Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-06-05
FoF The Grass County Herald.
ksfr0mOEnicas.

Astronomical.
Mr.. Editor see in your last issu,
a letter signed O. G.. Philomath. Mill.
vile, wherein the writer has endeavore.
to dis play some little erudition ON astro
Inomical matters, when unfortunately. h
has committed as gross an error as / ey.
er remember TO have seen in any effu.
sion pretending to knowledge of So
sublime a subject, and couched too If
such confident language. So Mr.. Phi
lomath the Sun enters the constellation
Gemini on the 2lst of June does he p
Are you sure of it? IF he does | can
only say this Globe must have got into
a disorganized condition, and | fear we
shall not have the summer season until
near August. No wonder the weather
continues so cold and ungenial. But
no, no, MIR. Editor, this globe is all right
enough, and it is your correspondent
that is all wrong, and if,he will take the
trouble of just asking any school-boy, he
will, have no doubt, soon convince him
that it is the tropical sign Cancer that
the Sun enters on the 2fst of June, and
not Gemini which he should have known
though in saying SO much must beg
to add, that if your correspondent should,
after all, prove correct, and that this
globe has actually rolled out of its course
and gone back one month, woe to all and
TO our prayers we ought instantly to 60,
for we must soon be rolled into eternity,
and not wait the coming of a naughty
Comet to cause so dreadful a calamity.
10 be serious, never can believe, Mr..
Editor, but many of your readers must
instantly have discovered the great mis-
take your correspondent has made. In
deed, didn't know that should ever
have remarked upon it at all, but the ex-
traordinary bold and confident tone of
the writer might mislead some Of your
readers and produce great ignorance, SO
much to be deplored.
This is not the first time, during my
long experience, | have had to combat
such writers as Mr. Philomath, when
have generally found the old adage strict
~ fulfilled, that
IA little learning is dangerous thing''
Your correspondent seems greatly sur
prised that because the planet Saturn
entered the constellation Gemini on the
2lst Of April he should have got so far
as the 4th degree on the 26th Of May.
Surprised is he? why | will further tell
him that next October he will have got
as far as the 10Th degree, and yet by the
end of the year he will have refrigerated
to the 18th degree. He may probably
exclaim, chow is this go I don't choose
to tell him, and if the gentleman will
take my advice he will, for the future,
keep his pen quiet, especially ina pub
lie Journal, on the subject of practical
astronomy,that he palpably knows SO lit
tie about the theor etical part he can do
as he pleases.
Mr.. Philomath is further pleased to
introduce the old cant term Astrology.
Now what is the meaning of the word
astrology? Why, the practice of fore
telling future events by the Planets, and
by This acceptation of the word, which
is correct, the greater part of the past
and present astronomers in the world,
even Sir Isaac Newton himself was, to
a certain extent, an astrologer, by pro-
Tossing and teaching that the tides are
produced by the influence of the Sun and
Moon but your correspondent appears
not TO be aware there are two kinds of
Astrology, which he has clashed togeth-
Ter as one-I presume for want of know
ing better | allude to genethlaical As
trology, leaving him TO argue and discuss
with others as to its truth, for they are
doctrines | have no faith in; nevertheless
| am not disposed to condemn those who
think otherwise. 1t betrays too much
of that selfish feeling, and might ado
weakness, that all men are right and all
men are wrong. | am acquainted with
several very eminent astronomers who
are strong believers in genethliacal As.
tronomy, and SO was also the late Napo.
leon Bonaparte, who for several years
kept an Egyptian near him, who wa;
learned in these mysteries but that is
their business, not mine. The difficulty
Of learning Astrology is so great thai
very few persons undertake it. A mar
may be an Astronomer and not be ar
Astrologer, but he cannot be an Astro.
logger without first being an astronomer
and then good one.
see | am making this communication
too long, though there are other parts q
your correspondents letter that | should
like to comment upon, but must leave i
for another opportunity.
He who, Mr.. Editor, has vast pretences,
Should be careful how he makes his fences
THos. S. SHAW.
Shaw Hill, near Prairie du Chen,
Nav 81. 1854.