The evening times., 1896-04-16
II Marks the Head Of A|shuI the
Grave R0bbing Fiend.
IT HAS PAINTING FITS
Old Astrologers Always Regarded 1t
as Powerfully Maleific In Its Influ-
ence on Human Affairs-C Changes In
the Light Observed by Astronomers.
An Old Fable Recalled.
From the Youths Companion.

young and populous with giants, heroes,
nympbs and monster rs, the story goes that on
| the African coast OF the Western Ocean
there lived the three Gorgons, the fiercest
| OF whom was Medusa, rho had writhiDg
| serpcnts for hair, and face so terrible that
| its mere sight turned the unlucky beholder
| instantly to stone.
To rid the earth OF this horror, Perseus
! came riding from the east on bis winged
sandals, wearing the helmet of Hades.
which rendered him invisible, and equipped
with sickle and mirror. Shrewdly avoid
ing the fatal sight OF Medusa's face, he slew
her and started on his return, carrying her
| severed head behind him on Pegasus, the
| winged steed, which, wonderful to tell,
had sprung full-f1edged from the blood
moistened earth.
AS Perseus scared homeward high above
the earth. ne looked down and saw. far
below him, chained to the rock. the lovely
Andromeda, daughter of Cepbeus. the Ethi-
opian king, and his proud queen. Cassiopeia.
For no fault OF her own, the poor girl
had been exposed as the sacrificial prey of
a huge sea monster, which at the moment
was just emerging from the waves to claim
it's victim. Like the gallant hero that he
the monster by showing him Medusa's
head, and so delivered the maiden. whom in
due time he married; and from these two
descended the founders or the Persian race.
STILL TO BE SEEN.
AfterwIrd the gods transferred them to
the heavens, and there they still remain
as any one may see by looking at Il celestial
globe: Cepheus with his queen and the bright
Andromeda, the swift-wInged Pegasus, and
Cetus, the leviatban; ana especially Per-
seus, still holding fast the awful head OF the
Gorgon, in which CLEANS Aigoi, the demon
star OF the Arabs so called by the III because
it marks the head of Ai-ghul, the "ghoul,'
the grave-robbing fiend.
BY old astroiogers Algol was always re-
garded as powerfully "malefic'' or bale
full in its influence on human affairs. for all
through the past ages OF human history the
belief i'll the influence of the stars has been
as persistent as il seems aburd.
But while Algoi is 10 be acquitted OF all
malice and misunderstanding power, II is in
some respects the most interesting of all the
stars. Ordinarily it shows nothing strange;
it is a pure white star, just about as bright
as the pole star, Or the three that mark the
self, but not quite eual TO Algenib, the prin-
cipal star of Perseus. Those VITO know
the leading considerations can easily identify
Algol by the fact that it lies nearly south
of AIgenib, and makes a right angle with
il and Gamma Andromedae. IL lies south
west of the bright star Capellaand southeast
of the wel-known Cassiopeia Chair.
But Algol is not like other stars. If
one watches it long and carefully he Will
he surprised some evening to find that it
gas lost almost three-quarters OF its light.
Once hi about sixty-nine hours-sixty eight
hours forty-eight minutes and fifty-five
seconds. TO be exact-it faints away and
comes To" again. occupying between nine
and ten hours in the whole operation.
THE PAINTING STAR.
The star fades for a little less than five
hours. remains unchanged for about twenty
minutes and then regains its former splen-
dor somewhat faster than 1t lost II. The
phenomenon recurs with per feet regu-
larity, SO that the 'fainting fits can be
predicted almost to the second, and the fol-
owing are the times, Eastern standard
of those dissertations which will occur
during the evening hours OF 1896 at times
when our readers can easily observe them,
viz:
January H.. 9:25 September 2S.. 7:35
January b.. 6:45 October 1s.. 9:15
January 31....11:O5 November 7..1O:55
February s.. 7:55 November TO-. 7:45
February 23... 9:35 November 80. 9:25
February &C.. 6:27 December g.. els |
March 14..11:20 December 20. lilo |
March IT,. $40 December 23.. 7:65 |
The changes in the light of the star seem |
10 have been first noticed more than two |
hundred years ago; but it was the de af mute, |
amateur astronomer, Goodricke OF York
in England. who first thoroughly studied |
the peculiar behavior OF the star, and in |
1888 suggested the explanation that has |
lately proved true.
The star is now and then partly hidden or
eclipsed by a dark object which revolves |
around il, and comes between it and the |
earth. 1t has dusky partner. and the pair
waltz swiftly around each other once in
sixty-nine hours. Moreover, from the way |
in which The light wancs and revives again, |
and the amount by which it is reduced |
when the star is faintest, we can learn
things about the size OF the obscuring |
body, and the dimensions OF its orbit.
Prof. Pickering of Harvard College, who
tHS HiiitteE very CdEeluiiy, III
1880. concluded that everything might be
explained by supposing that the dark star
which produces he .'eclipses'' has a diameter
not quite four-fifths as great as that OF
Algol itself, and that in their motion the |
lwo stars keep at an almost unchanging
distance. which is little more than three
times the diameter OF Algol.
Both stars move, OF course. the center
of their motion being the point between
them where their weights would balance
their common center of gravity" to use
the technical term: and the circle on which
the larger star moves is just about half
as large as that travelled over by the smaller,
because the bright star weighs little more
than twice as much as the other.
SIZE OF THE STARS
But this is rot all. sProf Pickering left
he subject there was nothing to determine
the real size of the stars. or the diameter of
the race track on which they run. He point
ad out way, he wevcr, by which they might
be found out if one could only make OBJ
servations sufficiently precise; it depends
upon the use Of the spectroscope, that Won
ierful instrument which has almost recon-
structed astronomy within the last forty
years.
When we look at y star with the spectre
scope, we see :..Ste. i of a star. n narrow
stripe of family colored light, with certain
10 rk lines across it: and if a star is coming
oward us. these lines are all pushed out of
boir ~ tural poSition n little f0word tho |