_Mrs. B._ Not so either: the inhabitants of the torrid zone have much more heat than we have, as the sun's rays fall perpendicularly twice in the course of a year, on every place within the tropics, while they shine more or less obliquely on the rest of the world, and almost horizontally at the poles; for during their long day of six months, the sun moves round their horizon without either rising or setting; the only observable difference, is that it is more elevated by a few degrees at mid-day, than at midnight. _Emily._ To a person placed in the temperate zone, in the situation in which we are in England, the sun will shine neither so obliquely as it does on the poles, nor vertically as at the equator; but its rays will fall upon him more obliquely in autumn, and winter, than in summer. _Caroline._ And therefore, the inhabitants of the temperate zones, will not have merely one day, and one night, in the year, as happens at the poles, nor will they have equal days, and equal nights, as at the equator; but their days and nights will vary in length, at different times of the year, according as their respective poles incline towards, or from the sun, and the difference will be greater in proportion to their distance from the equator. _Mrs. B._ We shall now follow the earth through the other half of her orbit, and you will observe, that now exactly the same changes take place in the southern hemisphere, as those we have just remarked in the northern. Day commences at the south pole, when night sets in at the north pole; and in every other part of the southern hemisphere the days are longer than the nights, while, on the contrary, our nights are longer than our days. When the earth arrives at the vernal equinox, D, where the ecliptic again cuts the equator, on the 21st of March, she is situated, with respect to the sun, exactly in the same position, as in the autumnal equinox; and the only difference with respect to the earth, is, that it is now autumn in the southern hemisphere, whilst it is spring with us. _Caroline._ Then the days and nights are again every where equal. _Mrs. B._ Yes, for the half of the globe which is enlightened, extends exactly from one pole to the other, the sun has just risen to the north pole, and is just setting to the south pole; but in every other part of the globe, the day and night is of twelve hours length; hence the word equinox, which is derived from the Latin, meaning equal night. As our summer advances, the days lengthen in the northern hemisphere, and shorten in the southern, till the earth reaches the summer solstice, when the north frigid zone is entirely illumined, and the southern is in complete darkness; and we have now brought the earth again to the spot from whence we first accompanied her.