are described, and judiciously-selected brief extracts from his writings exhibit his thoughts and sufficiently indicate his theology. The author is not blind to the one or two spots that dim the lustre of his hero's greatness; but he clearly perceives what the elements of that greatness were, and sketches them in bold outline. Hitherto no popular life of Luther has been written in the English language; the defect is now supplied. Readers of little leisure will find this a satisfactory compend, and to youths of both sexes it must prove very serviceable. Missionary Stories, Narratives, Scenes and Incidents, illustrative of the Providence and Grace of God in Connection with the Propagation of the Gospel in Heathen Lands. By the REV. WILLIAM MOISTER, Author of 'Missionary Anecdotes,' etc., etc. New Edition, with Additions. London: Wesleyan Conference Office. 1877.This collection is worthy of the indefatigable pen that has produced so many works on Missionary subjects. About a quarter of the book is occupied with 'Narratives of Personal Missions,' which evidence that Mr. Moister has played his part efficiently as an Evangelist among the heathen. The other sections relate to 'Missionary Shipwrecks;' 'Hurricanes and Earthquakes;' 'Joys and Sorrows of Mission Life;' 'Eminent Native Converts;' 'Mission Work in the Army and Navy;' and the last consists of Miscellaneous Narratives.' It w 1 be gathered from this enumeration that the book conveys a great deal of information about Missionary work. It is written in an interesting style, and its circulation will doubtless assist the cause the writer has so closely at heart. ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES FOR NOVEMBER, 1877. BY A. GRAHAM, ESQ. RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN AND PLANETS FOR GREENWICH. Nov. 5th, New Moon PHASES OF THE MOON. 8h. 48m. morn. 20th, Full Moon.. 10h. 19m. after. 12th, First Quarter 11h. 44m. after. 27th, Last Quarter 10h. 5m. after. .... December 1st Mercury is now in the part of its orbit remote from us, and will be in superior conjunction with the Sun on the 13th, at 5h. in the afternoon. It will be in the neighbourhood of the Moon on the morning of the 5th; on the morning of the 11th it will be in descending node; and on the morning of the 22nd in aphelion, or at that point of its orbit most distant from the Sun. Venus may be seen near the Moon on the evening of the 8th; the actual conjunction takes place below our horizon: Jupiter, too, is quite near, and will be in conjunction with the Moon two hours later than Venus. The conjunction of Venus with Jupiter occurs on the morning of the 10th. It Mars, in no mythical sense, is now absorbing the attention of the vastlyincreasing numbers who take an interest in astronomical discoveries. has long been known that he has no attendant satellite which bears anything like the proportion in size to its primary, which our Moon bears to the Earth; and it was supposed that, if he has any attendants, they must be very small indeed to escape detection by the powerful instruments which were brought to bear on them. It now turns out that the supposition was correct, and yet Mars has at least two satellites. The largest, and probably the best, refracting telescope at present in existence, is the one mounted comparatively recently at Washington, U.S. With this, which has an object glass of twenty-six inches aperture, 'the outer satellite 90,928,320 miles. 90,358,560 569,760 "" was first observed by Professor Asaph Hall, on the night of August 11th, though cloudy weather prevented the recognition of its true character at that time. It was again observed on the 16th, and its motion was established by observation extending over two hours. The inner satellite was first remarked by the same astronomer on August 17th. From observations to August 20th, Professor Newcomb has calculated that 'the period of revolution of the outer satellite is 30h. 14m., and the major axis of its orbit subtends an angle of 32 seconds at the mean distance of the Earth from the Sun. The observations of the satellite indicate that the mass of the Sun is to that of Mars as 3,090,000 to 1, which is in close agreement with the result derived by M. Leverrier from theory. The second satellite appears to revolve round the primary in the extraordinarily short period of 7h. 38m., the major axis of its orbit, similarly referred, being 13 seconds. The true orbit of the first satellite is inclined to the ecliptic 25 degrees, the longitude of the ascending node being 83 degrees; or the pole of the orbit in the celestial sphere is, according to these early calculations of Professor Newcomb, in Right Ascension 316 degrees, and North Polar distance 36 degrees.' We have copied the above from the 'Illustrated London News' of September 8th; but on examination we find that there must be some error. The mass of Mars and periodic times here given would correspond to distances almost exactly double of those indicated above, so that probably for 'major axis of the orbit,' we should read semi-axis major, or mean distance of the satellite from Mars. These mean distances in English miles are about 14,400 and 5,700 respectively. As the radius of Mars is 2,300 miles, the inner satellite is only 3,400 miles from the surface, almost exactly threefourths of the diameter of the planet. One or two interesting consequences may be drawn from these results: Mars rotates on its axis in 24h. 37m.; the outer satellite revolves in 30h. 14m.; hence we can readily infer that to an inhabitant of Mars this satellite would appear to complete a revolution in 132h. 40m. At the equator of Mars the horizontal parallax, which is more than nine degrees, would shorten the time between rising and setting by about 6h. 48m., and reduce the interval to 59h. 34m., or, in round numbers, to sixty hours, nearly two complete revolutions of the satellite; thus, while above the horizon this satellite will go through all its changes twice over. Let it be remembered that from new moon to full moon is only fifteen hours instead of fifteen days, as with us. But the inner satellite leads to a conclusion still more striking and startling. It revolves in 7h. 38m., less than one-third of the time that Mars takes to rotate on its axis. In angular motion, then, it far outstrips that of a point on the surface of the planet, and to an observer there would actually seem to revolve from west to east, and to perform a complete revolution in 11h. 4m. Its horizontal parallax is very nearly twenty-four degrees, and this would shorten the interval between its rising and setting at the equator by 1h. 23m. To an observer there it would appear to rise in the west and set in the east, and the interval between rising and setting would be only 4h. 4m.! We need hardly remark that these intervals between rising and setting would be increased somewhat by the horizontal refraction; but we could only guess at its amount. A word about the size of these bodies. From their extreme faintness it is conjectured that they must be each under ten miles in diameter. If they were ten miles, the outer satellite would subtend an angle at the centre of Mars rather less than a twelfth part of the diameter of our Moon, the inner just about a fifth part, From the standpoint of either of these satellites, the primary would appear a very large object indeed; an observer on the outer satellite would see it under an angle of 18 deg. 26 min.; that is to say, the diameter would appear to be thirty-seven times larger than the diameter of the Moon appears to us; on the inner satellite, if the lower edge of Mars were in the horizon, the upper edge would be more than half way to the zenith. Mars will be in conjunction with Saturn on the 4th, at 4h. in the morning, when the distance of the two bodies will be only eleven minutes; at the previous midnight the distance will be less than ten minutes. To the naked eye, Saturn will look like a satellite to Mars. The width of the ring of Saturn is less than three seconds, the length forty seconds. J. ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON-SQUARE, LONDON. SERI (WILLIAM CHAMBERS.) WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS. (Concluded from page 487.) ERIOUS reverses compelled the removal of the family from Peebles to Edinburgh. At the time of the removal William was in his fourteenth year, and had to seek some kind of employment. His wish was to be apprenticed to a bookseller, but his enquiries VOL. I. Third Series.-DECEMBER, 1877. 2 L for such a situation not proving successful, he endeavoured to engage himself to a grocer in Leith. The grocer pronounced him too slight for the heavy work of the trade, and in a desponding mood he returned up the walk to Edinburgh. On his way home he had to pass the shop of Mr. John Sutherland, bookseller, Caltonstreet, in the window of which was the announcement: 'An Apprentice Wanted.' Here, he thought, was the right thing at last; and on the following morning he and his mother presented themselves before the bookseller, who received them politely, and agreed to take William into his service, at the same time specifying his duties, which were to light the fire, take down the shutters, prepare the oil-lamps, sweep and dust the shop, and go all the errands. When he had nothing else to do, he was to stand behind the counter and make himself useful in any way that he could. He was also informed that sitting down or reading in business hours would be quite contrary to rule. The term of service was to be five years, with payment at the rate of four shillings a week. Mrs. Chambers, who conducted the negotiations, was not without misgivings, and remarked that her son was surely wrong in wishing to follow the business. We may manage,' she said, 'to get him through his apprenticeship, but I have serious fears of what is to follow. We cannot set him up in business; and how' (looking around) 'can he ever be able to get a stock of books like that?' To those apprehensions the worthy bookseller replied: "There is no fear of any one getting forward in the world, if he be only steady, obliging, attentive to his duties, and exercise a reasonable degree of patience. I can assure you when I was the age of your son, I had as poor prospects as any one; yet I have so far got on tolerably well. In the outset of life it is needless to look too far in advance. We must just do the best we can in the mean time, and hope that all will turn out rightly in the end.' The mother's fears were allayed by those sensible remarks, engagements were entered into, and on the 8th of May, 1814, William began his duties as bookseller's apprentice. About a year and a half after that start in the business world, the family left Edinburgh, Mr. Chambers having been appointed commercial manager of a salt manufactory called Joppa Pans, about midway between Portobello and Musselburgh. When the |