With well-directed navies stem the tide."
This was over eighteen centuries ago, and still Cynosura is the "glittering guide" of the mariner, and will be for ages yet to come. It guided nations who lived so long ago that oblivion has swept their name and age from existence, as it does us at the present time, and will guide other nations so far down the stream of time that the word American will be without a meaning, if heard.
Sixty degrees south-west of the Polar Star may be seen Taurus, the first constellation on the meridian the present month. For the space of two thousand years, Taurus was the prince, the leader of the celestial hosts. Anterior to the time of Abraham, or more than four thousand years ago, the vernal equinox took place, and the year opened when the sun was in Taurus. Aries, or the Ram, succeeded next, and now the Fishes lead the brilliant throng, and the once leader is the second sign and third constellation in the zodiac. There are one hundred and forty-one visible stars comprised in this constellation, among which are two beautiful clusters, known as the Pleiades and Hyades. Six only of the Pleiades are visible to the naked eye; yet Dr. Hook, with a twelve feet telescope, saw seventy-eight stars, and Rheita, with one of greater power, counted two hundred in this small cluster, while still beyond is seen a faint hazy light, which probably would resolve into stars could an instrument be made powerful enough to overcome the distance that intervenes. All that has been, or ever can be revealed by the aid of the most powerful telescope, is as nothing in comparison to what
Beyond its reach still rolls,
In orbits like our own—
Worlds, on whose surface nature folds
Her dewy wings.
There is no finite mind which can trace the depth and breadth of immensity—
There is no eye but His alone
Can thread this deep abyss,