Fixed Stars. 63 



main two of the signs of the zodiac to 

 be considered with regard to their origin, 

 viz. Aquarius and Pisces. As to the 

 former, it is to be considered that the win- 

 ter is a wet and uncomfortable season ; 

 this therefore was expressed by Aquari- 

 us, the figure of a man pouring out water 

 from an urn. The last of the zodiacal 

 constellations was Pisces, a couple of 

 fishes tied together, that had been caught; 

 the lesson was, The severe season is 

 over ; your flocks do not yet yield then- 

 store, but the seas and rivers are open, 

 and there you may take fish in abun- 

 dance. 



With respect to the distances of the 

 fixed stars, they are so extremely remote, 

 that we have no distances in the planeta- 

 ry system to compare to them. 



The distance of the star Draconis (a 

 star of the fifth magnitude) appears, by 

 Dr. Bradley's observations, to be at least 

 400,000 times that of the sun, and the 

 distance of the nearest fixed star not less 

 than 40,000 diameters of the earth's an- 

 nual orbit ; that is, the distance from the 

 earth, of the former at least 38,000,000,- 

 000,000 miles, and the latter not less than 



