The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-27
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

up the wrong tree.
 But as 1t is my business to know little about everything, my only trouble being I know so many things which 'ain't so," I'll have to fine-tooth dictionaries, encyclopedias, books of curious information, and all the other aids to busy editors. or confess that I'm stumped.
 Now. before any of you begin to look upon me with pity for having publicly acknowledged my poverty in regard to the question of the begin ming, the duration and the ending of dog days, please be good enough be- fore you read any further to be honest enough to pause and take stock of just how much you yourself know about the matter.
 [ have been asked a score of times within the last few weeks by up-to- date and well-read people, men and women who went through college and have kept up their studies since the day when they framed their diploma proudly or shamefacedly packed 1t away in the bottom of their trunk. If. I really thought that because it rained on the first dog day it would keep 1t up until they were over.
 I'll admit that it is an old belief ana will be hard to be rid of, and l for one, while respecting the traditions of the elders, will have to, in the interest of truth, explode the fallacy which has been current during many years past and yet an ingenious man might frame up a, good claim that our recent flood was caused by the fact that rain fell on the day when dog days began, by | quoting the lines from The Woman Hater," of Beaumont and Fletcher, for in the old play we read:
 q should have looked as soon for frost In the dog days, or another inundation, As hop'd this strange conversion above i miracle"
 1 But if this is not enough to support | the theory let 1t be further known that the Egyptians had the beginning
 of their year dependent on the heliacai rising of the Canicula (the dog-star' ! or Sirius) coinciding with the Nibe
 flood So you see how easy it is to lay the one which did such damage on Fri , day afternoon on the dog days. 1 do not believe that dog days have l any more to do with rain than did the ! late Dr. Buckley, the well known edi- tor of the Christian Advocate, believe that they had anything to do with l rabies. for he came out boldly "We have heard a. man supposed 10 | possess considerable general informa : l tion announce graVely and in good | faith that dog days were so called pe- l cause during those days the atmos- phere was in peculiar condition or I humidity which together with the neat 1 induced hydropho'bia in dogs. We class him with the brother who said that vaccination was named after Dr. Nacca, i the inventor
 l And yet Pliny GA. D. 2379), the Ro- man naturalist, believed that dog days 1 were responsible for hydrophobia.
 
 l When in trouble, go to a dictionary and you'll find, as I often do, how easy ] it is to get information which IS Tar l above your head, for when consulteu 1 the Century I read: Dog days--A | part of the year about the time of the
 heliaeal rising of the dog star" Now
 for a man like myself, who when his 1 namesake asked him to point out a l certain star said Son, I'm not ac- 1 quainted with it, but if you ever wish i me to identify the sun or the moon' 1 just call on me, for l know where they 6can be found,' to have to face an astro- 1 nomical term like "heliacal' was
 knockout blow.
 l Now, honest to goodness does 1t
 convey any definite information to you who glance over this I'm writing It's a hundred to-one shot that 1t does not and for you and the other ninety
 and nine lost in the maze of astron- omy. I will give you the benefit of my l I research. for I tracked it to it's riN [ ful place in the universe. The ancIents Counted the Dies Canicular, or dog days. from the heliacal rising of Sirius,
 and made them forty in number
 twenty before and twenty after the
 rising of the star. The heliacal rising
 meaning the time when the star after | being practically in conjunction wlth | the sun and invisible, emerges from inc light so as to be visible in the
 morning before sunrise. Now, if you | do not believe I have told you the | truth about it, you have my free per
 mission to get up any morning during ! Sog days before the break Of day 10
 see it for yourself. Not being a skep- tic. I am going to trust the informa- ton I got from an authority on as- i tronomy.
 | I felt a bit foolish when asked if knew when dog days began and quit. | ,ct tfrt1h C l when somebody gets me in d hole, l inst naturally want to see if can hull some friend in it with lae and so every one I met l put the question
 raire to them, and do you know that although I have given scores chance 10 answer it,N not one had any definite idea on the subject. This made me feel better but to saHsfy my own curiosity I began to look for definite information, and was pleased 10 find that I wasn't so ignorant after all in
 confessing my ignorance
 Various dates from July g to Au- gust l5 have been assigned for the first dog day, and various durations' from 30 to 54 days. One O. the au-
 thorities upon whom lean makes tne 1 statement that they are now most usually reckoned from July to Au- 1 gust II. inclusive. Pliny says they began with the heliacal tAren't you | glad I explained this word?) rising or
 Prcyon. which took place. he says, July
 19 (Julian reckoning1. anl this late lhas heen widely accepted bys some, but { he also says that the sua was then
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