American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-07-29
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Correspondence &C Southern Revellle ]
w are in the dog days, which
will end, ] believe, about the 9th
of September. The season during
their continuance has always been
enormously | believe, as
unfavorabIo to health. ! think n
knowledge Of the origin of designa-
ting certain part of the year
ssthe dog-days will serve TO dispel
the ancient error that the causes
of disease exist in greater vigOr
during the dog days than at other
seasons.
One of the constell ,tions into
which the armament is divided is
called the Great Dog. 1t lies just
south of the zodiac, the path Of
the sun in his apparent movement
in the heavens. When the sun
reaches the point which places him
IN ju taposition..w the Great Dog
the dog days commence, and end
with his completing the passage of
that constellation. The largest star
in the Great Dog, and the brightest
fixed At,r that we behold in the
heavens, is Sirius, or Dog Star.
From its brightness, it has been
conjectured by astronomers to be
the nearest fixed star to the solar
system, and they have endeavored
to approximate Its distance. Hay.
ing no data but those furnished by
it's annual parailax. they have diff
fered somewhat in their calculations.
Some of them h; v. calculated the
distance of the Dog Star from us
to be $4,000, 700, 100000 eighty tril.
Iion) Of miles. To give the read, T
some idea of this great distance,
1 viii state that light, which comes
to us from the sun in eight minutes,
would not reach us from the Dog
Star in twelve years; and a cannon
ball moving AT the rate OF two thous-
and miles per hour, would not pass
over that yearning abyss in twelve
years.
The great distance of this, the
nearest fixed star. demonstrates the
immense remotenessoft these spheres
from the sun and from each other.
1t is very probable that, if the dis.
lance of some of them could be
known and put down i'll figures, the
amount would be too great for the
human mind to comprehend.
The fixed stars are suns of other
and remote systems, and any theory
that suppoSes they are not is at once
rejected by astronomers as unwor-
thy of notice. The smallest star
that wrinkles in the armament is a
sidereal monarch-the center and
sustaining power of IA grand system
of planets, satellites and comets
Though they are all suns and similar
in some general respects, yet the.
are differently constituted as to
magnitude and accompanying sys-
tens. While some are smaller than
our sun, others are much larger,
thousands of times larger, circled
by planets of corresponding size
that whirl mistaken in orbits i'm
mense. This hypothesis accerds
with our conception of the Infinite
power of the Creator: there are no
two things in all his works precisely
alike.
The great number of these spheres
is cause for wonder and marvel
Walk out of a clear evening. when
the sun and moon are both absent,
and view the eastern, northern,
western and southern sky, and thei.
cast your eyes upward and behold
the milky way, that great river OF
stars which meanders through the
expanse of immensity.
Telescopes bring to view thousands
that cannot be seen by the unaidrd
eye. and the greater the magnifying
power of these instruments the
more visible is infinity.
Reader after You have seen all
the countless spheres thus presented
TO your view, let me ask, What pro-
portion do they bear to the materia!
They are to created i'll.
Unity what a fallen leaf is to per
)etual summer In the inconceiv-
,b!e depths of space, into which
vision never penetrated,
here majestic spheres, whose mum
yer cannot be computed in heaven,
proclaim, with exhaustless effu'.
,ence, their Omnipotent Creator
"Forevcr singing as they shine,
THE hand that made rs is divine"
God of grandeur, how magnificent
) thy temple Ia universe without |
iameter, without circumference,
Without confines vast, incopceiv-
BILE, iIlirnitable, incomprehensible,
unreasonable, infinltei SENEx.
GEN. GRANTS ECCENTRICITY.