" URSA MINOR? ii 



one of the third magnitude occupies the base of the pole of 

 the Celestial Chariot, or of the Bear's tail ; it is the fourth 

 star counting from the extremity of the tail. On celestial 

 charts, it is particularised by the fourth letter of the Greek 

 alphabet, 3 (delta). 



Observe, in passing, that the first of these charts, wherein 

 the stars of a constellation were indicated by Greek characters, 

 appeared in 1603, at Augsburg, under the title of "Urano- 

 metria." Its author, Jean Bayer, an amateur astronomer, 

 who died in 1660, conceived the idea of designating by the 

 first letters of the Greek alphabet a, /3, y, 3, and so on the 

 most noticeable stars. The animals bearing the names of the 

 constellations are drawn in this map with very considerable 

 care ; but it requires, let us hasten to add, much imagination 

 and good-will to recognise, in the form of a stellar group, the 

 animal shown in the drawing. 



Thus far Ursa Major. The four stars of the quadriga, or 

 chariot, have been employed to form the dorso-lumbar region 

 of the animal ; the three others define its tail ; and, finally, 

 twenty-four little stars, some of which are hardly visible to the 

 naked eye, compose the head and paws of the celestial " plan- 

 tigrade." 



As for Ursa Minor, it is impossible to distinguish it imme- 

 diately when you are unaccustomed to surveying or examining 

 the celestial vault. To detect its position, you require to be 

 forewarned of it ; to know, in the first place, that there exists 

 in the vicinity of the Bear an exactly similar stellar group. 

 The point of the tail a in Ursa Minor alone possesses a 



