The Earth in this scene ought to be unshackled with meridians or parallels of latitude:—to be a free and independent ball, with land and water represented as they would appear to a distant spectator looking at the real Earth. But as globes are seldom seen without these appendages, a globe of two feet in diameter, equipped with meridians and parallels of latitude (being requisite for illustration) will perform a diurnal and annual motion round the Sun, and explain the above phænomena on so large a scale, that their effects on the smallest island may be seen from the most distant part of the theatre.
This scene is surrounded by transparent paintings of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, shewing how the Sun, or rather the Earth, enters and passes thro’ Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, &c.
Auxiliary scenes accompany this, to shew the principles of planetary motion; the formation of the constellations and their allegorical history; the oblate, yet nearly globular figure of the Earth; how ships and mountains appear at sea; with ships moving round a large globe of six feet diameter, &c. proving that the Earth can contain inhabitants on all sides, &c.
Consists of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon. The object of this scene is to display the cause of the waxing and waning of the Moon, and of solar and lunar eclipses: for this purpose the Earth perform its annual and diurnal motions, and projects a conical shadow opposite to the Sun during its journey round him. The Moon borrows her light from the Sun; and which, in reflection to the Earth, is not more than one three hundred thousandth part so strong: and performing her rotation round the Earth, every 29D. 12H. 44M. will sometimes shew us more and sometimes less of the enlightened part of her body. Hence, when she is between the Earth and the Sun, her dark side is towards us, and we lose sight of her, and call this part of her period the CHANGE; but as she revolves round the Earth from West to East (the same way the Earth turns on its axis) in a few days we see her above the Sun in the West, and seeing a small part of her enlightened face, call the appearance the Horned, or NEW Moon: (for her dark side, receiving no reflection of light from any neighbouring body, cannot be seen except in very clear weather). As she proceeds on her monthly journey, when the Sun sets in the West, we see her near our meridian, and then she appears an HALF Moon, and we say she is at the first quarter; as she approaches the FULL, more of her enlightened side may be seen, and she assumes an OVAL or GIBBOUS appearance. At the FULL she is opposite to the Sun, when the inhabitants of the Earth look at her in the same direction as the rays of that luminary, and of course see the whole of her enlightened face. In performing the other half of her journey, she wanes; and exposing less and less of her enlighted side to us, again disappears.