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77/ A' /'OITLAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



wept bitterly over the loss. There is no telling what might have 

 happened to the guardians of the temple, had not a celebrated as- 

 tronomer named Conon led the young king and queen aside in the 

 evening and showed them the missing locks shining transfigured in 

 the sky. He assured them that Venus had placed Berenice's lustrous 

 ringlets among the stars, and, as they were not skilled in celestial 

 lore, they were quite ready to believe that the silvery swarm they 

 saw near Arcturus had never been there before. And so for centu- 

 ries the world has recognized the constellation of Berenice's Hair. 

 These time-honored legends, that have delighted the brightest minds 

 in all countries and all ages, lend an interest of their own to the starry 

 heavens, in spite of the fact that they make no impression upon the 

 armor-plated souls of certain mathematicians who pretend to be the 

 only astronomers, and who would sweep all constellations and mythol- 

 ogies together into limbo. 



Look next at Corvus and Crateris, two little constellations which 

 you will discover on the circular map, and of which we give a separate 

 representation. You will find that the stars Delta (8) and Eta (?;), in 

 the upper left-hand corner of the quadrilateral figure of Corvus, make 

 a striking appearance. The little star Zeta (£) is a very pretty double 

 for an opera-glass. There is a very faint pair of stars close below 

 and to the right of Beta (ft). This forms a severe test. Only a good 

 opera-glass will show these two stars as a single faint point of light. 

 A field-glass, however, will show both, one being considerably fainter 

 than the other. Crateris is worth sweeping over for the pretty com- 

 bination of stars to be found in it. 



Arcturus and Spica, and their companions, may be left for obser- 

 vation to a more convenient season, when, having risen higher, they 



can be studied to better advan- 

 tage. It will be well, however, 

 to merely glance at them with 

 the glass in order to note the 

 great difference of color — Spica 

 being brilliantly white and Arc- 

 turus almost red. We will now 

 turn to the north. You have 

 already been told how to find 

 the pole-star. Look, at it with 

 your glass. The pole-star is a 

 famous double, but its minute 

 companion can only be seen with 

 a telescope. As so often happens, 

 however, it has another companion for the opera-glass, and this latter 

 is sufficiently close and small to make an interesting test for an inex- 

 perienced observer armed with a glass of small power. It must be 

 looked for pretty close to the rays of the large star, with such a glass, 



Minor. 



