THE RINGED PLANET. 49 



by Saturnian action, its position is solely determined by Saturn's rota- 

 tion, and it therefore remains constantly equatorial. 



But next a very strange and, at a first view, incredible circum- 

 stance has to be considered in immediate connection with the relations 

 we have been dealing with. 



It sounds startling to suggest that Saturn probably changes at 

 times in size and shape. Yet the evidence in favor of the suggestion 

 is very weighty. It may briefly be presented as follows : 



In April, 1§05, Sir William Herschel, who had hitherto always seen 

 the planet of an oval figure^ found that it presented a strangely dis- 

 torted appearance. It was flattened as usual at the poles, but also at 

 the equator; accordingly, it had a quadrangular or oblong figure 

 (with rounded corners, of course), its longest diameters being the two 

 which (crossing each other in the middle of the disk) passed from north 

 latitude 43° on Saturn to the same southerly latitude. Or we may 

 otherwise describe the appearances presented, by saying that Saturn 

 seemed swollen in both the temperate zones. Herschel found that the 

 same appearance was presented, no matter what telescope he employed, 

 and he tried many, some seven feet, some ten, one twenty, and one 

 forty feet in length. With these telescopes Jupiter presented his or- 

 dinary oval aspect. But Herschel is not the only astronomer by whom 

 such appearances have been noticed. On August 5, 1805, SchrSter 

 found that Saturn's figure was distorted. Dr. Kitchener says that in 

 the autumn of 1818 he found Saturn to have the figure described by 

 Herschel. The present Astronomer Royal has seen Saturn similarly 

 distorted, and on another occasion flattened in the temperate zones. 

 In January, 1855, Coolidge, with the splendid refractor of the Cam- 

 bridge (U. S.) Observatory noticed a swollen appearance in Saturnian 

 latitude 20° ; yet on the 9th the planet had resumed its usual aspect. 

 In the report of the Greenwich Observatory for 1860-'61, it is stated 

 that " Saturn has sometimes appeared to exhibit the square-shouldered 

 aspect." The two Bonds, of America, surpassed by few in observing 

 skill, have seen Saturn square-shouldered and have noticed variations 

 of shape. It seems impossible to reject such testimony as this. Nor 

 can it be disposed of by showing that ordinarily Saturn presents a per- 

 fectly elliptical figure. It is the essential point of the circumstances 

 we are considering, that they are unusual. 



Now, we do not pretend to explain how such changes of shape are 

 brought about. But we would invite special attention to the circum- 

 stance that if these changes be admitted as having occasionally oc- 

 curred (and we do not see how they can be called in question), then the 

 result is only startling in connection with that theory of Saturn's con- 

 dition which, we are here opposing. If Saturn be a globe resembling 

 our earth, then sinkings and upheavals, such as these appearances in- 

 dicate, must be regarded as involving amazing and most stupendous 

 throes — as in fact absolutely incredible, no matter what evidence may 

 vol. iv. — 1 



