Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-01-21
Teathsrs' Go,ntp,.
w. +. PARKER. Edito !,
For the Teachers Column.
Astronomy.

The starsl the stars 60 forth by night.
Lift up thine eyes on high
And view the countless orbs of light
Which gem the vaulted sky
Go forth in silence and alone
This glorious sight to scan
Ana bid thy humble spirit own
The Httleness of man.
Littleness indeed! for who can gaze
upon yon starry heavens and not feel
humbled? What heart so hardened
by pride us to be able to con emplate
the movement of those myriads of
shining spheres, and not feel sweet,
silent influence steal DER his soul;
lifting him rs it were above earth and
its cares, and on the swift wing of
thought waiting him to worlds I'M
kno n, where he can more perfectly
comprehend the Almighty Power
which created those worlds.
Our nights might have only been
lighted by the moon. Why were the
heavens made thus attractive if not
to lead us to make investigation? 1t
was their sublime beauty which caus-
ed Adam before his fall to inquire of
the angel Raphael concerning the
heavenly bodies. To the superstition
Of the heather we owe our first
knowledge of Astronomy. They OBJ
served the position of stars that they
might read the future and decide hu
man dcstinies. But it was the
Greeks who, less superstitious, were
able to contemplate the movements
Of these bodies, and form laws from
observation.
The first Astronomers was Thales,
who taught that the earth was round
and the moon received her light from
the sun; and his pupils, Anaximander
and AnaXagoras. The first taught
that the sun, stars and planets were
inhabited The second maintained
there was but one God; the sun was
4 soil | body as large as Greece; he
also attempted to explain eclipses
and other celestial phenomena by
natural causes. The most celebrated
Greek astronomer was Hipparchus,
called the "Newton Of Antiquitv."-
He was the first to calculate the
length of the year, and discovered
the procession of the equinoxcs.
The first modern astronomer was
Copernicus; it was he who first dis
covered that the earth rotated on its
axis and revolvcd around the sun
once year. Then there was Kcpler,
whose three laws are the sum and
substance of all former observations,
and by which all the phenomena of
the planets can be explained. On,
Jasen, Dutch matchmaker, invented
a contrivancc for making distant OBJ
jects appear near Calico instantly
caught the idea and invented the tel
escope, and on Jan. s, 1910, turned 1t
toward Jupiter. Calico met with
great opposition. for many refused to
look through the telescope; for in
that day man could not behold an
eclipse or star with a tail, without
fearing pestilence or war; nor could
he even see bloody sun without
fearing national disaster and the fall
Of thrones. But now humanity no
longer falls a-trembling at the signs
of heaven. The progress of astro,
nomical science has freed us from
our supersti'ious tcrrors. We con
slider our earth large, and yet it Is
so small III comparison with others
that if 1t were to be dropped out of
the universe 1t wonld scarcely be
missed. And shall we then limit
ourselves to the study of this in>ig-
nificant planet, when we have within
our reach such advantages for obtain
ing knowledge of other worlds? We
have maps of the m0on, as perfect as
any of the earth, and instruments by
which we may peer far into space
and view distant worlds, and ascer-
tain for a certainty the properties
which enter into their composition.
We need large culture OF mind,
acuteness of thought and refinement
OF nature. This may be obtained
through other studies. But more
than all we need cultivation in
brea,lM AMI depM Of character, and
for this purpose no other science will
answer.
Astronomy is the grandest study
of science. at is 4 book for the pco-
pie. Its outsprcad page invites study
from all quarters, by day and by
night. One can feast his eyes Oh it
as freely as another All classes are
welcome to that divine
calm, to that refined and exalting
pleasure, to that Jubilee Of sight and
poetry and art, to that feast of the
godsw K. A. Mills.