Map of Constellations on the Meridian in November 74. Southern Circumpolar Constellations 75. Aspects of Double Stars 76. Sprayed Star Cluster below ae in Hercules 77. Globular Star Cluster in the Centaur 78. Great Nebula about th Orionis 79. The Crab Nebula above z Tauri 80. The Ring Nebula in Lyra 81. Showing Place of Ring Nebula 82. The Horizontal Pendulum COLORED PLATE REPRESENTING VARIOUS SPECTA MAPS TO FIND THE STARS [Page 1] I. CREATIVE PROCESSES. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."--_Genesis_ i. 1, 2. [Page 2] "Not to the domes, where crumbling arch and column Attest the feebleness of mortal hand, But to that fane, most catholic and solemn, Which God hath planned,-- To that cathedral, boundless as our wonder, Whose quenchless lamps the sun and stars supply; Its choir the winds and waves, its organ thunder, Its dome the sky." H. W. LONGFELLOW. "The heavens are a point from the pen of His perfection; The world is a rose-bud from the bower of His beauty; The sun is a spark from the light of His wisdom; And the sky a bubble on the sea of His power." SIR W. JONES. [Page 3] RECREATIONS IN ASTRONOMY. * * * * * I. _CREATIVE PROCESSES._ During all the ages there has been one bright and glittering page of loftiest wisdom unrolled before the eye of man. That this page may be read in every part, man's whole world turns him before it. This motion apparently changes the eternally stable stars into a moving panorama, but it is only so in appearance. The sky is a vast, immovable dial-plate of "that clock whose pendulum ticks ages instead of seconds," and whose time is eternity. The moon moves among the illuminated figures, traversing the dial quickly, like a second-hand, once a month. The sun, like a minute-hand, goes over the dial once a year. Various planets stand for hour-hands, moving over the dial in various periods reaching up to one hundred and sixty-four years; while the earth, like a ship of exploration, sails the infinite azure, bearing the observers to different points where they may investigate the infinite problems of this mighty machinery. This dial not only shows present movements, but it keeps the history of uncounted ages past ready to be [Page 4] read backward in proper order; and it has glorious volumes of prophecy, revealing the far-off future to any man who is able to look thereon, break the seals, and read the record. Glowing stars are the alphabet of this lofty page. They combine to form words. Meteors, rainbows, auroras, shifting groups of stars, make pictures vast and significant as the armies, angels, and falling stars in the Revelation of St. John--changing and progressive pictures of infinite wisdom and power.