Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-02-25
SAVANNAH, TENNEssEE THURSDAY FEBRUA AIRY 25 1886

neighborhood OF the Great Nebula is strewn
thick with the most beautiful and interest
ing double, triple, multiple and nebulous
stars. 1t is mine OF wonders that he will
never tire of working.
The third magnitude star in the Giants
right leg, below the sword, is called Saiph.
Ii the observer will follow out with his
eye toward the southeast the line indicated
by the three stars in Orions belt he will see
the brightest star in the heavens, Sirius, or
the Dog Star, belonging to the constella-
ton OF the Great Dog; which is represented
in our second picture, Astronomers have
found evidence that Sirius has been a
storied star in every land. The ancients
ascribed the great heats of midsummer to
the influence of the Dog STAR which at that
season rose at the same time as the sun.
So Virgil wrote:
"-Paiched was the grass, and biighted was
the corn, g
Nor scape the beasts; for Sirius from on high
With pestilential heat ipfects the sky" 10
And Aratus, describing the Great Dog,
says: .......
I'm his fell jaw
Flames star above all others with soaring
beams ,.....
Flercely burning. called by mortals
Sirius. Him rising with the eastern sun is
No plants deceive with false luxuriance
With sure discrimination fierce he rushes
through their ranks. ..stLI
And, strengthening these, blasts those with
;ill their foliage. .g tt .
For the Egyptians the rising OF Sirius
foretold the rising OF the Nile, and the ours
of Rome had reason to dread their blazing
namesake in the sky, for the Romans year
ly sacrificed dog to propitiate the great
star. There is some reason to think that O.
remarkable change OF color has taken place
in Sirius, for whereas it is now as white as
the purest diamond, it is said to have been
red in ancient times. Sirius is also n double
star, but it takes very powerful telescope
to show the faint companion of the Dog
Star This companion is one OF the most
mysterious objects in the heavens, because,
although it possesses a mass equal to one
third that of Sirius, yet it's light is so dim
that it makes only minute speck beside
the great star. 1t has been suggested that
this may be a tremendous plan
ct revolving around Sirius, and
family rejecting his light to us. tits more
likely, however to be body which has not
yet passed completely beyond the solar
stage of it's existence-a dying sun, which
ages hence will become the Jupiter OF the
Sirian system. 1t takes this mysterious
star about forty-nine years to complete a
revolution around Sirius. The second mag
nitude star in the fore-foot OF the Dog is
| called Miriam. The star situated in the
Dogs right ear is named Muliphen, and has
undergone singular changes. In the seven.
teenth century it is said to have disap.
peared for twenty years. In the Dogs
| back is a star little below the second
magnitude called Wesen, and in the hip is
another, of nearly equal brightness, called
| Adara. The two hinder feet are marked by
the stars Naos and lambda. But in this
case Sirius is the constellation. The Dog
Star SO completely outshines all it's neigh
bors that they possess little interest in
comparison with it.-N Y. Sun. '..-