The Mercury (newspaper)

“ There is another way in which Mercury is remarkably like the moon. The latter, as we have seen, always keeps the same side turned toward the earth, which is the same thing as saying that it turns once on its axis, while going once around the earth. So Mercury keeps always the same side toward the sun, making one rotation on its axis in the course of one revolution in its orbit. Consequently, one side of Mercury is continually in the sunlight, while the opposite side is continually buried in night. ”

“ We have seen how Mercury revolves in a path inside that of Venus, and it is therefore nearer to the sun. Indeed, Mercury is so close to the sun that it is generally overpowered by his brilliance and cannot be seen at all. Like every other planet, Mercury is lighted by the sun’s rays, and shows phases in the telescope just as the moon does (Fig. 48) . In this figure the different apparent sizes of the planet at different parts of its path are shown. Of course the nearer Mercury is to the earth the larger does it seem. ”

“ When not afflicted; that is, when no ray from an evil planet crosses the Mercurian ray, Mercury gives one a quick, sprightly manner, fluent speech, quick wit, bright intellect, and fondness for change and travel. ”

“ Amateur’s First View.—The first view of Mercury forms quite an event in the experience of many amateurs. The evasive planet is sought for with the same keen enthusiasm as though an important discovery were involved. For a few evenings efforts are vain, until at length a clearer sky and a closer watch enables the glittering little stranger to be caught amid the vapours of the horizon. The observer is delighted, and, proud of his success, he forthwith calls out the members of his family that they, too, may have a glimpse of the fugitive orb never seen by the eye of Copernicus. ”

“ The hour of Mercury is very good, but chiefly from the beginning to the middle. He that is born in this hour, has stature inclining to tallness, a sharp long face, large eyes, a long noso, his forehead narrow, a long beard, and thin hair, long arm and fingers, of a good disposition, and obliging temper, much given to reading, and very desirous of knowlodge, delighting to be among books, very eloquent in his speech, and yet addicted to lying, and if he is poor, he is commonly light fingored.
The hour of the moon is both good and evil, according to the day ”

“ When we in our turn have learnt all the lessons of this miserable globe of folly, when we have mastered all the virtues and shed all the vices, when we long to be free from the trammels of sense and appetite and sickness and ambition, we are transferred to Mercury. Mercury is a highly evolved planet, a spiritualized existence, free from the obsessions of sex and greed, an abode of love and freedom. ”

“ Then, too, the spring o’ the year is the most likely time to see Mercury in the evening sky. He comes into his best position for this view of him just when the evenings are growing longer and milder and one begins to hunger for outdoor things, so that the quest of him at that time has the gladness that goes with our first excursions into the open after a winter’s housing, whether it be in search of flowers, or birds, or stars, or simply the general loveliness of everything that belongs to the beginning of the outdoor season. ”

“ Mercury has no inferior planet known to us, and if that be actually the case, a spectator on his body will want the argument taken from the horned phases of the planets, to establish the true system of the world. But though we do not see any planets inferior to Mercury, it does by no means follow that there are none: for we seldom see Mercury himself, he being buried in the rays of the sun; and a planet much nearer the sun could never be seen from the earth. ”

“ And after long and patient watching, the conclusion was at last reached that Mercury turns on his axis in the same time needed to complete a revolution in his orbit. One of his hemispheres, then, is always averted from the sun, as one of the moon's hemispheres from the earth, while the other never shifts from beneath his torrid rays. The "librations," however, of Mercury are on a larger scale than those of the moon, because he travels in a more eccentric path. ”

“ It is the planet of the Adept, being the planet of adaptation in the widest sense of the word. Mercury is termed the "Winged Messenger of The Gods," and takes upon himself the vibration of the other planets. It is, in one word, the planet of reason. In every Horoscope, Mercury will represent the Ego in physical manifestation, the actor, playing the part allotted to him during each separate earthly existence; and at the close of each life, Mercury represents the knowledge gained, as memory, the cram of which is rendered a permanent possession of the Ego as wisdom. ”

“ We can never see Mercury with the naked eye except when he is near one elongation or the other; and even then he is visible only about an hour after the sun is down in the evening or about an hour before it rises in the morning. ”

“ The print likewise shows that the box of the snuffers bears a boldly chased winged head of Mercury, who had more employments and occupations than any other of the ancient deities. Whether as the director of theft, as the conductor of the departed to their final destination, as an interpreter to enlighten, or as an office-bearer constantly in requisition, the portrait of Mercury is a symbol appropriate to the implement before us. The engraving shows the exact size of the instrument, and the present appearance of the chasing, which is in bold relief, and was, originally, very elegant. ”

“ Here, then, are the four attributes of Mercury through whose aid he speaks to men: the Caduceus, stylus or magic wand; the Coin or ring, emblem of eternity; the Sword, and the Cup or chalice.
Always depicted as a youthful or, perhaps, [Pg 79] irresponsible man, sometimes described as inconsequent, volatile and light-hearted, still Mercury was the most affording and helpful of all the gods of Olympus, and it was he who interceded for men, who presided over births and deaths, as well as over love affairs, business, and the arts. ”

“ Mercury rotates synchronously with its revolution—that is, once in 88 days—on an axis sensibly perpendicular to its orbital plane. No certain signs of a Mercurian atmosphere are visible. The globe is seamed and furrowed with long narrow markings, explicable as cracks in cooling. It is, and always was, a dead world. From micrometrical measures, moreover, the inferences were drawn that the planet's mass has a probable value about 1/20 that of the earth, while its mean density falls considerably short of the terrestrial standard.
The theory of Mercury's movements has always given trouble. ”

“ Moreover, that Mercury is the steward of the souls, and that on this account he has the name of Conductor, and Commercial, and Infernal, since it is he who conducts the souls from their bodies, and from earth and sea; and that he conducts the pure souls to the highest region, and that he does not allow the impure ones to approach them, nor to come near one another, but commits them to be bound in indissoluble fetters by the Furies. ”

“ Mercury was accounted a most cunning thief, for he stole the bow and quiver of Apollo, the [Pg 87] girdle of Venus, the trident of Neptune, the tools of Vulcan, and the sword of Mars, and he was therefore called the god of thieves. He is the supposed inventor of the lyre, which he exchanged with Apollo for the Caduceus. There was also an Egyptian Mercury under the name of Thoth, or Thaut, who is credited with having taught the Egyptians geometry and hieroglyphics. Hermes is the Greek name of Mercury. In art he is usually represented as having on a winged cap, and with wings on his heels. ”

“ He is the messenger of Jupiter, and has wings on his cap and sandals. He flies swifter than the wind and wears a cloak which makes him invisible. As the wind carries things away, Mercury is sometimes called the captain of thieves, and he likes to play tricks.
While walking along a river bank one day, he carelessly hit a tortoise shell, and it gave forth a musical sound. Mercury at once fashioned it into a lyre. This [Pg 135] musical instrument he gave to his brother Apollo, who was so delighted with it that he gave Mercury a wonderful wand called the caduceus. ”

“ Mercury, if he gains the rulership, is, generally speaking, in nature like whatever of the other planets may be associated with him. In particular, he is above all stimulating, and in predictions concerning men is keen and very practical, ingenious in any situation; but he causes robbery, theft, piracy, and assault, and furthermore, brings about unsuccessful voyaging when he is in aspect with the maleficent planets, and occasions diseases of dryness, quotidian agues, coughs, raising, and consumption. ”

“ In their Mercury, the ancients realized their beau ideal or archetype of go-between which they called; in vulgar language "pimp". That God, as go-between for Jupiter, was often involved in the most hazardous enterprises, such as abducting Io, who was guarded by Argus of the hundred eyes; Mercury I say, was the God of concord, or eloquence, and of mystery. Except to inspire them with friendly feeling and kind affections, Mercury never went among mortals. ”

“ It then appears like a star of the first magnitude, having a white twinkling light, and resembling somewhat the star Regulus in the constellation Leo. The day in Mercury is about ten minutes longer than ours, its year is about equal to three of our months. It receives six and a half times as much heat from the Sun as we do ”

“ That alone is enough to make it seem impossible that Mercury can be the home of living forms resembling those of the earth, for imagine the heat of [Pg 26] the sun in the middle of a summer's day increased six or seven fold! If there were no mitigating influences, the face of the earth would shrivel as in the blast of a furnace, the very stones would become incandescent, and the oceans would turn into steam. ”

“ For the benefit of Earthlubbers whose only knowledge of Mercury is derived from the teleview screen, it should be explained that Mercurians are not human, even if they do slightly resemble us. They hatch from eggs, pass one life-phase as frog-like creatures in their rivers, and in the adult stage turn more human in appearance. But their skin remains green and fish-belly white. There is no hair on their warty heads. Their eyes have no lids, and have a peculiar dead, staring look when they sleep. And they carry a peculiar, fishy odor with them at all times. ”

“ The part that lies nearest the illuminated side of the planet has alternate periods of sunlight and darkness, each of considerable duration, while that part nearest the dark side has merely a glimmer of sunlight every eighty-eight days, which is Mercury’s sidereal year, or the time required for him to make one revolution around the sun. These two strips on which the light varies comprise about one-eighth of the surface of Mercury. One half of his entire surface is always light, and of the other three-eighths are always dark. ”

“ With reference to the difficulty of seeing Mercury, owing to its proximity to the sun, Admiral Smyth says, “Although Mercury is never in opposition to the earth, he was, when in the house of Mars, always viewed by astrologers as a most malignant planet, and one full of evil influences. The sages stigmatized him as a false deceitful star (sidus dolosum) , the eternal torment of astronomers, eluding them as much as terrestrial mercury did the alchemists ”

“ But, even if this is the predicament into which Mercury has come, the planet is probably not in so bad a plight as many another body to which the same sort of thing has happened. The extreme eccentricity of his orbit, which has given him the true mercurial temperament, resulting in sprightliness, agility, and changeableness, is accountable for some mitigating circumstances. The sun may hold him so that he cannot turn his face away from that luminary ”

“ The question seems to be settled, with considerable certainty, that nothing exists inside of Mercury large enough to be dignified by the name of planet. There may be, and there probably are, for the perturbations of Mercury indicate it, multitudes of small masses circulating around the sun like the planets, being fragments of comets or condensations of primitive matter, whose combined luster is seen in the zodiacal light. ”

“ Mercury is a globe composed, like our earth, of materials possessing in themselves no source of illumination. One hemisphere of the planet must necessarily be turned towards the sun, and this side is accordingly lighted up brilliantly by the solar rays. When we look at Mercury we see nothing of the non-illuminated side, and the crescent is due to the foreshortened view which we obtain of the illuminated part. The planet is such a small object that, in the glitter of the naked-eye view, the shape of the luminous body cannot be defined. ”

“ Mercury, in the philosophic work, signifieth the Pharisees, who cannot endure the dear child. When he sees it, it gives him trembling and anguish. Thus trembles Venus also, before the poison of the wrathful Mercury: they are, one with the other, as though a sweat went from them, as the Artista will see. Mars saith, ‘I am the fire-heart in the body: Saturn is my might, and Mercury is my life: I will not endure Love. I will swallow it up in my wrath.’ He signifies the Devil, in the wrath of God ”