HOW TO OBSERVE THE HEAYENS. 



v. 274,) where he is represented as a giant, with a girdle or belt, 

 a sword, a cloak of lion skin, and a club. 



The stars marked a and 7 in the figure, are in the shoulders, 

 and those marked K and ft, in the feet. The three central stars, 

 5 e C form the belt. 



Manilius, quoted by Admiral Smyth, says of this constellation: 



' ' Orion's beams ! Orion's beams ! 

 His star-gemmed belt and shining blade, 

 His isles of light, his silvery streams, 

 And gloomy gulfs of mystic shade." 



No constellation, continues Admiral Smyth, was more noted 

 among the ancients than this. As it occupies an extensive space 

 in the heavens, this circumstance may have probably given Pindar 

 his notion that Orion was of a monstrous size, and hence the 

 "jugula" of Plautus, the " Magni pars maxima oceli^ of 

 Manilius, and the "jebber" of the Arabians. "When the rage 

 for innovation was more prevalent than at present, it was proposed 

 to invest this constellation with the figure and to confer upon it 

 the name of Nelson ; and in 1807, when Napoleon was in the 

 meridian of his power, the University of Leipzic passed a reso- 

 lution that the stars of the belt and sword should be erected into 

 an independent constellation to be called Napoleon. 



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