. The American educator; completely remodelled and rewritten from original text of the New practical reference library, with new plans and additional material. itsnearest approach to the sun it is about 29,-000,000 miles away, and at its furthest point,more than 43, miles from it. Theperiod of its axial rotation is 24 hours, 5minutes and 28 seconds. Its volume is aboutone-seventeenth that of the earth, and itsdensity is one-tenth greater than that ofthe earth. When farthest east of the sun, it isvisible to the naked eye in spring and au-tumn, after sunset and before sunrise. Mercury is
. The American educator; completely remodelled and rewritten from original text of the New practical reference library, with new plans and additional material. itsnearest approach to the sun it is about 29,-000,000 miles away, and at its furthest point,more than 43, miles from it. Theperiod of its axial rotation is 24 hours, 5minutes and 28 seconds. Its volume is aboutone-seventeenth that of the earth, and itsdensity is one-tenth greater than that ofthe earth. When farthest east of the sun, it isvisible to the naked eye in spring and au-tumn, after sunset and before sunrise. Mercury is a difficult planet for astron-omers to study, and vers^ little is known con-cerning it. At intervals of from three tothirteen years it is seen to pass across thesuns disk, and this transit is aiways studiedvery carefully, for it sliows clearly the lawsthat govern the planets motion. It has anatmosphere less dense than that of the earth. Related Articles. Consult the followingtitles for additional information:Astronomy Planet Earth MERCURY, in Roman mythology, the son of Jupiter and Maia, and the messenger of the gods; in Greek mythology he is called 145. Hermes. When he was but a few hours old hesprang from the knees of his mother, seized atortoise shell and stretched strings across it,thus inventing the lyre. Before night he hadstolen the oxen ofAdmetus, whichApollo was tending,and had hidden themso securely thatApollo could not findthem. Mercury wasobliged to confesswhere he had con-cealed the animals,and in return for thetwo which he hadeaten he gave toAjDollo his newly in-vented lyre. Apollo,pleased with the gift,l^resented Mercur\-with the eaduceus,which became hismost characteristicsymbol. Jupiter alsopresented him witha winged cap, winged mercury sandals and a shortprom the bronze statuesword, by means of ^y John of Bologna,which he could make himself invisible andcould transport himself to any place in thetwinkling of an eye. One of Mercurys du-ties was to conduct the s
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