John Cassell's Educational Course.

ASTRONOGRAPHY;

OB,

ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY:

With the Use of the Globes.

ARRANGED EITHER FOR SIMULTANEOUS READING AND STUDY IN CLASSES,
OR FOR STUDY IN THE COMMON METHOD.

ILLUSTRATED WITH UPWARDS OF FIFTY ENGRAVINGS.

BY

E. WILLARD.

With Additions by the Editor.

LONDON:

W. KENT AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW;

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1857

184. a. 28.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY PETTER AND GALPIN, PLAYHOUSE YARD,

ADJOINING THE "TIMES" OFFICE.

PREFACE.

IN presenting to the public the Second Volume of the EDUCATIONAL COURSE, the Editor desires to offer a few words of explanation,— first, as to the size of the volume; and, secondly, as to its object.

One of the distinctive features of the EDUCATIONAL COURSE is the issue of complete works, each forming one volume. Every volume is perfectly distinct from those which precede or follow it, and contains a whole treatise on some attractive and important subject. The purpose is not so much to issue volumes at fixed periods and at the same price-some subjects requiring much more extension than others-as to bring each volume to a conclusion as soon as the subject of which it treats has been fully developed. "Science Popularly Explained," embracing as it does the principles of natural and physical science, together with their practical and useful application to the employments and necessities of common life, formed a much larger volume than was at all necessary for "Astronography." Had the present volume been made as large as the first, the subject must either have been unnecessarily extended, or some other subject must have been introduced. Either alternative would have been inconsistent with the original design, and subversive of the Editor's purpose.

With respect to the work itself, the subject is so novel that the Editor has found it necessary to employ an original word for its description, that is, " ASTRONOGRAPHY, or Astronomical Geography." Every teacher has felt the necessity of some more simple plan for teaching the use of the globes than that which is commonly employed; every student, old or young, has felt the difficulties presented by the universally adopted system as almost insurmountable. It appeared, therefore, desirable to offer some new and more simple method, both