DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0216
THE ORIGIN OF THE WEEK. 203
heavenly bodies, which, as Carlyle has remarked, I
think, though taking place all the time around us,
are not half-known to most of us. As civilisation
indeed progresses, the proportion of persons ac-
quainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies
becomes less and less ; both because artificial
measures of time come more generally into use,
and because fewer persons in proportion are en-
gaged out of doors at night under conditions
making the movements of the heavens worth
observing. Even the increased interest taken of
late in the study of astronomy has not tended, I
believe, to increase the number who have a familiar
acquaintance with the heavenly bodies and their
motions. So soon as a student of astronomy sets
up an observatory, indeed, he is more likely to
forget what he already knows about ordinary
celestial phenomena than to pay closer attention
to them. If he wants to observe a particular star
or planet, he does not turn to the heavens—one
may almost say indeed, strange though it sounds,
that the heavens are the last place he would think
of looking at ; he simply sets the circles of his
telescope aright, knowing that the star or planet
he wants will then be in the field of view. The
telescope is as often as not turned to the object
before the door of the revolving dome has been
heavenly bodies, which, as Carlyle has remarked, I
think, though taking place all the time around us,
are not half-known to most of us. As civilisation
indeed progresses, the proportion of persons ac-
quainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies
becomes less and less ; both because artificial
measures of time come more generally into use,
and because fewer persons in proportion are en-
gaged out of doors at night under conditions
making the movements of the heavens worth
observing. Even the increased interest taken of
late in the study of astronomy has not tended, I
believe, to increase the number who have a familiar
acquaintance with the heavenly bodies and their
motions. So soon as a student of astronomy sets
up an observatory, indeed, he is more likely to
forget what he already knows about ordinary
celestial phenomena than to pay closer attention
to them. If he wants to observe a particular star
or planet, he does not turn to the heavens—one
may almost say indeed, strange though it sounds,
that the heavens are the last place he would think
of looking at ; he simply sets the circles of his
telescope aright, knowing that the star or planet
he wants will then be in the field of view. The
telescope is as often as not turned to the object
before the door of the revolving dome has been