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A comparison of the Ephemeris with a celestial globe or chart shows that the Comet enters Taurus, from Cetus, about the 13th. It rises on August 2d near eleven, September 3d near ten, in the evening.

MERCURY will attain his greatest western elongation, 19° 19', on the afternoon of the 1st. The form will then be semicircular, afterwards gibbous. He will pass from south to north of the plane of the Earth's orbit on the 8th, and will recede from it till the 23d, when his heliocentric latitude, or angular distance at the Sun from the plane of the Earth's orbit, will be 7°. On the 13th he will be at his least actual distance from the Sun, on the 26th at his least apparent distance, being, at the latter date, in superior conjunction with our luminary.

The light of VENUS will be at its greatest intensity on the 25th, near the time when the planet is in aphelion. Her distance from the Earth is rapidly diminishing; and, of course, her apparent diameter as rapidly increasing. It is 27 seconds on the 1st of August, and 42 on the 1st of September. Venus will be near the Moon on the 16th.

MARS is now considerably eastward of Saturn. On the 10th he will be within a degree of the star in Gemini marked ; on the 15th, 9° southward of Castor; and on the 19th, 6° southward of Pollux. Not being very different in apparent brightness from Castor and Pollux, his proximity to these two stars presents a pleasing aspect. The planet will be near the Moon on the morning of the 10th.

JUPITER will cross the meridian twice on the 22d, nearly two minutes after the preceding, and two minutes and a half before the following, midnight. His southern declination being then nearly equal to the Sun's northern, he rises about sunset, and sets about sunrise. He will be easily recognised, pretty low in the south, next in brightness to Venus, though far inferior.

SATURN is now in the Milky Way, on the boundary between Taurus and Gemini, northward of the fine constellation Orion. He will be near the Moon on the morning of the 8th. His apparent diameter is slightly increased since last month; his form is almost the same. The aspects of his eight satellites present in the telescope a constant and pleasing variety, distinguishable, however, only by the highest optical power.

RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN, FOR THE PARALLELS OF THE

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SUN.

SUN AND PLANETS AT GREENWICH.

MERCURY. VENUS. MARS. JUPITER. SATURN. URANUS.

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

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YOUTH'S INSTRUCTER

AND

GUARDIAN.

SEPTEMBER, 1855.

TEMPLE OF JUPITER OLYMPIUS.
(With an Engraving.).

MYTHOLOGISTS are much to be praised for their patience and ingenuity in labouring to reduce the history, or fable, of the chief god of the Greeks and Romans within the bounds of reason. But to say that they have succeeded would be to affirm too much. We have read such writings as the "Evangelical Preparation" of Eusebius with far greater satisfaction than any later speculations; and when we see that the early Christian writers, who understood Paganism thoroughly, were so much in earnest to unveil its abominations, and recount its follies, we much prefer their practical study of the matter to an adoption of conjectures framed by philosophers as coverings to hide the shame of their gods, and to vindicate their worship from the contempt that it deserved. The tale of his birth, how his mother concealed him from his ravenous father Saturn, who made it a point of policy to eat up all his male children; how she gave old Saturn a stone instead, which he devoured, thinking it to be the infant Jupiter; how the babe was fed on milk and honey, and then, with marvellous precocity, when only twelve months old, made war upon the Titans; how many wives he had, how many children, and what feats he performed, heroic, monstrous, and abominable, all this may be heard of elsewhere; and those who are sufficiently curious, or idle, or industrious, may study VOL. XIX. Second Series.

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