s; _Chesil_ is
Scorpio; Mazzaroth is Sirius in "the chambers of the south;" and Ayeesh
the Greater Bear, the Hebrew word signifying a _bier_, which was shaped
by the four well-known bright stars, while the three forming the tail
were considered as children attending a funeral.' The Greeks at an early
period were attracted by this cluster of stars, and Hesiod alludes to
them in his writings. One passage converted into rhyme reads as follows:

There is a time when forty days they lie,
And forty nights, conceal'd from human eye;
But in the course of the revolving year,
When the swain sharps the scythe, again appear.

Their heliacal rising was considered a favourable time for setting out
on a voyage, and their midnight culmination, which occurred shortly
after the middle of November, was celebrated by some nations with
festivals and public ceremonies. Considerable diversity of opinion
existed among the ancients with regard to the number of stars which
constitute this group. It was affirmed by some that only six were
visible, whilst others maintained that seven could be seen. Ovid writes:

Quae septem dici, sex tamen esse solent.

Homer and Attalus mention six; Hipparchus and Aratus seven. The legend
with regard to the lost Pleiad would seem to indicate that, during a
period in the past, the star possessed a superior brilliancy and was
more distinctly visible than it is at the present time. This may have
been so, for, should it belong to the class of variable stars, there
would be a periodic ebb and flow of its light, by which its fluctuating
brilliance could be explained. When looked at directly only six stars
can be seen in the group, but should the eye be turned sideways more
than this number become visible. Several observers have counted as many
as ten or twelve, and it is stated by Kepler that his tutor, Maestlin,
was able to enumerate fourteen stars and mapped eleven in their relative
positions. With telescopic aid the number is largely increased--Galileo
observed thirty-six with his instrument and Hooke, in 1664, counted
seventy-eight. Large modern telescopes bring into view several thousand
stars in this region.

The Pleiades are situated at a profound distance in space. Their light
period is estimated at 250 years, indicating a distance of 1,500
billions of miles. Our Sun if thus far removed would be reduced to a
tenth-magnitude star. 'There can be little doubt,' says Miss Agnes
Clerke, 'th