With regard to a great number of very remarkable details which of late years have been seen and drawn by various observers, it may be remarked that the student need not be unduly disappointed should his small instrument fail, as it almost certainly will, to show these. This is a defect which his telescope shares with an instrument of such respectable size and undoubted optical quality as the Lick 36-inch. Writing in January, 1895, concerning the beautiful drawing which accompanies this chapter, Professor Barnard somewhat caustically observes: 'The black and white spots lately seen upon Saturn by various little telescopes were totally beyond the reach of the 36-inch--as well as of the 12-inch--under either good or bad conditions of seeing.... The inner edge (of the Crape Ring) was a uniform curve; the serrated or saw-toothed appearance of its inner edge which had previously been seen with some small telescopes was also beyond the reach of the 36-inch.' Such remarks should be consoling to those who find themselves and their instruments unequal to the remarkable feats which are sometimes accomplished, or recorded. So far as one's personal experience goes, Saturn is generally the most easily defined of all the planets. Of late years he has been very badly placed for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, and this has considerably interfered with definition. But when well placed the planet presents a sharpness and steadiness of outline which render him capable of bearing higher magnifying powers than Jupiter, and even than Mars, though a curious rippling movement will often be noticed passing along the rings. It can scarcely be said, however, that there is much work for small instruments upon Saturn--the seeing of imaginary details being excluded. Accordingly, in spite of the undoubted beauty of the ringed planet, Jupiter will on the whole be found to be an object of more permanent interest. Yet, viewed merely as a spectacle, and as an example of extraordinary grace and symmetry, Saturn must always command attention. The sight of his wonderful system can hardly fail to excite speculation as to its destiny; and the question of the permanence of the rings is one that is almost thrust upon the spectator. With regard to this matter it may be noted that, according to Professor G. H. Darwin, the rings represent merely a passing stage in the evolution of the Saturnian system. At present they are within the limit proved by Roche, in 1848, to be that within which no secondary body of reasonable size could exist; and thus the discrete character of their constituents is maintained by the strains of unequal attraction. Professor Darwin believes that in time the inner particles of the ring will be drawn inwards, and will eventually fall upon the planet's surface, while the outer ones will disperse outwards to a point beyond Roche's limit, where they may eventually coalesce into a satellite or satellites--a poor compensation for the