Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-03-16
From the Heme and School Journal for
March,
THE HEAVENS IN MARCH.
BY p. A. TowNE.

Often as the remark has been
made, it is nevertheless no less Won
derful that so many of the proud in
habitants of this little globe on
which we dwell give almost no heed
at all to the works of their Creator.
With abundant opportunities to be-
come quite familiar with multitudes
of facts, p reflection upon which
would give constant and gratifying
employment to their highest intel
lectual powers, the great majority
of men do not even learn the names
and positions of the beautiful con-
steliations that nightly challenge
their admiration. Before the art of
committing thought to paper was
known men did better than this.
The old Chaldean shepherds studied
the heavens with intense earnest
ness; and it is likely that in prehis-
tOric times, way back in the dim
ages, before fire had been added as
afavorite element ofchemical knowl-
edge, the stars of heaven did not, as
now, pass utterly unregarded by the
masses of mankind. | may assume
that not one in twenty of those
who read this article has ever taken
the trouble to take look at the lit
tie planet Murcury; and if told that
now, on some morning q little be-
fore sunrise, he may be gratified
with an observation of it, probably
he will not rise from his comforta-
BILE couch to take look at the beau
tiful visitor. "Our fathers" when
they resided" " in caves, and con-
sidered the marrow from the bones
of some wild animal their most dain-
ty morsel, treated the works of their
Creator with more respect, and were
certainly less lazy in their habits.
The truth is, more attention should
be paid in our schools to the study
of the heavens. With globes and
maps always at the command of the
student, there is no excuse for neg
lecting the study of descriptive as
tronomy. 1t can be pursued with
more practical advantage than even
geography. The teacher is not COM
pelled to travel yard to verify his
facts. The heavens illustrate the
handiwork of the Creator; the stars
travel for him, and every night gives
him opportunity to compare the
statements of astronomers with his
own observations.
In this article the object will be to
draw the reader into an exhaustive
examination of the stars above him,
| that he may ascertain the names of
| the most prominent, study their mo-
tions and the limits of the constella-
| tions to which they belong, and be-
come familiar with their relative
sizes and distances, and their rela-
tions to our sun, from some good
treatise on the subject. 1t would
not be well to attempt more in the
few pages at my disposal in this
journal.
On any cloudless night about the
10th day of March, and at about sew
en- O'Clock, let the reader station
himself at some point as free as pos
sible from distractions to the view,
and with his face toward the south,
look up into the heavens. The spec
tacle, as a whole, will be the grand,
est one youchsafed TO human vision
COMPARED with it all artificial seen.
ic displays are infinitely insipid
Fifteen hundred centers of solar sys-
TENS are in the field Of view, some
of which have been gotten up on 8
scale far more magnificent than the
system of which our Earth forms SO
small a part. The Earth is one ot
the smallest, and probably one
of the most unimportant, specks in
the universe. Dissipated, blown
up, utterly blotted out of organized
existence, the fact would never be
heard of by an inhabitant of the
planetary system nearest our own
Before our gaze is a universe of in,
finite extent, the tangible, demon.
strative evidence of a corresponding
infinite intelligence, the First Cause
and Preserver of all things.
Bringing our minds down to spe,
cific objects, the attention is arrest
ed by the great planet Jupiter, the
king of the solar system. As he Is
nothing but planet, we let HIN
wander without further notice
I merely observing that he is in tn,
constellation Gemini, and will be il
Cancer next year at the same time
! The group OF stars that is far NOR,
, attractive than all others in tn
r heavens has just passed the meridi
= an at seven O'Clock, and is apparent
ly moving to the west. -Four larg
stars, which make up a recta = ;
figure, form the shoulders, foo, j.,
knee of the famous constelIatiO!