seconds, see Chapter XI, on Methods of Measurement.

[9] The author has endeavored on the plates to represent the aspect of
the Earth in the starry sky of Mercury, Venus, and Mars; but in all
representations of this kind the stars are necessarily made too large.
By calculation the diameters of the Earth and Moon as seen from the
planets, and their distances, are as follows:

Diameter of Diameter of Distance
the Earth. the Moon. Earth-Moon.

Of Mercury (opposition) 20" 8" 871"
Of Venus (opposition) 64" 17" 1,928"
Of Mars (quadrature) 15" 4" 464"
Of Jupiter (quadrature) 3.5" 0.1" 105"

These aspects will be appreciated if we remember that the distance of
the components of [epsilon] Lyre = 207", that of Atlas in Pleione =
301", and that of the stars Mizar and Alcor = 708".

[10] A few evenings ago, after observing Venus in the calm and silent
Heavens at the close of day, my eyes fell upon a drawing sent me by my
friend Gustave Dore, which is included in the illustrations of his
wonderful edition of Dante's Divina Commedia. This drawing seems to be
in place here, and I offer my readers a poor reproduction of it, taken
from the fine engraving in the book. Dante and Virgil, in the peaceful
evening, are contemplating _lo bel pianeta ch'ad amar conforta_ (the
beautiful planet that incites to love).

[11] Strictly speaking, 1 kilometer = 0.6214 mile. Here, as throughout,
the equivalents are only given in round numbers.--TRANSLATOR.

[12] Translator: Compare the well-known English rhyme:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November.
While all the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
In which but twenty-eight appear
And twenty-nine when comes Leap Year.

[13] Fifty-eight different pictures of the aspect of the Moon to the
unaided eye will be found in the Monthly Bulletins of the Astronomical
Society of France, for the year 1900, in pursuance of an investigation
made by the author among the different members of the Society.

[14] My readers are charged not to speak of this property (which is
fairly extensive), lest the Budget Commission, at the end of its
resources, should be tempted to put on an unexpected tax. This ring,
which the astronomers