New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-16

distance OF the sun 'rom venus and The dstan.s
of Venus from planet Then II Venus were 4,
such portion thst line drawn from given potps
upon the earth formed tangent TO the orts, a
Venus, and radius Of that orbit formed mn,
susle with tie tangent, according to geomssr;e.,
principles il was easy to ascertain the length Of
the other side Of the triangle which constituted
the distance of the sun from the earth The lecturer
illustrated this part Of his lecture with spproprise s
grams, and then entered into abstract disqusssoo
relative to the esrts attraction the compared
with that Of the suns upon the earth, and also the
method BY which !, was claimed the specific gravity Of
the sun and other planets was determined. The lee
,urers exposition Of this branch Of bis dsco.rse w,s
somewhat ab.tru,e and would require the aid Of the
higher mathematics to enable one to justly realize
Prof O. then proceeded TO view the the source
of light heat and mechanical power Is was generally
known of course. that the was the source Of I'll
light but il was not go generally known or thought a.
that the sun was also the origin of all the colou pre-
sented to the eye.
IL rally known that hence summer bor
row,d her green mantle and winter her vestsl robe
that every eower OF the garden was not bright and
beautiful Of ITSELF but simply because it reelected Tie
Guns rays. and borrowed all its tints and attire
from the solar beams Nor it well known
that all the splendid coors Of the mineral kingdom
were but the reflection OF the suns rsys-the purple
of the sapphire-the green of the emerald-,he
red OF the ruby or the brian, light the diamond al
came from tha, source. It was worthy to eonsdes
next the solar beam in relation heat All knew that
heat penetrated to the very sources Of life in ali the
vegetable and animal kingdoms. so intimately con
nccted wss heat with the vitality Of the vegetable that
withdrawn it anguished died. and all its beauties d.
caved and wi,hered. Wherever the suns rcvivifyns
heat was withdrawn there nature seemed to be re.
turning TO It's original state OF chaos. SO closely WA
man and the life of all ANIMALS connected with She heC
which he and they drew from the sum- that il with.
drawn man would droop, die or hold desperate con
aict with the elements. But il also far from
general apprehension that the sun was the orb
Gin of all the mechanical forces Of the earth
that il caused the rivers TO dow and the winds 10
whistle Withdraw the sun and the rivers become
hard as adsmant and the winds are lued into
deathlke calm And If we reflected that our fuel was
derived from vegetable decomposition, might carry
on the idea little farther, and say that the made
our steamships TO plough the ocean, and the locomo
tive ply with the speed OF the wind along It's iron track
Was il strenge, therefore, tlue human nature should
bow down in worship OF the sum- IL appeared TO him
that of all idoster the Peruvian and Persian Asg sni
others who worshiped the sun, were tue most venid
Still we who enjoyed the light OF Revelation, might
bow lowlily upon this His iootstool, who made the
esrth and the sun and all the heavens, saying with
Milton:
Thou Sun ofihis great world the eve and soul,
Acknowledge Him thy greater. Sound HIS praise,
In thy eternal course, both when thou climbst
And when high hast gained and when thou faPS"
From the SUM- the monarch OF the heavens Il was nau
raj to turn to the moon the queen Of the skies Owing
to the OF the mOoa telescope observations
hts.l
drawings OF the moon when but few days old, show
ing the volcanoes, mountains and valleys appearing
uron ts surace Brief alusion was made the modes
of ascertainng the existence Of mountains upon the
moon and also to the peculiar conformation Of those
mountains and the great valleys by which the moons
surface is so deeply indented Much attention nhe lee
,urer obseryed) had been given to observations Of tho
moon for the purpose of pcrfecting the lunar
tables for the benefit of navigators The great
problem which occupied the attention Of astrono-
mers for years was to ascertain the Longitude It
sea- by aid of the lunar tables. For that object New
ton wrote his immortal Principal and La Place HE
Mechanique Celeste Prof o. here took occasion 10
correct mifapprehenson which had arisen 10
regard to himself and gained much currency u
the time OF the celebrated Moon hoax In this
City. 1t was this: party of young ladies' and
gentlemen went up to Newliayen and called
on him requesting to look through us
large telescope in the Observatory. lie accededp
the request, and while the party were engaged win
the telescope, gentleman near him asked what KIND
of views the telescope would give II directed over he
neighboring country He observed that ne oneee
reced it over the adjacent Country and distinctly u"
a woman occupied at washtub, thou "a the distance
considerable. young lady heard the reply nd
thought he talking OF the moon (laughterl and %
her return to New York innocenty propagatcd me
story that lie had women In the moon washing
clothes in tub (lsughterl He alluded 10 the mater
0hough at n very late day. Ia order to correct ne
mistake made concerning him. AS TO the Oft sskN
question: "Were there people in the mooni' he
would not undertake to say anything this occasion,
More laughter The next topic to which be
would point attention was the beautiful uniformity Of
the laws and motions Of the heavenly bodies The sun
turned upon his axis from west to east and ell
the other planets revolved In the direction, and
according TO the law the satellites moved around
their primaries with tie exception Of the satellites
Uranus which moved from east 10 west; and 90 faf
know, all the satellites rcvolved around ther
own axes in pursuance OF the general law governing
the revolutions Of the planetary bodies All the subO
dinae sysems were on the came plan as the superior
Jupiter and his system but repetition OF the enr
toiaI fybtHL GctDg Liiht t1c shinc ihWo so'oih'"-
the planets, each might be looked upon as stn
forming integral part of great planeT
confederation Behold here prototype of our gionss
Union. [Applausel lie had now to talk of wondss
and he should feel some hesitation in stalking his cfsS
for the truth Of the statements he about to me
were he addressing less intelligent audience. hg
doubted bis crediblity, let him remember that al
other men astronomers loved truth most. Ther~
he did not desire to create anything like marveS
ness in the minds of his hearers. Comets we ny
regard foreigners in our system, not as spe<nv
our language, wearing different costume hsvnsr
cular manners, while al the rest were allied BY
snaloges, acknowledging controlling powss-~ j
sun. The comets, however, upon coming into owD x
lily obeyed the laws of our system while they renn
but their stsy was never very long, for they sps~'
took their way {or al tant reoions far without ne