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THE WORLD.

CHAPTER 1.

Figure of the Earth.

"And still, as sunk the golden Orb of day,
The seaman watched him, while he lingered here,
With many a wish to follow, many a fear,

And gazed, and gazed, and wondered where he went,
So bright his path, so glorious his descent." —Rogers.

THE constant and regular succession of day and night, is the first great phenomenon which arrests our attention, when we commence a study of nature. Day after day, we behold the sun, after a definite and well determined period, rising in the east, and ascending the heavens; and no sooner has the blazing orb sunk beneath the western horizon, than we raise our eyes to the blue vault, expecting and beholding the placid stars.

Doubtless, the first impression is always, that we are at rest, and that the sun, and all the stars of heaven, are slowly, and forever, revolving around us.

A thoughtful consideration of the phenomena which attend the regular return of day and night, will soon convince us that this conclusion is erroneous, and will point out to us the true solution of the grand problem.

Let us go upon some eminence when evening draws near, and watch the successive changes which usher in the night. The red orb of the sun, shorn of his lustre, his ruddy beams scarce penetrating the mists which creep over the surface of the earth, sinks gradually beneath the wave, or distant hills; a ruddy glow illumines the western sky,

"Twilight's soft dews steal o'er the village green,"

slowly the light fades away, fainter and fainter, giving place to

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