Astronomy of To-day: A Popular Introduction in Non-Technical Language

Transcriber’s Note
The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. The advertisement from the beginning of the book has been joined with the other advertisements near the end of the book.
ASTRONOMY OF TO-DAY

The Total Eclipse of the Sun of August 30th, 1905. The Corona; from a water-colour sketch, made at Burgos, in Spain, during the total phase, by the French Artist, Mdlle. Andrée Moch.
A POPULAR INTRODUCTION IN NON-TECHNICAL LANGUAGE
By CECIL G. DOLMAGE, M.A., LL.D., D.C.L.
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; Member of the British Astronomical Association; Member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific; Membre de la Société Astronomique de France; Membre de la Société Belge d'Astronomie With a Frontispiece in Colour and 45 Illustrations & Diagrams THIRD EDITION
LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED 38 Great Russell Street 1910
The object of this book is to give an account of the science of Astronomy, as it is known at the present day, in a manner acceptable to the general reader .
It is too often supposed that it is impossible to acquire any useful knowledge of Astronomy without much laborious study, and without adventuring into quite a new world of thought. The reasoning applied to the study of the celestial orbs is, however, of no different order from that which is employed in the affairs of everyday life. The science of mathematics is perhaps responsible for the idea that some kind of difference does exist; but mathematical processes are, in effect, no more than ordinary logic in concentrated form, the shorthand of reasoning , so to speak. I have attempted in the following pages to take the main facts and theories of Astronomy out of those mathematical forms which repel the general reader, and to present them in the ordinary language of our workaday world .
The few diagrams introduced are altogether supplementary, and are not connected with the text by any wearying cross-references. Each diagram is complete in itself, being intended to serve as a pictorial aid, in case the wording of the text should not have perfectly conveyed the desired meaning. The full page illustrations are also described as adequately as possible at the foot of each.