Science and Literature. Astronomy. NOTICES FOR APRIL, 1853. BY WILLIAM ROGERSON, OF THE ROYAL "Who guides the planets as they roll, THE Sun rises at Greenwich on the 1st at thirty-eight minutes past five, and sets at thirty minutes after six: on the same day he rises at Edinburgh at thirtyfive minutes past five, and sets at thirtyfour minutes after six. He rises at Greenwich or London on the 21st at fifty-four minutes past four, and sets at three minutes after seven: on the same day he rises at Edinburgh at forty-three minutes past four, and sets at sixteen minutes after seven. The astronomer contemplating the sun, observes, very justly, that he appears to rise, culminate, and set, but in reality he stands "firm fixed amid a flood of day," and is a stupendous orb, more than a million times larger than our globe, over whose disc he seems daily to revolve: that his apparent motion arises from the earth's real motion around its own axis every twenty-four hours; and thus, in the order of Providence, day and night are measured out for the benefit of the inhabitants of our globe. Similar remarks might be made respecting every other planet in the solar system. The Moon, "Queen of the sobermantled night," rises on the 1st at a quarter before three in the morning, and changes on the 8th at noon. Her beau tiful crescent appears in the western sky on the evening of the 10th, and sets about nine oclock. On the 13th she sets soon after midnight, and on the 16th is half-full: she is due south, or passes the meridian on the 17th, at a quarter-past seven in the evening, and on the 21st at half-past ten at night. The moon is full on the 23rd, at twelve minutes past three in the afternoon; and in the evening of the same day appears in full glory in the eastern horizon, soon after the setting of the sun: she rises on the 26th, at halfpast eleven at night, and enters her last quarter on the 30th; on which day she rises at a quarter-past two in the morning. "Orb of the night! thy pale still ray Gleams on the sleeping earth! Clouds float around thee, and awhile Thus the dark shades that cloud the soul, Shall melt beneath the high control Season of thought! when the mind feels A charm that leads the soul above, Who pours his bounteous rays of love Mercury is unfavourably situated for observation during this month. Venus being now so much in the blaze of the sun, is invisible to the naked eye. Mars, owing to the same cause, cannot be seen at present. Jupiter appears low in the southern skies, before sunrise: his brightness renders him at once known to the commonest observer: he rises on the 1st at one o'clock in the morning, and on the 19th at a quarter before twelve at night. On the 27th this beautiful planet is in conjunction with the moon. Saturn is to be seen in the evening twilight, like a star of the second magnitude: he sets on the 1st at forty minutes past nine, and on the 22nd at half-past eight: on the 10th he is very near the moon, as viewed from our earth. Natural History. NOTICES FOR APRIL, 1853. BY WILLIAM ROGERSON, OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH. "Now the golden morn aloft Waves her dew-bespangled wing; New-born flocks, in rustic dance, Rise the rapturous choir among; With health, with harmony, and love." "WHEN we observe the earth gradually exchanging its winter robes for a mantle of the liveliest green, the flowers springing up in fresh luxuriance at our feet, and every shrub and tree putting forth its buds, which are soon to be beautifully expanded into blossoms and leaves, our first feelings are those of wonder and delight at the silent and marvellous change produced in the general aspect of nature; and we then naturally seek to contemplate the causes of such a universal transition. By what agency, we ask, does the vegetable world suddenly start from apparent death into all the beauty and exuberance of another spring? What second cause, under the direction of the great Ruler of the year, works the magnificent effect? "The means by which this sudden burst of vegetation is produced, is, like most of the other great agencies of nature, extremely simple. It is merely the increased temperature of the earth and atmosphere, assisting the natural tendency of the plants to awake from the lethargic state into which they are thrown during the winter. The progress of the earth in its orbit toward its aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun, causes that luminary to ascend higher in the heavens, and to be longer above the horizon, and thus produces longer and warmer days. It is a well-known physical fact, formerly noticed, that the more perpendicularly the sun's rays fall upon the surface of the earth, the greater is the heat they excite. Hence, as the sun in his northward progress in the ecliptic, daily ascends higher above the horizon, and consequently darts his rays upon our hemisphere in a more perpendicular direction, the temperature of the earth and air gradually increases, and milder and more genial weather ensues. The effect upon the economy of vegetables is more or less rapid, according to their different structures; but in no long period the increased and increasing heat produces a universal development of foliage and flowers. The earth opens, as it were, her bosom to the sun; all her veins feel the genial influence; and a vital energy moves and works in all her blossoms, buds, and leaves. What was lately barrenness becomes fertility; from desolation and death start up life and varied beauty, as if beneath the reviving footsteps of a present Deity. Hence result all the beautiful and amazing phenomena of spring."-Duncan. The first half of the month.-The fox and the marten suckle their young ones, and bring them animal food. The silvery gull and the crossbill retire from our shores to more northern latitudes to breed. The frog and the toad spawn early in this month, and the young are speedily hatched. The death-watch beetle (Anobium tesselatum) leaves the wood, in which it passed its larva state, and commences to make its peculiar ticking noise, somewhat quicker than the beats of a watch, and at intervals consisting of seven or eight strokes at a time: this insect is only found in or about houses of long standing. The molecricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), invited by the warmth of the sun, leaves its hidingplace; and the early cabbage-butterfly is seen dancing an powdery plumes in the solar beams. The Chinese primrose, white oxalis, fritillary, wall-flowers, clarimond tulips, hyacinth, crown imperial, primrose, daffodil, gentianella, common cyclamen, and various other interesting garden plants, display their beautiful flowers; while the fields exhibit in bloom ground-ivy, dandelion, wood wind-flower, bulbous buttercup, harebell, &c. A walk out into the lawns and woodlands on a fine morning in April, yields considerable pleasure and interest. The last half of the month.-The natterjack and eft spawn at this time. Respecting the latter, a certain naturalist says"I have kept several water-efts in a jar of water; but it is painful to observe their constant efforts to take breath, by rising every two or three minutes to the surface, so that breathing seems to be the only business of their lives, requiring more, infinitely more, labour than most other animals undergo to procure food. It is clearly impossible for them ever to sleep, except upon land. Those which I kept cast off the whole of the scarf-skin (epidermis) every two or three weeks, but never the true skin, as serpents do. They also laid eggs, enveloped in a gelatinous substance, somewhat like frog-spawn. Birds now sing delightfully; and many of them are now engaged in constructing their nests. ""Twas wisdom infinite that first imprest The impulse on each bird to build her nest, The little wren, beneath the hovel thatch, The notanecta, or boat-fly, is now busy in sunny days catching flies on the surface of ponds, &c., which he does while swimming with his back downwards. Mole-crickets may be seen in their respective haunts. The early cabbagebutterfly, the wall-butterfly, the angleshades moth, the April moth, and some other lepidopterous insects make their appearance at this time. The gardenbeetle, the catchweed-beetle, and several other beetles abound. Our gardens every day are unfolding fresh beauties. The double white, the yellow, and some others of the earlier tulips, are now fully opened; but the more illustrious varieties will not blow for some weeks: this tribe is the gayest offspring of floriculture. Other flowers which now adorn our fields are the chequered daffodil, the primrose, the cowslip, and the lady-smock; also the harebell. "With drooping bells of clearest blue The azure butterflies that flew, Sacred Botany. THE LILY. BY S. HEREMAN. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin."-MATT. vi. 28. "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns so is my love among the daughters."-SONG OF SOLOMON ii. 1, 2. "My Beloved is mine and I am his, he feedeth among the lilies."-SONG OF SOLOMON ii. 16. "My Beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the garden, and to gather lilies."-SONG OF SOLOMON VI. 2. "And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defence shall be dried up; the reeds and the flags shall wither."-ISAIAH xix. 6. "I will be as dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." HOSEA xiv. 5. “THE name lily (lilium, λειριον, κρινον) is probably derived from an eastern word, signifying a flower; or, as some affirm, from the Celtic word li (whence the Gallic lis), white, or shining; and is a term that has been applied to many very different plants, such as the water-lily (nymphæa); the Superb lilies, commonly so called (ilium); and others, even to the lilac (syringa); the original Persian name for which has been anglicised without alteration." The numerous texts of Scripture quoted above also agree with this view, as they evidently apply to several distinct kinds of plants. The lilies of the field, pointed out by our blessed Saviour, in illustration of the providential care of God over his creatures, consisted probably of three or more different species.* That this is not a singular view, the following quotation from "Burnet's Outlines of Botany" will show : ་ "The application of the term lily has been very variously extended and restrained; for the word has been used both as a general and an individual name. Solomon uses lily (shushan) in a collective sense, and likewise distinguishes among lilies, the shushan of the valley; and a greater than Solomon,' when he gave us the affectionate command to consider the lilies of the field how they grow,' seems, while adopting popular language, evidently to have had a similar comprehensive meaning, which may be shown, both from the context and from modern phyto-geographical researches. Historical reference and a knowledge of local peculiarities can alone develop the impressive beauty of this, as well as of many other passages in ancient records. Thus, for example, it is well known that fuel is so scarce in the Holy Land and in many parts of the East, that the inhabitants regard large trees with especial reverence, and are obliged to use by turns every kind of combustible matter, such as the withered stalks of herbs and flowers, the tendrils of the vine, the small branches of rosemary, and other plants, to heat their baths and ovens. Allusion to this custom is easily recognised in this passage, and adds much natural force to Christ's concluding remark, 'If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?' The grass of the field here evidently includes the lilies, of which the Saviour had just been speaking, and by consequence, such herbaceous plants in general; and in such an extensive sense both words are not unfrequently to be taken. This will appear still further evident from the observations of Sir James Edward Smith, who, when endeavouring to identify these lilies, which he considers not to have been lilies, but One our common but beautiful white garden lily; another the orange-red kind; a third the copper-coloured day-lily; and a fourth the yellow amaryle; all of which abound in the fields of the Levant. Fig. 1.-a, White Lily. b, Scarlet Lily. of these,' is peculiarly appropriate. I consider the feeling with which this was expressed as the highest honour ever done to the study of plants; and if my botanical conjecture be correct, we learn a chronological fact respecting the season of the year when the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. "The white lily and the Chalcedonian are, however, both Levantine plants; and many other lilies are natives of and so abundant in the East, that a Persian province was called Susiana, and its chief city Shusan, or Sushan, from these beautiful flowers growing there naturally in excess. Hence, although the amaryllis can by no means be excluded, the other liliacea should be included likewise." The above are most likely the lilies of Matt. vi. 28, and of the various passages in the Song of Solomon; but the flags of Isaiah xix. 6, and the lily of Hosea c, Copper Day Lily. d, Lily of the Valley, every one; as is also the orange-red kind (lilium chalcedonicum, fig. 1b): both these were introduced to Britain nearly 300 years ago. The copper-coloured day-lily (hemerocallis fulva, fig. 1 c) grows in the richer pastures throughout the Levant, and flowers during nearly half the year; the leaves and flower-stems rise to the height of three feet. The small white fragrant bell-flower, known to us by the name of "lily of the valley" (convallaria majalis, fig. I d), which some have supposed to be the plant noticed in the Song of Solomon, is a native of the woods of England and many parts of Europe, and is no where mentioned in the sacred writings. The yellow amaryll (fig. 2) is the sternbergia lutea of modern botanists, the amaryllis lutea of others; the great yellow colchicum of Bauhin, and the great or autumn and winter daffodil of Parkhurst. It is a hardy, bulbous plant, growing freely in our garden borders, and, only that its flowers are larger and more robust, they might be readily mistaken for those of a crocus or colchicum; indeed, under this latter name, the roots are annually imported to us from Holland. Fig. 2.-Yellow Amaryll (Amaryllis lutea), known as Sternbergia Lutea by botanists. The lily of Hosea xiv. 5, and the flag of Isaiah xix. 6, are references to a waterlily, called both by ancient and modern writers "lotus," figures of which are found in all the old inscriptions and writings of the Egyptians. The word lotus having been variously used, however, it might he proper to notice each plant which has borne that name. The first is called the LOTOS TREE (zizyphus lotus, fig. 3 a), and is the plant of the ancients, so celebrated in history as producing a fruit which formed the chief sustenance of the inhabitants of a large tract of country in the North of Africa, which fruit Homer states was so delicious as to produce in those who ate it a forgetfulness of their own country, and that the friends of Ulysses required to be violently removed from the place where the plant grew. The lotus-eaters, or lotophagi, chiefly lived on the seacoasts about the gulf of "Syrtes," the island of Mennix (Jerba), and the coast beyond, as far as the lake and river Tritonis to the Mechlies. The true extent, however, of their boundaries has not been fully determined. Scylax includes the whole of the tribes between the two "Syrtes;" Ptolomy limits them to the neighbourhood of the river Cinyps;" Herodotus places them on the west side of the river "Cinyps;" Strabo says they live in the neighbourhood of "Jerba" and the adjoining "Syrtes;" and Pliny, like Strabo, states that they inhabited both "Jerba" and the environs of the "Syrtes." The truth probably is, that the inhabitants of all the parts bordering on the desert were lotus eaters. The plant is a native of Persia, Sicily, Spain, and the interior of Africa, in the kingdom of Tunis, especially in the tract called "Jereed." The Arabic name of it is Nebbek, and two sorts are described as growing in the neighbourhood of Daufoor; one called "Nebbek el Arab," and the other "Seedra." It is also said to be common both in the eastern and western extremities of the African desert, and Major Rennel thought he saw it in the neighbourhood of the Ganges. Mr. Mungo Park also found the fruit common in all the parts of Africa he visited; but the kind he saw growing at the Gambia was probably another species, known as Bacle's jujube (zizyphus Baclei). Dr. Shaw met with it in the southern districts of Barbary; and other travellers observed |