Conspicuous in high splendor, named by Greece
The Cynosure; by us the Polar Star."
The seven principal stars in this constellation form a reversed dipper, Cynosura being the first of the three that constitute the handle. Of the four that constitute the bowl, one of them is so small as to obscure the uniformity; still, it may be readily traced in a clear night with the naked eye.
The mythological history of this constellation is that Juno, the imperious queen of heaven, in a rage transformed Arcas, the son of the Nymph Calisto, into a bear; and, afterwards repenting, by the favor of Jupiter, translated him to the skies, that he might not be destroyed by the huntsman.
"Placed at the helm he sat, and marked the skies,
Nor closed in sleep his ever watchful eyes."
The Chinese claim that the Emperor Hong-ti, a grandson of Noah, first discovered and applied to navigation the Polar Star. It is certain it was used for this purpose at a very early day. Lacan, a Latin poet, who wrote about the time of the birth of our Saviour, thus adverts to the practice of steering vessels by this star:—
"Unstable Tyre, now knit to firmer ground,
With Sidon for her purple shells renowned,
Safe in the Cynosure, their glittering guide,