i6 
NATURE STUDY. 
sents the Virgin Astrsea, the Goddess of Justice, who lived 
upon the earth during the golden age ; but being offended 
at the wickedness and impiety of mankind during the braz¬ 
en and iron ages of the world, she returned to heaven, and 
was placed among the constellations of the zodiac, with a 
pair of scales in one hand and a sword in the other. 
Immediately below Virgo and occupying a space about 
fifteen degrees in width is the tail of Hydra which runs a- 
long westward nearly parallel with the horizon for a dis¬ 
tance of more than ninety degrees, with its head just below 
Cancer, away in the west. The rest of the space between 
Hydra and the horizon is occupied by a portion of the con¬ 
stellation Centaurus, very little of which can ordinarily be 
seen in this latitude. It is of interest mainly because its 
brightest star, Alpha, is the nearest of the fixed stars to the 
earth, the light occupying about four years to come from 
the star to the earth. 
Directing the gaze now to the east, the observer can read¬ 
ily discern the red star, Antares, recently risen, which, it 
will be remembered, is the brightest star in the constella¬ 
tion Scorpio, which was located a year ago, then in the 
southwest. Between Virgo and Scorpio is a region of faint 
stars only two of which are of the second magnitude and 
two of the third. This is the constellation Dibra, the scales 
which, as was mentioned above, the Virgin holds in her 
right hand. This also is one of the zodiacal constellations 
and contains in all, fifty-one stars. Although this is the 
last of the zodiacal group to be mentioned, it is the seventh 
in order beginning with Aries, or the eighth beginning at 
the vernal equinox. At the time when the constellations 
of the zodiac and the signs of the same name coincided, 
about 2200 years ago, the sun entered Dibra at the Autum¬ 
nal equinox, Sept. 20. Since at that time the days and 
nights are of equal length all over the world, the scales or 
balance has been used by all nations as emblematical of that 
