BY D. W. BELISLE.

ORION.—Whoever learns this constellation can never forget the brilliant lesson. It is too clearly defined and magnificently beautiful to pass from the memory. It is distinguished by four bright stars, which form a parallelogram: Betelguese, a star of great brilliancy, and of the first magnitude, in the right shoulder, Bellatrix in the left, 7½° east of Betelguese, are called the "epaulets of Orion." Rigel, a star of the first magnitude, marks the left foot, and is 15° south of Bellatrix. Eight and a half degrees east of Rigel is Saiph, forming the lower end of the parallelogram.

Three bright stars lie in a straight line near the middle of the square, and are known by the name of the "Three Kings," or the "Ell," or "Yard." In sacred history, they are usually termed the "bands of Orion;" they are also known as the "belt" of Orion. The space they occupy is three degrees, and a straight line passing through them, points to the Pleiades on one side and Sirius on the other. There is a row of small stars running down obliquely from the belt, called the "sword of Orion." In the middle of this row is one of the most remarkable nebulÆ in the heavens. With a good telescope, in the centre an apparent opening is discovered, through which, as through a window, we seem to get a glimpse of other heavens and brighter regions beyond. How little man appears, with all his pride of pomp and splendor, in contemplating this immeasurable expanse, and with awe we are led to exclaim, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?"

About 9° west of Bellatrix are eight stars of the fourth magnitude, in a curved line that marks the lion's skin, which Orion used as a shield in his left hand. Rheita asserts there are 2,000 stars in this constellation, although but 78 are visible to the naked eye. Galileo found 80 in the belt, 21 in a nebulous star in the head, and about 500 in another part within the space of four degrees. This constellation comes to the meridian the 21st of January.

According to some Greek authorities, Orion was a son of Neptune and Euryale, a famous Amazonian huntress, and inheriting the disposition of his mother, became the most famous hunter in the world, and boasted that there was not an animal on earth which he could not conquer. To punish this vanity, a scorpion sprang out of the earth and bit him, so that he died of the poison, and, at the request of Diana, he was placed among the stars opposite the scorpion that caused his death. Others say that he was the gift of the gods to a peasant of Boeotia as a reward for piety, and that he far surpassed other mortals in strength and stature.

LEPUS—The Hare.—This constellation is situated south of Orion, and comes to the meridian on the 24th of January. It may readily be distinguished by means of four stars of the third magnitude, which form an irregular square or trapezium. Three small stars curve along the back, while four minute ones mark the ears, and are 5° south of Rigel, whose brilliancy obscures their lesser light. The Greeks assert this animal was one which Orion delighted in hunting, therefore it was placed near him in the sky.

COLUMBIA—Noah's Dove.—Continuing a straight line from the Hare 16° south, it comes to Phaet, a star of the second magnitude, in the Dove. This star is also on the meridian at the same time with that in the belt of Orion, and with Sirius and Naos makes an equilateral triangle. This constellation is so called in commemoration of the dove Noah sent out "to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground," after the ark had rested on Ararat. "And the dove came in to him, in the evening, and lo! in her mouth was an olive leaf!"

ERIDANUS.—This constellation is composed of 84 stars, of which one is of the first magnitude, one of the second, and eleven of the third. The others are very minute stars, and the constellation is exceedingly difficult to trace in the heavens. Achernar is a star of great brilliancy and beauty, but it cannot be seen in our latitude, having a southern declination of 58°. West of Rigel are four stars of the fourth magnitude, and five of the fifth, arching up in a semicircular form, marking the first bend of the northern stream, while 19° west of Rigel glitters a bright star of the second magnitude, called Gamma. This star is on the meridian thirteen minutes after the Pleiades. The entire length of Eridanus is 130°, and as the other stars which compose it are very minute, it is not desirable to trace them.

The Latin poets have rendered this river (which is in Cisalpine Gaul, and also called Padus, and by moderns, Po) memorable by its connection with the beautiful fable of Phaeton, a favorite of Venus, who intrusted him with the care of one of her temples. Vain of the favor of the goddess, he obtained an oath from his father, Phoebus, that he would grant him any request he should make. The charioteer of the skies had no sooner uttered the oath than

Phoebus pleaded with his son in vain. Phaeton undertook the aerial journey, and no sooner had he received the reins than he forgot the explicit directions of his father, and betrayed his ignorance of the manner of guiding the chariot. The flying coursers became sensible of the confusion of their driver, and immediately departed from the usual track. Too late Phaeton saw his rashness, and already heaven and earth were threatened with destruction as the penalty, when Jupiter, perceiving the disorder of the horses, struck the driver with a thunderbolt, and he fell headlong into the river Eridanus—

In Ethiopian and Libyan mythology, it is asserted that the great heat produced by the sun's deviation from his usual course dried up the blood of the Ethiopians, and turned their skins black, and produced sterility and barrenness over the greater part of Libya. Evidently this fable alludes to some extraordinary heats at a remote period, and of which this confused tradition is all the account that has descended to later times.

CAMELOPARDALUS.—This constellation is of modern origin, and the stars—the largest being of the fourth magnitude—are too unimportant and scattered to invite attention. It occupies the space between the head of the Lynx and the pole, containing 58 minute stars.

AURIGA.—This brilliant constellation is readily distinguished by the most beautiful star which lies between Orion and the polar star. This star is called Capella, and marks the position of the Goat, as well as the heart of Auriga, and with Menkalina in the right shoulder, and Auriga or El Nath in the right foot, which also forms the top of the northern horn of the Bull, forms a beautiful triangle. Capella and Menkalina in the shoulders, have the same distance between them, and are of the same size and brilliancy as Betelguese and Bellatrix in Orion, being 7½° apart, and the four form a long, narrow parallelogram, lying north and south, and it is a curious coincidence that its length is precisely five times its breadth. Auriga, Capella, and Menkalina, together with a star of the fourth magnitude in the head, marked Delta, make an elongated diamond. There can be no more exciting, rational, or pleasant pastime than that of forming different objects by various arrangements of the stars. Select any portion of the heavens, and squares, angles, curves, crosses, and diamonds are visible, and no shape can hardly be conceived that its counterpart might not be traced in the starry firmament above. Those who have never spent an hour thus pleasantly employed, are not aware of the pleasure to be found in contemplating the "stars, which are the poetry of heaven."

Mythology is at fault as to the origin of this constellation, and all the most ancient authors are indefinite about its history. Its origin is known to be very ancient, but nothing well authenticated has descended to us as to the period or the character from which it took its rise.

GEMINI.—This constellation is remarkable from the singularity of one of its most brilliant stars, Castor, which, on looking through a telescope, resolves into two distinct stars, one of which is very small, and revolves around the larger one once in a period of 342 years and two months. Four and a half degrees south-west of Castor may be seen Pollux, a star of equal brilliancy. This constellation comes to its meridian the 24th of February. It takes its rise from Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter and Leda, Queen of Sparta, who were translated to a place in the heavens by Jupiter, as a reward for their courage and bravery.

CANIS MINOR.—This is a small constellation, containing only fourteen stars, of which two are of great brilliancy. Procyon, a star of the first magnitude, is situated twenty-three degrees south of Pollux, and twenty-six degrees east of Betelguese, and forms with them a large right-angled triangle. Procyon comes to the meridian the 24th of February. According to Greek mythology, this is one of Orion's hounds. The Egyptians, however, claim its origin from their god Anubis, whom they worshipped under the form of a dog's head. Probably the Egyptians were the inventors of the idea, as the constellation rises a little before Sirius, which, at a particular season, they always dreaded; therefore they represented it as a watchful creature, that warned them of the approach of danger. Moderns have asserted it to be one of ActÆon's hounds, that devoured their master after he had been transformed into a stag by Diana, to prevent his betraying her. This is evidently an error, as there is no proof to sustain it.

CANIS MAJOR.—This interesting constellation is situated south-east of Orion, and is universally known by the brilliancy of its principal star, Sirius, which is the largest and brightest in the heavens. In our hemisphere, during the winter months, it glows with a lustre unequalled by any other star in the firmament. It is also the nearest star to the earth, yet the distance between Sirius and us is so great that sound, travelling thirteen miles a minute, would be three millions of years in traversing the mighty space. And a ray of light, which moves at the rate of 200,000 miles per second, would be three years and eighty-two days in passing through the vast space that lies between Sirius and the earth. If the nearest star to the earth gives such results, what must those give situated a thousand times as far beyond, where worlds, surrounded by their satellites, roll in their orbits away in the immensity of space, each revolving around its own sun, while, millions of miles beyond, stars, like our own, greet their visual organs, and inspire as great an interest to the inhabitants of that world as those do to us which we discover by the aid of our powerful telescopes?

The Thebans determine the length of the year by Sirius, and the Egyptians dreaded its approach, as, at its rising, commenced the inundation of the Nile, teeming with malaria and death.

The Romans, also, were accustomed yearly to propitiate Sirius by the sacrifice of a dog.