ON THE FIXED STARS. 395 



Lyra. The dragon consists of a chain of stars partly surrounding the 

 liitle bear ; and between Cassiopeia and the swan is the constellation 

 Cepheus. 



Near Algenib, and pointing directly towards it, are two stars of Andro- 

 -*feda, and a third is a little beyond them. A line drawn through the 

 great bear and Capella passes to the Pleiades, and then, turning at a right 

 angle towards the milky way, reaches Aldebaran, or the bull's eye, and the 

 shoulders of Orion, who is known by his belt, consisting of three stars, 

 placed in the middle of a quadrangle. Aldebaran, the Pleiades, and Algol, 

 make the upper, and Menkar, or the whale's jaw, with Aries, the lower 

 poiits of a W. In Aries we observe two principal stars, one of them with 

 a smaller attendant. 



A Utfe drawn from the pole, midway between the great bear and Capella, 

 passes to the twins and to Procyon ; and then, in order to reach Sirius, it 

 must bend across the milky way. Algol and the twins point at Regulus, 

 the lion's heart, which is situated at one end of an arch, with Denebola at 

 the other end. 



The pole star and the middle horse of the wain direct us to Spica Vir- 

 ginis, considerably distant ; the pole and the first horse nearly to Arcturus, 

 in the waggoner, or Bootes. Much further southwards, and near the milky 

 way, is Antares, in the scorpion, forming, with Arcturus and Spica, a 

 triangle, within which are the two stars of Libra. The Northern crown 

 is nearly in a line between Lyra and Arcturus, and the heads of Hercules 

 and Serpentarius are between Lyra and Scorpio. 



In the milky way, below the part nearest to Lyra, and on a line drawn 

 from Arcturus through the head of Hercules, is Aquila, making with Lyra 

 and Cygnus a conspicuous triangle. The last of the three principal stars 

 in Andromeda makes, with three of Pegasus, a square, of which one of the 

 sides points to Fomalhaut, situated at a considerable distance in the south- 

 ern fish, and in the neighbourhood of the whale, which has already been 

 mentioned. 



By means of these allineations, all the principal stars that are ever 

 visible in Britain may be easily recognized. Of those which never rise 

 above our horizon, there are several of the first magnitude ; Canopus, in 

 the ship Argo, and Achernar, in the river Eridanus, are the most brilliant 

 of them ; the feet of the centaur, and the crosier are the next ; and ac- 

 cording to Humboldt's observations, perhaps some others may require to 

 be admitted into the same class. (Plate XXXVI. XXXVII.) 



LECT. XLI. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES. 



Treatises on Astronomy. Albumasar, Introd. ad Ast. 4to, Aug. 1489. Coper- 

 nici Astr. reformata, 4to, Amst. 1617. Tychonis de Brahe, Ast. Progymnasmatum, 

 4to, Prag. 1603. De Mundi Phaenomenis, 1610. Epistolse, 1610. Lansbergius, 

 4to, Middleb. 1619. Galilaei Dialogus de Systemate Mundi, 4to, 1635. Kepleri 

 Epitome Ast. Copernicanse, Franco?. 1635. Riccioli, Almagestum Novum, 2 vols. 

 fol. Bonon. 1657. Wardi Ast. Geomet. Lond. 1656. Duhamel, Ast. Phys. 4to, 

 . Paris, 1660. Mercator, Institutionum Ast. Lib. II. Lond. 1676. Petit, Traite" de 

 PUnivers Materiel, 3 vols. 12mo, 1729-30. Simpson's Essays, 4to, 1740. Cassini, 

 Elemens d'Ast. 4 vols. 4to, Paris, 1742. Wright's Theory of the Universe, 4to, 



