watching to discover and distinguish all these planets. In these days, by means of an almanac and some knowledge of the constellations, they may easily be found and traced. Mars and Venus move quickly during part of the time they are visible, and if sketches be made of their positions among the stars, and their paths marked for a few weeks, a very good idea may be gained of the motions of planets as seen in the skies.
Once again, it is not necessary to explain here that these movements of the planets are due partly to their revolution round the sun, and partly to the Earth's motion. Nor need we, for our present purpose, consider them in any detail: all that is important to realize is the general character of the movements, and their likeness to those of sun and moon.
The distances, and therefore the sizes, of all the heavenly bodies are completely beyond measurement, except with instruments and refined methods; their physical nature could only be guessed at before the discoveries of universal gravitation and spectrum analysis, in the 17th and 19th centuries of our era. All that can be observed by naked-eye astronomy is difference of brightness and colour; as for instance the contrast between ruddy Mars and white Jupiter; the steadier light of all the planets as compared with stars; and the interesting fact that the moon shines by reflected sunlight, which is made evident by the connection between her phases and her position with regard to the sun. Her surface, too, is clearly seen to be diversified by dark markings of definite shape, but on no other body in all the sky can we make out the least detail without a telescope.
The movements of the heavenly bodies, therefore,
