Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-12-12
The Boy Astronomer.

The nrst transit OF Venus ever seen
by a human eye was predicted by
boy, and was observed by that boy just
as he reached the age OF manhood.
His name was jeremiah Horrox. We
have a somewhat wonderful story to
tell you about this boy.
BE lived in an obscure village near
Liverpool, England. He was lover of
books OF science, and before he reached
the age of eighteen he had mastered
the astronomical knowledge of the day.
He studied the problems of Kepler,
and he made the discovery that the
tables of Kepler indicated the near APP
proach of the period of the transit of
Venus across the suns center. This
was about the year 1886.
Often on midsummer nights the boy
HORROR might have been seen in the
fields watching the planet Venus. The
desire sprung up within him to see the
transit of the beautiful planet across
the disc of the sun, for it Vas sight
that no eye had ever seen, and one that
would tend to solve some of the greatest
problems ever presented to the mind of
an astronomer. So the boy began to
examine the astronomical tables of
Kepler, and by their aid endeavored to
demonstrate at what time the next
transit would occur. He found an
error in the tables, and then he, being
the first of all astronomers to make the
precise calculation, discovered the exact
date when the next transit would take
place.
he told his secret to one intimate
friend, boy who like himself loved
science. The voting astronomer then
awaited the event which he had pre-
dicted for number of years, never
seeing the loved planet in the shaded
evening sky without dreaming of the
day when the transit should fulfll the
beautiful vision he had carried con-
tinually in his mind.
The memorable year came at last
1859. The predicted day of the transit
came, too, al the end of the year. It
was Sunday. It found Horrox, the boy
astronomer, now Just past twenty years
of age, intently watching a sheet OF
! paper in private room, on which Law
the suns reflected image. Over this
reflection of the suns disc on the paper
he expected, moment by moment, to
see the planet pass like moving spot
or a shadow.
Suddenly the church bells rang.
He was very religious youth, and was
accustomed to heed the church bells as
call from Heaven. The paper still
was spotless no shadow broke the
outer edge of the suns luminous circle.
Still the church bells rang. Should
he go? A cloud might hide the sun
before his return and the expected dis
closure be lost for century.
But Horrox said to himself "I
must not neglect the worship of the
Creator to see the wonderful things the
Creator has made"
SO he left the reflected image of the
sun on the paper and went to the
sanctuary.
When he returned from the service
he hurried to the room. The sun was
still shining, and there, like a shadow
on the bright circle on the paper, was
the image of the planet Venus 1t
crept slowly along the bright center,
like the finger of the Invisible. Then
the boy astronomer knew that the great
problems of astronomy were correct,
and the thought filed his pure heart
with religious Joy.
Horrox died at the age of twenty
two. Nearly one hundred and thirty
years afterwards Venus was again seer
crossing theIsun. The whole astronom
ical world was then interested in the
event, and expeditions of observation
were fitted out by the principal Euro
pean governments. It was observed in
this country by David Rittenhouse
who tainted when he saw the vision.