From this circumstance, the sailors inferred, that whenever both fires appeared in the sky, it would be fair weather: but when only one appeared, there would be storins.

St. Paul, after being wrecked on the island of Melita, embarked for Rome "in a ship whose sign was Castor and Pollux;" so formed, no doubt, in accordance with the popular belief that these divinities presided over the science and safety of navigation.

They were initiated into the sacred mysteries of Cabiri, and into those of Ceres and Eleusis. They were invited to a feast at which Lynceus and Idas were going to celebrate their nuptials with Phoebe and Telaria, the daughters of Leucippus, brother to Tyndarus. They became enamoured of the daughters, who were about to be married, and resolved to supplant their rivals: a battle ensued, in which Castor killed Lynceus, and was himself killed by Idas. Pollux revenged the death of his brother by killing Idas; but, being himself immortal, and most tenderly attached to his deceased brother, he was unwilling to survive him; he therefore entreated Jupiter to restore him to life, or to be deprived himself of iminortality; wherefore, Jupiter permitted Castor, who had been slain, to share the immortality of Pollux; and consequently, as long as the one was upon earth, so long was the other detained in the infernal regions, and they alternately lived and died every day. Jupiter also further rewarded their fraternal attachment by changing them both into a constellation under the name of Gemini, Twins, which, it is strangely pretended, never appear together, but when one rises the other sets, and so on alternately.

"By turns they visit this ethereal sky,

And live alternate, and alternate die."-Homer. "Pollux, offering his alternate life,

Could free his brother, and could daily go

By turns aloft, by turns descend below."-Virgil.

Castor and Pollux were worshipped both by the Greeks and Romans, who sacrificed white lambs upon their altars. In the Hebrew Zodiac, the constella tion of the Twins refers to the tribe of Benjamin.

CANIS MINOR.

THE LITTLE DOG.-This small constellation is situated about 50 N. of the equinoctial, and midway between Canis Major and the Twins. It contains 14 stars, of which two are very brilliant. The brightest star is called Procyon. It is of the 1st magnitude, and is about 4° S. E. of the next brightest, marked Gomelza, which is of the 2d magnitude.

These two stars resemble the two in the head of the Twins. Procyon, in the Little Dog, is 23° S. of Pollux in Gemini, and Gomelza is about the same distance S. of Castor.

A great number of geometrical figures may be formed of the principal stars in the vicinity of the Little Dog. For example; Procyon is 23° S. of Pollux, and 26° E. of Betelguese, and forms with them a large right angled triangle. Again Procyon is equidistant from Betelguese and Sirius, and forms with them an equilateral triangle whose sides are each about If a straight line, connecting Procyon and Sirius, be produced 23° farther, it will point out Phaet, in the Dove.

26°.

Describe the situation of Canis Minor. What is its whole number of stars? What is the magnitude of its principal ones? What is the brightest one called, and how is It situated? What other stars do Procyon and Gomelza resemble? What are the distance and direction of Procyon from Pollux? Of Gomelza from Castor? What are their distance and direction from Castor and Pollux? What kind of figures may be formed of the stars in the neighbourhood of the Little Dog? Give some examples.

Procyon is often taken for the name of the Little Dog, or for the whole constellation, as Sirius is for the greater one; hence it is common to refer to either of these constellations by the name of its principal star. Procyon comes to the meridian 53 minutes after Sirius, on the 24th of February; although it rises, in this latitude, about half an hour before it. For this reason, it was called Procyon, from two Greek words which signify (Ante Canis) "before the dog."

"Canicula, fourteen thy stars; but far

Above them all, illustrious through the skies,
Beams Procyon; justly by Greece thus called
The bright forerunner of the greater Dog."

HISTORY.-The Little Dog, according to Greek fable, is one of Orion's hounds. Some suppose it refers to the Egyptian god Anubis, which was represented with a dog's head: others to Diana, the goddess of hunting; and others, that it is the faithful dog Mæra, which belonged to Icarus, and discovered to his daughter Erigone the place of his burial. Others, again, say it is one of Acteon's hounds that devoured their master, after Diana had transformed him into a stag, to pre. vent, as she said, his betraying her.

"This said, the man began to disappear
By slow degrees, and ended in a deer.

Transform'd at length, he flies away in haste,
And wonders why he flies so fast.

But as by chance, within a neighb'ring brook,
He saw his branching horns, and alter'd look,
Wretched Actæon! in a doleful tone
He tried to speak, but only gave a groan;
And as he wept, within the watery glass,
He saw the big round drops, with silent pace,
Run trickling down a savage, hairy face.
What should he do? or seek his old abodes,
Or herd among the deer, and skulk in woods?
As he thus ponders, he behind him spies
His opening hounds, and now he hears their cries.
From shouting men, and horns, and dogs, he flies.
When now the fleetest of the pack that press'd
Close at his heels, and sprung before the rest,
Had fasten'd on him, straight another pair
Hung on his wounded side, and held him there,
Till all the pack came up, and every hound

Tore the sad huntsman grovelling on the ground."*

It is most probable, however, that the Egyptians were the inventors of this con stellation; and as it always rises a little before the Dog-star, which, at a particu lar season, they so much dreaded, it is properly represented as a little watchful creature, giving notice like a faithful sentinel of the other's approach.

*It is not difficult to deduce the moral of this fable. The selfishness and caprice of human friendship furnish daily illustrations of it. While the good man, the philan thropist, or the public benefactor, is in affluent circumstances, and, with a heart to devise, has the power to minister blessings to his numerous beneficiaries, his virtues are the general theme: but when adverse storms have changed the ability, though they could not shake the will of their benefactor, he is straightway pursued, like Actæon, by his own hounds; and, like Actæon, he is "torn to the ground" by the fangs that fed upon his bounty.-L. Q. C. L.

What name is usually given to the Little Dog? When does Procyon rise and culminate, with respect to the Dog-star? What name, for this reason, was given to this constellation?

MONOCEROS.

THE UNICORN.-This is a modern constellation, which was made out of the unformed stars of the ancients that lay scattered over a large space of the heavens between the two Dogs. It extends a considerable distance on each side of the equinoctial, and its centre is on the same meridian with Procyon.

It contains 31 small stars, of which the seven principal ones are of only the 4th magnitude. Three of these are situated in the head, 3° or 4° apart, forming a straight line N. E. and S. W. about 90 E. of Betelguese in Orion's shoulder, and about the same distance S: of Alhena in the foot of the Twins.

The remaining stars in this constellation are scattered over a large space, and being very small, are unworthy of particular notice.

HISTORY. THE MONOCEROS is a species of the Unicorn or Rhinoceros. It is about the size of a horse, with one white horn growing out of the middle of its forehead. It is said to exist in the wilds of Ethiopia, and to be very formidable. Naturalists say that, when pursued by the hunters, it precipitates itself from the tops of the highest rocks, and pitches upon its horn, which sustains the whole force of its fall, so that it receives no damage thereby. Sparmann informs us, that the figure of the unicorn, described by some of the ancients, has been found delineated on the surface of the rock in Caffraria; and thence conjectures that such an animal, instead of being fabulous, as some suppose, did once actually exist in Africa. Lobo affirms that he has seen it.

The rhinoceros, which is akin to it, is found in Bengal, Siam, Cochin China, part of China Proper, and the isles of Java and Sumatra.

CANIS MAJOR.

THE GREAT DOG.-This interesting constellation is situa'ed southward and eastward of Orion, and is universally Known by the brilliance of its principal star, Sirius, which is apparently the largest and brightest in the heavens. It glows in the winter hemisphere with a lustre which is unequalled by any other star in the firmament.

Its distance from the earth, though computed at 20 millions of millions of miles, is supposed to be less than that of any other star: a distance, however, so great that a cannon ball, which flies at the rate of 19 miles a minute, would be two millions of years in passing over the mighty interval; while sound, moving at the rate of 13 miles a minute, would reach Sirius in little less than three millions of years.

What stars compose the constellation Monoceros? How is this constellation situated, and when is it on the meridian? What is the whole number of its stars? What is the magnitude of its principal ones? Describe those in the head. Describe the position and appearance of Canis Major. What is its appearance in the winter? What is its distance from the earth computed to be, and how is it compared with that of the other stars? How long would it take a cannon-ball to pass over this distance In what time would sound reach Sirius from the earth?

It may be shown in the same manner, that a ray of light, which occupies only 8 minutes and 13 seconds in coming to us from the sun, which is at the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles a second, would be 3 years and 82 days in passing through the vast space that lies between Sirius and the earth. quently, were it blotted from the heavens, its light would continue visible to us for a period of 3 years and 82 days after it had ceased to be.

Conse

If the nearest stars give such astonishing results, what shall we say of those which are situated a thousand times as far beyond these, as these are from us?

In the remote ages of the world, when every man was his own astronomer, the rising and setting of Sirius, or the Dogstar, as it is called, was watched with deep and various solicitude. The ancient Thebans, who first cultivated astronomy in Egypt, determined the length of the year by the number of its risings. The Egyptians watched its rising with mingled apprehensions of hope and fear; as it was ominous to them of agricultural prosperity or blighting which drought. It foretold to them the rising of the Nile, they called Siris, and admonished them when to sow. The Romans were accustomed yearly, to sacrifice a dog to Sirius to render him propitious in his influence upon their herds and fields. The eastern nations generally believed the rising of Sirius would be productive of great heat on the earth.

Thus Virgil:

"Tuni steriles exurere Sirius agros:

Ardebant herbæ, et victuin seges ægra negabat."

"Parched was the grass, and blighted was the corn:
Nor 'scape the beasts; for Siríus, froin on high,
With pestilential heat infects the sky."

Accordingly, to that season of the year when Sirius rose with the sun and seemed to blend its own influence with the heat of that luminary, the ancients gave the name of Dogdays, (Dies Caniculares). At that remote period the Dogdays commenced on the 4th of August, or four days after the summer solstice, and lasted forty days or until the 14th of September. At present the Dog-days begin on the 3d of July, and continue to the 11th of August, being one day less than the ancients reckoned.

Hence, it is plain that the Dog-days of the moderns have no reference whatever to the rising of Sirius, or any other star, because the time of their rising is perpetually accelerated by the precession of the equinoxes: they have reference then only to the summer solstice which never changes its position in respect to the seasons.

How long is light in coming from Sirius to the earth? Suppose this star were now to be blotted from the heavens, how long before its twinkling would expire? How was the rising of Sirius regarded in the remote ages of the world? What use was made of it by the ancient Thebans? How did the Egyptians regard it, and for what reason? What did it foretel to them? What did the Romans offer in sacrifice to Sirius annually? Why? How was it regarded by the eastern nations generally? What season of the year did the ancients call Dog-days? When did these begin, and how long did they fast? At present, when do they begin and end? Have our Dog-days any reference to the Dog-star?

The time of Sirius' rising varies with the latitude of the place, and in the same latitude, is sensibly changed after a course of years, on account of the precession at the equinoxes. This enables us, to determine with approximate accuracy, the dates of many events of antiquity, which cannot be well determined by other records. We do not know, for instance, in what precise period of the world Hesiod flourished. Yet he tells us, in his Opera et Dies, lib. ii. v. 185, that Arcturus in his time rose heliacally, 60 days after the winter solstice, which, then was in the 9th degree of Aquarius, or 390 beyond its present position. Now 39 504-2794 years since the time of Hesiod, which corresponds very nearly with history.

When a star rose at sun-setting, or set at sun-rising, it was called the Achronical rising or setting. When a planet or star appeared above the horizon just before the sun, in the morning, it was called the Heliacal rising of the star; and when it sunk below the horizon immediately after the sun, in the evening, it was called the Heliacal setting. According to Ptolemy, stars of the first magnitude are seen rising and setting when the sun is 120 below the horizon; stars of the 2d magnitude require the sun's depression to be 13°; stars of the 3d magnitude, 140, and so on, allowing one degree for each magnitude. The rising and setting of the stars described in this way, since this mode of description often occurs in Hesiod, Virgil, Columella, Ovid, Pliny, &c. are called poetical rising and setting. They served to mark the times of religious ceremonies, the seasons allotted to the several departments of husbandry, and the overflowing of Nile

The student may be perplexed to understand how the Dog-star, which he seldom sees till mid-winter, should be associated with the most fervid heat of summer. This is explained by considering that this star, in summer, is over our heads in the daytime, and in the lower hemisphere at night. As" thick the floor of heaven is inlaid with patines of bright gold," by day, as by night; but on account of the superior splendour of the sun, we cannot see them.

Sirius is situated nearly S. of Alhena, in the feet of the Twins, and about as far S. of the equinoctial as Alhena is N. of it. It is about 10° E. of the Hare, and 26° S. of Be telguese in Orion, with which it forms a large equilateral triangle. It also forms a similar triangle with Phaet in the Dove, and Naos in the Ship. These two triangles being joined at their vertex in Sirius, present the figure of an enormous X, called by some, the EGYPTIAN X. Sirius is also pointed out by the direction of the Three Stars in the belt of Orion. Its distance from them is about 23°. It comes to the meridian at 9 o'clock on the 11th of February.

Mirzam, in the foot of the Dog, is a star of the 2d magnitude, 540 W. of Sirius. A little above, and 4° or 5° to the left, there are three stars of the 3d and 4th magnitudes, forming a triangular figure somewhat resembling a dog's head.

What is meant by the Achronical rising and setting of the stars? What, by their Heliacal rising and setting? By whom were the terms thus applied, and what were these risings and settings called? What did they serve? Explain how it is, that the Dog-star, which is seldom seen till mid-winter, should be associated with the most fervid heat of summer. Are there as many stars over our head in the daytime as in the night? Describe the situation of Sirius. What is its position with regard to Betelguese and Procyon, and in connexion with them what figure does it form? With what other stars does it form a similar triangle? What is the appearance of these two triangles taken together? How else is Sirius pointed out? Describe the position and magnitude of Mirzam. What stars mark the head of the Dog?