Primitive Constellations, by Robert Brown, jun. (Williams and Norgate, 10s.
6d.), is an inquiry into the origin and development of the curious figures which fill the surface of the celestial globe. If any one were set nowadays to map out the skies into figures of man and beast, would he arrive at any result even remotely re- sembling these strange combinations ? The inquirer has to go back to a very remote antiquity, for some at least of the star- groups are figured in the monuments of Babylon. The earliest literary mention is in Homer, who names four : Arcturus, the Bear, Orion, and the Ploughman, or rather five if the Hyades are to be reckoned. Is Mr. Brown right in taking Hyades as—Rainy oms ? We incline to the idea that the word means Piy/ines, the Latin Suculw. The idea of connecting the weather with their rising or setting would be a late one, while the naming from a familiar object would be primitive.
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