Astronomy Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Astronomy

It will appear, I hope, from the foregoing statement that my idea has been to direct the reader's attention to what may be called every-day topics, and to give in a handy form information on such phenomena as are constantly brought under the notice of people in general without exactly being sought for by them I want' the reader to be able to answer such questions as, What is the meaning of the term Sun spot? What is the name of that bright star, or is it a planet, which I see in the west every evening? Is there any difference between an eclipse of the Sun and an eclipse of the Moon? Was Sir George Cornwall Lewis right when he stigmatised Astronomy as a science of 'pure curiosity'?

Such questions as these, and others much more shallow, have often been addressed to me, and I want to provide people who possess only a smattering of scientific knowledge with the means of answering some of these questions which frequently crop up when some noteworthy astronomical event or discovery gets mentioned in the newspapers or is talked about. It will be seen, I think, that whilst my aims are modest, Ihave endeavoured to provide materials for sensible and exact knowledge, truly scientific and correct, yet not needing too severe a demand on the time or mental powers of those who patronise the book.

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