I,£T. III. FIRMAMENT OF THE FIXED STARS. 41

during the whole of her monthly revolution;and, on this account, it is plain that the inha-bitants of one half of the lunar world, aretotally deprived of a fight of the earth, andmust, for ever, remain ignorant of its existence,unless business, or pleasure, leads them to ex-plore the opposite hemisphere ; where they mayhave a full view of our globe, moving majesti-cally through the heavens, at the rate of sifty-eight thousand miles an hour, and appearing tothem like a newly created planet, of a magni-tude near 13 times larger than that of the fun.

A number of other particulars, relating tothis subject, will be mentioned in their properplaces. But a general idea of the solar system,together with the periods, distances, bulks, &c.of the planets, will be best acquired from thefollowing table, which is formed from the latestobservations of the best modern Astronomers,who have written upon this subject. A minuteexactness in these matters, cannot be easily ob-tained ; and as the nearest round numbers arebetter retained in the memory than those w hichare more accurate, I have preferred this methodof expressing them for the present, but, whenoccasion requires, shall be more precise.

The explanation of the terms made use of inthis Table, as well as in several other parts ofthe book, are to be found at the end of thework.

Table