The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-11
MERCURY, THE FLEET PLANET,
Shares With Venus the Distinction
Of Being Evening Star - Favor
able Month for Observation. 49,.

phere OF Mercury, being exceedingly rare,
might aforl an Alpine or Htmalayan eli
mate, making life more endurable there
bat one cannot thin the Mercnfal ar
without adding 20 the direful effects OF
the sun. The direct action of the suns
rays upon the tropical regions o. Mercury
thus deprived OF atmospheric protection
would produce heat four or Ave times
greater than that ~ boiling water. Il
will hardly BE- thought that an intense
cold In the shade. or during the Mcrcuriai
night. would compensate for 80 terrible
heat In fact, this view Of the Mer-
curiai climate recalls tho description Civ
en- by Dante OF the suferingS Of the IN
fortunates doomed 20 endure the tor
lures OF extreme heat ana cold
nut owing % certain observations made
In 1893 by the MlAnese astronomer srhiA.
paFelli. another interesting chapter has
been added 10 the history OF "a aayv
world Apparently L always KEEPS tho
same face turned toward the sun. hehav-
ms IN this way tast as the moon docs
70 the earth. Therefore. there must n,
perpetual eay on one side OF the planet
and perpetual night on the other. The
sunny side T. constantly exposed 70 the
hefes glare ~ sunlight. while on the
dark side ntRht must reign supreme.
The effect Of shls upon tho climate mus,
Do peculiar. although " cannot readily b.
traced IN detail The existence Of napia
water nass, be ahnest impossible In esther
ar the two hemispherest A. an authority
on the subject remarks. 'Niercurlan
oceans, could they ever have been fsrr.ad
should ieng sep have been boiled afT graut
The hot SIDE and condemned IN thick rtt,has
ie" on the celd side" From cur present
krowledse az the planet We therefore snfo-
H ~ apparently aailc nnattea 20 be me
abode - organic lise
Mercury - a ~n-.ff.-
earth, while the mass 81 the earth er.sess
that ~ Mercury eixht times. Owing to this
fact everything weighs less on Mercsiry. a
sound weight there weighing ant few
eNncea thera II the earths gravity mere
rcauced Go that cf Mercury. a strspve
state II affairs would prevail ob(A,ss
weph not stand Arm, we should staExer
for START y EesEat, and even the Sewers
would suuer, ancs II has been remarked
that the whole mass % the Earth frou,
pole to role Is engaged tn keeping tAa
snowdron, the cr0cus and other anwrrs n,
their preper position.
Seen with a telescope. Mercury n-qssn.s
phases lik@ tire m0on- when =, Is besNasr
cur planet ana the sun rs giynalna "a
side Is toward us. ans & "a SAID 10 81 A.
inferior conjunction, Then 4 slowly passes
through the crescent. quarter haf ana
gioeous phases. until e reaches superi,-
conjunction ana is on the opposite OF tn.
sun and az its greatest distance from our
planet Az such times the illuminated sfae
Is turned Ia our direction, and the phase :
that of fun noon. but Mercury Is inv.Si
bic. being lost IN the glare o. sunlixat. ~
inferior conjunction Mercury Is az the east
Possible distance trnm the earth. lust a. al
superior conjunction it's distance is the
greatest possible. On elthSr side Of inferior
conjunction Mercury attains It's greatest
6rilianey.