POPULAR
LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY,
ON A NEW PLAN;
IN
WHICH SOME OF THE LEADING PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE ARE ILLUSTRATEDBY ACTUAL COMPARISONS, INDEPENDENT OF THEUSE OF NUMBERS.
BY
FRANCIS J. GRUND,
AUTHOR OF “AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON PLANE AND SOLID GEOMETRY,” “ELEMENTS OF NATURALPHILOSOPHY AND CHEMISTRY,” &c.
BOSTON
CARTER, HENDEE AND CO.
1833.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833,
By Francis J. Grund,
in the Clerk’s office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
I. R. BUTTS, SCHOOL STREET.
NOTICE.
The Geographical Miles, which are used in the scales and tables of this book, are GermanGeographical Miles, of which 15 make one degree. The teacher or pupil may easily changethem into English Geographical Miles, by multiplying them by 4, the square miles by 16, andthe cubic miles by 64.
PREFACE.
Although many elementary works on Astronomy are already before the public, yet it isbelieved there is none in which the various magnitudes, surfaces, and distances of the heavenlybodies, are presented to the eye of the learner by actual comparisons;—the only way, perhaps,in which young pupils can be expected to form a correct idea of them. This the author hasattempted in the following pages. The comparative diameters, surfaces and distances of thedifferent planets, are all drawn, in the plates, according to a fixed scale of geographical miles; thesurfaces of the planets are actually reduced to square measure, and drawn in proportion to eachother and the sun; so that the youngest pupil, by a mere glance of the eye, is enabled to form acorrect idea of their respective magnitudes. A similar plan has been pursued, in regard to thedivision of the Earth into Zones, and with respect to the extent of the five great Continents of ourGlobe. The Appendix contains an exposition of the population of America, Europe, Asia, Africa,and Australia, accompanied by a plate for the illustration of the comparative settlements on thoseContinents.
Boston, June 24, 1833.
[Pg 1]
POPULAR LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY.
LESSON I.
THE EARTH IN ITS RELATION TO THE SUN, MOON AND STARS.
§ 1. The Earth on which we live, and on which plants, trees and animalssucc