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NATURE STUDY. 
How to Find the Constellations. Y. 
BY GEORGE I. HOPKINS. 
If the observer has made good use of his opportunities dur¬ 
ing the last months, he has been able to recognize the constel¬ 
lations previously pointed out, at different hours of the night, 
and note their change of time in crossing the meridian, as well 
in the rising and setting. Little progress has been made in the 
recognition and locating of different constellations unless he 
can do this. 
We will still begin our observations at eight o’clock for the 
sole purpose of enabling the observer to get the groups well as 
fixed in mind, with the expectation that he will subsequently 
study their relations at different hours. 
Let the observer squarely face the south and lift his eyes to a 
point a trifle over half way from horizon to the zenith, and he 
will see a group of four stars, all of the fourth magnitude 
only three or four degrees apart in the shape of an equilateral 
triangle with one star in the center. Many persons can recog¬ 
nize it more easily if told that these four stars form the letter Y. 
This is the distinguishing group of the zodiacal constellation 
Aquarius and is its most southern part, the greater portion of it 
extending several degrees to the southward. It contains in all 
108 stars, only four of which are as large as the third magni¬ 
tude. Aquarius means water bearer and, on pictorial maps, the 
four stars above-mentioned represent an urn slightly tipped 
from which the water is flowing. Some mythologists regard 
this constellation as representing the famous Ganymede, a beau¬ 
tiful youth of Phrygia, who was taken up to Heaven by Jupiter, 
as he was tending his father’s flocks on Mount Ida, and became 
the cup-bearer of the gods in place of Hebe. The ancient 
Egyptians supposed the setting of Aquarius caused the Nile to 
rise by the sinking of his urn in the water ; while in the He¬ 
brew zodiac it represents the tribe of Reuben. 
Let the observer now fix his attention on the Square of 
