Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:Ill CONSTELLATIONS ON THE MERIDIAN IN FEBRUARY Cants Major (chart IX) IOOK directly towards the south at nine o'clock I—/ in the evening in the middle of February, and you will see the brightest of all stars—Sirius, the Dog Star. It is situated about sixteen and a half degrees south of the celestial equator, and is the leader of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. ... In his fell jaw Flames a star above all others with searing beams Fiercely burning, called by mortals Sirius. —Arotus. The name of this magnificent star has been derived by some from the Greek word ;eipo; ('' sparkling" or "scorching"; by others from the Egyptian Osiris; by Dupuis from the Celtic word Syr. All readers of the Iliad will recall the passage in which Achilles is likened to this star as he rushes across the plain of Troy to encounter Hector at the gates: "Him the old man Priam first beheld, as he sped across the plain, blazing as the star that cometh forth at harvest time, and plain seen his rays shine forth amid the host of stars in the darkness of the night, the star whose name men call Orion's Dog."—Iliad, bk. xxii. (Lang and Leaf's Translation). It is impossible to be guilty of exaggeration in speaking of the splendid beauty of Sinus. Its radiance is as indescribable as that of a great diamond. As remarked in the introductory chapter, it stands in a class by itself as far as magnitude is concerned. It has a hundred moods, according to the state of the atmosphere. Sometimes, when the air is still, the star burns with a steady white light, unflickering, like a core of electric fire; then, as invisible atmospheric waves flow over it, its rays spread and leap and flutter, breaking into keen prismatic darts that almost cause the eye to wince. By turns it