An epitome of astronomy, with the new discoveries: including an account of the eidouranion, or transparent orrery / (invented by A. Walker) as lectured upon by his son, W. Walker.

  • Walker, A. (Adam), 1730 or 1731-1821
Date:
1800
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An epitome of astronomy, with the new discoveries: including an account of the eidouranion, or transparent orrery / (invented by A. Walker) as lectured upon by his son, W. Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    face, is seen to turn round on his axis in 25J days; light issues from his orb in all directi¬ ons ; in the blaze of which is suspended the Earth, turning on its axis to produce day and night, and revolving round the Sun to pro¬ duce the seasons: its axis inclines 234 de¬ grees from a perpendicular to the plane of its orbit; and by that axis keeping parallel to itself during this annual journey, the northern and southern hemispheres are alternately ad¬ dressed to the Sun ; shewing, when it is sum¬ mer in one, it is winter in the other, and vice versa. This scene so naturally exhibits the cause of day, night, twilight, summer and winter, spring and autumn, long and short days, &c. that a bare inspection of the Ma¬ chine is sufficient to convey the clearest idea of these phenomena. The Earth in this scene ought to be un¬ shackled with meridians or parallels of lati¬ tude :—to be a free and independent ball, with land and water represented as they would appear to a distant spectator looking at the