Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/19

 their beautiful way of explaining things, that these different rates of speed must cause a musical tone as each star rolled upon its crystal, a deep note for the slow bodies and a high note for the swift bodies, and that with the infinite swelling harmony of all the myriad stars, one vast sweeping tone of heavenly music swirled around the spheres. But this music was for the gods and no mortal could hear it.

Our modern music of the spheres is no more audible to our dulled ears than the music of those ancient days, yet its silent song of light and color, its mystic setting of ancient tales, and its wonder background of scientific fact, descends in the same sweet way to all hearts lifted to receive it. Yet many people miss all this and only know that the stars are there.

It is easy to become acquainted with the more conspicuous of the star-designs which are formed by the brightest stars in a constellation for these seem to hang down from the dome of heaven like electrically lighted frames. Some of these, such as the "W" of Cassiopeia, the "Square" of Pegasus, the "parallelogram" of Orion, the Northern Cross and the Big Dipper, are not only ornaments in the sky, but serve also as guides to point the way to other constellations.

An endeavor has been made to arrange the constellations in this volume in the most easily-learned-without-effort way that could possibly be devised, and to present them in such a manner that the student will go out of doors with a picture of the position of the stars in his mind so that in more advanced study sky maps will acquire a new significance.

First the stars in the vicinity of the North Star are discussed—the two starry Bears and Draco, the Dragon; then the great sky drama of Perseus and Andromeda, with Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia, the Queen, Pegasus, the Flying Horse and Cetus, the terrible Sea-monster; the "parade of the zenith