sible
north of the Equator.]

Fig. 74 gives the stars that are never seen by persons north of
the earth's equator. In the Ship is brilliant Canopus, and the
remarkable variable ae. Below it is the beautiful Southern Cross,
near the pole of the southern heavens. Just below are the two first
magnitude stars Bungala, a, and Achernar, b, of the Centaur. Such
a number of unusually brilliant stars give the southern sky an
unequalled splendor. In the midst of them, as if for contrast,
is the dark hole, called by the sailors the "Coal-sack," where
even the telescope reveals no sign of light. Here, also, are the
two Magellanic clouds, both easily discernible by the naked eye;
the larger two hundred times the apparent size of the moon, lying
between the pole and Canopus, and the other between Achernar and
the pole. The smaller cloud is only one-fourth the size of the
other. Both are mostly resolvable into groups of stars from the
fifth to the fifteenth magnitude.

[Page 209]
For easy out-door finding of the stars above the horizon at any
time, see star-maps at end of the book.

_Characteristics of the Stars._

Such a superficial examination of stars as we have made scarcely
touches the subject. It is as the study of the baptismal register,
where the names were anciently recorded, without any knowledge
of individuals. The heavens signify much more to us than to the
Greeks. We revolve under a dome that investigation has infinitely
enlarged from their estimate. Their little lights were turned by
clumsy machinery, held together by material connections. Our vast
worlds are connected by a force so fine that it seems to pass out
of the realm of the material into that of the spiritual. Animal
ferocity or a human Hercules could image their idea of power. Ours
finds no symbol, but rises to the Almighty. Their heavens were full
of fighting Orions, wild bulls, chained Andromedas, and devouring
monsters. Our heavens are significant of harmony and unity; all
worlds carried by one force, and all harmonized into perfect music.
All their voices blend their various significations into a personal
speaking, which says, "Hast thou not heard that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
neither is weary?" There is no searching of his understanding.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created all these
things, that brought out their host by number, that calleth them
all by their names in the