62 History of Nature. [BooK II. 



sures. And this Computation hath very great Importance, 

 for he that will reckon the Distances between the Circle of 

 Saturn and the Zodiac, by this Calculation shall multiply an 

 infinite Number of Stadia. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 Of Sadden Stars. 



THERE remain yet a few Points concerning the World : 

 for in the very Heaven there be Stars that suddenly appear, 

 whereof there are many Kinds 1 . 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Of Comets and Celestial Prodigies , their Nature, Situation, 

 and Kinds. 



THESE Stars which the Greeks call Cometas, our Romans 

 term Crinitas (hairy) : dreadful, with bloody Hair, and 

 shagged like the Bush of Hair upon the Top of the Head. The 

 same Greeks call those Stars Pogonias*, which from the lower 

 Part have a Mane hanging down like a long Beard. Those 



1 This important fact in astronomy, that stars have suddenly appeared, 

 remained for a time visible in a fixed position, and then have either be- 

 come of less apparent brightness or disappeared altogether, is established 

 by the observations of modern as well as ancient astronomers ; and to 

 ascertain beyond doubt whether such a phenomenon might be repeated, 

 was the first motive for which a map of the heavens and a catalogue of 

 the known stars were constructed. Hipparchus (chap, xxvi.) is the first 

 that is known to have observed this phenomenon ; a detection of the 

 occurrence is no slight proof of the minuteness of inquiry of the ancient 

 astronomers. But it is to be remarked, that Pliny classes meteors and 

 shooting stars, not only with comets, but also among the more permanent 

 or fixed stars. Wern. Club. 



2 The various names and comparisons here applied to what, for the 

 most part, are mere meteoric appearances have probably a reference to 

 the classification by which the augurs divided them, for the purposes of 

 divination ; for certainly a strong imagination is required to discern any 

 likeness between these aerial appearances and those material objects from 

 which they derive their names. Wern. Club. 



