Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Scientific Practitioners

    Reports on John C Adams's 'canvas solar system', 'spermaceti stars', 'oil moon', 'gas sun', and 'rushlight satellites'. Points out his latest discovery of 'Five New Planets'. Advises Adams to 'stick on a dozen new planets at once, in anticipation of what may be brought to light during the ensuing lustrum' because 'his planet manufacturer will charge no more for making a dozen or so while his hand is in, than he would for producing a solitary star if ordered separate'. The illustration depicts a sun-faced, bespectacled man (possibly Adams) playing globes of the earth with drum sticks—an attempt to 'illustrate the music of the spheres'.