62

THE BEAUTY OF THE HEAVENS.

catalogue contained the places of upwards of 1000 ; but several of the stars, soobserved and noted, are not now to be found, while others are at present visi-ble which are not included in the ancient catalogue. Some stars have graduallyincreased in brilliancy ; others, which were formerly variable, now shine with apermanent and steady light; others, have decreased in brightness. It is yetmore remarkable, that a considerable number of stars exhibit a periodicalchange in their appearance, both in apparent'size and brilliancy.

The number of stars noted in the ancient catalogues, was gradually muchextended by the observations of astronomers in succeeding ages, assisted, asthey were, by the continual improvement of their instruments of observation.Flamstead, in the beginning of the last century, completed a catalogue in highestimation, containing the names of nearly 3000 stars. Since the commence-ment of the present century, astronomers have formed catalogues yet moreextensive. The catalogues of Herschel, and other modern observers, carry thenumbers much higher still, and shew us that, to telescopic observation, theirnumber is altogether beyond our power of enumeration.

The scene is a view of the figures of the constellations of our northernhemisphere, with the appearance called the Milky way.

The earliest observers of the heavens did not fail to discover that, at parti-cular times of each evening throughout the year, certain stars seemed to rise,and others to set; and that these appearances varied through the year, andregularly returned. Now, for the convenience of observation, and morej espe-cially for ascertaining what appeared to them to be the motion of the sun, itbecame essential to have certain fixed stars—certain stars from which to markand describe his progress. By a rude measure of time, they obtained twelvepoints of the whole circle within their view; the knowledge of twelve starsfrom which to note their observations. This great circle they called the Zodiac,from a Greek word ( Zodion ), signifying an animal; because, having classed thestars in each of these twelve parts into one collection, or constellation, theycalled most of them after the name of some animal. These distinctive nameshave been, from time to time, altered by different nations of antiquity, but arenow arranged as follows :—In English —the Ram, the Bull, the Twins, theCrab , the Lion , the Virgin, the Balance, the Scorpion , the Archer, the Goat, theWaterbearer, and the Fishes . In Latin , and in the same order—Aries, Taurus,Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus , Aquarius,Pisces. The Latin names are most generally used in our works on Astronomy ,and in maps of the constellations.

This seems a singular selection of figures for such a purpose ; but as thesetwelve figures were intended, simply, to denote the twelve divisions, or monthsof the year, it is easy to conceive that the choice was governed by some parti-cular circumstance relative to the earth, in the months to which they belong.Thus, as the sun is always seen in summer among certain stars, these wereincluded in a constellation, which they termed the Lion , whose fierceness wasintended to designate the great heat of that season ; one was called the Archer,