﻿INTRODUCTION. 



For, although we are so wicked as to say ' there *s nothing in it,* 



The astronomers assure us 't is a thousand miles a minute ! 



All evidence that we may get from the senses that we own 



Is nothing more (they tell us) than were we stick or stone ! 



They have long since failed to trust them, as Arago plainly tells us ; 



And yet, to trust these very men, old Etiquette compels us ! 



Trust them ! of course we will, when Nature 's represented ; 



But from putting faith in theories may we ever be prevented. 



And then, again, 'tis very plain that Nature 's always taught her 



Sons to seek a level surface on the top of water. 



But Nature and her sons must learn of the savans who will teach them : 



For of theories they have enough, and who shall dare impeach them ?— 



1 The Earth a globe, and having on its surface lake and sea, 



1 What other form than globular can the surface of them be ? ' 



But water must be LEVEL ! — ' 0, well then, never mind ! 



* That 's but a trifling circumstance, some opening we shall find : 



' Just say that level 's convex ; and convex, say 't is level ; 



'And, then, all the mean objectors, we can send them to the 



' Books we publish far and wide, just to have our views in, 



1 And they will find them, one and all, instructive and amusing.' 



We have been told, in language bold, that the distance of the Sun 



From Earth, in '64, is millions NINE TY- ONE ! 



In '63, and years gone by, 'twas taught in every school, 



And who forgot 'twas NINETY- FIVE was considered as a fool ! 



But trace the figures further back, and see the great variety 



That has been taught for sober truth in respectable society : — 



There's EIGHTY-ONE, and FIFTY-FOUR, and TWELVE,— it is a 



fact,— 

 Have all been told, in earnest, in the science called " exact!'* 

 But 'tis not only here, indeed, that error has been found ; 

 One wrong begets a thousand, till the error runs its round : 

 The planets, one and all, have size and distance altered, 

 According to astronomers, who never yet have faltered ! 

 In fact, the last mistake that 's found in the distance of the Sun 

 Is considered to be progress — as a battle nobly won ! 

 Four million miles is ' nothing' when 'tis told of Earth or Mars, 

 And when million million millions is the distance of the stars ! 

 The velocity of Light 's been told to the millionth of a second : 

 As though 't were possible, by man, that such could e'er be reckoned ! 

 The Sun itself, 't is said, has been clearly weighed and measured ; 

 And the figures of the reckoning have been kept and dearly treasured. 

 But " Common Sense" and Reason will never fail to show 



