3H LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



positions of the constellations, as recorded by him, 

 accord neither with the date at which he wrote nor 

 with the latitude in which he lived. It is generally 

 assumed chiefly on the authority of Hipparchus 

 that Aratus borrowed his knowledge of astronomy 

 from the sphere of Eudoxus ; but we must go much 

 farther back even than the date of Eudoxus, before we 

 can find any correspondence between the appearance 

 of the heavens and the description given by Aratus. 

 Thus we may very fairly assume that the origin of the 

 constellations (as distinguished from their association 

 with certain circles of the celestial sphere) may be 

 placed at a date preceding, perhaps by many genera- 

 tions, that at which Homer flourished. 



Indeed, there have not been wanting those who find 

 in the ancient constellations the record of the early 

 history of man. According to their views, Orion is 

 Nimrod the ' Giant,' as the Arabic name of the con- 

 stellation implies the mighty hunter, as the dogs and 

 hare beside him signify. The Centaur bearing a 

 victim towards the altar is Noah ; Argo, the stern of a 

 ship, is the ark, as of old it might be seen on Mount 

 Ararat. Corvus is the crow sent forth by Noah, and 

 the bird is placed on Hydra's back to show that there 

 was no laud on which it could set its foot. The figure 

 now called Hercules, but of old Engonasin, or the 

 kneeler, and described by Aratus as ( a man doomed 

 to labour,' is Adam. His left foot treads on the 

 dragon's head, in token of the saying, ( It shall bruise 



