Popular lessons in astronomy, on a new plan

ON A NEW PLAN;
WHICH SOME OF THE LEADING PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE ARE ILLUSTRATED BY ACTUAL COMPARISONS, INDEPENDENT OF THE USE OF NUMBERS.
FRANCIS J. GRUND,
AUTHOR OF “AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON PLANE AND SOLID GEOMETRY,” “ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND CHEMISTRY,” &c.
BOSTON
CARTER, HENDEE AND CO.
1833.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, By Francis J. Grund, in the Clerk’s office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
I. R. BUTTS, SCHOOL STREET.
The Geographical Miles, which are used in the scales and tables of this book, are German Geographical Miles , of which 15 make one degree. The teacher or pupil may easily change them into English Geographical Miles, by multiplying them by 4, the square miles by 16, and the cubic miles by 64.
Although many elementary works on Astronomy are already before the public, yet it is believed there is none in which the various magnitudes, surfaces, and distances of the heavenly bodies, are presented to the eye of the learner by actual comparisons;—the only way, perhaps, in which young pupils can be expected to form a correct idea of them. This the author has attempted in the following pages. The comparative diameters, surfaces and distances of the different planets, are all drawn, in the plates, according to a fixed scale of geographical miles; the surfaces of the planets are actually reduced to square measure, and drawn in proportion to each other and the sun; so that the youngest pupil, by a mere glance of the eye, is enabled to form a correct idea of their respective magnitudes. A similar plan has been pursued, in regard to the division of the Earth into Zones, and with respect to the extent of the five great Continents of our Globe. The Appendix contains an exposition of the population of America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, accompanied by a plate for the illustration of the comparative settlements on those Continents.
Boston, June 24, 1833.