OF THE COSMOS. NEW STARS. 139 



de FAstr. mod. T. i. p. 186). As, however, according 

 to Ptolemy's express statement (Almag. vii. 2, p. 13, 

 Halina), Hipparchus's star-list is connected with the 

 year 128 B.C. ; and Hipparchus, as I have already said 

 elsewhere, observed in Ehodes, and perhaps also at 

 Alexandria, between 162 and 127 B.C., there is at least 

 nothing to contradict the conjecture : it is very con- 

 ceivable that the great astronomer of Nicea might have 

 observed much before the time when he may have been 

 led to propose to himself the preparation of an actual 

 catalogue. Pliny's expression " suo sevo genita," refers 

 to his whole life. When Tycho Brahe's star appeared, in 

 1572, the question was much debated whether it should 

 be regarded as belonging to the class of new stars or to 

 that of comets without tails. Tycho Brahe himself was 

 of the first opinion (Progymn. p. 319 325). The 

 words " ej usque motu ad dubitationem adductus" might, 

 indeed, lead us to think of a faint or tail-less comet, but 

 the rhetorical style of Pliny permits every degree of 

 indefiniteness in expression. 



b. Appeared between a Herculis and a Ophiuchi, in 

 December, A.D. 123, according to the Chinese notice, 

 extracted by Edouard Biot from Ma-tuan-lin. (A new 

 star is also said to have appeared under Hadrian, in 

 130. A.D.) 



c. A singular very large star. The notices of this and 

 of the three following stars are also taken from Ma-tuan- 

 lin. It appeared on the 10th of December, A.D. 173, 

 between a and j8 Centauri, and disappeared at the end of 

 eight months, having shown the five different colours one 

 after another; Edouard Biot says, in his translation, 



