Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-04-07

| DSC uOW tlOqutHIiJ tut IOflucHCt
Journal discourses on the stars:
The evening sky is now made brilliant
by the unusual presence of the three
most interesting planets of our system :
Jupiter, Venus and Mars.
/ Venus, peerless in lustre, may be seen
in the early evening in the west, shining
in solitary splendor before the lesser
lights have appeared to dispute her
sway She is passing to her greatest
eastern elongation, and every evening
increases her apparent distance from the
sun and adds few minutes to her stay
above the horizon.
Jupiter, almost as brilliant as Venus,
though seven times as far from us, is
seated on his starry throne high in the
meridian above our heads, surrounded
by bright Aldebaron and the sweet in
fiuence of the Pleiades. He is the mag
nifioent brother planet of whom we are
so proud, and thirteen hundred worlds
like ours piled upon each other would
only equal his vast dimensions.
Mars, radiant in ruddy light, is a con-
spicuous object in the eastern heavens
Regulus and Spiea are his attendant
stars, their soft Light paling under his
brighter beams, r
No one who has an eye for the beauty
of the star-spangled skies can have failed
to admire the serene and surprising
beauty of the star-lit evenings Of the past
week. Last Friday evening was partic-
ularly noticeable. A cloudless sky and
majestic arch of the deepest azure
formed the background of the picture.
Venus was near the horizon, shining in
soft, pensile beauty. Above her hung
the crescent moon in silver light, and
surrounded by halo of small circum-
ference, but rejecting every color Of the
rainbow. Nearly overhead beamed the
mild radiance of Jupiter, encompassed
by the brightest twinkling groups that
sparkle in the celestial vault. Far of
in the eastern sky slowly rose the red
| planet Mars.
Planets or wanderers" the Greeks
called the members of the solar system
from the strange motions, now forward,
now stationary, now retrograde, which
they watched but could not comprehend.
Science has made these intricate move
ments clear as the daylight to all who
are willing to devote little study to the
subject, For the next two months Venus
will approach Jupiter, nearly oyertaking
him at the time of her greatest elonga-
ton, while Mars will retain his sway in
the east.
Venus is the most nearly like the
earth of any of the planets, and her
coming transits of 1874 and 1882 are
being anticipated as astronomical epochs.
Mars is better known to US than any Of
the planets, and the only one where we
can actually see oceans and continents,
morning and evening clouds, and zones
of snow and ice. Jupiter is the great
planet, whose vast mass is always pro-
ducing commotion in the system,
either causing immense spots on the
sun, or turning comets out of their or
bits, or bringing about the sun.epoch of
magnetic storm. The probability that
he has not cooled off, but is a sun him
self to the moons revolving around him,
is the interesting question in his consti-
tuition which is puzzling the brains Of
Astronomers.
No thoughtful observer can look upon
these glorious planets, now shining so
brilliantly in our evening sky, without
pondering upon the. suggestive problem
of whether they are worlds with living
inhabitants like ours. Everything has
been discovered existing among them
but life, while results almost as wonder
full as the existence of organic life have
already rewarded the study of astrono-
mers. If simple instrument ike the
spectroscope has revealed their constitu-
ton so wonderfully resembling our own,
we surely may have faith that some
equally-simple means for detecting the
presence of life remains among the un-
discovered treasures of the future.
Happy will be the philosopher who finds
the key which shall unlock the hidden
secretl