Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/167

LEFT XTRSA MINOR 139 TTRSULA, ST. E. by Canes Venatici, and on the W. by Lynx and Camelopardalis. Of the seven stars six are of the second magnitude, the remaining one (Delta) being at present between the third or fourth magnitude. Mizar (Zeta) is a double star. Powerful telescopes show that the Great Bear is made up of many thousand other stars. URSA MINOR, in astronomy, the Little Bear; one of the 20 ancient nor- thern constellations, bounded by Draco, Camelopardalis, Cassiopeia and Perseus. Its contour is marked out by seven stars. The curvature of the tail is in the con- trary direction to that of the Great Bear ; and at its tip is a star of the second magnitude, Alpha Ursse Minoris, called Polaris, or the Pole Star, midway be- tween Cassiopeia and the Great Bear. Next in brightness are Beta Ursje Mi- noris, called by the Arabs Kobab, and Gamma Ursae Minoris. The two are sometimes designated the Guards of the Pole, or simply the Guards. Kobab is of the second, and the other of the third. The remaining stars are smaller. XJRSID-ffi, bears; a family of the Car- nivora, group arctoidea, or, in older clas- sifications, plantigrada. Claws, five on each foot, large, strong and curved, non- retractile; tongue smooth; ears small, erect, and rounded ; tail short ; nose form- ing a movable truncated snout; caecum absent. Though ranged with the Car- nivora, many of the ursid» live entirely or partially on vegetable diet, and their teeth are modified accordingly. They are widely distributed, but are entirely absent from the Australian and Ethi- opian regions, and only one species, E7. (or Tremarctos) ot-natus, from the Andes of Peru and Chile. Wallace reckons 15 species, which have been grouped into as many as five genera {Ursus Thalassarc- tos, Helarctos, Melursus or Prochiliis, and Tremarctos) ; Mivart makes two genera {Ursus and Melursus) ; and Pro- fessor Flower includes Ailuroptis, an annectant form connecting Ursus with Ailurus. The family appears first in the Miocene. URSINTJS COLLEGE, a coeducational institution in Collegeville, Pa.; founded in 1869 under the auspices of the Ger- man Reformed Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instruc- tors 17, students, 224, number of grad- uates, 750; president, G. L. Omwake, Ph, D. URSULA, ST., the heroine of a very curious legend of the Middle Ages, whose origin may be ascribed to the 12th cen- tury, and which runs as follows: Deo- natus, King of Britain, had a very beau- tiful and pious daughter named Ursula. She was sought in marriage by the heathen prince Holofernes. His suit was granted, but under the following condi- tions — the prince must become Chris- tian, and wait for three years while the bride-elect went with her companions on a pilgrimage to Rome. The suitor was immediately baptized under the name of jEtherius, and Ursula set out with 11 vessels, in each of which there were 1,000 companion virgins. The company crossed the sea and sailed up the Rhine as far as Basel, from thence they pro- ceeded overland to Rome, where they were honorably received by Pope Cyria- kus. The pious and gallant pontiff, along with a multitude of dignified eccle- siastics, accompanied his fair guests a great part of the return journey, and according to some accounts even shared in the final destruction that suddenly overtook the band; for as they were about to land at Koln they were set on by a horde of heathen Huns, by whom they were all slaughtered. Ursula was at first reserved as a bride for Etzel, the Hun king, and on her steadfast refusal of the offer she was transfixed by an arrow, and thus she is represented in mediaeval art. But the bloody deed was no sooner accomplished than 11,000 celestial warriors appeared, who com- pletely routed the Huns and freed Koln. The citizens buried the unhappy maidens with pious care by the Rhine, held after- ward sacred, and there too Clematius, a Greek pilgrim, built a church in their honor. The story excited suspicion even in a credulous age. But confirmations were not wanting. St. Elizabeth, abbess of the cloister Schonau, by Oberwesel, held spiritual communication with St. Verena, one of the murdered virgins, and saw the whole tragedy enacted as in a vision. Moreover, Egbert, brother of the abbess, and inspired by her, wrote down an ex- planation and defense of the story. In this several awkward inconsistencies were smoothed away. Thus there was no mention by Roman chroniclers of a Pope Cyriakus; but this (explained the nar- rator) was because the cardinals were angry at his leaving the city, and blotted out all mention of hira from the records of the Church. If it was asked how the virgins made such excellent sailors, it was replied that King Deonatus had with prudent foresight concealed a num- ber of mariners in the hold of each vessel, and so on. Later critics have striven to explain the vastness of the number. It has been ingeniously con- jectured that the number, at first 11, be- came 11,000 by reading the letter M. (meaning martyred) as the Roman