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Virgil, also, in the 10th book of his Æneid, alludes to the same fable:

"For Cycnus loved unhappy Phaeton,
And sung his loss in poplar groves alone
Beneath the sister shades to soothe his grief;
Heaven heard his song, and hasten'd his relief
And changed to snowy plumes his hoary hair,
And wing'd his flight to sing aloft in air."

Of all the feathered race, there is no bird, perhaps, which makes so beautiful and majestic an appearance as the,swan. Almost every poet of eminence has taken notice of it. The swan has, probably, in all ages, and in every country where taste and elegance have been cultivated, been considered as the emblem of poetical dignity, purity, and ease. By the ancients it was consecrated to Apollo and the Muses; they also entertained a notion that this bird foretold its own end, and sang more sweetly at the approach of death.

"She, like the swan

Expiring, dies in melody."-Eschylus.

"So on the silver stream, when death is nigh,

The mournful swan sings its own elegy."-Ovid's Tristia.

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.

1. a CYGNI (Deneb)-A bright star on the back of the Swan, with a telescopic companion; R. A. 20h. 35m. 57s.; Dec. N. 44° 42′ 07". A 1, brilliant white; B 12%, pale blue. 2. CYGNI (Albireo)-A bright DOUBLE STAR on the bill of the figure; R. A. 19h. 24m. 16s.; Dec. N. 27° 37' 07". About 18° south-southeast of Vega. A 3, topaz yellow; B7, sapphire blue; the colors in brilliant contrast. A fine object, and the first double star ever seen by the present editor.

3. CYGNI-A most delicate DOUBLE STAR in the middle of the left wing, 14° west of a Cygni; R. A. 19h. 39m. 58s.; Dec. N. 44° 44' 06". A 8%, pale yellow; B 9, sea green. Another beautiful object.

4. CYGNI-A star with a distant companion, on the tip of the right wing; R. A. 21h. 06m. 07s.; Dec. N. 29° 34′ 05". A 3, pale yellow; B 10, sky blue; the field rich in

small stars.

5. 2 CYGNI-A close DOUBLE STAR in the right or lower wing, with a distant companion; R. A. 20h. 41m. 11s.; Dec. N. 35° 54' 03". A 5, B 10, and C 6, all bluish.

6. μ CYGNI-A beautiful DOUBLE STAR, with a distant companion, on the very tip of the right wing; R. A. 21h. 36m. 59s.; Dec. N. 28° 01′ 04′′. A 5, white; B 6, and C 7%,

both blue.

7. A BINARY STAR (61 Cygni)—the most remarkable known in the heavens. It is situ ated on the inner tip of the right wing of Cygni, 7° south-by-east of Deneb, and nearly east of Vega; R. A. 20h. 59m. 43s.; Dec. N. 37° 58' 0". A 5%, and B 6, both yellow, but the latter of the deepest tint. From the great rapidity of its proper motion, this star is regarded as one of the nearest to our system. It affords a positive instance of a double star which, besides the individuals revolving round each other, or about their common center of gravity, has a progressive uniform motion towards some determinate region. It is supposed to be not less than 412,000 times the diameter of the earth's orbit from us; or 88,190,000,000,000 miles distant; and to be moving through space 60,000 times as fast as Mercury-the swiftest body known to our system. The period of 61 Cygni as a binary system, is about 450 years. For orbit, &c., see Map VIII., Fig. 18, and 19.

8. A fine DOUBLE STAR on the tip of the left wing, 10° northwest of a Cygni, and within 1° of 0; R. A. 19h. 37m. 34s.; Dec. N. 50° 09' 3". A 6% and B 7, both pale fawn color.

9. A WIDE QUADRUPLE STAR in a rich field, on the Swan's left thigh, about 8° west by north of Deneb; R. A. 20h. 08m. 36s.; Dec. N. 46° 15' 6". A 4, orange; B 16, livid; C 7%, and D 5%, both cerulean blue. Not the effect of contrast.

10. A NEAT SMALL CLUSTER in the root of the neck, about 2° south of y; R. A. 20h. 18m. 178.; Dec. N. 87° 59' 9". A 8, yellow; B 11, dusky.

11. A LOOSE SPLASHY CLUSTER in a rich vicinity, between the Swan's tail and the Lizard, due south of B Cephei, and east-northeast of Deneb; R. A. 21h. 26m. 29s.; Dec. N. 47° 43' 8".

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.-Alpha? Beta? Delta? Zeta? Lambda? Mu? What cele brated binary star? Remarks respecting? Period? Point out on the map. What other double star? Quadruple? What clusters? Nebula?

12. A VERY SINGULAR NEBULA on the tip of the northern wing, about 5% north of ; R. A. 19h. 40m. 35s.; Dec. N. 50° 07' 6". Seen to be nebulous only with good instruments. Several telescopic stars in the field. The Herschels considered this as a con necting link between planetary nebula and nebulous stars.

CAPRICORNUS (THE GOAT).—MAP V.

229. This is the tenth sign, and eleventh constellation, in the order of the Zodiac, and is situated south of the Dolphin, and next east of Sagittarius. Its mean declination is 20° south, and its mean right ascension 310°. It is therefore on the meridian about the 18th of September. It is to be observed that the first point of the sign Capricorn, not the constellation, marks the southern tropic, or winter solstice. The sun, therefore, arrives at this point of its orbit the 21st of December, but does not reach the constellation Capricorn until the 16th of January.

The sun, having now attained its utmost declination south, after remaining a few days apparently stationary, begins once more to retrace its progress northwardly, affording to the wintry latitudes of the north a grateful presage of returning spring.

At the period of the winter solstice, the sun is vertical to the tropic of Capricorn, and the southern hemisphere enjoys the same light and heat which the northern hemisphere enjoys on the 21st of June, when the sun is vertical to the tropic of Cancer. It is, at this period, mid-day at the south pole, and midnight at the north pole.

230. The whole number of stars in this constellation is fiftyone; none of which are very conspicuous. The three largest are only of the 3d magnitude. There is an equal number of the 4th.

The head of Capricorn may be recognized by means of two stars of the 3d magnitude, situated a little more than 2° apart, called Giedi and Dabih. They are 28° from the Dolphin, in a southerly direction.

Giedi is the most northern star of the two, and is double. If a line be drawn from Lyra through Altair, and produced about 23° farther, it will point out the head of Capricorn. These two stars come to the meridian the 9th of September, a few minutes after Sad'r, in Cygnus. A few other stars of inferior note may be traced out by reference to the maps.

The sign of the Goat was called by the ancient orientalists the "Southern gate of the Sun," as Cancer was denominated the "Northern gate." The ten stars in the sign Capricorn, known to the ancients by the name of the "Tower of Gad," are probably now in the constellation Aquarius.

HISTORY.

Capricornus is said to be Pan, or Bacchus, who, with some other deities, were feasting near the banks of the Nile, when suddenly the dreadful giant Typhon came upon them, and compelled them all to assume a different shape, in order to escape his fury. Ovid relates,

"How Typhon, from the conquer'd skies, pursued
Their routed godheads to the seven-mouth'd flood:

enter it? What said of his place 230. Number of stars in CapriWhat said of Giedi? Ancient

229. Position of Capricornus? When does the sun and motion at that time? Of the winter solstice? corn? Their magnitudes ? How recognize the figure? name of this sign?

Forced every god (his fury to escape),
Some beastly form to take, or earthly shape.
Jove (sings the bard) was changed into a ram,
From whence the horns of Libyan Ammon came;
Bacchus a gout; Apollo was a crow;
Phoebe a cat; the wife of Jove a cow,

Whose hue was whiter than the falling snow;
Mercury to a nasty ibis turned-

While Venus from a fish protection craves,

And once more plunges in her native waves."

On this occasion it is further related that Bacchus, or Pan, led the way and plunged into the Nile, and that the part of his body which was under the water assumed the form of a fish, and the other part that of a goat; and that to preserve the memory of this frolic, Jupiter made him into a constellation, in his metamorphosed shape.

Some say that this constellation was the goat Amalthea, who supported the infant Jupiter with her milk. To reward her kindness, the father of the gods placed her among the constellations, and gave one of her horns to the nymphs who had taken care of him in his infantile years. This gift was ever after called the horn of plenty; as it possessed the virtue of imparting to the holder whatever she desired. On this account the Latin term Cornucopia, denotes plenty, or abundance of good things. The word Amalthea, when used figuratively, has also the same meaning.

The real sense of this fable, divested of poetical embellishment, appears to be this; that in Crete, some say in Libya, there was a small territory shaped very much like a bullock's horn, and exceedingly fertile, which the king presented to his daughter Amalthea, whom the poets feigned to have been Jupiter's nurse.

"The bounteous Pan," as he is styled by Milton, was the god of rural scenery, shepherds, and huntsmen. Virgil thus addresses him :

"And thou, the shepherd's tutelary god,

Leave, for a while, O Pan! thy loved abode."

The name of Pan is derived from a Greek word signifying all things; and he was often considered as the great principle of vegetable and ani ual life. He resided chiefly in Arcadia, in woods and the most rugged mountains. As Pan usually terrified the inhabitants of the adjacent country, even when he was nowhere to be seen, that kind of fear which often seizes men, and which is only ideal or imaginary, has received from him the name of Panic.

Pales, the female deity corresponding to Pan, was the goddess of sheepfolds and of pastures among the Romans. Thus Virgil:

"Now, sacred Pales, in a lofty strain,

I sing the rural honors of thy reign."

The shepherds offered to this goddess milk and honey, to gain her protection over their flocks. She is represented as an old woman, and was worshiped with great solemnity at Rome. Her festivals, which were called Pulilia, were celebrated on the 20th of April, the day on which Romulus laid the foundations of the city.

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.

1. a CAPRICORNI—A QUINTUPLE STAR in the right horn, R. A. 20h. 09m. 10s.; Dec. S. 13° 02' 1". A 3, pale yellow; B (or a 1) 4, yellow; C 16, blue; D 9, ash-colored; E 9%, lilac ting Few telescopes will reveal all these components.

2. B CAPRICORNI-A wide PAIR OF STARS in the right horn, 2% south-half-east of a; R. A. 20h. 12m. 01s.; Dec. S. 15° 16' 9". A 3%, orange yellow; B 7, sky blue. Other small stars in the field. It requires, a powerful instrument, and the most favorable circumstances to detect the minute star 5. (See Map VIII., Fig. 20.)

3. A GLOBULAR CLUSTER between Aquarius and the neck of Capricorn, 9° due east of a Capricorni, about from a 6th magnitude star; R. A. 20h. 44m. 39s.; Dec. S. 13° 07' 6". Many stars in the field, two of which are close to the cluster, or the east. Map IX., Fig. 63.

HISTORY.-Who was Capricornus? What proof cited? What further? What other myth? Meaning of this fable? What said of Pales?

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.-Alpha? Beta? Point out on the map? What clusters? Where shown on the map?

4. A fine PALE WHITE CLUSTER, about 20° west-northwest of Fomalhaut; R. A. 21h. 81. 16s.; Dec. S. 23° 52' 4". A bright object, with straggling streams of stars, and but few outliers in the field. Seen with small instruments. Map IX., Fig. 64.

CHAPTER XII.

CONSTELLATIONS ON THE MERIDIAN IN OCTOBER.

PEGASUS (THE FLYING HORSE).—MAP II.

231. This constellation is represented in an inverted posture, with wings. It occupies a large space in the heavens, between the Swan, the Dolphin and the Eagle, on the west, and the Northern Fish and Andromeda, on the east. Its mean right ascension is 340°, or it is situated 20° W. of the prime meridian. It extends from the equinoctial N. 35°. Its mean length E. and W. is about 40°, and it is six weeks in passing our meridian, viz., from the 1st of October to the 10th of November.

232. We see but a part of Pegasus, the rest of the animal being, as the poets imagined, hid in the clouds. It is readily distinguished from all other constellations by means of four remarkable stars, about 15° apart, forming the figure of a square called the Square of Pegasus.

The two western stars in this square come to the meridian about the 23d of October, and are 13° apart. The northern one, which is the brightest of three triangular stars in the martingale, is of the 2d magnitude, and is called Scheat. Its declination is 263⁄4°. Markab, also, of the 2d magnitude, situated in the head of the wing, is 13° S. of Scheat, and passes the meridian 11 minutes after it.

The two stars which form the eastern side of the square, come to the meridian about an hour after those in the western. The northern one has already been described as Alpheratz in the head of Andromeda, but it also belongs to this constellation, and is 14° E. Scheat. 14° S. of Alpheratz, is Algenib, the last star in the wing, situated 16° E. of Markab.

233. Algenib in Pegasus, Alpheratz in Andromeda, and Caph in Cassiopeia are situated on the prime meridian, and point out its direction through the pole. For this reason they are sometimes called the three guides. They form an arc of that great circle in the heavens from which the distances of all the heavenly bodies are measured.

231. What constellations in this chapter? Describe Pegasus, its size, position, &c. 232. Do we see the whole of the figure? How is it distinguished? What said of Scheat and Markab? Of Alpheratz and Algenib? 233. Remark respecting Algenib, Alpheratz and Caph? What sometimes called, and why? They form what? Remarks

It is an arc of the equinoctial colure which passes through the vernal equinox, and which the sun crosses about the 21st of March. It is, in astronomy, what the meridian of Greenwich is in geography. If the sun, or a planet, or a star, be said to have so many degrees of right ascension, it means that the sun or planet has ascended so many degrees from this prime meridian.

Enif, sometimes called Enir, is a star of the 3d magnitude in the nose of Pegasus, about 20° W. S. W. of Markab, and half-way between it and the Dolphin. About half of the distance from Markab toward Enif, but a little to the S., there is a star of the 3d magnitude situated in the neck, whose letter name is Zeta. The loose cluster directly S. of the line joining Enif and Zeta, forms the head of Pegasus.

In this constellation there are eighty-nine stars visible to the naked eye, of which three are of the second magnitude and three of the third.

HISTORY.

This, according to fable, is the celebrated horse which sprung from the blood of Medusa, after Perseus had cut off her head. He received his name according to Hesiod, from his being born near the sources (πnуn, Рege) of the ocean. According to Ovid, he fixed his residence on Mount Helicon, where, by striking the earth with his foot, he raised the fabled fountain called Hippocrene. He became the favorite of the Muses; and being tamed by Neptune or Minerva, he was given to Bellerophon, son of Glaucus, king of Ephyre, to aid him in conquering the Chimæra, a hideous monster that continually vomited flames. This monster had three heads, that of a lion, a goat, and a dragon. The fore parts of its body were those of a lion, the middle those of a goat, and the hinder those of the dragon. It lived in Lycia, of which the top, on account of its desolate wilderness, was the resort of lions, the middle, which was fruitful, was covered with goats, and at the bottom, the marshy ground abounded with serpents. Bellerophon was the first who made his habitation upon it.

Plutarch thinks the Chimæra was the captain of some pirate who adorned their ship with the images of a lion, a goat, and a dragon.

After the destruction of this monster, Bellerophon attempted to fly up to heaven upon Pegasus; but Jupiter was so displeased at this presumption, that he sent an insect to sting the horse, which occasioned the melancholy fall of his rider. Bellerophon fell to the earth, and Pegasus continued his flight up to heaven, and was placed by Jupiter among the constellations.

"Now heav'n his further wand'ring flight confines,
Where, splendid with his num'rous stars, he shines."

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.

Ovid's Fusti.

1. a PEGASI (Markab)—A star with a distant companion, at the junction of the wing and shoulder, 13° south of Scheat; R. A. 22h. 56m. 47s.; Dec. N. 14° 20' 08". A 2, white; B 11, pale grey.

2. PEGASI (Scheat)-A bright star with a minute distant companion, on the left foreleg; R. A. 22h. 56m. 01s.; Dec. N. 27° 18' 0". A 2, deep yellow; B 15, blue; with two other stars in the field.

a distant companion, on the edge of the wing; A 22, yellow; B 13, pale blue.

3. Y PEGASI (Algenib)-A star with R. A. 0h. 05m. Os.; Dec. N. 14° 17′ 07′′. 4. & PEGASI (Enif)-A star with two distant companions, in the nose of the figure; R. A. 21h. 36m. 19s.; Dec. N. 9° 08′ 07′′. A 2%, yellow; B 14, blue; C 9, violet; and a 9th magnitude star of a violet tinge, at a distance east.

5. PEGASI-A star with a minute companion in the middle of the neck; R. A. 22h. 33m. 29s.; Dec. N. 9° 59' 9". A line from Alpleratz over Markab, and carried 7° further, will reach . A 8, light yellow; B 18, dusky; with other stars in the field.

6. A DOUBLE STAR between the head of Pegasus and the hind legs of the Fox; or about 10% south by east of Cygni; R. A. 21h. 14m. 41s.; Dec. N. 19° 07′ 4′′. A 4, pale orange, and considered variable; B 9, purplish.

respecting the prime meridian? What said of Enif? Of Zeta? Number of stars in the constellation, and their magnitudes? HISTORY.-Story of his origin and name? Residence, &c.?

stars?

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS.-Alpha? Beta? Gamma? Epsilon? What cluster? Point out on the map. What nebula?

Of the head of Pegasus

How he came among the

Zeta? What double star?

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