The one satellite of the earth is a quite familiar feature to us in the balmy nights of the Far East, As its mean distance away from us—239,000 miles—id less than that of any of the planets, we follow its phases with renewed interest. throughout the whole year. The diameter of the moon is a little over £760 miles, and she travels through space at the rate of 13°, 10' 35" per day. The actual time taken to move round the earth, is 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and, 11 seconds, but as the earth advances on its orbit, the moon must keep up with this movement, hence the time from one new moon to another is 29 days, 12 hours, 44'minutes, and 3 seconds. Even within the above limits, there is considerable variation in the length of a Lunar month. It may be sometimes a tittle more than 29} days, and' others less than 29 days. 7 hours. When a lunar calendar is' adopted, as in China, the discrepancy is compensate ed for by giving to some months 29, end to others 30 days.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.