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A Primary Astronomy for Schools and Families

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A Primary Astronomy for Schools and Families r A FOR SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES: ADAPTED TO TIIE CAPACITY OF YOUTH, AND ILLUSTRATED BY NEARLY TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. BY HIRAM MAT II SOX, A. M. PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND ASTRONOMY IN THE FALLEY SEMINARY AUTHOR OF THE HIGH-SCHOOL ASTRONOMY, ASTRONOMICAL MAPS, ETC. ETC. NEW YORK: rUBLISIIED BY MASON BROTHERS. BOSTON: MASON & IIAMLIN. PHILADELPHIA: J. P>. LIPPINCOTT & CO. CINCINNATI: SARGENT, WILSON & IIINKLE. *1807. !j Entered according: to Act of Congress, in the yeai 1851, By HIRAM MATT ISON, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern Distiict of New York. 5 iA54 1 $ ’59 8 2 JAN CONTENTS. PART FIRST. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS AND DEFINITIONS. 1'AGK L History of Astronomy 5 II. The Modern, or Copernican System 9 III. Geometrical Definitions 14 IV. Of Lines and Angles IS V. Of the Circle and the Ellipse 20 VI. The Terrestrial and Celestial Spheres 24 PART SECOND. OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. VII. Bodies that compose the System 31 VIII. Names of the Planets, Signs, die 33 IX. Distances of the Planets from the Sun 38 X. Light and Heat of the several Planets 40 XI. Magnitude, Density, and Gravitation of the Planets 42 XII. Revolution of the Planets around the Sun 46 XIII. Aspects, Sidereal and Synodic Revolutions, die 50 XIV. Direct and Retrograde Motions, Planets Stationary, die.... 53 XV. Diurnal Revolutions of the Planets, Time, <tc 57 XVI. The Ecliptic, Zodiac, Signs, Longitude, die 63 XVII. Form and Position of the Planetary Orbits, Nodes, die 69 XVIII. Of Transits 73 XIX. The Sun’s apparent Motions, the Seasons, die 76 XX. Seasons of the different Planets, Telescopic Views, die 82 XXI. Telescopic Views of the Planets continued . 87 XXII. Of the Secondary Planets 93 XXIII. Revolution of the Moon around the Earth 96 XXIV. The Moon’s Changes 101 XXV. Day and Night, Seasons, die., of the Moon 106 XXVI. Eclipses of the Sun 113 XXVII. Eclipses of the Moon ^..J...j 120 XXVIII. Satellites of Jupiter, Eclipses, die 123 XXIX. Satellites of Saturn, Hcrschel, and Neptune 128 XXX. Of the Tides 131 XXXI. Of Spring and Neap Tides 135 ; ; 4 SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS, ETC. NXXII. Of Comets 138 XXXIII. Of the Sun 145 XXXIV. General Remarks upon the Solar System 152 PART THIRD. OF THE SIDEREAL HEAVENS. f XXXV. The Fixed Stars—their Number, Distances, Ac 155 XXXVI. Double, Variable, and Temporary Stars 159 XXXVII. Clusters of Stars and Nebulai 1G1 XXXVIII. Of the Atmosphere, Winds, Clouds, Storms, Ac. 1G5 SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS AND STUDENTS. 1. The coarse 'print should generally be committed to memory, as an answer to the questions. 2. The fine print and the cuts should be carefully studied and the student should be prepared, if called upon, to make drawings upon the blackboard similar to those found in the lessons. 3. In studying the illustrations, the pupil should generally imagine himself to be looking South—the top of the book, held up before him, being North; the bottom South; the left hand East and the right hand West. 4. The teacher should call upon the several members of the class, in succession, to sketch the diagrams as they occur in the lesson, and to show how they illustrate the point under considera- tion—this explanation being in all cases extemporaneous. 5. The Pronunciation , Definition , and Derivation of terms should receive special attention ; and to facilitate such inquiries, important words are not only pronounced and defined, but are traced to their original source. 6. Finally, whenever practicable, let the objects or phenomena described in the lessons be looked up and observed as they really appear in nature. This will invest the subject with new interest, and will excite in the mind of the student a desire to know more of this most wonderful and most sublime of all human studies. New Yoke, January, 1851. f — PRIMARY ASTRONOMY. PART I. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS AND DEFINITIONS. LESSON I. HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY. 1. Question.— What is Astronomy? Answer.—It is the science of the Heavenly Bodies the Sun, Moon, Planets, Comets, and Stars. 2. What does it teach respecting these bodies 1 Their names, distances, magnitudes, and motions, and the causes of Day and Night, the Seasons, Eclipses, Tides, and various other phenomena.* 3. IV'as Astronomy known to the ancients 1 It was in Chaldea, India, ; and was taught Egypt, China, and Greece long before the birth of Christ. 4. What was the occupation of the first Astronomers ? They were shepherds and herdsmen. 5. By what were they led to this study 1 By observing the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, while watching their flocks from year to year in the open fields. * Phe-nom'-e-na, appearances; things presented to the eye, or events seen to take place. The singular of this terra is Phc-nom-e-non. f Norton’s Elementary Treatise, page 2. 1 * 6 PRIMARY ASTRONOMY. ANCIENT ASTRONOMERS OBSERVING THE HEAVENS. 6. Where do modern Astronomers make their observations ? Iii what are called Observatories. [An observatory is a place erected for the purpose of observing the heavens. The most celebrated in this country is the one erected by Professor Mitchel on Mount Adams, Cincinnati. Besides this, there is one at Washington, one at Philadelphia, one at Cambridge, Mass., &c. An effort is now being made (1850) to erect one on Brooklyn Hights, Long Island. A good private observatory, owned by Lewis M. Rutherford, Esq., may be seen in the rear of his residence, corner of Second Avenue and Eleventh street. New York City.] DR. dick’s OBSERVATORY, NEAR DUNDEE, SCOTLAND. 7. What other advantage have modern Astronomersl They are assisted by many useful instruments the , most important of which is the Telescope .* * From the tele, at a distance, skopeo see. Greek and , to 1 PRIMARY ASTRONOMY. 7 [This is a picture of the Great Refracting MODERN ASTRONOMERS USINO Telescope of the Cincinnati Observatory. It is A TELESCOPE. reduced and copied from a cut in the first num- ber of the Sidereal Messenger, July, 1846. The original (which is an enlargement of a daguerre- otype) is exceedingly accurate and beautiful, and our artist has given us an exact miniature of it in the page before you. This Telescope has an object-glass (placed in the top of the tube toward the objects to be seen) which is twelve inches in diameter. The tube, which is seventeen feet long, and the Telescope, alone cost $9,437. It was made at Munich, in Germany.] 8 . What did the ancients think of the form of the earth Instead of a globe inhabited on all sides, they believed it to be a plane, inhabited on one side only. 9 What did they think of her motions , and those of the heavenly bodies ? They believed the earth to be at rest in the center of the universe, and that the sun, moon, and stars actually revolved around her, from east to west, as they appear to do, every twenty-four hours. [It is by no means strange that the ancients were thus deceived by appearances. Seeing but a small portion of the earth at any one time, they were easily misled in re- gard to its form; and having no idea of its revolution, it was natural to suppose that the apparent daily revolution of the heavenly bodies westward was real. In the same manner persons often attribute their own motions to bodies that are at rest, especially when carried swiftly forward without any apparent cause (as when one travels in a steamboat or railway car), and when for a time they forget their own motions ] 10 . What other notions had the ancients in respect to the figure of the earth 1 That it was longest from east to west. [They observed that traveling east or west had no effect upon the apparent position of the stars, while going north and south did. Hence the conclusion that the earth was narrowest north and south. This erroneous idea was the origin of our modem terms, latitude and longitude, the last of which means length, and the former breadth.'] 11 . What was the ancient system of Astronomy called, and why ? 8 PRIMARY ASTRONOMY. The Ptolemaic* Theory from an Egyptian , Ptolemy,f philosopher, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. [I. The word Ptolemy was a common name for the successive Egyptian princes, as Pharaoh:] was for the kings of Egypt in the days of Moses. PTOLEMAIC THEORY OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. 2. The ancients supposed the earth to be surrounded by eight crystalline arches or spheres, one within the other, in which the sun, moon, and stars were set. In this way they accounted for their not falling down upon the earth, while the light of the most distant of the stars could pass through the transparent crystal till it reached the earth. The moon was supposed to be in the first sphere, the sun in the fourth, and the fixed stars in the eighth or highest sphere. The cut is intended to illustrate all these particulars. 3. This erroneous theory was embarrassed by numerous and pressing difficulties, one of which was to ascertain what upheld the earth. In the effort to explain this mys- tery several remarkable notions were adopted, one of which is represented in the cut. The earth is seen as a plane, resting upon the head of a huge serpent, which, in turn, is upheld by a tortoise. The sun, moon, and stars are shown revolving around the earth. This absurd theory was generally believed to be correct till about the middle of the sixteenth century, or 300 years ago.] * Pronounced Tol-e-ma'-ic.
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