Evening star., 1897-12-04

Arcturus. the splendid Bear-Warden. not
now visible
Ihe name Capella signifies She-goat The
star Is IN the left shoulder of the Wagner
tAurlsa), and also in the body of the Goat
whlch ne is represented upon charts as
Carrying on this shoulder. The Wagoner's
right shoulder is marked by a star of the
seeohd magnitude. Beta Aurigae, now stu
ated directly beneath Capella His head
marked hE star of the third magnitude.
Is toward the north. His feet are toward
the south, the right foot resting on the
tip of the northern horn of the Bull
marked by the star Ell Nath, or Beta Tauri
a second-ma snitude star about midway be-
tween Capella and the head Of Orion Au-
riga is well supplied with stars and with
the hints here given one should have little
clfhculty in making out the figure TO which
the constellation probably owes it's origin
AT the right of Capelia, and at about the
same altitude, a little south of east. is
Aldebaran, the principal star in Taurus. a
decidedly reddish star of the average first
InaSnltuGe- 1t stands at one corner of d
N-Sh2ped cluster of small stars known
as the Hyades. which forms the Bulls face
IN which it makes an excellent eye. and
lndeed the star is popularity known as the
Bills Eye This face. or head. formed
by Aldebaran and the group of stars abou.
II. is the most striking feature of the Bull
ard is possibly the nucleus of the constella-
tlOn- AT any rate, the Bull consists solely
of head. horns and shoulders-Inarked by
the Pleiades-and pair of invisible fore
legs-added by the chart-maker-the resi-
OF his body being supposed to be submerged
IN the sea, for this is said to be the identi-
cal bul-Jupiter in disguise-which bore
Europa from Phoenicia to the isle of Crete
Taurus is ore Of the zodiacal consultations
the second. Aries being the first
story of the Hyades.
There is little story to be told about
these Hyades. The name was supposed an
GENTLY to have been formed from a word
which means to rain, ard hence, undoubt-
ed!y, arose the notion current in the clas-
sic period that the rising of these stars
brought with ii rainy weather The
Romans called them Pluviae a name W hic n
might be rendered rain-bringers The
Romans also called them SucuIae the Pigs
because. says German annotator of
virgil, by strange mistake they derived
the word Hyades from hys, swine" But
when we consider that these ancient con-
stelldtions were probably formed and
named by rustics and not by poets il seems
not unlikely that the Roman peasant was
lnstinctlveiy right and the learned German
wrong Sow and Pigs as a name for Aide
bardn and the lesser lights around it, would
take with the rrstics, whatever poets might
think of il.
groups are just the sort that We should
look FOR when We consider their popular
oriSln, as. in fact We find to be the char
acier of many of the modern names which
nave suppianted the old. Thus. the Sickle
Is "a popular name for part of the old con-
stellation Leo, and there are those who ig-
more the classic and poetic name Pleiades
and insist on calling this beautiful httle
star cluster the Cleaver-just because il
looks like cleayer
Thore IL no evidence that Aldcbaran was
ever called the Sow. though the Hyades
were certainly called the Pigs; but as We
have Just seen, a bright star not far from
II sun bears the equally boorish name
Goat Possibly the clue which we have
struck VIII lead us TO the origin of this
name also Besides carrying a goat upon
MS shoulder, the Wagner as he is de-
pIcted upon Ceies tial charts carries in his
lap tire goats three kids Now. close he
sac Capeila there are three stars of the
fouIth magnitude, which form a very no.
tIeabie little triangle. and which We may
reasonably conjecture TO be the originals
OF the three kids. Clearly, the same in
asinatton :hich saw in Aldebaran and the
Hyades SOW ard her litter saw in this
otEcr bright star ard its three small at
teEdGnts a goat and her young. The same
sort of imagination st.li enables sailors TO
see in a certain dangerous group of rocks
Il Sow and Pigs and in another group a
Hen and Chickens" The ancient and the
modern way of loC king at things may not
lie so different after all.
Prince of Consultations.
Below AldeDaran is the constellation
Orion. the prince of consultations. contain
ing the two brilliant stars Betelgeuse and
Risei, the one in the right shoulder, the
other in the left foot. Observe the differ
ence in the oolors CT these two stars. Betel-
seusc is a reddish star. closely resembling
Aldebaran. Certain pccuiiarities of it's spec
trum have led Prof. Norman Lockyer to
think that probably this star Is not sun,
n massive body. but dense and condens-
inS aggregation OF meteorites. which are IN
n state of violent agitation among them
selves and are heated to incandescence by
their constant collisions with one another.
1t is. on this theory, in primitive stage
OF world life. Rigel at the opposite corner
Of the constellation shines with BLUSH
white light. resembling that of Sirius the
brilliant Dog Star, now Cat o'clock barely
above the horizon, directly beneath Orion.