274 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[December, 1901. 



in wliicli the sua was placed at the spring equinox at 

 the time when the constellations were mapped out, and 

 that as the first of tlio zodiacal twelve, it was natural 

 to symbolize it as the bell-wether of the stawy flocks. 

 Unfortunately for this theory we know that the con- 

 stellations were mapped out at a far earlier epoch when 

 the equinox fell in the middle of the constellation 

 Taunis.* At that date the constellation of the Ram 

 came last of the zodiacal twelve, and to represent it as 

 the stellar bell-wether would have been absolutely the 

 most unnatural thought possible. 



Yet from an early age it has had that position. It 

 is the leading sign in the systems of astrology which 

 have come down to us through the Greeks, and it figures 

 as the leading sign in most of the explanations of the 



Brown indeed asserts that the stellar Ram was in the 

 first place only the star Hamal, the constellation being 

 formed round it aftenvards. In Chaucer the star is 

 referred to as Alnath, that is to say, " the horn-push," 

 a name more commonly associated nowadays with the 

 star on the tip of the northern horn of the Bull, Beta 

 Tauri, to which it is even more appropriate. 



"And by his eight* spere.s in his working. 

 He knew full well how far Alnath was shove 

 Fro the head of thilke fix Aries above, 

 That in the ninthe spere considered is." 



Since the actual stars were accounted to be placed in 

 the eighth sphere whilst the twelve equal signs of the 

 zodiac, each of thirty degrees of longitude, were placed 

 in the ninth, Chaucer is here stating that his astrologer 



I XXIV 



VII VI V IV 



Star Map No. 11 ^ The Region of the Ram and the Bull. 



ccnstcllation figures which have come down to us from 

 antiquity. 



There is a great significance in this fact. It proves 

 at once that these astrological systems and these theories 

 of the constellation figures, not only took their rise at 

 a later epoch, but that when they txK>k their rise the 

 real origin and meaning of the designs had been wholly 

 lost. 



The only st.tis in tlic constellation that are usually 

 known by their Arabic names, are the three in the 

 head. Alpha is known as Hamal, the " Ram," the 

 brightest star being put for the entire constellation. 



* Throunh an obTious slip, Mr. R.. Brown, on page 54. of 

 Vol. I. of " Primitive Constellations," is made to say that the stellar 

 Ram "onwards from B.C. 2540 opened the year," instead of "from 

 2540 ifears ago" the time when the equinox really fell amongst the 

 three stars of the Ram's head. 



knew the distance from the first point of Aries, that is 

 to say from celestial longitude 0°, to the first star in 

 the actual constellation Aries. In other words, he knew 

 the amount of precession. 



Beta and Gamma bear the names Sheratan and 

 Mesartin, the fonner word meaning " the two' signs," 

 the latter " the two attendants," the two names taken 

 together therefore meaning " the two attendant signs," 

 these two stars being considered as attendants on Hamal. 



A fai' brighter as well as larger constellation is that 

 of the Bull, the original leader of the zodiacal twelve. 

 There is no difficulty at all in finding its principal stars. 

 The Pleiades, to the naked eye by far the most striking 

 star cluster in the heavens, mark the shoulder of the 

 Bull ; the Hyades, a looser, but yet brighter group, mark 

 its head. The latter group forms an exceedingly well- 

 marked capital V. Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri, a bright 



