represent their different groups by "corruptible men, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." But now that the astronomer views the stars as so many suns and systems of worlds, dispersed through the immensity of space, the association of such august objects with representations so silly and whimsical as the mythological figures delineated on our globes, produces not only a ludicrous effect by the greatness of the contrast, but, for the same reason, tends to lessen the idea of sublimity which naturally strikes the mind on the contemplation of such a stupendous scene. Every one knows how much things great and noble are debased by being placed in intimate connexion with little and ignoble objects, and must feel the force of this association in the following lines of Hudibras :

Again:

"And now had Phoebus in the lap
Of Thetis taken out his nap;
And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn
From black to red began to turn.”

"Cardan believed great states depend
Upon the tip of the Bear's tail's end;
That as he whisk'd it towards the sun,
Strew'd mighty empires up and down."

And again:

"Who made the Balance, and whence came
The Bull, the Lion, and the Ram?

Did not we here the Argo-rig?

Make Berenice's periwig?

Whose livery does the Coachman wear?

Or who made Cassiopeia's chair?

And therefore as they came from hence,
With us may hold intelligence."

Such an effect the celestial hieroglyphics have a tendency to produce when placed in association with the august objects of the sky.

3. They tend to lead us back to the dark and rude ages of the world, and to familiarize our minds to those crude, chimerical, and absurd conceptions which ought now to descend into oblivion. The signs of the Zodiac and most of the other constellations were invented by the Egyptians or Chaldeans to perpetuate the memory of some of their rude and barbarous heroes, to assist them in their absurd and idolatrous worship,

or to serve the foolish and impious pretensions of astrology. In neither of these respects can the celestial hieroglyphics be interesting or instructive to the modern student of astronomical science; but they are, in almost every point of view, associated with opinions, practices, and representations, which deserve the most marked reprobation: they also distract the attention by turning it aside from the direct objects of the science to the investigation of their fabulous history. How ridiculous the story of Calisto and her son Arcas, whom the rage of Juno turned into bears, which now circulate about the North Pole? the story of Medusa, whose golden hair Minerva turned into snakes, and of the winged horse which sprung from the blood which gushed out in striking off Medusa's head? the story of Orion, who was produced from the hide of an ox moistened with wine? the story of the Dragon which guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides, and was taken up to heaven and made a constellation on account of his faithful services? the story of Andromeda, of the Swan, of Perseus, and a hundred others of a similar description?

Such is the heaven of the pagans: a common receptacle of all ranks of creatures, real and imaginary, without distinction or order; a wild miscellany of everything that is false, grotesque, and chimerical. Such fantastical groups, which occupy the "houses of the Zodiac" and other compartments of the sky, may comport with the degrading arts of the astrologer, but they are not only incompetent to the purposes, but completely repugnant to the noble elevation of modern astronomical science. How incongruous, then, is it that such representations, the wildest hallucinations of the human mind, should be blazoned in such brilliant colours upon our globes, and that a considerable portion of our astronomical treatises should be occupied in detailing their mythological history? Because a few shepherds in the plains of Babylon or on the banks of the Nile arranged and delineated the heavens according to the first crude conceptions which arose in their minds, are these chimerical representations to guide the astronomers of every nation, and throughout all succeeding generations? It becomes the astronomers of the present day to consider whether they intend to transmit to the enlightened generations of the twentieth or thirtieth century the sublime discoveries of modern times, which have transformed the heavens into an immense assemblage of suns and worlds, in

corporated and disfigured with hydras, gorgons, flying horses, three-headed dogs, and other "dire chimeras" or whether they might not be as well qualified as the shepherds of Chaldea to reduce the starry groups, in the concave of the firmament, to a more natural, simple, and scientific arrangement.

4. The constellations, as presently depicted on our globes and planispheres, convey an unnatural and complex representation of the heavens, which tends to confuse the imagination of the juvenile student. On some celestial globes which I have inspected, the natural and hieroglyphic figures are so prominently engraved, and the colours with which they are bespattered so deep and vivid, that the stars appeared not only as a secondary object, but were almost invisible, except on a very minute inspection. The animals were so nicely drawn, and exhibited such a glare of variegated colours, that the sphere appeared more like a young miss's plaything than a delineation of the starry heavens. It seemed as if the engraver had been afraid lest his pretty little dogs, and serpents, and scorpions, and flying horses, and crabs, and lizards, should have been disfigured by the radiated groups of stars which spotted the pretty creatures, and therefore he threw them into the shade, in order that the artificial globe, which a late philosopher calls "a philosophical toy," might prove nothing more to the fair one who occasionally twirled it round its axis than a beautifully coloured ball to fill up a niche in her parlour or bedroom. The same thing appears in many of our planispheres of the heavens, on the first opening of which one would imagine he was about to inspect the figures connected with the natural history of animals, or the fantastical representations illustrative of the system of pagan mythology. Whatever may be said of the utility of such delineations, it is evident they present a very awkward and unnatural representation of the beautiful and variegated scenery of a starry sky; and hence it is that a young person who wishes to acquire a general knowledge of the positions of the principal stars finds it extremely difficult to recognise them by our present maps and planispheres, on account of their being so much interwoven with extraneous objects, and, on this account, presenting an appearance so very different from what they do in the heavens.

For these and many other reasons, it appears expedient that some change or modification should be adopted in the ar

rangement and delineation of the celestial orbs. Were any scheme of this kind attempted, it would be proper to proceed on the following principle, among others, namely, to give names to the starry groups from objects which bear the nearest resemblance to the actual figures which appear in the heavens. I shall not presume at present to determine what are the particular objects which might be selected for representing the constellations, as it would require a combination of astronomers to enter particularly into the discussion. It is evident, however, that a number of clusters might be reduced to mathematical figures and diagrams; and in so far as these were found to resemble the starry groups, they would form a natural representation. For there actually appear in the heavens, triangles, squares, parallelograms, pentagons, crosses, trapeziums, perpendicular and parallel lines, and various combinations of geometrical schemes, some of which might be selected for the purpose proposed. It would be expedient that as many as possible of the old constellations should be preserved entire, such as Orion, Ursa Major, and others; and that those which behooved to be somewhat deranged should be so divided as that two or more of the new-formed constellations should exactly correspond to one of the old, and

vice versa.

To any proposal of this kind, however, I am aware that many objections would be raised, particularly that it would introduce confusion into the science of astronomy, especially when references are made to ancient catalogues and observations. It is well known, however, that a similar difficulty has been overcome in reference to the science of chymistry. The new nomenclature, which was intended to express the nature of the substance by the name which is attached to it, though at first scouted by many eminent chymists and philosophers, is now universally adopted, and has introduced both simplicity and precision into the science. The same may be said of the departments of geology, botany, zoology, mineralogy, and meteorology. The principle now proposed in reference to the constellations is materially the same as that which led to the adoption of a new chymical nomenclature; and, with regard to the inconveniences attending a new set of terms, it may be observed, in the words of M. Bergman, that "those who are already possessed of knowledge cannot be depraved of it by new terms; and those who have their knowl

edge to acquire will be enabled, by an improvement in the language of the science, to acquire it sooner."

The opposition, however, which is generally made to every innovation, whether in science or in religion, the high respect in which everything is held which has the sanction of antiquity, and the difficulty of forming such an arrangement as would combine simplicity with accuracy, and meet the approbation of astronomers, will probably postpone the attempt to some distant period. I would therefore propose, in the mean time, as matters now stand, one or other of the following plans for adoption: 1. That the stars be depicted on celestial globes and planispheres in their true positions and apparent magnitudes, without being connected with any hieroglyphic delineations; the different constellations still retaining their former names. By this plan, the different clusters, not being encumbered and buried, as it were, in a medley of grotesque and extraneous representations, would appear in their natural simplicity, without distortion and confusion, so that the globe, being rectified to any particular position of the heavens, would appear a natural as well as an accurate representation of the corresponding orbs of the firmament. To distinguish the boundaries of the constellations, a dotted line might be drawn around them, and each of them receive a slight tint of colouring, so that their shape and limits may be distinguished at a glance. Or, 2. Instead of engraving the stars on a white ground, as is always done on the globes, let them be engraved on a black or a dark blue ground, so that the several stars may appear as so many white specks, varying in size according to their apparent magnitudes, with a white border (which might be coloured if deemed expedient) around each constellation, to mark its boundaries. On this plan the principal stars in the constellation Orion, with its boundary, would appear nearly as represented in the following page.

This mode of delineation would exhibit the most natural representation which can be made, on a convex surface, of the appearance of the starry sky. I am fully persuaded that globes, with either of these modes of delineation, particularly the last, would be prized by a numerous class of individuals; as I have seldom conversed with any persons on this subject who would not have preferred such a simple and natural delineation to those which are bespattered with the mythological figures. Should it, however, be deemed necessary, in cases

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