THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 61 
tronomer, at a still later date, in which the shades of Saturn 
and the eliptical curve are incorrect, as the planet does not re- 
present any such shadowy form. Divini seems to have con- 
ceived that the curve on each side was attached to the planet, 
but when Huygens published his discovery of the ring of 
Saturn, Divini contested its truth because he could not perceive 
the ring through his own telescope, and so there was a wordy 
war between the two astronomers for some time, one making 
assertions about the rings and the other denying the same. 
Fig. 11 is the representation given by Fontana, a Neapoli- 
tan astronomer, in which he represents Saturn as having two 
crescents, one on each side attached to its body, with intervals 
between the planet and the crescents. 
Fig. 12 is a view represented by Gassendus, a celebrated 
French philosopher, in which he represents the planet as a large 
ellipsoid having a large circular opening near each end, and if 
the representation were the true one each opening would be 
30,000 miles in diameter. 
Fig 13 is a very singular form given by Ricciolus 
(Ret-sho-lus), representing two globes, 30,000 miles in diame- 
ter, one on each side of the planet, which he thought were con- 
nected to the body of Saturn by curved bands. 
Thus it was in the early days of the infant telescope that 
only two general opinions were formed by the philosophers re- 
garding the construction of Saturn, either that the planet was 
composed of three distinct parts separate from each other or 
that the appendage on either side of it was attached to the body 
oi the planet. 
The idea of a ring surrounding the body of Saturn at an 
equal distance from every part of it seems never to have been 
thought of until Huygens, by numerous observations, proved 
that the planet is surrounded by a permanent ring, which never 
changes its position, and accompanies the planet in its revolu- 
tion around the sun in 29% years. 
All the contentions, arguments and disputes about the 
planet Saturn that took place some 250 years ago were due to 
the imperfection of the telescope then in use among scientific 
