or a fluid mass, can only be a preparatory one. The earth was once the same, and what is she now? "I have formed the earth," saith the Almighty, "to be inhabited;" and doubtless so He has the great globe of Jupiter. The grandeur of his position in our system, the very sight of his four moons moving round him, suggest almost instinctively to the mind that they are what they seem to be,-not mere useless appendages,-not there even for their own sakes, as independent planets, but that He who placed them where they are, and arranged every movement of their course, doubtless contemplated the effect of every eclipse and every transit, did so with a special design. And what was that design? If it could be demonstrated that Jupiter was no more than a sun, further speculation would be useless, and they would not be satellites; but to prove this at the distance at which he is situated from us is impossible. Nor does Mr. Proctor even assert that he is a sun: steering between difficulties, he only suggests his being an immatured planet. It may be well questioned, however, whether it is probable. That the sun and Jupiter may go halves, as it might be said, or share in producing light for the Jovian satellites, is most improbable. There is no such precedent in the entire solar system, in reference to the other planets belonging to our solar family. A supplementary light from a planet to its satellite, and originating in itself, would be a confession of the sun's inability to do the work for which he was made, and a kind of patchwork interpretation of the condition of the great primary, for which there does not appear to be any analogy in the heavens; but on the contrary, a departure from the general law found there-that a sun is a sun, and a planet is a planet.

The compensating system is quite different, and relates merely to the supply of night illumination by reflection. The distinction of the separate functions of sun, moon, and planets, is indeed very clearly defined in Genesis, where the sun is represented as to rule the day, and the moon (it may be presumed therefore all moons) to rule the night; not be ruled themselves. Thus viewed, what is the design which seems to be apparent in the satellites of this great planet? It is evident that his moons are intended to be to Jupiter what our moon is to us, and was to us even in our immatured condition: viz., the regulators of his oceans, and the illuminators of his nights. Where there are oceans there will be tides. The moons of Jupiter are therefore absolute indicators of the existence of oceans and tides on his surface, of which they are the regulators. They are as four fingers pointing our attention to this great fact. They are as four voices calling to our "listening earth," and saying, "We are four moons to your one, because our primary is so far removed from the sun, that no tidal influence can be exercised upon him from that body, and the grand oceans of our primary need more than fourfold the power of your solitary moon to control them. Then, "We are four lamps," they cry, "four to your one; for think what a vast country we have to traverse and enlighten, and remember how little sunlight beams upon our great planet compared to what you receive, and how short his days,even the shortest winter day on earth (a day of five hours) is all the daylight our great centre enjoys, until our fourfold light appears, now in succession, now altogether, making insensibly a mixed day of ten hours of varied light, as we take the place of the departing sun."

Indeed, the first glance at this noble planet impresses the beholder, as it did Galileo, and many a follower of his creed since, with the conviction of direct design and agency perceptible in the four beautiful stars that illumine his surface and charm our sight.

That the condition of the inhabitants of Jupiter indeed must be widely different from our own, is at once apparent. The shortness of their days and nights, and the peculiarity of their seasons, resulting from the position of the planet's axis at right angles nearly to the plane of his orbit, the enormous length of his years, with solar and lunar phoenomena so different from our's, combined with the vast size of the world they inhabit, and the probable proportional size of its oceans and mountains, rivers, etc., all this causes so complete a distinction from anything that we know here, or might experience in other planets, such as Mars or Venus, that we can form little or no conception of the country or its inhabitants. What mysteries lie hid beneath the lovely veil of its cloudcovered surface we know not, nor probably ever shall,in this world, at least. Meantime there is nothing in his seasons, his days or his nights, to prevent that vast globe from being, for aught we know, a perfect paradise. The inclination of his axis will give a modified climate,-a perpetual spring or autumn, merging into summer over the equator and the regions adjacent. No long, cold, dreary nights will be found there, to chill his atmosphere into frost. Bright diamond-like moons, some of them twice the size of our's, succeeding each other with a motion so rapid that it can be seen, will chase each other across his heavens, pouring their single or united light upon every point of his

surface, while cloud-colours of every hue will decorate his heavens.

In bidding farewell to this noble planet, it is impossible not to consider him as one (and that not the least) of those bright mansions in the Father's house spoken of by our Lord, prepared, or to be prepared, for those who know and love Him, when with spiritual bodies that shall be independent of all the powers of gravity, they may defy his stupendous mass to chain them to his surface, or prevent their flight and visit to other worlds, or from roaming unfettered with the speed of light through his own wondrous regions, to hear the thunder of his oceans, and gaze upon the sublime scenery of his giant mountains, and to enjoy the variety to be found in a world to which our own globe appears but as a grain of sand in the universe of God.

SATURN.

ANOTHER flight of 500 millions of miles brings us to perhaps the most wonderful of all the objects in the heavens. Saturn, whose complicated ring system, so long an enigma to Galileo and others, in the era of imperfect telescopes, now presents to the wondering eye of the modern astronomer a sight which fills the mind with astonishment and admiration, mingled with a burning desire to know more respecting this strange ringed world, and the phoenomena connected with its condition. Never shall I forget the impression made upon my mind at the first sight I obtained of it: a meeting as unexpected as it was delightful. It was many years ago, when but a tyro in astronomical knowledge,

and an inexperienced, though enthusiastic searcher of the heavens. I had constructed a common refractor of considerable dimensions, having an object glass six inches in diameter, and ten feet six inches focus. I had never seen Saturn, nor any of the planets with any telescope, although I had of course read of them in books, and seen plates of them; but I did not know where even to look for them, nor how to distinguish them from the fixed stars, or from one another, except that I knew the fixed stars sparkled, and the planets gave a steady light, which I had observed with the naked eye. On the night in question, I had placed my large refractor upon the upper sash of my parlour window, and was endeavouring to bring under my view each star that was most conspicuous, when covering a dull silvery-looking star, with my object glass reduced in size by a diaphram to about an inch in diameter, and a power of 120, I beheld a sight at which I started; and though alone, I exclaimed aloud with astonishment and delight. I had actually before me in the heavens the ringed world of which I had so often read and seen plates. There gleamed its wondrous ring and stately globe, shining in the calm summer sky with a subdued silvery splendour. My sensations as I gazed at the mysterious object, were indescribable. That ring,-what could it be? That silvery shining globe, two of whose glittering satellites are likewise present,-how strange its condition; how unlike anything else I had ever seen in the heavens! I could not take my eyes off this ghostly object. I gazed again and again, till my eyes ached, and its ringed impression remained on my retina long after I had withdrawn it from the telescope. I applied a higher power (240), and