be a large and bright one, even startling from its suddenness." The simple fact of the visibility of the stars across the mighty expanse which we know to exist between them and ourselves, necessarily gives us high ideas of their dimensions. Calculations have been made, from a comparison of the light of the stars with that of the sun, but the result can only be regarded as a rude approximation. Let us consider the case of Sirius, the brightest in the heavens. The light of Sirius, as determined by Sir John Herschel, is 324 times that of an average star of the sixth magnitude. The ratio of his light to that of the sun has been calculated by Dr. Wollaston to be as 1 to 20,000,000,000. To diminish the light afforded to us by the sun to that of Sirius, the sun must be removed to 141,400 times his present distance, or to a distance of 13,433,000,000 miles. But no star can be within the range of 19 billions of miles. The fact therefore of Sirius being immensely larger than our sun, from the preceding comparison, is at least certain, though to what extent we know not. Dr. Wollaston assumes, upon reasonable grounds, a much lower limit of possible parallax than that which would give Sirius a computed distance of 19 billions of miles; and hence concludes, that, occupying the sun's place, he would appear 3-7 times larger, and give 13.8 times more light, or be equal to nearly four teen suns. Eudoxus of Cnidus, a contemporary of Plato, about 370 years before Christ, sent forth a description of the face of the heavens, containing the names and characters of all the constellations recognized in his time. Though this production has perished, yet a poetical paraphrase of it, written about a century later, is still extant, the work of Aratus, a Cilician, and probably a native of Tarsus. This astronomical poem opens with a statement of the dependence of all things upon Jupiter, whose children all men are, and who has given the stars as the guides of agriculture. "With Jove we must begin; not from Him rove; Where signs unerring show when best the soil NOTE. The superficial extent of the earth includes upward of a hundred and ninety-seven millions of square miles, and its solid contents amount to two hundred and sixty thousand millions of cubical miles. Huge as this ball is, it sinks into insignificance, when contrasted with Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus. The areas, and solid contents, of these planets, are about as follows: Jupiter 24,884,000,000 square miles 368,283,200,000,000 cubic miles Saturn* 19,600,000,000 261,326,800,000,000 Uranus 3,848,460,000 22,437,804,000,000 Including the other planets and the satellites, their combined surface cannot be estimated at less than sixty thousand millions of square miles, which is about three hundred times the surface of the globe. The mind can only imperfectly embrace this vastness of territory; yet it is but as a province to an empire when compared with a single object in the system-the Sun. In its solid bulk, as already stated, the solar globe is equal to five hundred times the volumes of the planets, and to nearly one and a quarter millions such worlds as ours. * MARS, the nearest to us of the exterior planets, was, in former ages of superstition, the dread of the terrestrials on account of his fiery aspect, and ministered more than any other celestial object to give employment to the astrologers, and to fill their coffers: "But most is Mars amisse of all the rest; And next to him old Saturne." BODIES, AND SUBSTANCES, THAT HAVE FALLEN FROM HEAVEN.—From every region of the globe, and in all ages of time within the range of history, exhibitions of apparent instability in the heavens have been observed, when the curtains of the evening have been drawn. Suddenly, a line of light arrests the eye, darting like an arrow through a varying extent of space, and in a moment the firmament is as sombre as before. The appearance is exactly that of a star falling from its sphere, and hence the popular title of shooting star applied to it. The apparent magnitudes of these meteorites are widely different, and also their brilliancy. Occasionally, they are far more resplendent than the brightest of the planets, and throw a very perceptible illumination upon the path of the observer. A second or two commonly suffices for the individual display, but in some instances it has lasted several minutes. In every climate it is witnessed, and at all times of the year, but most frequently in the autumnal months. As far back as records go, we meet with allusions to these swift and evanescent luminous travelers. Minerva's hasty flight from the peaks of Olympus to break the truce between the Greeks and Trojans, is compared by Homer to the emisssion of a brilliant star. Virgil, in the first book of the Georgics, mentions the shooting stars as prognosticating weather changes: "And oft, before tempestuous winds arise, The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies, Antiquity refers us to several objects as having descended from the skies, the gifts of the immortal gods. Such was the Palladium of Troy, the image of the goddess of Ephesus, and the sacred shield of Numa. The folly of the ancients in believing such narrations has often been the subject of remark; but, however fabulous the particular cases referred hibits a collection of instances of the fall of stones, &c., was founded upon observed events. The following table exregions; and no doubt the ancient faith upon this subject of bodies and substances from celestial space to terrestrial ticisms respecting the fact itself, of the actual transition to, the modern have been compelled to renounce their scep In Italy Pliny. Near the river Negos, Thrace Second year of the 78th Olmpiad Near Larissa, Macedonia Near Padua, in Italy On Mount Vasier, Provence Sodom and Gomorra In the Duchy of Mansfield Brunswick Ireland Two large stones, weighing 20 lbs. Liponas, in Bresse A stony mass Niort, Normandy At Luce, in Le Maine At Aire, in Artois Year before J. C. 452 Ch. of Count Marcellin. Geoffroy le Cadet. Garden, Varcit. Gassendi. Pere le Fuillee. Spangenburgh. Lalande. Bachelay. Gursonde de Boyaval. St. Amand, Baudin, &c. J. Lloyd Williams, Esq. Fourcroy together with the eras of their descent, and the persons on whose evidence the facts rest; but the list might be greatly extended. The following are the principal facts with reference to these substances, upon which general dependence may be placed. Immediately after the descent of the stones or other bodies, they are intensely hot. They are covered with a fused black incrustation consisting chiefly of oxide of iron; and what is most remarkable, their chemical analysis develops the same substances in nearly the same proportions, though one may have reached the earth in India and another in England. Their specific gravities are about the same; considering 1000 as the proportionate number for the specific gravity of water, that of some of the stones has been found to be The greater specific gravity of the Bohemian stone arose from its containing a larger proportion of iron. An analysis of one of the stones that fell at L'Aigle gives Iron is found in all these bodies, and in a considerable quantity, with the rare metal nickel. It is a singular fact, that though a chemical examination of their composition has not discovered any substance with which we were not previously acquainted, yet no other bodies have yet been found, native to the earth, which contain the same ingredients combined. Neither products of the volcanoes, whether extinct or in action, nor the stratified or unstratified rocks, have exhibited a sample of that combination of metallic and earthy substances which the meteoric stones present. During the era that science has admitted their path to the |