THE STARS 

 NIGHT BY NIGHT. 



BY 



JOSEPH H. ELGIE. 



" It has been said that it is rare to catch a man musing. But in these delightful 

 pages we are catching all the time the musings of a winsome personality, full of 

 poetry, of enthusiasm, and of sentiment. 



Like the Ancient Sage, he glories in all ' the splendours and the voices of the 

 world.' But most of all does he take to his heart of hearts : 

 ' coelum ac terras camposque liquentes 

 Lucentemque globum Lunae, Titaniaque astra.' 



Many writers on astronomical subjects are unable to resist sprinkling their pages 

 with names selected from the lapidary's list of precious stones. This is not the case 

 with Mr. Elgie. i 



The fervid glow which lights up his musings springs straight from the heart, 

 and tells in unmistakable language that a long-continued contemplation of the 

 beauty, the grandeur, and the mystery of the heavens has never brought to him 

 satiety. There is a grateful freshness, a delectable simplicity, an engaging inno- 

 cence, in the incidental revelations of the inner man which give a singular charm 

 to the volume. 



The author has drawn his inspiration from an inexhaustible fount. His literary 

 tastes are catholic. In this unpretentious volume there is no sign of the book-maker's 

 hand. Its sheer spontaneity makes it a human document of unusual interest and 

 fascination.' ' Westminster Gazette. 



" A delightful journal of a star-gazer, kept by one who is as exact in his science 

 as he is enthusiastic in its praise. 



We have seen so many books, ostensibly for the young astronomer, but utterly 

 unfitted for that purpose, that we had begun to despair of the ideal volume ever 

 coming to light. The nearest approach is in Mr. Elgie's work, which teaches the 

 geography of the sky as it should be taught, and as it was originally learned, without 

 reference to elaborate instruments that are only to be found in an observatory." 



Pall Mall Gazette. 



" At various times Messrs. Dunkin, Ball, Proctor, and others have endeavoured 

 to sow the seed of astronomical interest in the ' everyday person's ' mind, but we 

 doubt if any one has a better chance of succeeding in this than Mr. Joseph H. Elgie. 

 The Stars Night by Night is marked by a disarming simplicity, and the author's 

 glowing enthusiasm for his subject cannot fail to affect the most unromantic mind. 



The author's touch is essentially the ' human ' one. With him, as with Camille 

 Flammarion, astronomy is not a hide- bound business of calculations, but a beautiful, 



