Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles And made easy to those who have not studied mathematics

Transcriber’s Note


This book uses a number of astronomical symbols, including signs of the
Zodiac (♈, ♉, ♊, ♋, ♌, ♍, ♎, ♏, ♐, ♑, ♒, ♓), symbols for planets (☿, ♀,
⊕, ♂, ♃, ♄) and for the sun and moon (☉, 🌑︎). If these characters do not
display correctly, you may have to use an alternative font, such as
Arial Unicode MS or DejaVu.

When italics were used in the original book, the corresponding text has
been surrounded by _underscores_. Mixed fractions have been displayed
with a hyphen between whole number and fraction for clarity.
Superscripted characters are preceded by ^ and when more than one
character is superscripted, they are surrounded by {}.

Some corrections have been made to the printed text. These are listed in
a second transcriber’s note at the end of the text.




[Illustration: The ORRERY, made by _JAMES FERGUSON_.

_N. 1. The Sun, 2. Mercury, 3. Venus, 4. The Earth, 5. The Moon, 6. The
Sydereal Dial plate, 7. The Hour Circle, 8. y^e Circle for y^e. Moon’s
Age, 9. The Moon’s Orbit, 10. y^e Pointer, Shewing the Sun’s Place & Day
of the Month, 11. The Ecliptic, 12. The Handle for turning y^e whole
machine_

_J. Ferguson inv. et delin._      _G. Child. Sculp._ ]




                               ASTRONOMY

                             EXPLAINED UPON
                           Sir ISAAC NEWTON’s
                              PRINCIPLES,

                             AND MADE EASY
                     TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT STUDIED

                              MATHEMATICS.

                           By JAMES FERGUSON.

        HEB. XI. 3. _The Worlds were framed by the Word of_ GOD.
      JOB XXVI. 13. _By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens._

                          THE SECOND EDITION.

[Illustration: decoration]


                               _LONDON_:

           Printed for, and sold by the AUTHOR, at the GLOBE,
                opposite _Cecil-Street_ in the _Strand_.
                               MDCCLVII.




                                   TO

                          THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

                     _GEORGE_ EARL of MACCLESFIELD,

              VISCOUNT _PARKER_ of EWELME in OXFORDSHIRE,

                                  AND

                   BARON of MACCLESFIELD in CHESHIRE;

              PRESIDENT of the ROYAL SOCIETY of _LONDON_,

          MEMBER of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES at _PARIS_,

                                 OF THE

             IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES at _Petersburg_,

                             AND ONE OF THE

                    TRUSTEES of the BRITISH MUSEUM;

                             DISTINGUISHED

                By his GENEROUS ZEAL for promoting every
                      BRANCH of USEFUL KNOWLEDGE;

                                  THIS

                         TREATISE of ASTRONOMY

                             IS INSCRIBED,

                    With the MOST PROFOUND RESPECT,

                           By HIS LORDSHIP’s

                             MOST OBLIGED,

                                  And

                          MOST HUMBLE SERVANT,

                                                       _JAMES FERGUSON_.




                                  THE

                               CONTENTS.

                                CHAP. I.

     _Of Astronomy in general_                               Page 1


                               CHAP. II.

     _A brief Description of the_ SOLAR SYSTEM                    5


                               CHAP. III.

     _The_ COPERNICAN _or_ SOLAR SYSTEM _demonstrated to be      31
       true_


                               CHAP. IV.

     _The Phenomena of the Heavens as seen from different        39
       parts of the Earth_


                                CHAP. V.

     _The Phenomena of the Heavens as seen from different        45
       parts of the Solar System_


                               CHAP. VI.

     _The_ Ptolemean _System refuted. The Motions and Phases     50
       of Mercury and Venus explained_


                               CHAP. VII.

     _The physical Causes of the Motions of the Planets. The     54
       Excentricities of their Orbits. The times in which
       the Action of Gravity would bring them to the Sun._
       ARCHIMEDES’S _ideal Problem for moving the Earth. The
       world not eternal_


                              CHAP. VIII.

     _Of Light. It’s proportional quantities on the              62
       different Planets. It’s Refractions in Water and Air.
       The Atmosphere, it’s Weight and Properties. The
       Horizontal Moon_


                               CHAP. IX.

     _The Method of finding the Distances of the Sun, Moon       73
       and Planets_


                                CHAP. X.

     _The Circles of the Globe described.