Smyrna times., 1872-09-04
MiSceI/U ~ e o us.
The Dog-days and the Dog-star.

According to the almanac makers, we are
passing through the dog-days The star
whose burning breath, as Homer sung,
''taints the red air with fevers plaques, and
DEATH" is now in the ascendant, and should
be, according to ancient faith, exerting its dire
full influence upon the creatures of this earth.
Now should we give thoughtful heed to the
kindly warnings of municipal authorities about
muzzling and leading our canine dependents |
and it may be that an occasional cry of " Mad
dog will just now strengthen the popular
belief that the g-days are so called because
| dogs go mad during their course, and that hy-
drophobia is an evil effect for which the bright
star in the constellation CAMS Minor is some
how responsible.
With thankful respect for the efforts Of those
gentlemen who compile our alE:anacs, we can
not help reminding them that the regular and
exact entry of dog-days in the calender is very
discreditable, and the belief that certain dates
are favorable or conducive to the disturbance OF
canine sanity is by no means honorable to an
age whose people are bristling with educational
| schemes
i To discover the historical dawn of the dog
days we must look back through some three
thousand years, and focus our attention upon
!, Egypt and the river Nile. The early people of
that country were naturally struck with the
rise and overflow of the famous rivera phe-
nomeuon which, though its after effects became
obviously beneficial, was primarily source of
discomfort and distress, by its inundatlon OF
T the low-ying grounds For time the occur
/ renee would be regarded as casual or fortuitous;
i but at length it was recognized as regular
e event, and its cause was subject OF great per
3 pexity The winds and the heavens were
a studied with view to discovering some coin
y cident and apparently correlated phenomenon
.c in them. At length it was remarked that few
81 days before the river began to swell bright
a. star regularly rose above the morning horizon
IS just in advance Of the sun.
d Every year the star appeared at the same
season in the same spot; and its approach t
a. the sun was as regularly followed by the rising
70 of the waters 1t was anxiously looked for as
it22 sign of coming peril by those who dwelt in th
n regions endangered by the rivers overflow
in and these people accordingly forsook thei
m m habitations upon its appearance, and migrated
nd to higher lands And because the star was a
match dog, warning of the approach of THE
or an enemy, they gave it the name Hddut o
rm Tdyom which in their language signifed
sty sS dog. AS, moreover there was manifestly ar
., parent relation between the morning star an
iat the swelling river the former received secOn
nc nc title, to wit, shor, which we know from Joshu
ing and jeremiah was one of the several names 9
aid the Nile; and from this word our name for til
the star, Sirius has been obtained.
Here then, is raison d etre Of the dog-sts
~r as a name. To the Egyptians the star was on
sh of the most important, if not the most impor
mt ant, of the lesser luminaries Of the sky.
ng marked critical time-it defined their agricu
Ie. tural year, the first month Of which was callt
on after its name. Its color, which would natl
rot rally be Influenced by by'atmospheric condition
no was closely watched; and from its bright
ere heavy lustre, indicating in reality the cearne
ere or murkiness of the morning airs the fruitir
led ness or barrenness of the year was f0rccas
er, Divine honors were accorded to it, since it "
} it supposed, in the absence of cognizable caus
to to produce the fertizing inundation that
of heliacal rising announced. But it was al
ted seemingly apparent to the untaught observe
u- that the cOntiguity Of the sun and star was {
led cause of the excessive heat that regularly pl
lid, vailed at the season, for the conjunction to
ing place in the height Of summer; and the coin
)ili- dence thus observed between that cOnjuncti
to and the prevalence of sickness and the brea
Lble ug-out of fevers gave rise to the belief in I'll
of malarious influence which all antiquity assign
ked to the star, and of which we have a survival
lver our observance of the so-caed dog days. i
per- star had it's peculiar god, named Tpphon; al
lish to appease his rage, that the people might
lnd, be scourged with disease, a cruel sacrifice v
was made Of red haired persons-generally fore
her. ers-who may have been sojourning in Egy
lity, Greece took up the superstition, and her pO
II of perpetuated it, Rome imhibed il, and yee
sacrificed brown dog to the star, to assu
its dreiul influence The evil agency was 8
tern posed to endure through twenty days bef
re. and twenty days after the heliacal rising Of