Through the thick air; as clothed in cloudy storm,
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky;
And, soon descending, to the long dark night,
Wide-shading all, the prostrate world resigns.”
But as the days go by, his rays no longer struggle “through the thick air” in “horizontal lines,” nor does he so closely “skirt the southern sky,” but higher mounting pierces with penetrating power the dark shadows, lessening “the long, dark night,” driving “the dusky shades away.” So rapidly do these changes occur that in four weeks our daylight increases one hour and seven minutes, or our length of days from ten hours and nine minutes on the 1st to eleven hours sixteen minutes on the 28th. On the 1st, 16th and 28th the sun rises at 7:09, 6:52 and 6:34 a. m., and on the same days sets at 5:18, 5:36 and 5:50 p. m. respectively.
THE MOON
Presents us with great regularity her changes: Last quarter on the 6th at 5:29 p. m.; new, on the 14th, at 9:13 p. m.; first quarter, on the 22d, at 5:23 a. m.; and full on the 28th, at 10:52 p. m. In apogee (farthest from earth) on the 9th, at 7:24 p. m.; in perigee (nearest the earth) on the 25th, at 6:24 p. m. Least elevation, 10th, amounting to 30° 9´; greatest elevation, 24th, equal to 66° 45´.
MERCURY,
“The fleet-footed,” makes a direct motion of 43° 18´ 37´´, moving from about the middle of the constellation Sagittarius and through Capricornus, and is the companion of Venus throughout the month (see “Venus”). Rises on the 1st at 5:55 a. m., and sets at 3:13 p. m.; on the 16th, rises at 6:12 a. m., sets at 3:50 p. m.; on the 28th, rises at 6:22 a. m., sets at 4:46 p. m. On the 11th, at 7:00 p. m., is 44´ south of Venus; on the 12th, at 4:00 a. m., farthest from the sun; on the 13th, at 5:42 a. m., 5° 56´ south of the moon.