Q. Did the Romans reckon their months like us? A. No; they had at first only ten, afterwards they added two, but they always began their year at March. Q. Who were the two great reformers of the Calender? A. Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory, the XIII. Q. What is an Olympiad? A. A space of four years. The ancient Greeks reckoned in this manner, because they celebrated at the beginning of every fifth year their games, which were contests in all the manly exercises, such as wrestling, boxing, running, charriot races, &c. in a plain near the town of Olympias; for this reason they were called Olympiads. They were first instituted by Hercules in honor of Jupiter, 774 years before Christ. Q. What is an Epoch? A. An Epoch is a certain point of time from which historians begin to reckon, as the creation of the world, the building of Rome, the birth of Christ, the destruction of Jerusalem, &c. It also remarks the time from one remarkable event to another. It is for example, an epoch from the creation of the world, to the deluge, &c. Q. What is a lustrum? A. A space of five years, used only by the Roman Poets. Q. What is a jubilee? A. A public festivity. Q. What is an indiction? A. A revolution of fifteen years, used only by the Romans for indicating the times of certain payments made by the subjects to the public. It was established by Constantine in the year 312 Note.... According to what aera we reckon by, we date the time of every memorable transaction, as A. M. i e. anna mundi, the year of the world. A. D. i. e. Anno Domini, the year of our Lord. Ab U. C. ab Arba condita, from the building of the city of Rome, and so of the other epochs For example we say, Noah's flood happened A. M. 1656. The kings were expelled, and consular government estab lished at Rome, ab U. C 244 Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West, A. D. 800. LESSON XIV. COSMOGRAPHY, OR THE UNIVERSE. WHAT is cosmography ? A. A description of the world. Q. What do we understand by the world! A. The Heavens and the earth: in a word, the whole universe. Q. How is cosmography divided? A. Into two parts; astronomy and geography. Q. What is the use of astronomy. A. It gives us the knowledge of the heavenly bodies, and teaches us from the regularity of their motions since their creation by God, that there is an infinite power who directs their courses according to the order he has established. Q. How is this science most easily acquired? A. As the figure of the world is round, we make use of two globes, one called the celestial, upon whose surface is painted the stars reduced to constellations with the circles of the sphere; and the other the terrestrial, which shews upon its surface a description of the land and water, Q. What Q. What do you call the heavens? A. Those regions or fields of air we see lying all around us above the atmosphere, in which are situated all the shining bodies, the sun, moon, planets and stars. Q. What is the atmosphere? A. A thin fluid mass of matter which surrounds the earth. Its use is not only to suspend the clouds, furnish winds and rain, and serve for the common purposes of breathing, but is also the cause of the morning and evening twilight, and all the glory and brightness of the firmament. Its height is about twenty seven or twenty eight miles. We may justly say that the atmosphere serves as a shell or covering to the earth. Q What is the sun? A. That glorious luminary created by God, as the source of light and heat to the world. Q. Is the nature of the sun known? A. No; some imagine it to be a common fire, continually supplied with globules of a combustible matter, and have thought it to be the place of hell; others say that it is an elementary fire, which subsists without any kind of nourishment. Q. Is the sun larger than the earth? A. Yes; infinitely. Some astronomers believe it to be a million of times as large. It appears so very small on account of its distance, which is so very great, that a cannon ball would be twenty five years coming from thence to the earth, even if it flew as swift as it does when it is first discharged from the mouth of a cannon. Q. Does the sun move, or is he always fixed? A. It was formerly supposed that he moved, because he seemed so to do. But it is now de monstrated that he always remains fixed in the same place, and that it is the earth that moves round about him. Q. Does the sun afford us any other benefit but that of light? A. Yes; it ripens the fruits of the earth by its heat. Q. Why is not the sun always visible after it rises? A. A thick cloud will sometimes conceal it from our view, by interrupting its rays. Of this one may be easily convinced; if we stand upon the top of a high mountain above the clouds, the sun will then be visible, but totally hid from those of the valley. Q. What is the moon? A. A large round globe like our earth in matter and form, designed to enlighten us by night. Q. Is the moon a luminary like the sun? A. No; it is a dark opaque body, and receives all the light she shines with from the sun, and by reflection conveys it to us in the sun's absence. Q. How do we call the different degrees of light with which she shines? A. Her phases. At New moon she is between the sun and the earth, and her enlightened parts are hid or turned from us. When Full we see all her enlightened side, and she appears horned; half or a gibbous moon when a little part of her light turns towards us. Q. What is the reason why some parts of the moon's face looks dusky, and others light? A. The A. The bright parts of the moon's body, are ΠΟΥ the highest parts of the land, which reflect the light of the sun, as hills, mountains, promonto-ries, islands, &c. and the darker parts of the moon are caverns, deep pits, and places which h reflect not the sun's light so strongly as others. Q. Is the moon larger than the earth? A. No; the earth is at least fifty times bigger than the moon. Q. What is its distance from the earth? A. It is not exactly known, but supposed to be about two hundred and forty thousand miles. What influence has the moon? A. She is said to be the cause of the tides. A. By attracting the waters of the sea she rises them higlier. Q. What else is observable of the moon? A. That she is inhabited; for to what end else can serve the distribution of land and water, mountains and vallies, but, as on our earth, to nourish and sustain inen, beasts and vegetables. Q. How are the stars distinguished? A. Into fixed stars, and planets or moving stars. Q. What is a planet? A. A star that has a periodical and regular motion, Q. How many planets are there? A. Seven; their names are, reckoning them according to their nearness to the sun, 1st, Mer. cury; 2d, Venus; 3d, the Earth; 4th, Mars; 5th, Jupiter; 6th, Saturn; and 7th, the Georgium Sidus, a modern discovery of Dr. Hers chell, in the year 1782. The earth has one F moon |