The planet _Saturn_ forms one of the most interesting objects for telescopic observation. The _ring_ of Saturn may be _seen_ with a power of 45; but it can only be contemplated with advantage when powers of 100, 150, and 200 are applied to a 3 or a 5 feet achromatic. The _belts of Saturn_ are not to be seen distinctly with an achromatic of less than 2-3/4 inches aperture, or a Gregorian reflector of less than 4 inches aperture, nor with a less magnifying power than 100 times. Sir W. Herschel has drawn this planet with five belts across its disk; but it is seldom that above one or two of them can be seen by moderate-sized telescopes and common observers. The _division_ of the double ring, when the planet is in a favorable position for observation, and in a high altitude, may sometimes be perceived with a 44-inch achromatic, with an aperture of 2-3/4 inches, and with powers of 150 or 180, but higher powers and larger instruments are generally requisite to perceive this phenomenon distinctly; and even when a portion of it is seen at the extremities of the _ansæ_, the division cannot, in every case, be traced along the whole of the half-circumference of the ring which is presented to our eye. Mr. Hadley’s engraving of Saturn, in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1723, though taken with a Newtonian reflector with a power of 228, represents the division of the ring as seen only on the ansæ or extremities of the elliptic figure in which the ring appears. The best period for observing this division is when the ring appears at its utmost width. In this position it was seen in 1840, and it will appear nearly in the same position in 1855. When the ring appears like a very narrow ellipse, a short time previous to its disappearance, the division, or dark space between the rings, cannot be seen by ordinary instruments.