October, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



229 



gi-eat as this. Such a vai-iation still bafiks our every 

 attempt to account for it satisfactorily ; the explanation 

 which obtains most currency, namely, that Mira is a 

 dying sun. the siuface of which from time to time is 

 nearly hidden by enormous sunspots, is but a crude 

 guess which leaves us still with many difficulties. It 

 is certain that a variation in the case of oiu- sun of 

 but a tithe the amount of Miras would leave this earth 

 as bare of life as a meteorite, ere it had passed through 

 a single coui-se of its clianges. Yet Mira is hut the 

 chief and representative of a large class of variable stars. 



from the attack of tho monster Typhon ; clearly only 

 an imperfect Greek rendering of an Euphratoan U;ir 

 dition. The doubling of tho fishes is supposed by Sayce, 

 but manifestly without duo cause, to be duo to tho 

 double month Adar, that is to say, Adar with tho inter- 

 calary month Ve-adar. Tho constellations must have 

 boon, and were, iiia|i])od out long beforo the division 

 of the zodiac into tlic twelve equal signs of 30° each, 

 associated with the months. 



Although Pisces is a ])ai-ticularly dull constellation to 

 the naked eye, its two brightest stars, Eta and Gamma, 



"■*%88',/;" TAURUS ^** 



p ^: \ AQUARIUS 



• '. LEPUS 1^ ■ .■; ' v.-^r / 



• '- *i •a-; ' '?_ .'■ •m 



V '-, , -.._v •"' ■'' V *l ^ ■^ 



'■<■■"'- ( ■^.•u/ ,uj ( FOPWAy • SCULPTOR -' % '^ v 



.,, v '.coiunBA / -■■••'' *l^ y FORNAX^...-.., _: f v..^ ..-•^-•^ 



CANis .V ''. •". ', •. ■-•■>. ., 'e ' < v.V,. / / •- 



., ^'~' "^' '-^PICTOR *'^ ~- '^' •'' ^ *' \ PHOENIX ^. > &RUS -- .. 



PUPPIS y./ I •->^-, .x/ •^.^V;^ / / •/a ( 



VII VI V IV IH II I XXIV XXill XXII 



Star Map Xo. 9; The Region of the Sea-Mon^tci- and tin- Flood. 



The idea of Cetus as the persecutor of Andromeda is 

 carried out on our modern star atlases by the inter- 

 vention of the zodiacal constellation of the Fishes, and 

 indeed the arrangement is warranted by the description 

 which Aratus has given us in his poem — 



"Where the equator cut.s the zodiac line 

 On the blue vault, the glittering Fishes shine. 

 Though far apart, a diamond studded cliain, 

 CHa.sping their silver tails, unites the twain. 

 The northern one more bright is seen U) glide 

 Beneath the uplifted arm and n<ar the side 

 Of fair Andromeda." 



The knot of the riband actually rests on the neck of 

 the Sea^Monster, and as the riband stretches northwai-d 

 to the Northern Fish, the latter is often represented as 

 playing the part of Cetus, and actually fastening on 

 the side of his devoted victim, who might otherwise 

 have smiled securely at the distant hate of the Sea- 

 Monster. There does not appear, however, to be any 

 sufficient 4,raditional authority for this relationship. The 

 classical legends identify the twin fishes with Aphrodite 

 and Eros, who plunged into the Euphrates to escape 



barely surpassing tho fourth magnitude, it is an easy 

 const-ellation to traco out, as it consists chiefly of a 

 number of stai-s between the fourth and fifth magnitudes, 

 arranged in two obvious streams. Alpha, tho most 

 easterly star of the constellation, is not far from Mira 

 Ceti, and marks the knot where the two cords attached 

 to the tails of the two fishes are tied. This is implied 

 by its name Okda, from Okda al Kaitain, the " knot of 

 the two threads." 



" The silken bands that join the Fishes' tails 

 Mex't in a star upon the Monster's scales. 

 Bi-nealh Orion's foot Fridanus begins 

 His winding course, and reaches fJelu.s' fins." 



The constellation of the Stream is a large but not 

 specially well marked one. Aratus and Eratosthenes 

 give it the name " Eridaiuis," and it seems extremely 

 probable that the Akkadians identified it with the 

 Euphrates as the Egyptians with the Nile. Brown con- 

 sider that the name " Eridauus " may be a Turanian 

 river name, meaning " strong river." The meaning of 

 the placing of the river in this part of the heavens is 



