PLANETARY AND STELLAR PHENOMENA FOR DECEMBER, 1880 489 
m. It is in conjunction with Mercury on the morning of the 23d, distance 1° 5’ 
south. 
Jupiter sets on the 1st at 2h. 03 m. a. m. and on the 31st ooh. 11 m. a. m. 
Owing to its increased distance from the earth I omit the phenomena of its 
moons. 
Saturn sets on the 1st at 3 h. 7 m. a. m. and on the 31st at 1 h. 08 m. a. m. 
Uranus rises on the ist 11 h. 51 m. p. m. and on the 31st at 9 h. 5 m. p. m. 
LVeptune sets on the 1st at 4 h. 47 m. a. m. and on the 31st at 2h. 46 m. 
a. m. 
The d/oon will first appear low down in the southwest on the 2d and will be 
in conjunction with Venus on the 4th; on the sth and 6th it will be in the con- 
stellation Capricornus; on the 7th and 8th it will pass through Aquarius; on the 
gth and roth it will be in Pisces, the present location of Saturn and Jupiter, from 
thence it will pass through Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, 
and on the 28th and zoth it will be in Scorpius, the present location of Mercury. 
The following is the position of the constellation, on the 15th at 6 h. 30 m p. 
m. and will nearly be correct for the entire month. 
Beginning in the north at the horizon we have Ursa Major, drawing aline from 
thence up toward the zenith it will cross Draco, Ursa Minor and the eastern edge 
of Cepheus and then comes Cassiopza situated in the Milky Way, following 
which westward we shall cross Cepheus, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila, while toward 
the east Perseus and Auriga. Inthe south Pegasus the Flying Horse is the most 
prominent constellation. It is marked by four stars of the second magnitude 
which form a large square, each side of which is about fourteen degrees. 
Andromeda, her hands in chains, lies northeast from the northeast corner of 
Pegasus in the direction of Perseus, and contains three bright stars nearly in a 
row. 
Cetus, the whale, occupies the south, extending from the meridian to a point 
three hours east of it. 
A very slight declivity suffices to give the running motion to water. Three 
inches per mile in a smooth, straight channel gives a velocity of about three miles 
an hour. The Ganges, which gathers the waters of the Himalaya Mountains, the 
loftiest in the world, is, at too miles from its mouth, only 300 feet above the level 
of the sea, and to fall 300 feet, in its long course, the water requires more than a 
month. The great river Magdalena, in South America, running for 1,000 miles 
between two ridges of the Andes, falls only 500 feet in all that distance. Above 
the distance of 1,000 miles, it is seen descendiag in rapids and cataracts from the 
mountains. The gigantic Rio de la Plata has so gentle a descent to the ocean 
that, in Paraguay, 1,500 miles from its mouth, large ships are seen which have 
sailed against the current all the way by the force of the wind alone—that is to 
say, which, on the beautiful inclined plane of the stream, have been gradually 
lifted by the soft wind, and even against the current, to an elevation greater than 
_ Our loftiest spires. 
