THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
59 
half of her illuminated hemisphere is seen by 
us as a half-moon phase; she is biig-htest, how- 
ever, about 33 days before slie reaches a. Wiieii 
Venus passes the point o of superior conjunc- 
tion, wiiere she appears as a miniature full 
moon, she will be seen east of the Sun, and 
must, therefore, set after the Sun, and is an 
evenin<i: star. From o to /" her apparent motion 
is direct ; at / she ag-ain becomes stationary, 
and from there to v her apparent motion is 
retrogi'ade or backwards in the heavens. The 
amount of retrogradation is greatly exag-gerated 
bj' supposing- the earth at rest. 
Venus rises on tJie 15th at 4h. 13m. morning-, 
appearing as a small half-moon when seen in 
the telescope. New evidence of an atmosphere 
upon this planet was discovered at the recent 
transit. 
Mars rises at 6h. 19m. morn., Feb. 15th. 
Jupiter maintains about the same place as 
given last month, being stationary on the 15th- 
The Moon will be ^11° south of him on the 16th, 
and he passes the meridian on the 10th at 8 
o'clock in the evening; 25th, at 7 p.m. Eclipses 
of his satellites may be seen in the evening-s as 
follows (K. being for reappearance, and D. for 
disappearance. See note last month) : Feb. % 
6.56 K.; 3d, 7.39 K.; 9th, 9.31 E.; 10th, 9.34 K; 
16th, 6.58 K.; 23d, 8.18 D.; 26th, 7.55 E. The 
transits transpiring in the early evening: are: 
2d, 7.12 Ingress, 9.29 Egress; 5th, 8.43 Eg.; 9th, 
9.1 In.; 18th, 7.35 Eg-.; 25th, 6.47 Eg. Occulta- 
tions : 16th, 7.2 Dis. ; 17th, 8.4 Dis. 
Saturn is at east(?rn quadrature, or 90° east of 
the Sun on tlie 8th, and 1| deg:rees south of the 
Moon on the 13th. He passes the meridian on 
the 10th at 5.49 p.m., and 25th at 4.53 p.m. The 
most distant and largest of his satellites, Jape- 
tus, is quite easily seen in small telescopes. 
This satellite will be at greatest eastern elonga- 
tion Feb. 16th. The next in size, Titan, can be 
easily seen at the present time, being at western 
elongation on the 9th and 25th, and at eastern 
elongation on the 1st and 17th. 
Uranus will be brightest March 12th, and may 
be readily seen with opera-glasses during Feb- 
ruary. He rises as follows: 10th, 8.1 eve.; 25th, 
6.55 eve. ; being about 2° S. of the 3d Ma^. Star' 
Beta Leonis, midway between Eegulus and 
Spica. 
EPHEMERIDES OF THE PRINCIPAL STARS AND 
CLUSTERS, FEB. 20, 1883. 
H. M. 
Alpha Andromeda (Alpheratz) sets 9 51 p.m. 
Omicron Ceti (Mira) variable " 9 59 " 
Beta Persei (Algol) variable " 2 10 a.m. 
Eta Tauri (Alcyone or Light of 
Pleiades) in meridian 5 39 p.m. 
H. M. 
Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran) in merid. 6 27 p.m, 
A^p/ia Aurig{£5 (Capella; " 7 6" 
i^eto Orionis (Eigel) " 11"- 
Alpha Ononis (Beteiguese) " 7 47 " 
Alpha Canis Majoris (Siriusor Dog 
Star/ in merid. 8 38 "• 
Alpha Canis Minoris (Procyon) in 
meridian 9 31 '-^ 
Alpha Leonis (Eegulus) in merid, 11 59 " 
Alpha Virginis \ Spica) rises 9 53 " 
Alpha Bootis Arcturus) " 8 56 " 
Alpha Scorpionis (Antares) rises 2 3 
Jl/ /ta Lyrae (Vega) • " 11 36 
^Zp/ia Aquillae ( Altair) " 3 16 
Alpha Cyg-ui (Deneb) 0 43 
Alpha Pisces Australis (Fomalhaut) 
invisible. 
Penn Yan, Yates Co., N. Y. 
A.M. 
p.m. 
A.M. 
The Tower of Nanking". 
The celebrated porcelain tower, near Nan- 
king, China, must have been very beautiful in 
its perfection, if we accept the statements of 
its various historians, who differ so little iu 
their accounts that one does for all. From 
them we learn its form was octagonal, nine 
stories high, tapering as it rose to the height of 
261 feet from the ground, the circumference of 
the lower story being 120 feet. The body of the 
pagoda was of brick, but its face was composed 
of porcelain tiles of many colors. Each storj^ 
formed a kind of saloon, through which ran 
the spiral stair-case leading to the summit, 
and whose walls were covered with small 
gilded idols resting in niches, the entire apart- 
ment richl^^ painted and gilded. Each story 
was defined by a projectir^g cornice of green 
tiles, from whose points gilded bells were hung. 
The roof was overlaid with copper, and above 
it rose a mast thirty feet high, capped by a 
golden ball and coiled about by an immense 
band of iron, appearing like rings from below. 
The base of this shaft was an iron ball formed 
of two halves, the outer surface of which is still 
magnificiently embossed, for one half rests 
where it fell, the only tangible thing in the mass 
of ruin. The oth(w half, weighing twelve tons, 
being broken by the fall, was recast into a tem- 
ple bell. Who were they that fashioned this 
beautifid casting, worthy the hand of a master ? 
Whose writing and inscription embellished its 
face, unlike any Chinese workmanship ? Whose 
skill was great enough in a.d. 1330 to place a 
ball of iron thirty-six feet in circumference, 
weighing twpnty-four tons, upon a pedestal 
261 feet high ? This ball was the receptacle for 
various treasures calculated to waiid off evil in- 
