Flowers of the SkyProctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Flowers of the Sky
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Astronomy
In this constellation we have a group which, while consisting of only a
few stars, yet suggests very naturally the idea of a coronet of gems, as
shown in fig. 32. The same is true also, though perhaps in less degree,
of the Dolphin, as shown in fig. 33. It is noteworthy, by the way, that
this constellation can hardly have been invented by landsmen. For though
in our own time when the pictures of sea-creatures are accurately drawn,
so that persons who have never been to sea may have a correct idea of
the figure of such creatures, in old times it was exceedingly unlikely
that any but sailors would have such familiar knowledge of the dolphin
as to be reminded of that creature by a group of stars.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.--The Scorpion.]
A much more complex constellation than either of those just
mentioned--the Scorpion,--is even better represented by lineation, as
shown in fig. 34. It is not, however, with cases so remarkable as these
that the difficulty suggested at the outset is really connected. The
instances of really remarkable resemblance are so few that they must be
regarded as altogether exceptional. The best proof that the Scorpion is
unmistakably pictured by the stars is to be found in the fact that the
modern map-makers have not in this case departed much from the older
delineations. No one, in fact, who knows what a Scorpion is like, could
have any doubt as to the configuration of the body, at least, of the
celestial Scorpion. So that though such a case illustrates well the way
in which the method of delineation I have suggested may be made to
picture the object seen by the ancient observers in the heavens, it does
not afford any answer to the difficulty indicated by those who assert
that the Great Bear, the Lion, the Ship, and other of the old
constellation figures, have no real existence among the stars.
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