THE GREATEST PLANET. 185 



studied, the more confident will the observer become that 

 he is not looking at any solid objects he is looking at a 

 vast mass of clouds by which the entire globe of Jupiter 

 is surrounded. He will see that these clouds are so thick 

 and so dense that even his greatest telescope is never able 



Pig. 18. Views of Jupiter. 



to pierce down through them and obtain a glimpse of the 

 solid interior of the globe. Indeed, it seems very doubt- 

 ful whether the words " solid interior " can be rightly 

 used with regard to this planet. 



Although we do not seem to see anything which can be 

 regarded as solid on Jupiter, yet we can hardly draw the 



