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That once resounded here is hush'd, no tongue
Now ranges in fair order thoughts once dazzling

By their strange beauty, and the white-robed guardians
Lie disenamell'd and dispersed around.

Such then is Life; for so Death disenrobes

The ruin'd archwork of Life's royal home.

Where Beauty reign'd is ashes; and where Joy
Sparkled so brightly is a mournful blank.
Where Gladness smiled is hideous grimace;

Where Music breathed, and speech, the holiest mark
Of man's supremacy, reigns toothless sport

At the great tyrant's reckless desecration.

Where fair sounds enter'd, wild winds dance unheeded;
And where the fragrance of the golden morn,
Corruption plies its nauseous work. So Death
Changes the use of things, unkings our nature,
Sets Life at bold defiance, and makes man

Humbler than the vile worm, which leaves no trace
Of dissolution.

M. L. R.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA,

FOR FEBRUARY, 1853.

By MR. A. GRAHAM, Markree Observatory, Collooney.

AS MERCURY arrives at his superior conjunction with the Sun on the 26th, at half-past nine in the morning, he will, throughout this month, present to us more than half his illuminated hemisphere; that is, will appear gibbous. On the 1st, at noon, the angular distance of these two bodies is rather less than 18 degrees, Mercury being the more westerly. On the morning of that day he rises at five minutes past seven, or thirty-four minutes before the Sun. On account of his lower southern declination, about the time of conjunction, he rises after and sets before the Sun : thus, on the 21st he rises seven minutes later and sets thirty-two minutes earlier. At ten minutes past eleven, A.M., of the 19th, he will be close to Mars, a little more than one degree southward.

VENUS, now also, like Mercury, in the remoter half of her orbit, and approaching the Sun, is gradually diminishing in splendour, from the increase of her distance, the diminution of her illuminated portion, and the effect of twilight. She rises, on the 1st, at 6h. 28m., only 1h. 11m. before the Sun; on the 11th, at 6h. 30m.; on the 21st, at 6h. 26m.; and, to continue the intervals of ten days, on March 3d, at 6h. 16m., only 26m. before the Sun. On the 6th, at rising, she will be close to the Moon, rather northward. Of course she is now gibbous.

Throughout nearly the entire of the month, MARS rises after and sets before the Sun.

JUPITER has now usurped the place of Venus as our morning star. His brilliancy is increasing as hers is diminishing. He rises on the 1st at 4h. 22m., on the 11th at 3h. 51m., on the 21st at 3h. 18m., and on March 3d at 2h. 45m., A.M. At seven o'clock on the evening of the 3d he will be very close to the Moon, 16' of space southward; but this phenomenon will occur below our horizon. Jupiter, the largest planet of our system, presents, at mean distance, a disc 39" in diameter: hence, viewed with a telescope magnifying forty-nine times, he appears as large as the full moon does to the naked eye. The dark bands or streaks which cross the surface, in a direction parallel to the equator of the planet, form a very striking feature. These bands, constantly varying in appearance, position, and number, give evidence of the existence of an atmosphere, probably much denser than ours, with the movement of which they must have some connexion. A probable supposition concerning them is, that they are patches of the solid body seen through a stratum of clouds which covers almost the whole of the surface. Sometimes they appear very faint and few; and at other times, under similar terrestrial atmospheric circumstances, much more distinct and numerous. The elder Herschell reckoned more than forty at one time. We may be allowed to say more on this planet in succeeding Numbers.

Saturn rises on the 1st at six minutes past one, A.M.; on the 11th at twenty-nine minutes past midnight; on the 21st at fifty minutes past eleven, P.M.; and on March 3d, at fifteen minutes past eleven. The longest diameter of the exterior ring, in the middle of the month, is 40", the shortest 14". A few remarks on this extraordinary appendage to the planet may not be inappropriate. Almost immediately after the discovery of the telescope, Galileo Galilei, in 1612, with a power of thirtythree, remarked a peculiarity in the form of the planet, which distinguished it from all the others, and which, on account of the imperfect defining quality of his instrument, he conjectured to be two moons attached to the body of the planet at points diametrically opposite. Other astronomers confirmed the discovery, attributing it pretty generally to the same cause. Hevelius perceived that these satellites, as they were called, were fastened to the planet by arms or hooks, and that the general appearance of the planet changed from year to year in a remarkable manner. Hodierna attempted to account for the anomalous form of this object on the hypothesis that Saturn was of the form of an egg, with a dark spot on each end. At length, Huygens, in 1659, published the true theory in his "Systema Saturnium." It has been discovered that what, at first sight, appears to be a thin broad ring surrounding the planet, consists of several concentric ones. But this is not all. One of the most remarkable discoveries connected with this system has been reserved for our own day. A black band, rather less than

lf the united breadth of the rings, may be easily perceived,

running across the planet in the interior of the ellipse, and parallel to it. This would be regarded, by most observers, as the shadow of the rings on the body of the planet: but a little consideration will show that, as the Sun is now more elevated above the plane of the ring, on the southern side, than is the Earth, the shadow could not be seen by us in that position. The appearance must, therefore, be caused by an opaque substance, an interior ring, in fact, itself almost totally incapable of reflecting light in all directions, interposed between us and the body of the planet. The existence of this ring was pointed out independently by the distinguished astronomers who discovered the eighth satellite of this planet; namely, by Mr. Bond, of Cambridge, United States, and by Mr. Lassell, of Liverpool. The latter gentleman thus describes it, 1850, Dec. 3d:-"It appeared as if something like a crape veil covered a part of the sky within the inner ring. This extended about halfway between what I should have formerly considered the inner edge of the inner ring and the limb of the planet, while there was a darker, ill-defined boundary-line separating this crape-like appearance from the solid body of the inner ring." It may be remarked, in conclusion, that a smooth surface, such as that of a fluid in a state of equilibrium, posited as is this ring, could not reflect to us the light of the Sun, and would probably present to us the appearance which we behold.

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RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN'S UPPER LIMB, ALLOWING

FOR REFRACTION AND PARALLAX.

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Rises. Sets. Rises. Sets. Rises. Sets. Rises. Sets. Rises. Sets.

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H. T. & J. Roche, Printers, 25, Hoxton-square, London.

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