Has a retrograde motion of 1° 31′ 53″, and his diameter decreases during the month six-tenths of a second of arc; but this diminution affects but very slightly his brightness. As he is an evening star, the most convenient opportunities are afforded for obtaining a fine view. He rises on the 1st at 3:07 p. m., and sets on the 2nd at 5:43 a. m.; on the 15th rises at 2:04 p. m., and sets the following morning at 4:40; on the 30th, rises at 1:07 p. m., and sets on the 31st at 3:43 a. m. On the 26th, at 9:02 p. m., is 3° 27′ north of the moon. The use of the telescope in developing the rings of Saturn is one of the interesting items in astronomical history. To one looking at this planet with the naked eye, he appears simply as a bright star; but to a person using a telescope of moderate power, he now presents some such appearance as was hinted at in the December number of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, and resembles a globe with an appendage on either side similar to a new moon (the concave part turned toward the globe). To the early astronomers, whose telescopes were so much inferior to ours, his appearance was a great puzzle and produced a great variety of opinions. To Galileo the planet appeared like three globes, a large one with a smaller detached one on each of two sides. To Scheiner, in 1614, he appeared as one large globe, with a small attached ball on either side. To others he appeared as a globe with crescents (shape of new moon) sometimes detached, and at other times having their cusps (sharp points) meet on the edge of the planet. And it was not until 1655 that the discovery was made that these appendages were neither balls nor crescents, but were, as then supposed, a ring (seen in various positions) around the body of the planet. In the spring of this year, Huyghens discovered that what had appeared as handles extended out on each side and were somewhat like a veritable ball with its projecting axes ready to be laid in their “bearings.” The next spring the “gudgeons” had disappeared and only the plain sphere remained. In the fall of 1656 the axes had reappeared. Thus was suggested to Huyghens that these appearances were produced by the alternate presentation to view of the edge and face of a ring, whose thickness was so small as to be invisible when its plane was directed to the eye. Being anxious to secure to himself the honor of this discovery, and yet not wishing to publish it prematurely, lest his conception should turn out to be incorrect, he printed at the end of a little pamphlet descriptive of the planet the following characters: _aaaaaaa ccccc d eeeee g h iiiiiii llll mm nnnnnnnnn oooo pp q rr s ttttt uuuuu_. Should his theory prove to be incorrect no one would be likely to solve the riddle; should it be correct, as it proved to be, he readily arranged the letters to read: _Annulo cingitur tenui, plano nusquam cohaerente, ad eclipticam inclinato_; which being translated means: “Girdled by a thin, plane ring,