OF DESCRIPTIVE AND PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY. BY GEORGE F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S., OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW; Author of "A Practical and Conversational English, French, and German Dictionary;" "The Tourist's Pocket-Book; "A Digest of the Law relating to Public Health;" "A Digest of the Law relating to Public Libraries and Museums;" "A Handbook for Public Meetings;" and other Works. " "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." [All rights reserved.] Psalm xix. I. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. THE remarks which appear in the Preface to the Third Edition (see post) apply almost word for word, so far as they go, to the Fourth Edition. Yet it is necessary for me to write an independent Preface in order to call attention to the altered circumstances under which this work is now presented to the reader. If the development of Astronomy between 1867 and 1877 was great, its development between 1877 and 1889 has been still greater. And besides this, there were important omissions in the ground-plan of the book which I have long been very desirous of making good, whenever time or opportunity became available. The last edition having reached to nearly 1000 pages it became quite clear that the now necessary additions would have swelled the work to a bulk and consequent price which probably the Public would not have regarded with favour. Accordingly when its division into two volumes became a necessity, I determined to make the two into three, and to complete the undertaking as originally conceived twenty-nine years ago. The work will therefore henceforth be published in three divisions as follows: I. The Sun, Planets, and Comets. II. Instruments and Practical Astronomy. III. The Starry Heavens. It is intended that each volume shall be paged, indexed, and sold separately. This arrangement, whilst it will be financially more acceptable to the Public, will probably permit in after-years of new editions being brought out at lesser intervals of time than has hitherto been possible. Subject to the above explanations, it may be further stated that the whole work has been revised everywhere, and enlarged and rearranged wherever alterations seemed necessary or expedient. A very large number of additional engravings have been prepared, and the list now includes a certain number selected from the various publications of the late Admiral W. H. Smyth. My grateful thanks are due to the surviving representatives of the lamented Admiral for their great kindness and liberality in regard to these engravings and other literary materials which they have placed at my disposal. Nor must I omit, in referring to engravings, to mention the kind help which I have received from the Secretaries of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Editor of the Observatory, and M. Gauthier Villars of Paris. The Second Volume will it is hoped be published in the Autumn of 1889, and the Third Volume in 1890. I have been glad to avail myself of the kind assistance of several astronomical friends in passing this volume through the press. To Mr. A. C. Ranyard, Mr. F. C. Penrose, and Mr. W. F Denning especial thanks are due for particular chapters which are duly noted as they occur; whilst the whole volume has been read for press by the Rev. J. B. Fletcher, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, and Vicar of All Souls, East-Bourne, and by Mr. W. T. Lynn, who has also made himself responsible for all calculations depending on the new value of the Sun's parallax. It may be added that this has been taken at 8.80", as probably a very close approximation to the truth. It is now twenty-seven years since the first edition of this work was offered to the public, and from that time (December 1861) to the present it has been, seemingly, a popular and appreciated book both in England and America, maintaining a steady sale from year to year. I am duly grateful for this, the more so as twenty-seven years ago I was a very young Author, with no reason to anticipate such a measure of success, and nothing to back me up in obtaining it. During this interval of more than a quarter of a century many things have happened in the World of Science, of which Astronomy is only one field. Many new and wholly unlookedfor discoveries have been made: new methods and processes have been introduced. Photography and Spectroscopy in their Astronomical applications may be said to be wholly the creatures of the period above named. New instruments have been invented, and the manufacture of old ones has been enormously developed. In 1860 the 12-inch refractor of the Greenwich Observatory was brought into use and was regarded as a grand advance. Now 12-inches counts for almost nothing in the race between different nations and different makers to obtain telescopes of large size for the exploration of the Heavens. 6 Looking back on these years, the question forces itself upon our notice: Where are we now, in the effort to discover First Causes?' And the answer is: Very much where we were a quarter of a century ago.' The Theory of Evolution may be true or it may be false, but, be it one or the other, I agree very much with Professor Mivart, (who believes it,) when he says: "There is no necessary antagonism between the Christian Revelation and Evolution." Evolution is "an attempt to guess at a process; it does not touch the Author of that process, and never will.” 6. F. C. NORTHFIELD Grange, EAST-BOURNE, SUSSEX : |