mother. This circumstance was so gravely stated by ancient historians, as well as poets, that more than one modern traveller has listened, ineffectually however, to hear that strange and sweet music from the cold and voiceless marble. Another of Aurora's intrigues was with Orion, whom she carried to the island of Delos, that she might enjoy him securely. But in vain-the chaste and avenging Diana, who could tolerate no impurity, killed Orion with her arrows, and thus disengaged the goddess of the morning from her unseemly passion It is shrewdly conjectured, that one reason why the beautiful young men of modern times take such especial care never to leave their beds until long after Aurora has sped over the western hills, is, that they may be afraid her golden face will lure them from the contemplation of earthly and lunar beauty-and perhaps lead to a forced invitation for a morning ride in her torch-lighted chariot, and an elopement to the dreamy realms of Elysium. There is a deep music in the name of Aurora whenever it is found in the verse of the immortal Maro; there is the spirit of poetry in the conception of the goddess of the rosy dawn, the mother of the winds, the stars, and the constellations, the giver of the pearly dews, and the disperser of the melancholy night,-coming up in her chariot from the sounding ocean floods, and driving the clouds and vapors before her. "Sweet is the breath of Morn! Her rising sweet with charms of earliest birds." ASTRONOMY. F. THE Primum Mobile, a term of the old astronomy, was the ninth or outer sphere, within which were included the firmament of fixed stars, and also the orbits of the planets, and which it hurried from west to east in 24 hours; and this heaven was only discovered by its motion, having neither stars nor any other character in it. This wild idea, however, has long since been exploded, although the term is still retained, and implies the principle or moving cause of any and every thing. It was about the middle of the same century that Tycho flourished, that Copernicus adopted and revised the Pythagorean or "True system of the Universe," and published it to the world in the year 1530, with many new and demonstrative arguments in its favor; but at that time, the inhabitants of Europe had not emerged from gothic barbarism, and were incapable of understanding, and consequently of receiving, the sublime demonstrations of Astronomy. Hence it was, that the superior learning and just conceptions of Copernicus were doomed to give way to the crude ideas of Tycho Brahe, whose errors were not made known till the time of those great astronomers, Galileo and Kepler, who flourished towards the close of the sixteenth, and about the beginning of the seventeenth century; in whose time was discovered the invention of the telescope, by means of which many new and surprising discoveries in the heavens were made. From these discoveries, astronomy began to assume a new form, and most of the celestial phenomena were soon accounted for, according to their real or physical causes. But of all the discoveries and improvements that have been made in astronomy, those of SIR ISAAC NEWTON are of the greatest importance; by which he has established the "Copernican System" upon such an everlasting basis of mathematical demonstrations as can never be shaken, but must last as long as the present frame of nature continues in existence. One of the most celebrated astronomers before the time of Newton was KEPLER, who may be considered as the first founder of modern astronomy; for by his own talents and industry he made discoveries of which no traces are to be found in all the annals of antiquity. But it must not be forgotten, that Copernicus was the first who seized and dashed to pieces the circles and crystal orbs of Ptolemy, and sent the unwieldly Earth far from the centre of the System, to move round the Sun with the rest of the planets; so that of all the celestial equipage with which she had been formerly dignified, there remained only the Moon to attend and accompany her ir. her journey. The only other Systems worth mentioning, besides those already noticed, are the Semi-Tychonic and the Cartesian, both of which have gained proselytes; though neither of them, including the Tychonic, was ever so universally received as the Ptolemaic and Copernican. The SEMI-TYCHONIC SYSTEM* supposed the planets to revolve round the Sun, while the Sun and Moon revolve about the EARTH as their centre of motion; and it supposed the Earth to move about its axis from west to east in twenty-four hours. This System differs from the Tychonic only in this, that it supposes a diurnal motion in the Earth, but, like the Tychonic, denies an annual one. THE CARTESIAN SYSTEM, so named from its author DES CARTES, supposes a variety of vortices or whirlpools, in which the motions of the heavenly bodies are performed, being carried round the Sun of ethereal matter, in different times, proportioned to their distances; and each planet having also a particular vortex of its own, in which the motion of its satellites are performed. From the laws of motion, however, it will readily appear, that the irregular motions of the planets cannot be accounted for by these vortices; and besides, the supposition of an ethereal matter to perform the operations, is without any foundation or analogy† in NATURE. But while philosophers were divided between the Ptolemaic, the Tychonic, the Cartesian, and Copernican Systems, SIR ISAAC NEWTON laid down the laws of nature and motion; and, comparing all the phenomena in the Heavens, found out the "True System of the Universe," confirmed the Copernican System of Astronomy, and demonstrated, by unanswerable arguments, that it could not possibly be otherwise, without the utter subversion of all the laws of nature. This system, which is founded on the "Laws of Nature," and true mechanical principles, is represented in the engraving at page 69. The SUN is placed nearly in the centre of the orbits of all the planets, and in those orbits they move round the sun, each in its periodical time. The sun keeps always in or near the same place, but has a central motion on his own axis, from east to west, once in twenty-five days and a half, which is evident from the macula or spots on his disk, which are always observed to move in the same manner; but having no circular motion, he can have no orbit. The orbits of all the planets are nearly circular, having the sun for their centre; but, in strictness, they are ellipses, having the sun in the focus of each of them. These orbits are not all of them in one plane, and yet do not vary a great deal; they intersect one another in lines that pass through the centre of the sun; the places of the orbits where they intersect are called the Nodes. All the planets move round the sun in the same way, which is from WEST to EAST, and are called primary planets. Their names and order are represented and given in pages 69 and 70. Four of the planets have others revolving about them, which likewise revolve from *This system received its name from its being based upon that of Tycho Brahe, which was altered and improved by Longomontanus and others. another in some of its properties or qualities, though not in all.— Analogy signifies the resemblance which one thing bears to When we speak to or of the Divine Being, we are obliged to have recourse to this method of expressing ourselves, because divine matters are not the objects of our senses, and cannot be conceived in any other way than by their similitude, proportion, or connec tion with sensible things; so that analogy means resemblance in kind or sort, but a difference with respect to manner. Among Geometricians, it denotes similitude of ratios. In Medicine, it is the similitude observable among several diseases, which accordingly are treated in nearly the same manner, By Grammarians, mode; as, love, loved; hate, hated. In Rhetoric, it is a figure of it is used to signify the agreement of several words in one common speech, otherwise called comparison. east to west: these are called secondary planets or satel-, lites. Besides the planets and their satellites, there is an"ther sort of bodies revolving about the sun, which only appear at particular times. These are the COMETS, which move in ellipses, in various directions round the sun; some the same way as the planets, and some the contrary way they cut the plane of the earth's orbit in all sorts of angles, some greater and some less. Some of these bodies are several hundred years in making a revolution; and, therefore, the periodical times of but a few of them are known. Nor can their number be determined; for want of a proper series of observa tions. The whole list of comets upon record that have been noticed, is about 450, some of which are those that stars by a luminous stream of light which they emit, have re-appeared. They are distinguished from other called the tail, when they come near the Sun. The tail is nothing more than a very slender vapour emitted from the head or nucleus of the Comet, and which is ignited by the heat of the sun. comets which have at different periods of time made The following cut is a representation of the principal their appearance. Those above the white line are such as are described by ancient authors; those below, such as have appeared in later times. AMONGST the inestimable advantages attendant on the increase and wide diffusion of KNOWLEDGE throughout the civilized world, that of having obtained a better acquaintance with the nature and influence of Comets ranks high. It is true we are as yet but imperfectly informed of their short stay within mortal ken; and the long intervals between the disappearance and return of some of them, preclude the possibility of taking such satisfactory observations as the other planetary bodies afford us an opportunity of doing. Yet enough has been done to dissipate the unfounded apprehensions and panic terrors which their appearance once caused, and to enable us to calculate with tolerable certainty the periods of their returu. No longer do men attempt by costly sacrifices, by splendid processions, by prayers and penances, to avert the divine vengeance, of which the Comet was supposed to be the unerring harbinger. Yet, even in this age of information and partial indifference, there are some men who attempt to revive the reign of terror; and though they do not pretend to consider Comets as precursors of famine, plague, pestilence, and bloody wars, yet endeavour to impress upon them a agency of a Comet, this earth is destined to be destroyed. more formidable character, by affirming that by the tion round the Sun, will come in contact with our planet, They tell us that some one of these bodies, in its revoluand either dash it to atoms, or burn it up in one general conflagration. have contemplated the exquisite harmony of the universe, Surely such absurd prognosticators of evil can never motions of the heavenly bodies, so that the different phecan never have observed the unerring regularity of the their positions accurately pointed out at any given time, nomena they present can with certainty be foretold, and however remote. dashing together of Jupiter, Saturn, or any other of the As well may we expect a collision or Planets which move in orbits nearly eircular, as if in concert with our earth, because it moves in an elliptical or oval orbit. Respecting the nature of Cometary bodies, a thousand wild theories have been invented which are now simplest and most rational, as it accords admirably with passed, as they deserve, into the gulf of oblivion. The the observations made by Herschel on the Con 1811, is, that the Comet is a globular, opaque body, like a planet, but as, from the eccentricity of its orbit, it sometimes approaches very near the Sun, and at others departs to an immense distance from it, it is rendered in dependent of that luminary by being furnished with a phosphoric atmosphere, capable of supplying light and genial heat to itself, and so constituted as not to have that light and heat materially augmented on its nearest approach to, or diminished on its further departure from the Sun. That the Comet is not indebted for its brilliancy to the light of the Sun is evident, from the circumstance observed by Herschel in 1811, that the disc of their celestial visitant was round, well defined, and equally bright; though from its position as it respected the earth, it could not have been thus illuminated by the rays of the Orb of Day. By dint of frequent observation, and of the most subtle reasoning and accurate calculation, astronomers have been enabled to discover the periodic times of several Comets, and consequently to point out when they may be expected to return. They have ascertained that Comets move in parabolic curves, and describe equal areas in equal times. If, then, the length of the transverse and conjugate diameters of the ellipse in which any Comet moves be calculated from certain data well known to Astronomers, and the velocity of it ascertained, it is easy to find the period of its rotation in its orbit, subject to some little uncertainty from planetary attraction. Whilst it was supposed that Comets, from the eccen tricity of their orbits, and consequently, their alternate approach to, and immensely distant departure from the Sun, were exposed to the extremes of heat and cold, men were at a loss to conjecture for what purpose they were created. But if we adopt the theory which is daily becoming more prevalent, that the Sun itself is a habitable globe, furnished with a luminous atmosphere which affords no heat till mingled with the atmosphere of a Planet, we shall be at no loss to conceive how it is possible for Comets to be furnished with an atmosphere similar to that of the Sun, so as to render them, as we have already hinted, independent of it as respects light and heat. This being granted, the possibility and even probability of their serving as the abodes of rational and irrational animals, and their producing every necessary for the support and comfort of such animals as abundantly as though they moved in circular orbits, and derived their light and heat from the Sun, is very apparent, and serves to confirm the acknowledged truth, that " God has made nothing in vain." An idea is generally prevalent, that the periodical return of Comets are, without exception, at very long in tervals: Sir Isaac Newton estimated one at 575 years. But it is now known to philosophers, that some of them are much shorter than those of Uranus, Saturn, or even Jupiter. The revolution round the Sun of the Comet seen in 1770, is performed in five and a half years, and that of 1818, in only 1200 days. Guide to Knowledge. THE above engraving is intended to convey some idea | appearance of a succession of gigantic steps, on which of a lake of considerable extent, and its surrounding scenery, situated in a stupendous chasm on the southeast side of one of the highest parts of the Cummeragh mountains, in the county of Waterford. The precipice of solid rock which forms the back ground in our sketch, is upwards of eleven hundred feet in height! and (comparatively speaking) perpendicular, except where it recedes a few feet occasionally as it rises, presenting the the debris from the rocks above has in the course of ages become changed with mould, and covered with verdure, forming a pleasing contrast with the brown conglomerate of the precipice. From either end of this immense wall of living rock, the precipitous banks decline gradually away at each side of the lake, until at, or immediately below its level, having merged into the surface of the mountain. they again become united. The view (reverse to that above) from the foot of the precipice, and looking out over the lake, is truly magnificent-the greater part of the county of Waterford appears as an immense map spread out below the mountain, and in clear weather a line of the sea-coast of thirty to forty miles in extent is particularly visible. The lake is of great depth, and from this circumstance, and the prodigious height and gloomy character of the surrounding cliffs, assumes, except just around the margin, an almost inky hue; an insignificant stream issues from it, and after descending the mountain, joins the river Clodagh before its passage through the magnificent demense of Curraghmore, or its far more useful operation of giving impulse to the machinery of Mayfield Cotton Factory. This solitary spot, secluded in awful solitude high amidst the wildest parts of the Cummeragh range of mountains, was little known or heard of until of later years-it has now, however, become an object of much and increasing interest. Perhaps, with the exception of the Gap of Dunloe at Killarney, the south of Ireland can boast of no scene of this character so stupendous and magnificent. Coumshenane is distant from Waterford about fourteen miles nearly due west, and from Clonmel nine miles south-east. Dublin Penny Journal. EXTRAORDINARY PRESERVATION OF LIFE UNDER from market, when her horse, frightened by a meteor, started, and running backward, approached the edge of a ditch. She dismounted, and the horse ran from her. She overtook him, and continued leading him, till worn down with fatigue, and under the load of a heavy basket full of her marketings, she addressed the horse: "Tinker, I am too tired to go any further; you must go home without me." THE following event, which occurred during the remarkably hard winter of 1708-9, is recorded on the most unquestionable authority. A poor woman near Yeovil, in Somersetshire, having been at Chard to sell her yarn, in her return home fell so very ill that she was forced to take refuge in a small house by the way-side, and being towards evening, she desired the people that they would let her sit by the fire during night. This was denied.She left the house, and feeling very ill, laid herself down ELIZABETH WOODCOCK. under a hedge. It snowed very hard; and in a little time she was almost covered by it. At last one of her Here, in a sort of cavern, she was buried alive for eight She set herself down, and was soon covered with snow. neighbours came by, who asked her how she could be so mad as to lie there to be starved. She said her sick-contrived to break off a stick from the hedge, and tying days. On the morning after her first enclosure, she ness was so violent she could not possibly go further.- her handkerchief to it, she thrust it through an opening He then took her up, and bade her try as well as she in the snow. She was certainly sensible all the time, could, adding, it was not so very far for her to go. She and overheard the conversation of some gypsies; but alfollowed him a little way, but,unable to persevere, she though she cried as loud as she could, they did not (as left him, and laid herself down under the hedge again. they declared) hear her. On the second Sunday, Joseph She was soon covered with the snow, which was falling Muncey, a farmer, on his way home from Cambridge, very thick. Thus she continued for nearly a week, her was drawn to the place by the appearance of the handneighbours, meanwhile, making great inquiries after kerchief, and discovering who it was, went for help. A her: but no one could give any account except that one shepherd who came, said, "Are you there, Elizabeth man; and he kept silent for fear of a suspicion falling Woodcock?" She replied in a feeble, faint voice, “Dear upon him that he had made away with her. out." John Stittle, I know your voice; for God's sake help me eagerly grasped his hand and said, "I have been here a Stittle made his way through the snow; she long time." "Yes," answered he, since Saturday." bells go two Sundays for church." Ay, Saturday week," she replied; "I have heard the 66 She was then taken home, and a most fatal treatment and applied poultices of stale beer and oat-meal boiled was she subjected to. They gave her strong liquors, together. The direct contrary to which, under Providence, would have restored her. She lost her toes, and lingered on till the following July, when she died. During this surprise, a poor woman dreamed (or rather pretended to have dreamed, the man having probably suggested to her this expedient to save his conscience and his neck) that she lay under a hedge in such a place. Her neighbours immediately went to the place with sticks, which they forced through the snow; at last one of them thought he heard a groan: upon which he thrust his stick down with more force, which made the woman cry out "Oh, for God's sake don't kill me." She was taken out, to the astonishment of them all, and was found to have taken great part of her upper garment for sustenance. She told them she had lain very warm, and had slept most part of the time.- of every one :-they appear to be founded on the soundThe following remarks deserve the serious attention One of her legs lay just under a bush, so that it was not quite covered with snow, by which it became almost body after intense cold, is attended with the most dreadest principles. "The application of heat to the human mortified, but (says the contemporary narrator) it is like-ful consequences; it always produces extreme pain, and ly to do very well. She was very cheerful, and soon walked. She lay under the hedge at least seven days. In February, 1799, a similar imprisonment in the snow, but attended ultimately with more fatal consequences, was the lot of Elizabeth Woodcock, aged 42, between Impington and Cambridge. She was riding most frequently, either partial or general mortification of fore, of allowing persons who have suffered from the the parts to which the heat is applied. Instead, therewell with snow, or if snow cannot be procured, let them frost or snow to come near a fire, let the limbs be rubbed be put into cold water, and afterwards rubbed with flannel for a considerable time. Let the person be kept mostly half the number of steps of any other animal, and cautiously from taking too much or too nutritious food. therefore with less fatigue. These advantages give him Spirits also, or wine, should under no pretence what- a solid and easy gait on a ground where all other aniever be given, without being weakened very much with mals walk with slow, short, and uncertain steps, and in water. Great attention must be paid to the state of the a tottering manner. bowels. The use of opium and camphor is much to be recommended, though at first the opium should be given in very small portions." The narrative ends with this remark-"We are sorry to add, that too free indulgence in spirituous liquor is supposed to have been the cause both of the accident which befel Eliabeth Woodcock, and its fatal consequences."-Gentlemen's Magazine. SANDS OF THE DESERT. And stalking turrets dance upon the ground.-Darwin. In the pathless desert, high mounds of sand, shifting with every change of wind, surround the traveller on every side, and conceal from his view all other objects. There the wind is of a surprising rapidity, and the sand so extremely fine, that it forms on the ground waves which resemble those of the sea. These waves rise up so fast, that in a very few hours a hill of from twenty to thirty feet high is transported from one place to another. The shifting of these hills, however, does not take place on a sudden, as is generally believed, and is not by any means capable of surprising and burying a caravan while on the march. The mode in which the transposition of the hills takes place is not difficult of explanation. The wind sweeping the sand from the surface continually, and that with an astonishing rapidity, the ground lowers every moment: but the quantity of sand in the air increasing as quickly by successive waves, cannot sup port itself here, but falls in heaps, and forms a new hill, leaving the place it before occupied level, and with the appearance of having been swept. It is necessary to guard the eyes and mouth against the quantity of sand which is always flying about in the air; and the traveller has to seek the right direction, to avoid being lost in the windings made in the middle of the hills of sand which bound the sight, and which shift from one spot to another so often as not to leave anything to be seen besides the sky and sand, without any mark by which the position can be known. Even the deepest footstep in the sand of either man or horse, disappears the moment the foot is raised. The immensity, the swiftness, and the everlasting motion of these waves, disturb the sight both of men and beasts, so that they are almost continually marching as if in the dark. The camel gives here a proof of his great superiority; his long neck perpendicularly erected removes his head from the ground, and from the thick part of the waves; his eyes are well defended by thick eye-lids, largely provided with hair, and which he keeps half shut: the construction of his feet, broad and cushion-like, prevents his treading deep into the sand; his long legs enable him to pass the same space with on Lieutenant Pottinger, in his travels in Beloochistan, a province of India, gives an interesting account of those curious phenomena. He experienced a violent tornado or gust of wind, which caine on so suddenly, that, if he had not been apprized of its strength by the guide, it might have been disastrous to his party, in whom it would have been an act of temerity to have endeavoured to sit on the camels during its impetuous fury. Before it began, the sky was clear, save a few small clouds in the north-west quarter; and the only warnings it afforded, were the oppressive sultriness of the air, and a vast number of whirlwinds springing up on all sides. These whirlwinds, he observes, might perhaps be more correctly expressed by some other name; but as the wind issued from them, he adopts the term. They are vast columns of sand, which begin by a trifling agitation, with a revolving motion on the surface of the desert, and gradually ascend and expand, until their tops are lost to the view. In this manner they move about with every breath of wind, and are observed, thirty or forty of them at the same time, of different dimensions, apparently from one to twenty yards in diameter. Those who have seen a water-spout at sea, may exactly conceive the same formed of sand on shore. The moment the guide saw the whirlwinds disperse, which they did as if by magic, and a cloud of dust approaching, he advised the party to dismount, which they had hardly time to do, and lodge themselves snugly behind the camels, when a storm burst upon them with a furious blast of wind, the rain falling in huge drops, and the air being so completely darkened, that they were unable to discern any object at the distance of even five yards. The following is Bruce's account of this singular phenomenon, which he represents as one of the most magnificent spectacles imaginable, and by which himself and his companions were at once surprised and terrified.Having reached the vast expanse of desert which lies to the west and north-west of Chendi, they saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, and at others stalking on with a majestic slowness. At intervals, the party thought they should be overwhelmed by these sand pillars; and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach them. Again, they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their summits reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often separated from the bodies; and these once disjointed dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. They were sometimes broken near the middle, as if struck by a large cannon shot. About noon, they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon the party, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged along-side, at about the distance of three miles from them; and at this interval, the greatest diameter of the largest of them appeared to Mr. Bruce to be about ten feet. They retired with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression on our traveller's mind to which he could give no name, though assuredly one of its ingredients was fear, blended with a considerable portion of wonder and surprise. It was in vain to think of fleeing: the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, would not have been of any use in rescuing him from his danger. The full persuasion of this riveted him as it were to the spot where he stood, and he allowed the camels to gain on him so much, that it was with difficulty he could overtake them. It is usual for travellers, when about to encounter a sand storm, to dismount their beasts, and to throw themselves flat upon the earth, with their faces downwards; in which position they remain till the storm has passed The cut at the head of this article is a representation of a case of the kind. Hundred Wonders of the World. |