68 ■ KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 



are not in proportion, that of Neptune would be far beyond the limits of the page ; 

 but the positions of all the bodies are correct. To those who do not make astron 

 omy a study, we suggest that they face south, a)id lay the Review flat on a ta- 

 ble. The north point of the engraving will be toward the south. Place a watch 

 on the Sun, with the 12th hour directed toward the word North, when it will be 

 seen that the motion of all the planets is in a direction opposite to the movement of 

 the hands. Since the page is the plane of the ecliptic, the north pole of the 

 Earth's orbit must be perpendicular to it. The post of the watch is then the 

 axis of the ecliptic. Attach a key, reverse the hands, and the motion of the solar 

 system will be represented. Call the post a pencil long enough to reach the ceil- 

 ing, it would mark a point thereon directly over the center of the Sun in the cut, 

 and the line will be the axis of the echptic, and the point its pole. Call the axis 

 of the Earth another long pencil, then it would make a mark on the ceiling repre- 

 sented in the cut by the point at P. This is the north pole of the equinoctial or 

 Earth's equator extended infinitely. The two points on the ceiling are 233^° apart. 

 Imagine the pencils extended to the celestial vault, and we can learn where the 

 poles are located in space. The pole of the equinoctial is in north declination, 

 88° and 40', only 1° and 20' from the star Polaris; of course it has no right 

 ascension. The pole of the ecliptic is in Draco, dec. north dd'^ 30' and always 

 in R. A. 18 hours. In the cut the axis of the Earth, prolonged, cuts the celestial 

 dome at P. This is because the Earth's axis always leans towards the first 

 degree of Cancer, or in the direction of the figure 6, throughout every revolution 

 around the sun. 



On the day of the summer solstice, in order for the pole to incline towards 

 the first of Cancer, it passes over the Sun, as may be seen by inspection. In 

 space there are no such directions as north, south, east, west, up, down or over. 

 These terms are used relatively to the Earth, and in treating of infinite voids 

 all such ideas must be dispelled from the mind. When the poles of planes are 

 inclined, the planes must be inclined in exact proportion. As the pole of the 

 Earth leans 23° 30' from the pole of the ecliptic, so these planes are inclined by 

 the same amount. Since, 'in the cut, the point P. is inclined from the point SN., 

 towards the north or the top of the book, and as the paper is the ecliptic, the 

 plane of the equator must be depressed below the page, toward the top of the 

 Review,' and elevated above it, in that part of the page nearest the reader, in 

 amount equal to the distance between P. and SN. A tangent to the orbit of the 

 Earth maybe imagined to be drawn from the number 13 in Libra to 23 in Pisces, 

 passing through the Earth's center. This may be taken, without sensible error, 

 to represent the line of the Earth's equator. Revolve it about the center of the 

 Earth as a center, and it will generate a plane in infinite space. This is the plane 

 of the equinoctial. As this is at right angles to the axis of the Earth, and as 

 this plane points towards P., the plane is depressed below and elevated above the 

 paper, along the line from Pisces to Libra, as above indicated. Then, on the 

 19th of June, the entire solar system will be in north declination, the Sun and 

 all the planets being north of the equator of the Earth. 



