Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1847-01-21

Had Kepler been alive, he would have
predicted the discovery of planets at the
three last of the stations, in order that the
system might terminate with the tenth power
of o. and that the number of the planets
(reckoning the 5 asteroids oRe), might be
TwELvE.f
Having thus conducted our fellow-travel-
lers from the centre to the verge of the PLAN
etary system, from the effulgent orb of day
to that almost Zimmerman twilight where
Ph9bus could scarcely see to guide his
steeds, let us ponder while over the start
ling yet instructive sights which we have en-
countered in our course. Adjoining the Sun,
we find Mercury and Venus, with days and
seasons like our own, varying only with the
peculiarly of their position. Upon reach
ing our own planet, we recognize in it the
same general features, but we find it larger
in magnitude, and possessing the additional
distinction of satellite to enlighten it, and
a race of living beings to rejoice in the pre-
eminence. Ia contrast with Mars, our Earth
still maintains its superiority both in size
and equipments; but upon advancing lit
tie farther into space, our pride is rebuked
and our fears evoked, when we reach the gol-
gotha of our system, where the relics of
once mighty planet are revolving in dissev-
cred orbits, and warning the vain astrono.
mer of another world, that similar fate may
await his own. Detected, but not despair.
ing, we pass onward, and as ifin bright con-
trast with the desolation we have witnessed,
there bursts upon our sight the splendid orb
of Jupiter, eleuen times the diameter Of our
own globe, and proudly enthroned amid his
attendant torch-bearers. When compared
with so glorious a creation, our earth dwin-
dies into insignifcance. 1t is no longer the
monarch of the planetary throng, and we
blush at the recollection that sovereigns and
pontiffs, and even philosophers, made it the
central ball, round which the Sun and Moon
and planets, and even stars, revolved in OBJ
sequious subsection. The dignity of being
the seat of intellectual and animal life, how
ever, still seems to be our own, and if our
globe does not swell so largely to the eye, or
shine so brightly in the night, it has yet been
the seat of glorious dynasties-of mighty
empires-of heroes that have bled for their
country-or martyrs who have died for their
faith, and of sages who have unravelled the
very universe we are surveying. Still, how.
ever, does the thought loom on the minds
horizon, that the gigantic planet which we
are nnderXaluing may be teeming with life
more pureand noble than our own,-with
heroes who have never drawn the sword a.
gainst truth and liberty martyrs who
have never died for error,-and with sages
who have never denied their God. Pursu-
ing our outward course, a new wonder is
presented to us in the gorgeous. appendages
of Saturn, encircled with his triple halo of
rings, and lighted up with his seven moons.
Does this magnificent and splendid arch,
whose circuit is seuen times that of our own
globe, span the azure vault of Saturn mere
ly to delight the prying astronomer, and do
his seven bright attendants serve but to try
his telescopesl Advancing onward, we en-
counter Uranus with his six pledges that he
is the seat of life; and after passing the New
Planet, which awaits the scrutiny of science,
at the frontier of our system, we reach what
is the region, and what may be regarded as
the home of comets,