97. Q. What are new stars? A. Stars that come to a definite brightness and so remain.
98. Q. What are lost stars? A. Those whose first appearance was not observed, but which have utterly disappeared.
99. Q. What movements have these stars? A. There is motion of the stars in every conceivable direction.
100. Q. What is said of the appearance of the Great Dipper in thirty-six thousand years? A. The end of the dipper will have fallen out so that it will hold no water, and the handle will be broken square off at Mizar.
[ANSWERS]
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TO QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY IN THE JANUARY
NUMBER OF “THE CHAUTAUQUAN.”
By ALBERT M. MARTIN, General Secretary C. L. S. C.
1. The expression, “Possession is nine points in the law,” probably had its origin in an old Scottish proverb, “Possession is eleven points in the law, and they say there are but twelve.” It is found in a play by Colley Cibber, called “Woman’s Wit,” reading “Possession is eleven points of the law.” Later, DeQuincey uses the expression in a criticism of Shakspere’s drama of “King Lear,” in the form employed by our author. DeQuincey says: “The best of Shakspere’s dramas, ‘King Lear,’ is the least fitted for representation, and even for the vilest alteration. It ought, in candor, to be considered that possession is nine points in the law.” It occurs in the writings of a number of writers of the present century with a change of the numeral.