An introduction to astronomy: designed as a text-book for the use of students in college. By Denison Olmsted ...

coNSTErLfJrATLIONS. P 7.5
thie ficurel e is.i)silt (e), 3 nlorthwest of Aldebaran. Five small
stars, sitllated a little west of.Aldebarlan, inl the face of the
]u1l, eonstitute tile l/ad6e. Altloutlgll thle Pleiades are usually
detolminated the seCen stars, yet it lhas been remarked, fiom a
hligll antiquity, thlat only six are present.
Qlu, septemr dici, Sex tamnn c8so solen ues l't.* iO.
Somlte persons, however, of remarl able powvres of visio1n, are
still able to recognize sevenl, anld cve a glreater m br.llll'
\rithl a moderate telescope, not less than 50 or 60 stars, of consid(rable )righttIess, mIay be cou\Ited in tlhis grou)p, and a much
lar1(;er 1nutl1tber of very smlnl staris are revealed to tie lmore
p)owerful ftelescopes. Thil beautifuil allusion, in the book of
Io0)h,I to the " sweet influences of the Plctiades," and the special
mlll:ltioll lmlnad Of' t-1l1, frlttlll) 1))' -lO11:}e' nld 11eSied, SloU V I1o\\'
mentution made of th~is groul by IIomer and Ilesiod, show how
early it Itad attracted the attent:ion of mankind. lThe or',st of
1:ie I3ull are tw\o st11ars,.Beta ald Zeta, situated 25~ east of the
1'lciades, beilng 8 apart. }e (nortllern horn,.ceta, also forms
onle of thle feet of.A rqalf, tlhe (Cllar-ioteer.
(1:.1i-xiS (thle Tw1xs) is repr)esented by two well-klnown star s,
C(astor and PI ollux, iln thle head of tlhe figture, 5 asun111der.
(tCastor, thle 1northc'n, is of tile first, and Pollux of the second
lmanllitude.. lFour conlSf)icllOllS starl's) xtll(in:I in a linle from
south} to nlortlt,'25 8. W. of Caistor, fo)rm tle feet, andI two
otlhe's, parallel to these at tlhe distance of six or seven d 1egrees
lofrtl teast ward, are inl thte lknees.
(.~NC.ER'u (t}, CRA,). T.1'Cl arc no largeC stairs in this constellatinl, land it. is 1rega1rde(l as less remarkable thian any other in
tche Zodiac. The'lc two tost consp)icuolls stars, 11./jpha and 3eta,
arte inl tlhe soutlhern claws of tlhe lgurl, and inl its body are thlc
nor:,thern alntd soutlchrn A.s'li s, whlichl Illma) be readily found
on a. celestial globe. B]ut tlhe 1most remarkabl e oblject int this
constelllatiolmI is a ml;isty group of very small starls, so close togetlher, whe11n seen by thle nakcd eye, as to reseclble a. comet,' Tleir txame were Elctria, Malia'Taygeta, Aliyone, Ce!l'eno, Asterope, uand
Mcr(ot. thl; last. lbeing t he " xLot leciadi'' of the ptacts. Alcyone, accordingl to
a recent. ctelerated hypothesis, is distingished as tle center aroutnl which tho.tAar v tlw,st revolvte.
— tS,' yth's Cycle, ii., p1). 86.