The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1855-02-24
From the Knickerbocker,
Astronomical Lectures.

lectures on astronomy, lnTOuBu llle pages Vi
The Pioneer" magazine, of San Francisco,
In proof of which, please take your eye"
and = throw it over" the following:
TuG SUN.-This glorious orb may be
seen almost any clear day, by looking in
tently in its direction, through a piece of
smoked glass. Through this medium it ap-
pears about the size Of large orange, and Of
much the same color. 1t is, however, some
what larger, being in fact eight hundred and
eighty seven thousand miles in diameter, and'
containing a volume Of matter equal to four
teen hundred thousand globes of the size of
the earth, which is certainly matter Of no
small importance. Through the telescope il
appears like an enormous globe Of fire, with
many spots upon its surface, which, unlike
,hosc of the leopard, are continually chang
ing These spots were first discovered by
gentleman named Calico, in the year 1911.
Though the sun is usually termed and con-
sidcrcd the luminary Of the day, it may no!
be uuinteresting TO our readers to know that
it has been seen in the night A scientific
friend of ours from New England, Mr. r, W.
Emerson, while travelling through the north
ware, on the 2lst of June, 1886, distinctly
saw the sun, in all It's majesty, shining at
midnight! In fact, shining all night =
Emerson is not what you would call super
stitious man, by any means, but he left :
Since that time many persons have observed
It's nocturnal appearance in that part Of the
country, at the same time Of the year. The
pheuOmcnon has never been witnessed in the
latitude Of San Diego, however, and it is
very improbable that it ever will be. Sacred
history informs us that distinguished mill
,arv man named Joshua once caused the sun
10 stand still; : but how he did it is not
mentioned There can, Of course, be no
doubt Of the fact that he arrested It's pro-
eress, and probably caused it to stand still )
but translators are not always accurate, and
we are inclined to the opinion that it might
have wiggled very little when Joshua was
not looking directly at it. The statement,
however does not appear so very incredible
When we reflect that scafaring men are in
the habit of actually bringing the sun do1cn
TO the horizon every day at twelve meridian
This they effect by the means of tool made
of brass, glass and silver, called the sextant.
The composition Of the sun has been a mat
ter of long dispute.
"By close and accurate observation with
an excellent opera-glass, we have arrived at
the conclusion that its entire surface is Gov
cred with water TO very great depth; which
water being composed by process known
at present only TO the Creator of the Uni
verse and Mr.. Paine, of Worcester, Massa-
chusetts, generates carburetted hydrogen gas,
which, being inflamed. surrounds the entire
body with an ocean Of fire, from which we
and the other planets receive our light and
heat. The spots upon its surface are Gimp
ses of water, obtained through the fire; and
we call the attention of our old friend and
school mate, Mr.. Agassiz, to the fact as by
closely observing one of these spots with q
strong refracting telescope, he may discover
new species of fish, with little fishes inside
of them. 1t is possible that the sun may
burn out after while, which would leave
this world in a state of darkness quite un-
comfortable to contemplate; but even under
these circumstances it is pleasant to reflect
that courting and love making would proba-
bly, increase TO an indefinite extent, and that
many persons would make large fortunes by
the sudden rise in value of coal, wood, can
dies, and gas, which would 60 to illustrate
the truth of the old proverb, It's an i'll wind
that blows no body any good
Upon the whole, the sun is glorious
creation pleasing to gaze upon, (through
smoked glass elevating to think upon, and
exceedingly comfortable to every created be-