CHAPTER VII.
_SATURN, A PRODIGY AMONG PLANETS_ 185 The wonder of the great rings--Saturn's great distance and long year--The least dense of all the planets--It would float in water--What kind of a world is it ?--Sir Humphry Davy's imaginary inhabitants of Saturn--Facts about the rings, which are a phenomenon unparalleled in the visible universe--The surprising nature of the rings, as revealed by mathematics and the spectroscope--The question of their origin and ultimate fate--Dr.Dick's idea of their habitability--Swedenborg's curious description of the appearance of the rings from Saturn--Is Saturn a globe of vapor, or of dust ?--The nine satellites and "Roche's limit"-- The play of spectacular shadows in the Saturnian system--Uranus and Neptune--Is there a yet undiscovered planet greater than Jupiter?
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