290 



KNOWLEDGE 



[FEa 3, l«»a. 



n-giirjliMl it M iiiori'ly accidental ; for otlu-rwise slio woiild 

 |)rolial)lv hove tri.-d with tli« Bccoiid litter tho plan sho 

 iiotually tried with the third. When the female puppies 

 of the Hecond litt<-r were token, she recognised the rule l.y 

 which selection hiul l>een n)ade. Thus she hod up to this 

 point reasoned well and with due caution, not adopting a 

 conclusion until the evidence in its faM>ur ha<l liecome very 

 strong and convincing. She had also shown a power of 

 .•ounting ; for ol>vious though tho result she ohtoined may 

 soem to one of ourselves, capable of dealing readily with 

 much larger numlx-rs, yet if wo conceive a mind so far 

 inferior in matt4'r8 of calculation to that of a savage (and 

 such savages are known) who can .scarce count up to tivc, 

 and has to run through a process of calculation before he 

 can say how many children he has, as the mind of such a 

 savage' is to that of a .skilful mathematician, we see that to 

 such a mind the procHiss gono through by the animal in 

 this case would be what a very profound calculation would 

 lie to the mathematician. In other words, we here have 

 evidence that the dillerence between the mind of an animal 

 and the mind of man is but one of di'grcc, and that the 

 animal i.-s not more widely separated from man in this 

 respect, than the lowest among men is from the highest 



NIGHTS WITH A THREE-INCH 

 TELESCOPE. 



By " A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society." 



BY this time the student will have become tolerably 

 familiar with his instrument. We propose to em- 

 ploy it to-night in the examination of some of the more 

 striking objects in the glorious constellation of Orion (Map, 

 pp. 204 and 20-")). And first we will turn it upon/3 Ononis 



or Rigel, fig. 9, which will furnish the young astronomer 

 with goo<l, if easy, preliminary practice in the detection of 

 small stars in the neighl>ourhood of larger and more bril- 

 liant ones. Proliably, at first, his eye will be dazzled with 

 the brilliant blue coruscation surrounding Rigel itself; but 

 a little careful attention will show just above and to the 



/-/ c./o. 



ORIONIS 



left of it a small bluish point, as shown in the figuie. 

 From Orion's foot he may proceed to his face, in which we 



shall find X, a very pretty pair, tolerably close together, the 

 larger star being yellowish, the smaller one more of a lilac 

 hue. Our figure represents it as seen with a power of 120. 

 The lowest, or most easterly of the three stors in the Giant's 

 Ix'lt I, will next claim our ott<?ntion, and to show this 

 properly will be a pretty severe test of the excellence of 

 the observer's instrument. As shown in our drawing, this 



star is triple ; the principal and second stors, with a power 

 of 1-50°, being almost in contoct, and the third below and 

 to the right of them. Some considerable gazing will lie 

 required on the part of the beginner before he succeeds in 

 making out the duplicity of the principal pair in this 

 asterism. Our engraving may help him to understond 

 exactly what to look for. 



We now turn to it, which will be seen beneath I in the Map. 

 This is a triple, or, perhaps more correctly, a septuple stor, 

 all the components shown in our next figure being well 

 within the same field with a power of 120. 



<T ORIONIS 



The object marked in the Map is one of the most 

 wonderful in the whole heavens, consisting, as it does, of a 

 mass of nebulous matter (now known to l>e intensely 

 heated gas !)* surrounding, and seemingly physically con- 

 nected with, a curious group of stors. 



B vAUO 42MINEBUL/V 

 ORIONIS 



Xo woodcut can possilily do justice to this most marvel- 

 lous object ; but in oui* sketch, copied above, we have 

 endeavoured to give some faint idea of its aspect as Wewed 



• Gas ; but is it intcnselv hot ? — Ed. 



