To give the child the habit of attention and to impress him deeply with
any truth affecting the senses, let him pass several restless days
before he discovers that truth. If the one in question does not thus
impress him, you may make him see it more clearly by reversing the
problem. If he does not know how the sun passes from its setting to
its rising, he at least does know how it travels from its rising to its
setting; his eyes alone teach him this. Explain your first question by
the second. If your pupil be not absolutely stupid, the analogy is so
plain that he cannot escape it. This is his first lesson in
cosmography.
As we pass slowly from one sensible idea to another, familiarize
ourselves for a long time with each before considering the next, and do
not force our pupil's attention; it will be a long way from this point
to a knowledge of the sun's course and of the shape of the earth. But
as all the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies are upon the same
principle, and the first observation prepares the way for all the rest,
less effort, if more time, is required to pass from the daily rotation
of the earth to the calculation of eclipses than to understand clearly
the phenomena of day and night.
Since the sun (apparently) revolves about the earth, it describes a
circle, and we already know that every circle must have a centre. This
centre, being in the heart of the earth, cannot be seen; but we may
mark upon the surface two opposite points that correspond to it. A rod
passing through these three points, and extending from one side of the
heavens to the other, shall be the axis of the earth, and of the sun's
apparent daily motion. A spherical top, turning on its point, shall
represent the heavens revolving on their axis; the two extremities of
the top are the two poles. The child will be interested in knowing one
of them, which I will show him near the tail of Ursa Minor.
This will serve to amuse us for one night. By degrees we shall grow
familiar with the stars, and this will awaken a desire to know the
planets and to watch the constellations.
We have seen the sun rise at midsummer; we will also watch its rising
at Christmas or some other fine day in winter. For be it known that we
are not at all idle, and that we make a joke of braving the cold. I
take care to make this second observation in the same place as the
first; and after some conversation to pave the way for it. One or the
other of us will be sure to exclaim, "How queer that is! the sun does
not rise where it used to rise! Here are our old landmarks, and now it
is rising over yonder. Then there must be one east for summer, and
another for winter." Now, young teacher, your way is plain. These
examples ought to suffice you for teaching the sphere very
understandingly, by taking the world for your globe, and the real sun
instead of your artificial sun.
Things Rather than their Signs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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