LECTURE XIV.

THE PLANET SATURN.

But farther yet the tardy Saturn lags,

And five* attendant luminaries drags ;

Investing with a double ring his pace,

He travels through immensity of space.”

Chattehton (“ On the Copernican System ”).

At a mean distance from the Sun almost exactly 400 millionsof miles beyond the orbit of Jupiter , we find another planetmore fascinating and more marvellous still. Or it may hethat we should rather say another planetary system, forSaturn with its eight attendant satellites and appanage ofring outlying ring may well he so termed.

There is perhaps no more beauteous sight in the wholeheavens than that of the Saturnian system in a telescope ofconsiderable power. The planet itself surpasses all the restin a certain calm distinctness which seems to be inherent inits image; while in the peculiar form of the rings, with themighty globe balanced within them, and in the never-endingvariety in the positions of the satellites, there is a charm thatno pen can describe. The most experienced observer neverwearies of such a sight.

True it is, that we cannot distinguish nearly so much detailof belt, or spot, or physical condition upon Saturn , as uponJupiter , owing to its smaller size and its much greater distancefrom the Earth . Several parallel bands, or markings, of lighteror darker colour, are, however, frequently seen on its disc ; twoat some distance on either side of the equator being generally

* The number known when Chatterton wrote the above lines, soonafter the middle of the 18th century.