ed that, owing to the greater
distance of Saturn from the sun, its intrinsic brilliancy is less than
that of Jupiter. There are, no doubt, certain marks and bands often to
be seen on Saturn, but they are not nearly so striking nor so
characteristic as the ever-variable belts upon Jupiter. The telescopic
appearance of the globe of Saturn must also be ranked as greatly
inferior in interest to that of Mars. The delicacy of detail which we
can see on Mars when favourably placed has no parallel whatever in the
dim and distant Saturn. Nor has Saturn, regarded again merely as a
globe, anything like the interest of Venus. The great splendour of Venus
is altogether out of comparison with that of Saturn, while the brilliant
crescent of the evening star is infinitely more pleasing than any
telescopic view of the globe of Saturn. Yet even while we admit all this
to the fullest extent, it does not invalidate the claim of Saturn to be
one of the most supremely beautiful and interesting objects in the
heavens. This interest is not due to his globe; it is due to that
marvellous system of rings by which Saturn is surrounded--a system
wonderful from every point of view, and, so far as our knowledge goes,
without a parallel in the wide extent of the universe.

[Illustration: Fig. 64. Saturn. (July 2nd, 1894. 36-in. equatorial.)
(Prof. E.E. Barnard.)]

To the unaided eye Saturn usually appears like a star of the first
magnitude. Its light alone would hardly be sufficient to discriminate it
from many of the brighter fixed stars. Yet the ancients were acquainted
with Saturn, and they knew it as a planet. It was included with the
other four great planets--Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter--in the
group of wanderers, which were bound to no fixed points of the sky like
the stars. On account of the great distance of Saturn, its movements are
much slower than those of the other planets known to the ancients.
Twenty-nine years and a half are required for this distant object to
complete its circuit of the heavens; and, though this movement is slow
compared with the incessant changes of Venus, yet it is rapid enough to
attract the attention of any careful observer. In a single year Saturn
moves through a distance of about twelve degrees, a quantity
sufficiently large to be conspicuous to casual observation. Even in a
month, or sometimes in a week, the planet traverses an arc of the sky
which can be detected by anyone who will take the trouble to ma