THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH WE LIVE 35 



apex. The other star is Castor, and the two mark the constella- 

 tion of Gemini, the Twins (Fig. 19). Another pair, similarly 

 spaced but farther south, are also in this constellation of Gemini. 

 Castor and Pollux were the sons of Leda, and Helen of Trojan 

 fame was their sister. "They accompanied the Argonautic 

 expedition, and, when on the return voyage the vessel was almost 

 overwhelmed in the storm, Orpheus with his lyre invoked Apollo, 

 who caused the two stars to appear on the heads of the twins and 

 so the tempest was allayed." So these stars became the protec- 

 tive portents of sea-going men as the gods Castor and Pollux were 

 the tutelary gods of sailors. Altars were erected to them in all 

 important seaports, and often a vessel carried as a figurehead on 

 her prow the symbol of Castor and Pollux, as did the ship in 

 which Paul sailed for Rome. St. Helen's fire or St. Elmo's, a 

 single flame on the mast head or spar, is an evil sign, but twin 

 flames are the sign of the presence of these gods and are propi- 

 tious. "By Gemini" was a favorite oath among seafaring folk, 

 and it still persists, modified to "by Jiminy." 



Both Taurus and Gemini are among those constellations 

 known as the zodiacal constellations, which were exceedingly 

 important to the old astrologers in forecasting the future. The 

 zodiac is a girdle of constellations stretching around the celestial 

 sphere, among which the sun and the planets when seen from the 

 earth seem to wander. These constellations named in order in a 

 bit of doggerel are as follows: 



The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, 

 And next the Grab the Lion shines, 

 The Virgin and the Scales, 

 The Scorpion, Archer, and the Goat, 

 Water-Bearer and Fish with tails. 



Draw a line from Aldebaran through the Pleiades, and 

 extend it beyond them half as far again as Aldebaran is dis- 

 tant from them, and it leads to two third-magnitude stars 

 near which, toward the Pole, are three third-magnitude stars 



