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Show .NTIUMiC M:iS AIUIIT VE.M. Signor .Schiainrelli, the Italian astronomer wlio lias made more wonderful (li-coverlis among thu pU1.1l than all the other alnui' mcrs of our day jut togt titer, lias jtirl furiiirhed a new rtirpric. greater great-er even than ills recent dln-uvery that Mercury performs only ot.e rotation ro-tation in the ouun-eef a rcvt.lutluii arvuiid the Mill. Ho now arorits that Vcmi!', thebrightiht of all the pbiicl that Me M-e, the twIut-Ulrr id the tartii, uhlih is at prtfint glowing with nightly incua.liig H leudor in the west alter tui.dou 11, abo lunis but olue on its axis in the coutK) of a revolution around the run. In other words then-is no alurualkiii of day and night uti e-iiu, e-iiu, as 011 earth. Tlie 4anel cpjoys Iwqatual day olioneridcof iLiglobe, while the other hide is plunged In u tending dorkiKM. Attrouonirrs liave luntofrire Inrlieveii that tlie lime of Venuh's axial rotation cor-njnded cor-njnded almost (XMtly with tint of tlie earth's, namely, tueiily-fuur hour. Tills was rujajretl to have liven c-tat.lirhdl l.t noting the return re-turn of hiads vl-ll.le ou Venus to ft i-imiUr t'N.itioti night after night; ait Schtnjarelli rhuu s that to.no of ihihe (e-h. rvatkm. have rnialrly Uen iiiWntiriiritnl, and thai 111-atead 111-atead of indicating a rutatloii rkl of twenty-lour luurs, they rather confirm his cuticlu-iou Hint the ro tation ta ix'tfunued in .'I.Tdajs. whkh Is the time the plant t tiken to couipk-tu a revolution around the Hiii. or, in other words, it the length if Venu.V jiar. Veuus Is about oT.UU-i.Otkj mlk from the run. and its orMt is more nearly a einle than that of any oilier pUmt. It fjlluna that there is very little variation vari-ation in tlie amount ef holar heat falling UHu Venus at ditrereut a-riods of Its year. ScliiaonlIi MVstlieaxi. of rotation is nrarly IvrjiiiidicuLir to the plane of the oibtL If that is sj, Venus ha., no dittrehy of mmmiiis micIi as thu earth 1 trior. Its njuator forevtr burns with the ardent heat of anuti-ending anuti-ending Mtniiner, aud its polar rt-gioie. undergo ho chanjce a tem-arature. tem-arature. Inahmudi an Verm, re-vcivixalnHjrt re-vcivixalnHjrt twk-v a-t much light aud heat ftom the tun, In ruipt ueiH-eofits greater Toxlmity, as the earth gets, it mu-t lu .rttty !tot In the (uatLrra! regkiin on that aide of the pbmt which perpetually taces the awlar funiace. Ituhatthe nn-at Italian ob-crvir Ktys alvut Venus is true, then the additional fact announced by him tliat the phnelV axis is iqicndicukir to the jdaue of its omit hcertu alnKs-t a providential provi-ion of nature, for In that way it Ls reu-dered reu-dered iatK-ibk-for Hie lolar regions lo enjoy a comparatively mild climate, cli-mate, although the equator and the i-IDocs corrvj-iomlitig to our tn,nical and temperate JUincs may blaze with unendurable heat. If theaxis of Veuus were inclined like that of the earth, the coii'timi-nt variation of rnjHitis would plunge the poles alternately into a day of fierce sun-hhfnuciHluriligfurttVeiitccu sun-hhfnuciHluriligfurttVeiitccu Weeks, and a froMy night of ctmal duration. The nult would U-that life under Mich forus as It awuines uarn our globe would ioUd.y be hiill,Ie auywhtnioii theturfaceof Venu, for tlie hi 11 ward side of the plaiK-t would Isj scorched while the night klc was frozen. Hut if, as Schlairellis otwrvntiom indicate, the jU of Venus are not tiplsj now one and then the other toward the tun, Imt n-maiiln upright up-right at right angles to the direction ofthekun, then In their iieighlur-I100J, iieighlur-I100J, Hie heal may be tcmiTcd juta It Is at the tale of the earth, in accordance with the law of Incidence Inci-dence of hc tolar ray, Of comae the cold, llnr uubroken, may ! Vert ItlleliM lust nmmi.1 II. u ..1 . tlicmxlK-i, ainl ill fact within a few years jast white ot liave Nvt. dkeovercdon Venus, about where theiIes would be situated according accord-ing to Sclaparelli's Idea; and the-s. hints may he caused by theaccumu-Lttionkcrf'ii'in-aud ice there Hut In .somewhat lower latitudes an agrteabie mean mhiht be found U-luwn U-luwn the consnmiiig heat of the euator and the glacial chill of the lIrs The imagination may not go far astray In plcttirins thtai !u-ternu-diate koncs, on the suuuard fide of Hie planet, as the scene of aitlvitlex corcej ponding tothoselhat mark the human occupation of the inhabitable art of the earth. To l Kire, the inhabitants ot evin these favored regions on Venus could not enjoy thu agreeable intcT-cliangc intcT-cliangc of day and ulght, but would be TIc!ualiy (hone ujon by the sun; butetcn here tliereare Indications Indica-tions tliat nature may have provided pro-vided at Irat a partial compensation. compensa-tion. AH telescopic olex-rvatlons of enus testify to the blinding blind-ing brilHancy or Its itirfacc; aud the most reasonable hyiothrhl yet it forth to account for this hinomcnon Is the existence of an extraordinary amount of ckdid In IU atmosplure. Anybody wlio has watched a eun-illumined eun-illumined cloud knows how splendidly splend-idly it ntlecU the light; and, of course, lu looking at tlie clouds cf another plantl wo can practically see only their tunny ade. If, then, aaapraaranccs indicate, Venus' at, most-here Is largely filled with clouds, the effect would be to ken-en otribeMiptrabundanthUiUihlne, and ta-rhaia render even pcrrctunl dav. light for lesd obnoxious than ' might, at first sight, Le diCM-d to regard It. There are reasons for thinking that the atmosphere of Venus Is most abundant. Its depth lias been calculated to exceed tliat of the earth by about one-third, although al-though Veuui is a slightly smaller planet thau ours. The existence of watery vajor In this atmosphere has been clearly established byarxc-trohcoplc byarxc-trohcoplc examinations. Of the ex-tentor ex-tentor ercn the existence of oceans on enus we know nothing by direct di-rect observation, but since the planet possesses an atmosphere and clouds, U is not unreasonable to conclude tliat It must hare an ocean capable ol supplying tlie needed rarer. Xnv ioriSun. |
