Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-04-12
ALGoL. DEMON STAR.
Professor Young, of Princeton, Tells
About 1t.
youths Companion.)

In the days Of fable, when the earth
was Young. and populous with giants
heroes nymphs, and monsters, the
story goes than on the African coast, OF
the Western Ocean, there lived the three
Gorgons. the fiercest OF whom was Me-
dusa. who had writing serpents Tor
hair. and face so terrible that It's mere
sight turned the unlucky beholder IN
stantly to stone.
To rid the earth OF this horror, Perseus
came riding from the east on his winged
sandals wearing the helmet OF Hades,
which rendered him invisible. and
equipped with sickle and mirror. Shrewd-
w avoiding the fatal sight or Medusa
face. he slew her and started on MS
return, carrying her severed mead pc
hind him on Pegasus, the winged steed'
which, wonderful to tell. had sprung
full-ledged from the blood-moisteheu
earth 49,,
AS Perseus scared homeward hisn
above the earth, he looked down ana
cow far below him. chained to the rock,
the lovely Andromeda, daughter or Ce-
nheus. the Ethiopian King. and MS
nrnud Queen Cassiopeia. For no tault
Of his own. the poor girl had been ex-
posed as the sacrihcial prey OK huse
sea monster. which at the moment was
lust emerging from the waves 10 claim
bia victim. Like the gallant hero that
ne was. Perseus flew to the rescue, Pc
trifed the monster by showing him Me-
dusa's head. and so delivered the maiden,
whom. In due time, b.s married; and'
from these two descended the founders
of the Persian race.
Afterward the gods transferred them 10
the heavens, and there they stlli reinaih'
az any one may see by looking at a ce-
lestlal globe: Cepheus. with his queen, anu
the bright Andromeda, the swilt-"lnseu
pegasus. and Cstus, the leviathan; and'
esnecially. Perseus. still holding fast the
awful head Of the Gorgon. In when
cleans AlzoI, the demon star OF the
Arabs. so-oalIed by them because 1t marks
the head Of Al-ghul, the "ghoui' the
eraye-robbing fiend. By the old astroio-
gers Alsol was always regarded as power
fullv ''malefic." or baleful in It's influence
on human affairs; for all through the past
ages of human history the belief In the
influence of the stars has been as persist
ent as II is absurd.
But. while Algol Is to be acquitted Oh
| all malice and misunderstanding power, IL
| Is in some respects the most interesting
| of ALL the stars Ordinarily, II shows no.
| thing strange: It Is a pure. white star
| inst about as bright as the pole-star, or
| the three that mark the head and waist
| and foot OF Andromeda herself. but not
quite equal to Algenib. the principal star
| OF Perseus. Those who know the leading
| consultations can easily identity Algoi
by the fact that II lies nearly south OF
| Algenib. and makes a right angle with
II and Gamma Andromedae. II lies south
west of the bright star Capella, and
southeast OF the well-known Cassiopeia
| Chair.
| NOT LIKE OTHER STARS.
But Algol 10 not like other stars; II one
watches Il long and carefully he VIII be
| surprised some evening to find that II
has lost almost three quarters OF Its llgnt
| once in about sixty-nine hours-sixty'
| eight hours, forty eight minutes. and nfty'
| five second, to be exact-lt faints away
| and comes to- again, occupying between
| nine and zen hours in the whole operation
| The star fades for little less than fivt
| hours. remains unchanged for about
| twenty minutes, and then regsins It's for
| mer splendor somewhat faster than Il
| lost 1t. The phenomenon recurs with per
feet regularity. so that the "fainting MS
| can be predicted almost to the second
| and the following are the times-Easterr
| standard-of those dissertations which will
| occur during the evening hours of 1886 a
| times when our readers can easily OBJ