Neptune

“ The calm, majestic Neptune, who soothed the mighty ocean with his trident, has sunk beneath its waves to rise no more forever. The roar of cannon has frightened Mars from out the world. Alas for sighing youth, that laughter-loving, blushing Venus lives only in the skies. ”

“ And as Neptune's surface solidified, as the great masses of water-vapor and air that made up its dense and immense atmosphere ensheathed it, it became a habitable world, one fit for life and the continuation of life. For though small heat came to distant Neptune across the great void of almost three billion miles that separated it from the sun, the sun giving it indeed a heat hardly perceptible, yet there was heat enough for the great world in its own fiery interior. ”

“ And yet another orbit cuts the outer rim of our system, and on his lonely pathway the gloomy Neptune walks the cold, dim solitudes of space. In the immeasurable depths beyond appear millions of suns, so distant that their light could not reach us in a thousand years. ”

“ Neptune—which though newly discovered, is not newly existent, for it is now known to have long been influencing, by its attractive power, the course of the neighbouring planet Uranus, and probably had been doing so for thousands of years before the latter was itself discovered. Yes! cold, distant Neptune has doubtless its millions and myriads of millions of intelligent and happy beings, thinking themselves perhaps, as we are apt to think ourselves, the chief and most interesting people in the universe. ”

“ For as we sank down in our space-flier into the great space beneath that roof we could see the surface of great Neptune itself, stretching far away beneath that mighty enclosing shield above it, and covered to the horizons by the strange rectangular and roofless structures such as we had already seen. ”

“ Neptune had long been shining before he was discovered and named; and you and I, brethren, may remain unknown for years, and possibly the world may never discover us; but I trust that our influence, like that of Neptune, will be felt and recognized, whether we are seen of men or only shine in solitary splendor to the glory of God. ”

“ One night the inhabitants of Neptune were standing out in the open air watching the distant flashes in the sky, when suddenly there was a blinding glare of light somewhere in the orbit of Jupiter's moons. Columns of incandescent vapour shot out into space, enveloping Jupiter and his moons, and covering a large portion of the sky. So bright was the light that it cast cold, dark shadows all over the part of Neptune that was turned towards it. ”

“ But still on and on through the void our mighty armada of space-fliers was racing, on toward the green spark of Neptune that slowly waxed brighter far ahead of us. That little green spot of light held our eyes, even to the exclusion of Saturn's yellow disk, expanding again to the left before us as we shot toward it also, for all our minds were centered upon Neptune and what mighty task it was that awaited us at that great world and its moon, what mighty struggle would be ours. ”

“ By observing the motions of this moon we are enabled to determine the mass of the planet, and thus it appears that the weight of Neptune is about one nineteen-thousandth part of that of the sun.
No planets beyond Neptune have been seen, nor is there at present any good ground for believing in their existence as visual objects. In the chapter on the minor planets I have entered into a discussion of the way in which these objects are discovered. It is by minute and diligent comparison of the heavens with elaborate star charts that these bodies are brought to light. ”

“ Like the other great planets, Neptune is also enveloped with copious clouds; in fact, it only weighs one-fifth part as much as it would do if it were made of materials as substantial as are those of the earth. Like our earth, Neptune is attended by one moon, which revolves round the planet in a little more than six days. ”

“ A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA. Father Neptune loquitur:—
John Bull, my friend, if an ear you'll lend to your true old messmate Neptune,
It may do you good. We are mates in mood, and our hearts have always kept tune. ”

“ And in all the seas about the civilised lands, ships with throbbing engines, and ships with bellying sails, crowded with men and living creatures, were standing out to ocean and the north. For already the warning of the master mathematician had been telegraphed all over the world, and translated into a hundred tongues. The new planet and Neptune, locked in a fiery embrace, were whirling headlong, ever faster and faster towards the sun. Already every second this blazing mass flew a hundred miles, and every second its terrific velocity increased. ”

“ Neptune, represented as a god of the sea, makes a considerable figure: he is described with black or dark hair, his garment of an azure or sea-green color, seated in a large shell drawn by whales, or sea-horses, with his trident in his hand, attended by the sea-gods Palæmon, Glaucus, and Phorcys; the sea-goddesses Thetis, Melita, and Panopēa, and a long train of Tritons and sea-nymphs. ”

“ Great buildings we built upon Neptune's surface, and deep we tunnelled below its surface, also. Through breaks in the great cloud-screen about our world we looked forth and saw with our instruments the other planets that moved about our sun, and looked forth also into space and saw the hosts of other suns that moved at vast distances from our own. ”

“ Gods of the Sea. NEPTUNE—POSEIDON.
Ques. Who was Neptune?
Ans. He was the son of Saturn and Ops, and was worshipped as the god of the sea, and the father of rivers and fountains.
Ques. How is he represented?
Ans. As standing upright in a chariot made of a sea-shell; for a sceptre, he holds a trident, that is, a fork with three barbed tines; he is arrayed in a blue mantle, and is generally accompanied by his queen Amphitri ́te. Neptune’s chariot is drawn by sea-horses, and his attendants, who swim on either side, are human only to the waist, the body terminating like that of a fish. ”

“ A grand old Neptune in the prow,
Gray-hair'd, and white with touch of time, 22
Yet strong as in his middle prime;
A grizzled king, I see him now,
With beard as blown by wind of seas,
And wild and white as white sea-storm,
Stand up, turn suddenly, look back
Along the low boat's wrinkled track,
Then fold his mantle round a form
Broad-built as any Hercules,
And so sit silently. ”

“ The sun is as effectually present, for instance, in his all-important gravitating influence, at every instant of time, in the planet Neptune, nearly three thousand millions of miles away, as the hand of the schoolboy is present at the end of his sling, while he whirls it round his head, and retains the stone in its place by the string. Cut the string, and the stone flies off; suspend for an instant the influence, or force, or attraction, or whatever you please to call it, which binds Neptune to the sun, and he flies off in a path more eccentric than any comet's. ”

“ Strange new cities were built on Neptune and Triton, great compartment-cities that needed not roofs with the great roof above them. New methods were found of producing vast food supplies for the crowding millions of Neptunians, by stimulating with electrical force and chemicals the growth of vegetation to an unthinkably swift rate. Thus we Neptunians, in our giant enclosed world of Neptune and in our enclosed moon, Triton, had checked the colossal peril that had threatened us and could continue to live safely upon Neptune and its moon for age upon passing age! ”

“ For so great in size was Neptune that, though a solid crust had formed upon it, there still lay beneath that crust the vast raging fires of its interior, and those fires' heat was so great that they kept the surface of Neptune and the dense atmosphere above that surface warmed constantly. ”

“ Neptune generally wears a crown formed out of a tin saucepan, with a flowing beard, a wig of oakum, and a robe composed of some gay-coloured petticoat-stuff, stored up for the occasion, or a piece of canvas, with curious devices painted on it, while he carries in his band a trident, made out of a harpoon or a boat-hook. ”

“ Neptune is strong and calm. He is represented in art as bearing the trident, and surrounded by his attendants and the inhabitants of the sea. There is a celebrated fountain in Rome adorned with a fine statue of Neptune. It is said that a visitor who throws a coin into its waters will return to that famous city.
Sailors used to take offerings to the temples of Neptune, so that he would give them prosperous voyages.
[Pg 110]
Adam (Louvre, Paris) .
Neptune.
[Pg 111]
NEPTUNE.
King of the stormy sea! ”

“ Even the wings of imagination grow weary and droop. When we stand on that outermost of planets, the very last sentinel of the outposts of the king, the very sun grown dim and small in the distance, we have taken only one step of the infinite distance to the stars. They have not changed their relative position—they have not grown brighter by our approach. Neptune carries us round a vast circle about the centre of the dome of stars, but we seem no nearer its sides. ”

“ We know that Neptune, almost alone among the sun's planets, will survive the great cataclysm of its division, and we can but hazard the thought that it is for some great advantage to themselves that the Neptunians are engaged upon this colossal task. Neither can we guess just how, exactly, they are doing it, how they are able to push against the sun with such colossal force without Neptune itself being pushed out into the void by the tremendous reaction from that push. ”

“ The limits of our system have been since vastly extended by the discovery of Uranus and Neptune; and the planetary sisterhood has also increased in number by thirty little and very eccentric ones.
Now, as to Neptune, says the Essayist, in substance, what reason has a sensible person for believing it peopled, as the earth is, by human beings—i. e. consisting of body and soul? He is thirty times further than we are from the sun, which will appear to it a mere star—about the size of Jupiter to us; and Neptune’s light and heat will be nine hundred times less than ours! ”

“ As soon as he begins to die, and ceaseth to vomit forth fire, Neptune laying aside all fear, approacheth boldly near him, and puts a Sheeps-skin over his Jaws, and receives his Bloud and Soul, and precipitates it into the Salt-sea, wherein being drowned and choaked, he lays off all his venome and all his filth, and is converted into a most fair and most red Medicine. One onely drop of this Soul of Niter can tinge an ordinary glass full of Common water with a golden Colour. ”

“ Messages were continually being flashed backwards and forwards to the earth and Neptune. When the fifteenth day had arrived, Neptune showed a large disc, and this grew rapidly larger. Then it became a huge ball on which continents, seas, islands, rivers, and mountain ranges could easily be seen. The propelling power was shut off on board all the ships, and the engines were reversed. A few days later the whole of the fleet plunged into the atmosphere of Neptune at a speed of some hundreds of miles an hour. ”

“ It is most wise that you learn now how useless it is for you or any of your world to oppose yourselves to the plans of us Neptunians. For we of Neptune are of an ancient power and might, beside which you of the inner planets are as newcome children. And lest you doubt that power, lest you doubt the colossal forces that we of Neptune have called into being and use for our own purposes, we of the Council tell you now what mighty past is ours. ”

“ Then followed a kind of a sea triumph, in the front of which appeared Neptune with his trident and crown, in a large shell, surrounded by boys dressed in white, who were throwing out and drawing in a deep sea-lead, as sounding for land.
Six men followed in white shirts, with poles twenty-five feet long, decorated with bells and flowers; frequently shaking their poles, or endeavouring to break them; for he who could break one was exempted a whole year from all parish duty. ”

“ In speaking of the planet Neptune, we are still within the limits of our own solar system. This system, however, is but one of thousands. Every twinkling star in the heavens is a sun, like our own, and the centre, doubtless, of a similar system,—giving light to numerous planetary worlds revolving round it. ”

“ Who swells the clouds, and gladdens earth with showers,
"Can mighty Neptune thus of man complain?
Neptune, tremendous o'er the boundless main!
Revered and awful e'en in heaven's abodes,
Ancient and great! a god above the gods!
If that low race offend thy power divine
(Weak, daring creatures!) is not vengeance thine? ”

“ Neptune revolves around the sun in a period of a little less than a hundred and sixty-five years. Its orbit has but slight eccentricity, and is inclined less than two degrees to the ecliptic. This planet is considerably larger than Uranus, its diameter being nearly thirty-five thousand miles. It is somewhat less dense than Uranus. Neptune is invisible to the naked eye, and no telescope has revealed any markings on its disk: hence nothing is certainly known as to its rotation. Fig. 303 shows the comparative size of Neptune and the earth. ”

“ The theory of Neptune belongs, by right of precedence, to American science. In connection with its neighbor, Uranus, it constitutes an open field of astronomical research, into which the astronomers and mathematicians of the United States have been the first to enter, and to occupy distinguished places. ”

“ In not keeping a look-out, and discovering the clouds in the east; and in not forthwith showing a light when she discovered the Neptune, it being her duty, and the practice of the Sound, in such circumstances, to show a light. And it was more important for her to exhibit a light to the steamboat, than for the latter to show a light to her.
2. In not bearing away when the Neptune changed her course; which change she perceived, or might have perceived, with a proper look-out.
3. In neglecting her helm, bringing her to the wind, and crossing the track of the Neptune. See eleventh point. ”