The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-09-04
Answers lnq uiries Regard
ing SO-Called DOG Days"
IS ANCIENT SUPERSTITION
3aFtow sage is Convinced that Read.
ing 10 Nowadays Che Best Part
Of a Liberal Education.
Books arc Cheap and
In Plenty.

It seems to me that / had better
ans some of those interesting
que ons through the far-reaching me.
diuDAof the press. Here are three in
quiries 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 a vast multitude have not
the books, nor access 10 them. Wheth-
er the advent and the influence Of dog
days be a superstition or a fact, all
th9t( Is known should be disseminated.
A,liny and Herodous both wrote
about Cog days 400 years before
Christ. ancient astronomers and mod
ern ones agree in ascrlbing to oirlrs
a 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 intensifles the
4 Temperature as long as this conjun3-
- continues. But this rising with
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 an sot down
July 10th as the first dog day. Some
date it July oath, but these dates may
miss 1t two or three weeks. 1t is gen
orally believed that these dog days
continue for. forty days, but in fact
that is an indefinite period for the
conjunction Of Sirius with the sun
sometimes lasts for ffty-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 way, and to call it fodder
pulling weather would be as good
name as any. Whether Sirius has any
thing to do with it or not, we can
spnly surmise, but Sirius is the dog
ar and gave the name. Sirius is the
Try brightest star in the heavens,
u is in the mouth Of a big dog
Ia tellation that the ancient as
ers named CAMS major. The
ancient Egyptians mapped off the star
ry 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
big deg and a little dog, q big bear
and al little bear dig dipper and a
little Upper Right in the tip Of tne
tail Of the little bear Is very nota-
BILE star called the Pole star, or North
star, that navigators used to sail by,
and they called it Cynoskurous, viii h
in Greek means a uogtail. From this
name we have the word cynosure, and
so Wh,en we say of a beautiful woman
in AMI assembly that she was the cyno-
sure Iof 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 dogtail is not known, for
it is really in ursa minor, the little
bears tail. The ancients gave many
names % the stars to fit things in u2.
ture tKat they resembled The word
comet comes from cometus, which
means a mares tail. The word luna
tic comes from luna, the moon, for
the ancients believed that the mind
was affected by changes in the moon
Those old Egyptians were very imagi-
native and superstitious, but they
were very learned How they got 50
AfaA0S5ead of the Hebrews, Gods favor
PIE, we do not know. Their .s-
mathematics and architec-
e never been improved. me
futures tell us that Moses was
Searned in all the wisdom of the
= Egyptians Job asks "Canst thou
bind thex SEeet influences Of Pleiades
cor loose the bands of Orlon" Amos
calls them the seven stars, and my.
theology Names them the seven sisters,
but modern astronomers say there
never was but six and there are only
six now Hence the superstition
about the lost Plelad. Their 81 9et
infuere are said to come from, he
fact th heneyer seen in the neay-
ems 1t ga sign of good weather and a
safe time for vessels to sail, for the
.pleiad means a sail 1t is like tie
pretty word halcyon that literally
means duck egg-time, for the elder
duck never builds its nest on the cliffs
by thu sea until pleasant weather
comes stay for the season. Hence
the " ais the sea and con an agg.
But l reckon this is enough about