Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-04-04
THE HERALD.
Might Notes.-The Center of the
Universe.

<tStF03tOHscf ---Jt y Clt1i lIlOOuleSS ilBHt,
ike this, there is no more pleasing object
70 the common view in the whole heavens,
than the cluster Of the Pleiades. How like
diadem It glitters Though composed
entirely of minute stellar points, which the
eye, rowing over the tirmaneni, could scarce
" pick up ii they stood apart, it is yet 50
conspicuous as to arrest at once, the glance
that's turned near it. Do you see il, yon-
der, northwest of Orion?
Reporter-Yes; the Little Cup, as /
have heard people call it.
dstroponer-Itis not unlike The Arabs
PRETTY named the cluster the Little Ones !;
and in the same spirit, the German COM
mon people have called it Gluck-Henne, or
the Brood Hen; and the Italians, le CALI
nellie. So the Spaniards have written upon
the sky sentence Of their domestic life,
commemorating, doubtless, an object of
popular endearment, by calling this minia-
ture constellation the Nanny-Goats. The
on ikened it to bunch Of grapes. 1t is
now some two and half hours past merid-
ian at sunset; and soon will begin the peri
Cd celebrated by Hesiod:
There is a time when forty days The lie
Aud forty nights, concealed from human eye;
But in the course of the revolving year,
When the swain sharps The s1ytle, again appear.
This temperance corresponds now to
the Summer solstice, though, owing to the
procession Of the equinoxes, it came five
weeks earlier when tie poet wrote. The
interesting fact is thus brought out that
reaping began in Greece, in Hesiod's time,
some seven weeks after the yernaI equinay~
which w66utfld correspond 10 the 8th Of May
of the present calendar How many stars
can you count, Sir!
kepoyfey-I see only six. If I remem-
Der rightly, there were seven Pleads.
astronomer Yes, there we're seven sis
ters Atlantides,
Virgins Of Atlas born;
bat one Pleiad is reputed lost, you remem-
ber In the dust Of moving things, sup
pose you have lost sight Of much of your
school and college mythology Maia, Elee-
IRA, Taygeta, Asterope, Merope, Alcyone,
and Celeno. | feared had forgotten
them.
Reporter on call them over tripping
ly enough. suspect | could not have
brought back to recollection single name.
Astronomer Yes, they lie in my mind
now as distinctly as if | had just learned
them. / often take myself by surprise
running over the stories of that wondrous
Greek mythology, picking up the threads
one by one till all is woven again perfect
and luminous, as if in wrought yesterday
having now a far chaster and serener beau
ty than it had to my young spirit yet I'M
trained by the kindly discipline Of life.
Reporter What is the significance Of
the lost Plead Has one Of the stars of
the cluster disappeared since they were first
observed!
Astronomer-No; all the significance it
has is purely poeticaI. There are six stars
distinctly visible, but more are to be seen
by close scrutiny or any fine moonlight
night like this. You should rest your eye
in the dark a moment. = ( Now
gaze fxedly at some one spot Of the cluster
where you think no stars are visible
Reporter--I see another! < Now
it is gone.
Astronomer You will see it again in
moment come quiyering out Of the dark
ness.
Reporter there it is again. :
And there it is gone AGAIN. There is an
other close by, a little fainter than the first,
and anotherl How they sparkle. never
dreamed this little cluster was 50 beautiful
an object.
Astronomer watch them come and
goin such flashing splendor, 50 little MOTTO
cd among men, is to me the finest sight in
the common heavens; and to think that
they have been flashing almost precisely as
see them to day, for countless ages; that
they have filled the soul of the poet, and
prophet, and psalmist during untold gener
ations; and that they will hereafter for long
ages fash, and sparkle, and CLEAN as splen-
didly and as unitedly rs now, links me in
brotherhood with every race and every age.
But still profounder interest attaches to
this miniature constellation from the recent
speculations Of Nader, great Russian as
tronomer. lie pronounces 1t to be the
central group Of the entire system Of fixed
stars limited by the great stratum of the
Milky Way, aud Alcyone, the brightest Of
the cluster, to be the star which combines
the great amount Of probability Of being
the true central sun.
Reporfer--The central sun.
1stronomel'-- Yes, the center Of all this
universe Of fixed stars constituting our visi-
bic armament, in which universe our sun
and the globes that attend him are as
grain Of dust in the balance.
Reporter do not mean a center
of motion rs our sun is
Astronomer the center Of gravity
and motion; that is to say the point about
which all the revolving universe is poised
Reporier-What stupendous specula-
ton! The stars revolving in orbits How
is this possible, SIR Have YOU not told
me that their apparent places are the same
as they were thousands Of years ago
Astronomer their relative posi-
tons are almost precisely 50. But TO Tod,
a thousand years are as but one day
Speaking accurately, there is no such thing
as absolute rest in nature. Change IS the