726 THE UNIVERSE. 



them, raise the spirit of man from the visible to the invis- 

 ible. The heavens relate the glory of God : Coeli enarrant 

 gloriam Dei 



The number of known stars, the orbits of which have 

 been calculated, is considerable. Astronomers compute 

 the number that can be seen by the naked eye on the horizon 

 at the same moment at 3000. The sharpest sight, favoured 

 hj an extremely clear night, can only number nearly 

 6000.1 



This starry Avealth became embarrassing, and at a very 

 early ^Deriod the necessity was felt for making distinct 

 groups, to which the name of constellations was given. 

 Nearly all these assemblages are named after li^dng beings, 

 sketched out on the celestial sphere. 



But this grouping into constellations, the origin of 

 which goes far back into antiquity, has only been carried 

 out by successive attempts. According to Clement of 

 Alexandria, it Avas Chiron, the preceptor of Jason, who, 

 1420 years before our era, first divided the starry sky into 

 distinct constellations, tracing them out on a sphere which 

 he presented to the Argonauts. Such is also Newton's 

 opinion." 



However, the first authentic proof of the division of the 

 heavens only belongs to the times of Hesiod, much nearer 

 to our epoch. In his book, the Worls and Days, written 



^ Argelander, dii^ector of the observatory of Bonn, says, va his Nouvelle 

 Uranometrie, that on the horizon of Berlin 3256 stars are seen with the naked 

 eye in the course of a year. A Munster astronomer, iSI. Heis, asserts that his 

 sight is so penetrating, that he can see 4000 more than his brother worker. 

 According to Humboldt 4146 are counted at Paris. But the difi'erence becomes 

 very gi-eat so soon as we examine the sky with even feeble instruments. Thus 

 in a corner of a constellation of the Twins, where the most practised eye can only 

 make out six stars, a good glass shows a mass of more than 3000. 



- Several of the constellations, however, are alread}' mentioned in the Bible 

 at an epoch anterior by some years to that in which the celebrated Centaur is 



