34 



KNOWLEDGE 



[February 1, 1901. 



interesting and beautiful double star. It bears tie 

 Arabic name Algieba, meaning " Forehead," though it 

 is actually situated on the Lion's breast.. It forms a 

 fine contrast in colour to Regulus, being distinctly deep 

 yellow, whilst the latter is white. Gamma, Zeta and 

 Epsilon ai-e all interesting as opera-glass objects from 

 the companions which a slight optical assistance brings 

 into view. 



Leaving the Sickle, we come to the Rectangle, the 

 four stars marking which are of veiy different magni- 

 tudes. Delta and Tlieta mark the western side; 93 

 and Beta the eastern ; of these Beta is much the 

 brightest, Delta following next. Beta is Denebola, — 

 one of the many Denebs, that is " Tail," which we find 

 iji the sky, — ^and from its companion stars, forms an 

 interesting opera-glass field. Cancer is the smallest 

 and least conspicuous of all the constellations of the 



ancient names, but there are. some slight variations in 

 the figure ascribed to the entire constellation, the Egyp- 

 tians tracing here a scarabaeus, and some of the 

 medieval astronomers representing it by a lobster o,.' 

 crayfish. 



Passing on further to the west, a pair of bright stai's 

 are seen as far below the forefoot of the Great Bear 

 as Alplia is above it. These are Castor and Pollux, the 

 two chief .stars of the constellation Gemini, the " Twins." 

 This constellation is, according to Brown, a stellar repre- 

 sentation of the great Twin Brethren of the sky, the 

 sun and the moon, who join in building a mysterious 

 city ajid who are hostile to each other although they 

 work together. In classical legend they are the children 

 of Zeus and Leda, the Dioskouroi, and by no means have 

 the fraticidal relation which this interpretation 

 would suggest. The idea of strife between sun and moon 



XIV 



XII XI 



•c •. 



XI X IX 



.St.iv Map Xo. 2 ; The Region of Leo. 



Zodiac. Its most significant feature is found in the 

 centre of the group ; a pair of stars between the fourth 

 ajid fifth magnitude. Gamma and Delta, north and 

 south respectively of a misty looking object. These are 

 the twin " Asses," standing right and left of their 

 " Manger," Praesepe. 



" Like a little mist. 



Far novth in CaiieiT'.^ leri-itory it floats. 



Its confines are two faintlv glininicring stars ; 



These !ire two Asses that a Manu'er piirts." 



Many a young beginner has fancied that in Praesepe 

 he has discovered a new naked eye comet, but the 

 least optical aid shows it to be a cluster of small stai-s, 

 and directly Galileo turned his telescope upon it, he 

 detected its nature, counting some thirty stars within 

 its borders. The Asses and the Manger appear to be 



is natural enough, and iin doubt many stories like that 

 of Romulus and Remus took their form from such a 

 nature myth. But the idea of strife is not the leading 

 one in most of the legends relating to the stars Castor 

 and Pollux, who are indeed shown as man and woman 

 on many zodiacs, and I think that this fact renders 

 it questionable if it is safe to press far the 

 considerable doubt on the root idea of Mr. Brown's 

 theory that the ancients, so to speak, solarized the stars, 

 designing the constellations to perpetuate the stories in 

 which they had dramatized their conceptions of solar 

 and lunar relations. 



The limits of the constellation are easy to trace out. 

 Four fairly bright stars, nearly in a straight line, mark 

 the feet of the Twins, whilst Castor and Pollux mark 



