250 SPECIAL RESULTS IN THE URANOLOGICAL 



nubecula major, and the second " Canopo risplendente," 

 the nubecula minor ( 442 ). It seems surprising that on 

 becoming acquainted with these new celestial objects Yes- 

 pucci should not have compared them, as at first sight all 

 other observers have done, to " clouds" : such a comparison 

 appears to present itself almost irresistibly. Petrus Martyr 

 de Anghiera, who was personally acquainted with all the 

 discoverers of that remarkable epoch, and whose letters 

 are written under the vivid impression received by him 

 from their narrations, depicts in an unmistakeable man- 

 ner the mild but unequal light of the nubeculse : he says, 

 " Assecuti sunt Portugallenses alterius poli gradum quin- 

 quagesimum amplius, ubi punctum (polum ?) circumeuntes 

 quasdam nubeculas licet intueri, velutiin lactea via sparsos 

 fulgores per universi coeli globum intra ejus spatii lati- 

 tudinern" ( 443 ). The great celebrity and long duration of 

 Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation (from August 1519 

 to September 1522), and the length of time during which the 

 numerous party belonging to it remained under the southern 

 heavens, obscured the remembrance of earlier observation, 

 and the name of " Magellanic clouds" extended itself among 

 the maritime nations bordering on the Mediterranean. 



We have taken a single example of the manner in which 

 the extension of the geographical horizon towards the South 

 opened a new field to contemplative astronomy. Navigators 

 advancing under these new heavens felt peculiar interest 

 and curiosity in four objects : the search after a southern 

 pole-star; the form of the Southern Cross, with its upright 

 position when passing the meridian of the place of obser- 

 vation ; the Coal-bags ; and the revolving luminous clouds, 

 Erom Pedro de Medina's " Arte de Navegar" (lib. v. 



