May 28, 1900, as photographed by
King Alfonso XIII, at Madrid 285

80. Measurement of Angles 289

81. Division of the Circumference into 360 degrees 291

82. Measurement of the distance of the Moon 292

83. Measurement of the distance of the Sun 297

84. Small apparent ellipses described by the stars as a
result of the annual displacement of the Earth 306

INTRODUCTION

The Science of Astronomy is sublime and beautiful. Noble, elevating,
consoling, divine, it gives us wings, and bears us through Infinitude.
In these ethereal regions all is pure, luminous, and splendid. Dreams of
the Ideal, even of the Inaccessible, weave their subtle spells upon us.
The imagination soars aloft, and aspires to the sources of Eternal
Beauty.

What greater delight can be conceived, on a fine spring evening, at the
hour when the crescent moon is shining in the West amid the last glimmer
of twilight, than the contemplation of that grand and silent spectacle
of the stars stepping forth in sequence in the vast Heavens? All sounds
of life die out upon the earth, the last notes of the sleepy birds have
sunk away, the Angelus of the church hard by has rung the close of day.
But if life is arrested around us, we may seek it in the Heavens. These
incandescing orbs are so many points of interrogation suspended above
our heads in the inaccessible depths of space.... Gradually they
multiply. There is Venus, the white star of the shepherd. There Mars,
the little celestial world so near our own. There the giant Jupiter.
The seven stars of the Great Bear seem to point out the pole, while they
slowly revolve around it.... What is this nebulous light that blanches
the darkness of the heavens, and traverses the constellations like a
celestial path? It is the Galaxy, the Milky Way, composed of millions on
millions of suns!... The darkness is profound, the abyss immense....
See! Yonder a shooting star glides silently across the sky, and
disappears!...

Who can remain insensible to this magic spectacle of the starry Heavens?
Where is the mind that is not attracted to these enigmas? The
intelligence of the amateur, the feminine, no less than the more
material and prosaic masculine mind, is well adapted to the
consideration of astronomical problems. Women, indeed, are naturally
predisposed to th