New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-02-21
SATURN.

fcf cd and ,escued from the neglect under whicn IL
has lain fnce Archimedes But the recent preaching
in Italy of the Copernican theory Of the celestial mo-
tonsnow bali century after the death OF the great
reyiyer Of tina. old Pythsgorean docrine-has inclined
him 70 astronomical studies; and the marvellous opt
cal continuance, which happy hin. from Holland has
enabled him to construct has folly confirmed him in
devotion TO the stars al have Saturn triple" he
exelaims What does he mean by that The brevi'y
~ the despa.ch indicates that himself could offer No
satisfactory explanation But there the fact was He
continues to watch the strange body. In course OF
time the trpcity grows confused and at length van
ishes!
The Tuscan fellow-etzeDs Of Calico were not over
enlightened. They considered him dreamer. Tney
laughed his pretended stellar discoveries to derison
That the earth turned over, too-what an absurdity
What prevents the loose things from rolling off, in that
casel And they laughed again. Bot the philosopher
answered their mockery, Come and see. Bot they
knew well enough withou. seeing. They were NOT
going to make themselves laughingstock Of all the
town. And so the people Of foolish generation went
without seeing-a common lot But the foolish towns
men of Tuscany were not without their triumph; for
Calico looks Disconnected. Something has evidently
gone wrong among the stars--what sils the dreamer
Saturn is no longer tripIcate, but is round" We
knew il. OF course we did. The old tube lies You
told us before that Jupiter as big as the moon,
when we saw with our own eyes that it was only one
Of the little stars which God made 10 rule by night"
and that the moon was duh cod like the earth, diver
siaed with hill and valley when we have all seen and
watched from childhood aud know that is the lu
ninous queen of the night the second glory of the
skes Won told us that Jupiter was Inhabited and had
eight moons jus ike our one, and that Saturn was
made of three spheres all in line and that Venus
was horned like the young moon, and other such lies
| Now Won saw Saturn is round. Does Calico think
| ANY BODY believes him p This was momen, of tri-
umph to the enc mics tho philosopher and his ne
TANGLED tea ,hings; and trial il to the brave
! and patient Tuscan, " Has some demon been mock
! ing me 7" he muttered in halfcredulousness. No,
| Calico neither has some demon been hooking thee,
nor has thy magic glass led Saturn was tripuca'e
when thou didst tell Keper go, and is round now.
| Thou wouldst have known why, couldst thou have
leaned forward two centuries and stood in Bath En-
gland. by the side Of brother astronomer, who
like thee had constructed with his own hands
| wondrcus tube which had brought down out Of the
skies new revelation second only to that lately an
nounced by thee. Sir VIM. Hcrschel would have
shown thee wonders astonishing in thy eyes than
planetary discs Venus crescenshaped, or Jupiter
with four attendant moons, any all other marves
which thy infinitely precious little glass, magnifyiDg
thirty times has disclosed 10 thee After gratifying
thy unbounded and insatahle admiration of the won
derfu forty feet reflector. be would have shown thee
Saturn the most extraordinary object in the solar sys-
tem a magnificent silver globe, reposng in a wide ring
of like appearance and surprising splendor. This is
ty triplicate planet The second and third parts,
which thy telescope Disclosed either side OF the
trail Disc are the overlapping portions of the crcumu-
pla plv " W
o-bita revolution of the planet shall have borne it
nesr lite equinox the ring Will be scarcely to be seem
and when the planet shall have reached its equinox,
and the plane of the ring passes through the EARTH il
will vani,h quite-for then look upon its thin edge
and Saturn becomes thy round planet again, which
20 sorely perplex ed and dsheartened thee.
| DRIED up be the springs of emotion in him who
looks through good telescope for the first time upon
Saturn, half buried in bis ring of light, whou. rap
ture. IL seems unsubstantial glory which the
magic tube has evoked Out of the viewless air. 1t
lies there bathed in lovely light, repoSng as calmly as
an infant in ts cradle is this form of wondrous beauty
yonder pale star which have from childhood
without suspicion of tho glory that lay hidden
behind its lack luttre beams What softness what
repose what symmetry of form wha. perfection Of
outline what an altogether exquisite thing of beauty
Jupiter journeys around the sun at an amazing DIS
is nearly twice far. One hundred millions, five
hundred millions and nine hundred million represent
nearly the relative distances from the ofthese plan
cts. We have to resort to device TO think of such
astonishing distances A cannon ball shot from the
sun, ard flying at the uniform rate of five hundred
miles an hour would require about twenty years to
reach the EARTH and two hundred to reach Saturn
1t will be supposed that long year is allowed to
this remote planet to accomplish its journey around
the run; for its path less than weny-eigh. hun
dfed millions Of miles in extent. While is plodiing
on at the rate of about twenty Thousand miles an hour
it the earth continually passing it in its annual cir
cult going at the rate Of some sixty.nine thousand
miles hour and gaining the goal twenty -nine times
and hale Of another while its faro competitor il COM
plelng single revolution. a Saturnian child born |
in the of will be thirty years old terres-
tally Speaking before the round of seasons shall have
been completed and brought back to il it, birth-time
iowers. We must suppose the poetic faculty to have
fits and salts Of outcroppng at longseplra periods
Of life there, tbis seasonal arrangement of Saturn
will compel the Muses. to be very partial in their gifts
Of song For the Inspiration Of Springtme will come
ID the child born in the Spring. after it has passed the
poetic period Of its life and has become well established
in business: while the infant born in Autumn will fud
whsn first love is budding in his bosom, tha. flowers
budding co and for long years terrestrial
he viii sing Of nothing but the reign of lovely June
But stop has Saturn any alterations of seasons at al
CeIany. His equator is inclined to the plane of his
orbit in about twenty degrees, that Of the earth
being Lot far different viz: iwenty-three and q baG
S.fuu is the rtmO.eet of the five Old ,f,oofs or /