312 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



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 generations, that at which 

 Homer nourished. 



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 land 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 

 thy head ; ' and Serpentarius, or the serpent-bearer, is 

 the promised seed. 



