TUTOR. As longitude is seldom mentioned without being accompanied with latitude, that you may not be ignorant of its meaning when you meet with it, I shall just tell you that it is the distance of any place from the equator, reckoned in degrees and minutes on the meridian, and is either north or south as the place lies north or south of the equator. The latitude of any place is equal to the elevation of the pole above the horizon. The latitude of the heavenly bodies is reckoned from the ecliptic, and terminates in the arctic and antarctic circles: and their longitude begins at the point Aries. PUPIL. What is the measure of a degree? TUTOR. A degree of latitude is 60 geographical, or 69-1/2 English miles: and a degree of longitude on the equator is equal to it, because the equator as well as the meridians divides the globe into two equal parts. But a degree of longitude decreases as you approach the poles: for at the poles the meridians meet in a point, consequently a degree there can have no dimension. To-morrow I will shew you the cause of the seasons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DIALOGUE X. PUPIL. I think, Sir, when you left me last night you told me our next business would be to explain the nature of the seasons? TUTOR. I did so, and am persuaded you will find no great difficulty in comprehending it.—Cast your eye on the little drawing I gave you, (Plate III. fig. 2.) where the earth is represented as situated at the four quarters of the year, namely, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.—But before we proceed to an explanation it will be necessary to remark, that, in the little scheme the eye is supposed to be elevated above the plane of the earth’s orbit, and that we see it very obliquely. The orbit by this means appears very elliptical; and, the enlightened hemisphere, or that half of the earth which is turned to the sun in the spring, and the darkened hemisphere, or that turned from him in the autumn, are there represented. PUPIL. This I understand. TUTOR. Well then, we will begin with the spring.—In this situation of the earth the equator is exactly opposed to the sun: and, as he always enlightens a hemisphere, or half of its surface, his rays will reach to both the poles: whence, from the diurnal revolution of the earth, the day and night are equal all over the globe. PUPIL. This I remember you told me happened when the sun was in Aries and Libra. The sun is now entering Aries: and, as we are in the rays of the sun one half of the diurnal revolution, and in the shadow of the earth, or dark, the other half, the day and night must be equal. TUTOR. Certainly. And as the sun enters Aries in the equinoctial, it is then called the _Vernal_, that is, _Spring Equinox_. When the sun enters the opposite sign Libra, the same effects are produced, and it is then called the _Autumnal Equinox_.