The LYNX was composed by Hevelius out of the unformed stars of the ancients, between Auriga and Ursa Major.

II. THE SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS.

CETUS, the whale, is pretended by the Greeks, to be the seamonster which Neptune, brother to Juno, sent to devour Andromeda; because her mother, Cassiopeia, had boasted herself to be fairer than Juno and the Nereides.

ERIDANUS, the river Po, called by Virgil the king of rivers, was placed in the heavens for receiving Pheton, whom Jupiter struck with thunderbolts when the earth was threatened with a general conflagration, through the ignorance of Phaton, who had presumed to be able to guide the chariot of the sun.

called Orion's river.

The Po is sometimes

ORION is represented on the globe by the figure of a man with a sword in his belt, a club in his right hand, and the skin of a lion in his left; he is said by some authors to be the son of Neptune and Euryale, a famous huntress; he possessed the disposition of his mother, became the greatest hunter in the world, and boasted that there was not any animal on the earth which he could not conquer. Others say, that Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury, as they travelled over Baotia met with great hospitality from Hyrieus, a peasant of the country, who was ignorant of their dignity and character. When Hyrieus had discovered that they were gods, he welcomed them by the voluntary sacrifice of an ox. Pleased with his piety, the gods promised to grant him whatever he required, and the old man, who had lately lost his wife, and to whom he made a promise never to marry again, desired them that, as he was childless, they would give him a son without obliging him to break his promise. The gods consented, and Orion, was produced from the hide of the ox. MONOCEROS, the Unicorn, was added by Hevelius, and composof stars which the ancients had not comprised within the outlines of the other constellations.

CANIS MINOR, the Little Dog, according to the Greek fables, is one of Orion's hounds; but the Egyptians were most probably the inventers of this constellation, and as it rises before the dog star, which at a particular season was so much dreaded, it is properly represented as a little watchful creature, giving notice of the other's approach hence, the Latins have called it Antecanis, the star before the dog.

HYDRA is the water serpent which according to poetic fable infested the lake Lerna in Peloponnesus: this monster had a great number of heads, and as soon as one was cut off another grew in its stead; it was killed by Hercules. The general opinion is that this Hydra was only a multitude of serpents which infested the marshes of Lerna.

SEXTANS, the Sextant, a mathematical instrument well known to mariners, was formed by Hevelius from the Stella Informes of the ancients.

MICROSCOPIUM, the Microscope, is an optical instrument com. posed of lenses or mirrors; so arranged that by means of which very minute objects may be clearly and distinctly viewed.

PISCIS AUSTRALIS, the southern fish, is supposed by the Greeks to be Venus, who transformed herself into a fish, to escape from the terrible giant Typhon.

LEPUS, the hare, according to the Greek fables, was placed near Orion, as being one of the animals which he hunted

CANIS MAJOR, the Great Dog, according to the Greek fables, is one of Orion's hounds; (See Canis Minor) but the Egyptians, who carefully watched the rising of this constellation, and by it judged of the swelling of the Nile, called the bright star Sirius the centinel and watch of the year; and, according to their heiroglyphical man ner of writing, represented it under the figure of a dog. The Egyp❤ tians called the Nile Siris, and hence is derived the name of their deity, Osiris.

CORVUS, the Crow, was, according to the Creek fables, made a constellation by Apollo; this god being jealous of Coronis (the daughter of Phlegyas and mother of Esculapius) sent a crow to watch her behaviour; the bird, perched on a tree, perceived her criminal partiality to Ischys, the Thessalian, and acquainted Apollo. with her conduct.

CENTAURUS. The Centauri were a people of Thessaly, half men and half horses. The Thessalians were celebrated for their skill in taming horses, and their appearance on horseback was so uncommon a sight to the neighbouring states, that, at a distance, they imagined the man and horse to be one animal; when the Spaniards landed in America and appeared on horseback, the Mexicans had the same ideas. This constellation is by some supposed to repre sent Chiron the Centaur, tutor of Achilles. Esculapius, Hercules, &c.; but as Sagittarius is likewise a Centaur, others have contended that Chiron is represented by Sagittarius.

CRUX, CRUSERO, or CROSIER There are four stars in this constellation forming a cross, by which mariners sailing in the southern hemisphere, readily find the situation of the Antarctic pole.

ARA is supposed to be the altar on which the Gods swore before their combat with the giants.

ARGO NAVIS is said to be the ship Argo, which carried Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis, to fetch the golden fleece.

ROBUR CAROLI, or Charles's Oak, was so called by Dr. Halley, in memory of the tree in which Charles II. saved himself from his pursuers after the battle of Worcester. Dr. Halley went to St. Helena, in the year 1676. to take a catalogue of such stars as do not rise above the horizon of London.

91. GALAXY, VIA LACTEA, or Milky-way, is a whitish luminous tract which seems to encompass the heavens like a girdle, of a considerable, though unequal breadth, varying from about 4 to 20 degrees. It is composed of an infinite number of small stars, which, by their joint light, occasion that confused whiteness which we perceive in a clear night when the moon does not shine very bright. The Milky-way may be traced on the celestial globe, beginning at Cygnus, through Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga, Orion's club, the feet of

Gemini, part of Monoceros, Argo, Navis, Rober Caroli, Crux, the feet of the Centaur, Circinus, Quadra Euclidis, and Ara; here it is divided into two parts, the eastern branch passes through the tail of Scorpio, the bow of Sagittarius, Scutum Sobieski, the feet of Antinöus, Aquila, Sagitta, and Vulpecula; the western branch passes through the upper part of the tail of Scorpio, the right side of Serpentarius, Taurus Poniatowski, the Goose, and the neck of Cygnus, and meets the aforesaid branch in the body of Cygnus.

92. NEBULOUS, or cloudy, is a term applied to certain fixed stars, smaller than those of the 6th magnitude, which only shew a dim hazy light like little specks or clouds. In Præsepe in the breast of Cancer, are reckoned 36 little stars; F. le Compte adds, that there are 40 such stars in the Pleiades, and 2500 in the whole Constellation of Orion. It may be further remarked, that the Milky-way is a continued assemblage of Nebulæ.

93. BAYER'S CHARACTERS. John Bayer of Augsburg in Swabia, published in 1603, an excellent work, entitled Uranometria, being a complete celestial atlas of all the constellations, with the useful invention of denoting the stars in every constellation by the letters of the Greek and Roman Alphabets; setting the first Greek letter to the principal star in each constellation, ẞ to the second in magnitude, y to the third, and so on, and when the Greek alphabet was finished, he began with a, b, c, &c. of the Roman. This useful method of describing the stars has been adopted by all succeeding astronomers, who have farther enlarged it by adding the numbers, 1, 2, 3, &c. in the same regular succession, when any constellation contains more stars than can be marked by the two alphabets. The figures are, however, sometimes placed above the Greek letter, especially where double stars occur: for, though many stars may appear single to the naked eye, yet when viewed through a telescope of considerable magnifying power, they appear double, triple, &c. Thus, in Dr. Zach's Tabula Motuum, Solis, we meet with f Tauri, 8 Tauri, Tauri, 1 Tauri, 2 Tauri, &c.

F

As the Greek letters so frequently occur in catalogues of the stare and on the celestial globes, the Greek alphabet is here introduced for the use of those who are unacquainted with the letters. The capitals are seldom used in the catalogues of stars, but are here given for the sake of regularity.

94. PLANETS are opaque bodies, similar to our earth, which move round the sun in certain periods of time. They shine not by their own light, but by the reflection of the light which they receive from the sun. The planets are distinguished into primary and secondary. 95. THE PRIMARY PLANETS regard the sun as their centre of motion. There are 7* Primary Planets, dis

*An eighth primary planet called Ceres, was discovered by M. Piazzi of Palermo, in Sicily, on the 1st of January 1801; a ninth called Pallas, was discovered by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen, on the 28th of March, 1802, and others have since been discovered. See Part II. chap. I.

tinguished by the following characters and names, viz. g o Mercury, Venus, the earth, 6 Mars, 2 Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgium Sidus.

96. THE SECONDARY PLANETS, satellites or moons, regard the primary planets as their centres of motion: thus, the moon revolves round the Earth, the satellites of Jupiter move round Jupiter, &c. There are 18 secondary planets. The earth has one satellite, Jupiter four, Saturn seven, and the Georgium Sidus six.

97. THE ORBIT of a planet is the imaginary path it describes round the sun. The earth's orbit is the ecliptic.

98. NODES are the two opposite points where the orbit of a planet seems to intersect the ecliptic. That where the planet appears to ascend from the south to the north side of the ecliptic, is called the ascending or north node, and is marked thus ; and the opposite point where the planet appears to descend from the north to the south, is called the descending or south node, and is marked 8.

99. ASPECT of the stars or planets, is their situation with respect to each other. There are five aspects, viz. 6 Conjunction, when they are in the same sign and degree; Sextile, when they are two signs, or a sixth part of a circle distant, Quartile, when they are three signs, or a fourth part of a circle, from each other; A Trine, when they are four signs, or a third part of a circle, from each other; 8 Opposition, when they are six signs, or half a circle from each other

The conjunction and opposition (particularly of the moon) are called the Syzyzgies, and the quartile aspect, the Quadratures.

100. DIRECT. A planet's motion is said to be direct when it appears (to a spectator on the earth) to go forward in the zodiac according to the order of the signs.

101. STATIONARY. A planet is said to be stationary, when (to an observer on the earth) it appears for some time in the same point of the heavens.

102. RETROGRADE. A planet is said to be retrograde, when it apparently goes backward, or contrary to the order of the signs.