TEE ORIGIN OF TEE COFSIELLATION-FIGURES. 



53 



noted in connection with the particular epoch I 

 have indicated. 



It is tolerably clear that, in imagining figures 

 of certain objects in the heavens, the early ob- 

 servers would not be apt to picture these objects 

 in unusual positions. A group of stars may form 

 a figure so closely resembling that of a familiar 

 object, that even a wrong position would not 

 prevent the resemblance from being noticed, as 

 for instance the " Chair," the "Plough," and so 

 forth. But such cases are not numerous ; in- 

 deed, to say the truth, one must " make believe 

 a good deal " to see resemblance between the 

 star-groups and most of the constellation-figures, 

 even under the most favorable conditions. When 

 there is no very close resemblance, as is the case 

 with all the large constellations, position must 

 have counted for something iu determining the 

 association between a star-group and a known 

 object. 



Now, the constellations north of the equator 

 assume so many and such various positions that 

 . this special consideration does not apply very 

 forcibly to them. But those south of the equator 

 I are only seen above the southern horizon, and 

 i change little in position during their progress 

 from east to west of the south point. The lower 

 i down they are, the less they change in position. 

 ^ And the very lowest — such as those were, for 

 \ instance, which I have been considering in de- 

 li termining the position of the southern pole — are 

 only fully visible when due south. They must, 

 then, in all probability, have stood upright or in 

 t their natural position when so placed, for, if they 

 were not rightly placed then, they only were so 

 • when below the horizon, and consequently in- 

 visible. 



Let us, then, inquire what was the position 

 of the southernmost constellations when fully 

 seen above the southern horizon at midnight. 



The Centaur stood then as he does now, up- 

 right, only — whereas now in Egypt, Chaldea, In- 

 dia, Persia, and China, only the upper portions 

 of his figure rise above the horizon, he then 

 stood, the noblest save Orion of all the constella- 

 tions, with his feet (marked by the bright Alpha 

 and Beta still belonging to the constellation, and 

 by the stars of the Southern Cross which have 

 been taken from it) upon the horizon itself. In 

 latitude 20° or so north he may still be seen 

 thus placed when due south. 



The Centaur was represented in old times as 

 placing an offering upon the altar, which was pict- 

 ured, says Manilius, as bearing a fire of incense, 

 represented by stars. This to a student of our 



modern charts seems altogether perplexing. The 

 Centaur carries the wolf on the end of his spear ; 

 but, instead of placing the wolf (not a very accept- 

 able meat-offering, one would suppose) upon the 

 altar, he is directing this animal toward the base 

 of the altar, whose top is downward, the flames 

 represented there tending naturally downward 

 also. It is quite certain the ancient observers 

 did not imagine anything of this sort. As I have 

 said, Aratus tells us that the celestial Centaur 

 was placing an offering upon the altar, which 

 was therefore upright ; and Manilius describes 

 the altar as 



" Ferens thuris, stellis imitantibus, ignem," 



so that the fire was where it should be, on the 

 top of an upright altar, where also on the sky 

 itself were stars looking like the smoke from in- 

 cense-fires. Now, that was precisely the appear- 

 ance presented by the stars forming the constel- 

 lation at the time I have indicated, some 2170 

 years b. c. Setting the altar upright above the 

 southern horizon (that is, inverting the absurd 

 picture at present given of it), we see it just 

 where it should be placed to receive the Centaur's 

 offering, and a most remarkable portion of the 

 Milky-Way is then seen to be directly above the 

 altar iu such a way as to form a very good imita- 

 tion of smoke ascending from it. This part of 

 the Milky- Way is described by Sir J. Herschel, 

 who studied it carefully during his stay at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, as forming a complicated 

 system of interlaced streaks and masses which 

 covers the tail of Scorpio (extending from the 

 altar which lies immediately south of the Scor- 

 pion's Tail). The Milky- Way divides, in fact, 

 just above the altar, as the constellation was seen 

 4,000 years ago above the southern horizon, one 

 branch being that just described, the other (like 

 another stream of smoke) " passing," says Her- 

 schel, " over the stars Iota of the Altar, Theta 

 and Iota of the Scorpion, etc., to Gamma of the 

 Archer, where it suddenly collects into a vivid 

 oval mass, so very rich in stars that a very mod- 

 erate calculation makes their number exceed 

 100,000." Nothing could accord better with the 

 descriptions of Aratus and Manilius. 



But there is another constellation which 

 shows in a more marked way than either the 

 Centaur or the Altar that the date when the con- 

 stellations were invented must have been near 

 that which I have named. Both Ara and Cen- 

 taurus look now, in suitable latitudes (about 

 20° north), as they looked in higher latitudes 

 (about 40° north) 4,000 years ago. For the 



