URSA MAJOR. 



with the constellation. They are arranged in such a form, that 

 lines connecting them one with another successively would have 

 the shape of a note of interrogation, or of a reaping-hook. 



13. In consequence of the proximity of this constellation to the 

 pole, it never sets in any latitude above that of 40, and is con- 

 sequently visible at night in all seasons of the year in the greater 

 part of the northern hemisphere. This circumstance, combined 

 with the splendour of the stars composing it and their remarkable 

 configuration, rendered it an object of universal observation and 

 attention in the earliest ages ; and it may therefore be regarded 

 as one of the most ancient of the constellations. It is frequently 

 referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures, and has at various times and 

 in various countries received different denominations. It is 

 referred to, for example, in the book of Job ; but the name by 

 which it is designated has been mistranslated in the English 

 version by Arcturus, the name of a star in a different constella- 

 tion. Bochart says that the Hebrew word in Job is derived from 

 an Arabic one which signifies bier ; others maintain that it 

 signifies a icaggon, which would be quite consistent with the 

 names given to the constellation by various people, ancient and 

 modern, Greeks, Romans, Italians, Germans, and English, by 

 whom severally it has been named "A/uaa (Amaxa}, waggon or 

 wain ; plaustrum, cart ; triones, a waggon and oxen ; feretrum, bier ; 

 Cataletto, bier ; Wagen, waggon ; David's Car, the Plough, and 

 Charles' Wain. 



14. When the constellation was thus named, the four stars 

 marked a $ 7 and 5 were considered to represent the wheels, and 

 the other three stars the shafts, poles, horses or oxen. "When the 

 name Her was applied to it, the four stars forming the quadrangle 

 were considered to represent the sarcophagus, and the three 

 remaining stars were considered to represent three mourners, or, 

 according to some, three children of the;deceased. Admiral Smyth 

 quotes Kircher as affirming that the four stars of the quadrangle 

 represent the bier of Lazarus, and that the three remaining stars 

 are Mary, Martha, and Magdalen. He also maintains that the 

 popular name of Charles' Wain is a corruption of the Gothic Karl 



Wagen, the churl or peasant's cart. 



It is a fact worthy of remark, recorded by historians, that the 

 Iroquois, a tribe of North American Indians were found at the 

 moment of the discovery of America to be familiar with the con- 

 stellation of the great Bear, which in their language was called 

 Oquoari, the word which signifies bear. 



15. Although the only stars of this constellation familiar to the 

 popular eye are the seven principal ones indicated in fig. 1, the 

 group which has received the name of Ursa major included from 



153 



