AS IT IS KNOWN AT THE PRESENT DAY, TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SUPPLEMENT, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE AND USE OF ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS, THE MANNER OF CALCULATING THE NOTES OF THE CALENDAR, THE DISTANCES AND MAGNITUDES OF THE PLANETS, AND A NUMBER OF OTHER USEFUL AND INTERESTING CALCULATIONS IN ASTRONOMY. BY GEO. G. CAREY, -ECTURER ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, AUTHOR OF A COMPLETE SYSTEM Astronomy, AS IT IS KNOWN AT THE PRESENT DAY. ON THE UTILITY OF ASTRONOMY. ASTRONOMY is one of the most ancient and one of the most pleasing branches of knowledge which has ever engaged the human mind. The grandeur and sublimity of the objects it presents elevate and improve the mind, banish low and frivolous passions, and become a source of never-ceasing pleasure. No species of knowledge that is attained by the light of nature, gives higher or juster notions of the Supreme Being; no science affords stronger arguments by which his existence is demonstrated; and none gives more convincing proofs of HIS power and wisdom; for, as David says, "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.” Cicero, who was guided only by the light of reason, appears to have had the same sentiments; for " nothing," says he, "is more evident, nothing is plainer, when we look up to the heavens, and contemplate the celestial bodies, than that there is a Deity of most excellent wisdom who governs them.' For the certainty and evidence of its demonstrations, Astronomy is not inferior to Geometry: the motions of the heavenly bodies being now as certainly known, and their causes as strictly demonstrated, as any proposition in pure Mathematics. The smallest stars we can see, though at an immeasurable distance from us, have their latitude and longitude as exactly determined as any place on the earth; and the eclipses of the sun and moon, the conjunctions, oppositions, and phases of the planets, are calculated with the greatest precision. "There is no science," says Dr. Keil," in which there remains fewer difficulties to be explained, objections to be answered, or scruples to be removed, than in Astronomy, and no science has attained so high a degree of perfection as it has; for no philosopher has ever yet discovered the figure of the small particles of matter, or the texture, intervals, form, and composition, of the parts of the most common plant." Nor has any Physician yet discovered the reason of the virtues and operations by which his medicines affect the human body. And B |