, 1888-04-18
THE MILKY A
ITS ORIGIN AS ACCOUNTED FOR
IN VARIOUS LEGENDS.


Bushmen's BeIIor-MeteoroIoEicaI Phe-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
The brilliant appearance and prominent
color of the Milky Way have not failed TO
give rise to many curious names and to
many legends rs to its origin.
According to the Greek fable, it was
produced by the milk of Hera Juno.
Children born Of Jupiter's Illicit amours
could only inherit divine honors if sucked
by this lawful spouse of the great Olym-
plan god. Hercules was thus introduced
to the goddess, who became so angered
whens she discovered the substitute infant
that she threw him from her breast, and
the milk flew across the sky, forming the
galaxy. Ilyginus says the Latin legend
substituted Ops, spouse of Saturn, for
Juno, and the occasion was the p~resentu-
ton of n stone to her for the true child.
A Sicilian legend says the milk was from
the Madonna's breast, lost while she
searched for Jesus.
A curious class of legends accounts for
the creation of the bright band of stars
across the heavens. One of these, from
Wallachia, relates that Venus purloined a
sheaf Of straw one night from st. Peters
mills, and in her hasty flight toward her
celestial abode scattered it across the sky,
where we see 1t now on cloudless nights.
~ billlllJlhn IIhillllOh hStIlDtS lnt lOSS u
the straw to st. Peter himself, and calls
the galaxy "the Straw of st. Peter" Ac-
cording to a Crotian legend, it was caused
by n man who, having stolen a sheaf of
straw from his foster father, was hasten
ing away with his burden, when the bun
die broke and the straw scattered about
To recall for ever the theft, God placed
the straw in the heavens, where it still
glitters. The name given to the galaxy in
GArutu a-l I-- t. z-1-
Straw" Similar traditions must have
given rise to names bestowed upon it in
other countries. 1t is known as the
"Strawy" in Boznia; ms the "Straw
Road" in Sandman, in Magyar, in Modern
Hebrew, Coptic and Ethiopian; as the
''Road of the Straw in Arab, Rabyle n
Syriac, and MS the Scattering of the
Straw in the Magyar dinlect. An Ar
menian a%ppellation is "Stealer of Straw"
and Persian titles are "Path of the Car
riers of the Cut Straw and "Way of Car
rying Chaff."
The peculiar wilderness of the Milky
Way is also evidently referred to in it its
Pennsylvania name of th~e"Floury Way"
and its Westphalian titles, the "Road to
Milr' and the SANDY Path" There are
other legends to account for its appear
auce. a Saxon tradition relates that the
world took fire some ages ago and burned
until it was onsumed God gathered to-
gether the cinders and united them in q
furrow. They wen out little by little,
leaving a whitish brilliancy, in the midst
of which still burn some live Goals. Abou
the entire heavens are dispersed other
burning embers. Sometimes a spark
shoots from a hidden bunch of them, be-
coming a shooting star.
Bushmen say the galaxy is formed of
ashes cast there long ago by a young
woman, so that her parents might be able
to find their way home. Another legend
assigns a different origin to it. A young
woman, angry with her stingy mother be-
cause she would give her but n small
quantity of a certain red nut to eat, cast
quantities of it from her into the sky,
where 1t became the stars and the Milky
Way.
Like the rainbow and other prominent
celestial appearances the Milky Way is
connected in popular tradition with
meteorological phenomena. In West
phalia it is called the Weather Stripe"
"Weather Street" and weather Tree"
and is also given the name of "NYind
Tree" A Welsh name for it was 'Road
of the Wind" and in Picardy it is called
Foot Of the Wind" Tahitians call ths
bright band Flying Cloud and "Solid
Cloud" 1t is Band Of the Aurora" in
Magyar lands, and the Evening RRy'' in
Westphalia. In the latter country the
galaxy is said to be in the middle of the
world and the sun stops there regularly
at meridian. 1t is also believed to turn
with the sun, and hence first appears
from the quarter in which the sun has
set. Similar notions of the cosmograph-
ical importance of the Milky Way prob
ably gave 1t its Arab name Mother of
Heaven" An old Arab poet alludes to
It as the "Mother of the Confused Stars"
Appearing only by night, prognostica-
tons drawn from the luminous way are
not so numerous as in the case of the
rainbow. Esthonians judge by the more
or less brilliant appearance of the amount
of snow that will fall during the coming
winter. If by the end of September the
northern end of the galaxy is very brill
liant, snow will not fall until Christmas is
past; but If the south end is more brill
liant in appearance, snow will fall long be-
fore Christmas. If the whole band is
very bright, snow will fall before and
after Christmas. Icelanders also prog
nosticate the winter weather from the ap-
pearance of the Milky Way in autumn.
In our own country, many people believe
that the edge of the Milky Way which
is the brightest indicates the direction
from which the approaching storm will
Gomez. S. Bassett in Globe-Democrat.