Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-12-02

There's not the smallest orb which thou behodest,
But in his motion like angel sings,
Still gazing to the young g-eyed cherubim:
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this muddy vesture Of decay
Doth grossly close 1t In, 1t cannot hear It,"
-Shakspsare.
There is a great diversity existing among
mankind in relation to the science of Astrono-
my. One class of persons, by their narrow,
darkened minds, and beclouded visions seem to
be prohibited by nature, from tasting the pleas
ures and enjoying the beautirs eff this science.
The bright planetary orbs, the innumerable
stars, the blazing comets, the silvery moon, and
the glorious orb of day. have no beauty, no
grandeur, no sublimity, to their unenlightened
minds; chained down, as they are, by the
groveling pursuits and pleasures of earth, to
contemplation and appreciation of only the vain
and transitory objects around them They can
perceive no harmony among the celestial bodies,
no " music in the Spheres" and while they
may be allowed to remain upon the shores of
time, the only Rnowledge of Astronomy the
soul can obtain and enjoy through " the muddy
vesture of decay" is confined to one star, and
that, the star of Earth.
But there is another class, to whom the sci
ence of Astronomy has "a charm above all other
sciences, and from the study of which they de-
rive more pleasure than from any other earthly
occupation. As they view the blue vault of
heaven, spangled with countless millions of
stars the soul is lost in an effort to fully appre-
ciate and comprehend the wonderful sublimity
and the lofty grandeur exhibited in this mag
nifcent view of the handiwork of the Almighty.
They never tire of beholding the beautiful
moon, with her soft radiance and silvery bright
ness, nor of the bright sun, which seems to
them as q dim reflection of that g sea of glass
mingled with FIRE" the perpetual light of their
eternal habitation
OF this class were all the eminent astrono-
mers of ancient times, who have developed and
enriched the science of Astronomy by their OBJ
servations and demonstrations. Actuated by
no selfnterest, but influenced solely by the at
tachment they had for their vocation, and the
pleasure they derived therefrom, the ancient
Chaldeans and Egyptians, by constantly and
untiringly observing the shape and position of
the fixed stars, separated them into clusters or
consultations Of various figures and shapes,
an9 gave to them their present names. Having
spent their lives in their favorte pursuit.. they
passed away, leaving the science in its then en-
bryo state to succeeding generations, who, in
auenced by the same motive, might carry it for
ward to greater perfection. Men of later years
took up the study in the same spirit as did their
predecessors, and aided by telescopes and other
instruments, explained many phenomena that
had previously been objects of inquiry and
speculations. The planets were separated from
other stars ann found to be vast globes of diff
ferent sizes, revolving around the sun, in differ
ent periods of time and in orbits of their own.
The most of them also were found to be accom-
panied in their revolutions by satellites or moons,
like our own, which revolyes around them as
they do around the sun. Instead of the whole
universe revolving around the earth, as was
supposed, they proved the earth to be round,
and to revolve upon its own axis that it had
motion around the sun similar to the other
material and shaped like other planets, and
presented the same appearance to them that
they do to us. Comets, which had been
objects of dread from remotest antiquity,
they found to be bodies also revolving around
the sun, although in orbits extremely eliptical,
and to observe the same regularity in accom-
plishing their respective rounds, as do the PLAN
cts, and that there is not the remotest danger of
collision between them and the other bodies
of the Solar System.
Among the fixed stars they have made many
curious discoveries. By methods which need
not be explained here, they ascertained that the
nearest star cannot be nearer than nineteen
trillon miles, and that stars of the sixth mag
nitude are not less than nine hundred millions
of miles from us. And yet this distance, great
as it is, is comparatively nothing to the i'm
mense distance which the telescope indicates -
The light of some of the nebule, plainly per-
ceptibe through Herschel's forty feet telescope,
must have been million Of ages IN reaching
the earth, although light is but eight minutes
coming from the sun, a distance of ninety FIVE
millions of miles
The varying brightness Of some of the fixed
stars attract the attention of astronomers, who
have found upon careful examination, with
powerful telescopes, that they have large, dark
spots on their surface, and that their apparent
dimness is caused by these spots being turned
towards the earth, and consequently, it is evil
dent that they have regular rotary motion on
their axes, similar to the aarth and the other
planets.
Many stars which appear to be ono, when
viewed with the unassisted eye, are found, by
the aid Of the telescope, to be double stars, re-
volving around each other. Motions have been
observed among the double stars as fast as eight
hundred and eighty thousand miles an hour.
All these discoveries and observations have
otbeen made in moment. Nearly every age
has contributed to the developments of this sci
ence. The immediate descendants Of Adam
employed themselves in the study of Astronomy,
but it was not until the days of Newton and
Herschel that it was carried to any degree of
perfection.
These observations hath ORION, the eminent
modern astronomer, made for the benefit of his
readers, that they may examine themselves in
the light of the above remarks, and ascertain