The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-06


That has not here an end"
BILL ARP.
1t seems to me that I had better an
swer some of these interesting ques-
tons through the far-reaching medium
of the press. Here are three inquiries
from among your readers who wish
to know something definite about these
so-called dog days. OF course, | know
only what / get from books, but vast
multitude have not the books nor &c
cess to them. Whether the alv2at and
the influence of dog days be IL supersti-
ton or a fact. all that is known should
1 be disseminated
+ Pliny and Herodotus both wrote about
dog days 400 years before Christ. An
cient astronomers and modern ones agree
in ascribing to Sirius q very malignant
influence when it arises in conjunction
with the sun. for it is the brightest
star in the heavens and its great heat
added to the heat of the sun increases
and intensifies the temperature as long
as this conjunction continues. But this
rising with the sun is not a fixed day
1t varies from the 3rd of July to the
18th of August and hence the almanac
makers take an average day and set
down Judy Goth as the first dog day.
Some date it July 24th, but these dates.
may miss it two or three weeks. 1t is
generally believed that these dog days
continue for forty days, but a fact
that is an indefinite period, for the CON
junction of Sirius with the the sun some
times lasts for fifty-four days. The
sum of the whole matter is that about
this time of the year we may look for
very hot weather and showers almost
every day, and to call it fodder pulling
weather, would be as good Il name as
any. Whether Sirius has anything 90
do with it or not we can only surm'se,
but Sirius is the dog star and gave
the name. Sirius is the very brightest
star in the heavens, and is IN the month
of a big dog Ia constellation that the
ancient astronomers named CAMS major.
The ancient Egyptians mapped off the
starry heavens with imaginary animals
and men. such as dogs, bears, dragons,
bulls, Hercules, Orion, etc, and the
names they gave to groups of stars have
never been changed. There is a big
dog and little dog, big bear and a
little bear, big dipper and little dip
per. Right in the tip of the tail of the lit
tie bear is Il very notable star called
the Pole star, or North star that navi-
gators used to sail by and they called
it Cynoskuros, which in Greek means
dogtail. From this name we have the
word cynosure and so when we say OF a
beautiful woman in an assembly that
she was the cynosure of all eyes it is
equivalent to saying that SHE was the
dog tail of the concern. just how the
sailors got to calling this star the dog
tail is not known, for 1t IS realty in
ursa minor, the little bears tail. The
ancients gave many names 10 the stars
to fit the things in nature that they re-
sembled. The word comet comes from
cometus, which means a mares tall
The word lunatic comes from luna, the
moon, for the ancients believed that
the mind was affected by changes IN the
moon. Those old Egyptians were very
imaginative and superstitious, but they
were very learned. How they got so
far ahead of the Hebrews, Gods favor
lite people, we do not know. Their as
tronomy, mathematics and architecture
have never been improved. The scrip
lures tell us that Moses was learned n
all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Job
asks: "Canst thou bind the sweet in
huences of Pleiades or loose the hands
of Orion? Amos calls them the seven
stars and mythology names them the
seven sisters, but modern astronomers
say there never were but six and there
are only six now. Hence the supegsti-
ton about the lost P1eiad. 4Aeir sweet
influences" are said TO come rom the
fact that whenever seen in the heay-
ems it is a sign of good weather and a
safe time for vessels to sail, for llsian
means a sail 1t is like the pretty word
halcyon that literally means duck
time, for the elder duck never builds
its nest on the cliffs by the sea until
pleasant weather comes to stay for the
season Hence the word has the sea and
con an egg.
But / reckon this is enough about dog
days 1t is a relief in these troubled
times to have something to write about
besides the Philippines and war scandals
and mobs up north and lynchings down
south and Kentucky politics. There are
good people everywhere who would love
to live in peace with their neighbors aud
the rest of mankind, out some folks
are possessed with L devil Ii .Wadays,
just like there used to be and there is
nobody to cast him out. The people
feed upon excitement more than they
used to do. Communities want sensations
and politicians and preachers can be
found who get them up. Governor Nor
then had hardly got the Bostelians
soothed down before that Miss Jewctt
gets up a counter irritant and wants to
raise thousand dollars to come 10
Charleston and move the Baker family
to Boston Why, it won't take more than
a hundred. They can be sent without
her coming il they are willing 10 90.
There's niger in that woodplle' sure.
She either wants TO marry one or nut
$500 of that money in her pocket. Won
der if she wouldent like to come To
Early county and take away a few
more orphans. The way they do things
down in Early suits our people geEer-
ally. Suppose lynching does not stop these
outrages. If a rattlesnake bites man
we kill the snake. If tiger carries off
a child to the jungle the brute is pursued
and killed These negro brutes are in
fnitely worse than snakes or tigers and
have more sense. Suppose they are not
identified according to law, no good ne
gro is I'M danger and the bad ones are o
no consequence. The devil gets then
a little sooner, that's adj. Let the nortl
Il