where the analogy is still further emphasised, Winter 

 for there Aldebaran is called ' the Hound Stars - 

 of the Pleiades,' which is exactly what the 

 Arabian astronomers implied in ' the Follower.' 

 Another interesting resemblance is between 

 * the red hound ' of the Gaelic poet and legend 

 and the Rohini of the Hindus, that word 

 signifying 'a red deer' ... in each case the 

 ruddy gleam of the star having suggested the 

 name. Probably it was this characteristic 

 which led Ptolemy to apply to the star the 

 name 'Lampadias' or the Torch-Bearer. In 

 the narration of folk-tales I have more than 

 once or twice heard Aldebaran alluded to as 

 the star of good fortune, of 'the golden luck.' 

 With us it is pre-eminently a winter-star, and 

 may be seen at its finest from the latter part 

 of January till the approach of the vernal 

 equinox. Some idea of its luminosity may be 

 gained from the fact that this is thrice the 

 outglow of the Pole Star. How often I have 

 stood on a winter's night, and watched awhile 

 this small red ' torch ' burning steadfastly in 

 the unchanging heavens, and thought of its 

 vast journeys, of that eternal, appalling pro- 

 cession through the infinite deeps : how often 

 I have felt the thrill of inexplicable mystery 

 when, watching its silent fire in what appears 

 an inexorable fixity, I recall what science tells 

 305 x 



