Makiu 1, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



!) 



noctioii with the actual arrangement of the stars, but 

 deriving their names Jroru the constellations which niosl 

 nearly corresponded to them. These were the Signs of 

 the Zodiac as distiugnishod from the Constellations of 

 the Zodiac, and the distinction between the two is ono 

 that it is important to bear in mind.- The months of 

 the year never did, and never could have corresponded 

 with the actiuil coustellations ; the Signs, being purely 

 arbitrary divisions, could always be made to correspond 

 with the months. Since, then, the constellation 

 figures arc clearly older than the equal signs, it is 

 manifest that none of the many sihcmes which have 

 been framed to account for the Signs of the Zodiac by 

 the climatic changes of the successive months in this or 

 that country can have any basis in fact. The con- 

 stellation figures were in existence long before tl\e cor- 

 relation of signs and months w-as effected. 



The Accadian calendar connects the sixth sign of the 

 Zodiac with Ishtar, the " daughter of heaven,' the moon 

 in one aspect, and tlie planet Venus in her two-fold 





^p 



DRW^O 



. • • • 



tAlMOR 





cS^' 



5-* 



.^■-^ 



•-.. » \ 



* '■i.-ir. 



; • . CORONA oRs^^^f . : : ■ '^^ -J 



Tlic Midnight Sky for London, I'JOl, Marcli 7. 



character oi* morning and evening star in another. Early 

 Christian thought recognized a reference to the premiss 

 of " the Seed of the Woman " of Genesis iii. 15, in " the 

 ear of the corn " the Virgin carries in her hand, and the 

 expression in Shakespeare's play of Titus Audronicus, 

 '■ the good boy in Virgo's lap," refers to the mediaeval 

 representation of the sign as the Madonna and Child. 



The region of the sky enclosed between the two arms 

 of the Y, and Denebola of Leo, lies near the pole of 

 the Galaxy, and is the wonderful Nebulous Region. Here 

 these strange bodies are to be found by the hundred, 

 clustering more thickly than in any other portion of the 

 sky. 



Close below Vii-go arc two small but fairly bright con- 

 stellations, the Cup and the Crow ; the Cup lying under- 

 neath the Virgins shoulder, the Crow beneath her hand. 

 The latter constellation is very easily found ; Delta 

 Corvi foi-ms with Alpha and Gamma Virginis almost an 

 equilateral triangle, and the line from Alpha Virginis 

 to Delta Coi-vi leads to Gamma Corvi. When on the 

 meridian two other stars of about equal brightness, 



Epsilon and Beta, lie below Gaiiuiia and Delta and make 

 up with them a neat liltle trapevnuni. Beta Virginis 

 and Delta Corvi make a rotigh equatorial triangle witli 

 Delta Crateris, the brightest star in the centre of the 

 Cup, a somewhat fainter group than that of the Crow. 

 Four stars in a semi-circle, of which Delta is the middle 

 one, mark the bowl of the Cup. These two little groups 

 are commonly represented as actually intermingled With 

 a huge, winding snake, the longest constellation in tho 

 sky. Hydra, which stretches across some 9.')° of longitude. 

 Its head begins close to Procyon, under Cancer, and it 

 stretches below the zodiacal constellations of Cancer, Leo 

 and Virgo and the greater pari, of Libra. It has few 

 bright stars, and these not grouped in easily remembered 

 figures ; and the great reaches of barren sky it includes 

 seem referred to in the name, given to its brightest star, 

 Alphard, The " Solitary." Alphard may be readily 

 found by prolonging a straight line from Gamma Lconis 

 through Regulus, and dropping a perpendicular on it 

 from Procyon. The myths connecLed with the three con- 

 stellations have no very great interest. Brown finds 

 Hydra, a " storm-and-oceaii-monster." " The quick flow- 

 ing rivers seem to have been compared by the Akkadii 

 with the swift gliding of a huge glistening serpent, and 

 so we arrive at the idea of the Kiver of the Snake, which 

 develops into an Okeanos' stream, like the Norse great 

 serpent," the Midgard Snake, The Cup becomes thus 

 a " symbol of the vault of heaven wherein at times 

 storm, wind, clouds, rain are chaotically mixed " ; and 

 the Crow, or rather Raven, is the constellation of the 

 Storm-Bird, Carl G, Schwartz, who, at the beginning 

 of this century interpreted the constellations as being a 

 sort of symbolical geography of the countries on the 

 west shore of the Caspian, thought these three constel- 

 lations represented the petroleum wells of Baku, The 

 great extent of the Hydra, with its folds and knots, 

 show, beyond mistake, in his opinion, the slow oily flow 

 of crude "ptiti-oleum; the Cup is placed there to indicate 

 the liquid which would have to be held in a cup or some 

 such reservoir, whilst the Crow indicates its inky black- 

 ness ! 



Of I hcse three constellations. Crater is perhaps the best 

 for opera-glass examination, yielding some pretty fields, 

 Zeta Corvi, the faint star nearly midway between Epsilon 

 and Beta, shows with the opera-glass as an interesting 

 little double, whilst a much closer pair will be found 

 near Beta and slightly preceding it. 



EKKATPM,-In column 2, page 3-1, of the Fehrmu'v numboi- of 

 Knowledgb, the eighth line from the bottom is to be omitted. 



TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES OF THE TWENTIETH 

 CENTURY. 



By A, C, D. Crommelin, 



Stanbing as we do on the threshold of a nev/ century, 

 it seems a fitting occasion to examine what opportuni- 

 ties it will afford of witnessing that grandest of celestial 

 phenomena — a total solar eclipse — and of unravelling the 

 mysteries which still hang thickly about the sun and 

 his surroundings. It is clear that eclipses visible iri Europe 

 are especially interesting to us, for they are accessible to a 

 much greater number, and afford opportunity for more 

 complete series of observations, I have prepared a 

 diagram showing the tracks of all the total eclipses that 

 cross Europe or the regions adjoining it during the 

 coming ceatuiy. These tracks do not claim absolute 

 accuracy, but they arc vei7 near the truth. I have in 



