142 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
cept the pole star. Further examinations will prove 
that the pole star is the only one that remains sta¬ 
tionary, and that all those near it seem to revolve 
about it. 
If the observer is in latitude 40° and his horizon is 
unobstructed, he will be able to see all the stars whose 
north declination is over 40° make a complete circle 
in the northern sky. He will also notice that the rest 
of the stars rise in the east and appear to pass across 
the heavens to the west, and that each star rises four 
minutes earlier every night. 
Besides the stars about the north pole, which you 
can see every clear night the year round, and those 
that rise and set to our vision, there is another field 
of stars about the south pole which you can never 
see from your position. We can never see more than 
half the sky at a time, no matter where we stand on 
the earth. The farther north we go the greater the 
number of stars that never set. At the north pole 
we may see all the stars visible in the north half of 
the heavens, and none of them would set for us. If 
we take our position at the equator, we may see all 
the stars in the firmament in succession, and all of 
them would rise and set to our vision. 
JSTow let us examine the stars that seem grouped 
into constellations. If we look at them we discover 
many outline figures. There are three bright stars 
arranged in a triangle; here is another triangle, and 
there is a square, and overhead is a trapezium. Then 
we notice some arranged so as to suggest a sickle or 
a crown or a coffin, and so on. Thus we might group 
