siderable size, though, at the distance of the earth, it would appear as if you were looking through a cloud of fine dust. It is probable, also, that you will find the brighter rings to be of a similar nature, though the bodies of which they are composed may be larger and more closely packed together. The rings have, not without reason, been suspected to be rows of satellites, so closely crowded together that they appear to be one solid body. This accounts for the occasional appearance of divisions, and their subsequent obliteration. On none of the planets will the heavens present so grand a spectacle. The rings, shining with the lustre of the moon, will constantly arch the heavens. From the effect of perspective, the arch will appear broadest at the summit, and gradually to taper towards the horizon. The eight moons, some of them threading the outline of the ring, will be seen in different phases in the sky ; the stars will be seen setting behind the bright bars, and re-appearing in the dark spaces between.
We next reach Jupiter, nearly midway between Saturn and the sun. It was here that Lexell's comet got entangled in the satellites, and was thrown quite out of its course by the overpowering attraction of the planet. A proof was, on this occasion, afforded of the almost ethereal constitution of the comet. While the comet was driven about at the mercy of every body it met, it had no power whatever to disturb the course of the smallest bodies it came in con-
