter than the star, the 

 motion and change of position of the planets in 

 three days is quite enough to show to the most 

 casual observer that we have to deal here with 

 wanderers among the stars. 



Perhaps the following, extracted from an 

 aslrciiomical diary relating to this, may be of 

 interest ; — 



" 1880, October 19th.— A cloudless sky, with 

 dry air without a particle of dew. The distance 

 between Venus and Mercury is not much altered. 

 The air was so clear down to the horizon that 

 I saw Mercury and \'enus, and one or two stars 

 set quite sharply, with a sudden disappearance 

 quite unlike anything seen in England. 



" October 30th.— Mercury and Venus very 

 finely situated in Scorpio, the contrast of the 

 two white planets with the ruddy Antares 

 being pretty. 



" November 2nd.— A very fine triangle formed 

 by Antares, Venus and Mercury, Venus blazing 

 white, ten times magnitude of the others; Mer- 

 cury next in brightness, a Httle ruddy, and '"^\ 

 Antares smallest, although a most lovely 

 flashing red. 



"November 7th. — Much interested in watching the 

 various changes of position of Antares, Mercury and Venus. 



1^ 



