eyes and calls forth exclamations of astonishment and admiration by her
singular beauty. The intervals between her successive reappearances in
the evening sky, measured by her synodic period of 584 days, are
sufficiently long to give an element of surprise and novelty to every
return of so dazzling a phenomenon.

Even the light of the full moon silvering the tree tops does not
exercise greater enchantment over the mind of the contemplative
observer. In either of her rôles, as morning or as evening star, Venus
has no rival. No fixed star can for an instant bear comparison with her.
What she lacks in vivacity of light--none of the planets twinkles, as do
all of the true stars--is more than compensated by the imposing size of
her gleaming disk and the striking beauty of her clear lamplike rays.
Her color is silvery or golden, according to the state of the
atmosphere, while the distinction of her appearance in a dark sky is so
great that no eye can resist its attraction, and I have known an
unexpected glimpse of Venus to put an end to an animated conversation
and distract, for a long time, the attention of a party of ladies and
gentlemen from the social occupation that had brought them together.

As a telescopic object Venus is exceedingly attractive, even when
considered merely from the point of view of simple beauty. Both Mercury
and Venus, as they travel about the sun, exhibit phases like those of
the moon, but Venus, being much larger and much nearer to the earth than
Mercury, shows her successive phases more effectively, and when she
shines as a thin crescent in the morning or evening twilight, only a
very slight magnifying power is required to show the sickle form of her
disk.

A remarkable difference between Venus and Mercury comes out as soon as