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30 SOUTHERN SIGNS. Libra--the Balance. Scorpio--the Scorpion. Sagittarius--the Archer Capricornus--the Goat. Aquarius--the Water bearer. Pisces--the Fishes. The signs derived their names from the 12 constellations of the Zodiac. The various figures or groups of stars which form these constellations, repre- senting a ram, a bull, a crab, etc., orig- inated with the ancients, and is as imag- inary as the man in the moon. These animals are invisible no matter how much one may twist his neck in looking for them. It is better at once to chuck over- board these fantastic figures as so' much imaginary rubbish, for that is all it amounts to. A constellation is a group of fixed stars, bearing the name of some animal or emblem. Rest in nature seems to be impossible. We on earth know, by astronomical every-day teaching, that our globe and the other planets- continually circle around the sun as the center of this particular system; yet it is seldom brought home to our minds that the sun himself, with all his following, is speed- ing through space just as the other fixed stars (the stars are supposed to be suns like our own, and perform the same du- ty) are doing--some at the enormous rate of 300 miles a second. The question of the exact position of the point in the heavens towards which the sun with its system is traveling, has been the subject of much research and computation. The ecliptic is the apparent annual path of the sun in the heavens. The obliquity of the ecliptic is the an- gle between the plane of the equator and that of the ecliptic, now about Been but diminishing at the rate of about 46.3" a century. 'The ecliptic is also defined as that plane passing through the center of the sun, which contains the orbit of the cantimenecaled also the plane' of the ecliptic. The great circle in which this plane intersects the celestial sphere, or the apparent path of the sun around the celestial sphere. Bear in mind that the inclination al- ways remains the same, but that it is the shape of the ecliptic that does the work. INFLUENCES OF THE EARTH'S MOTIONS. The earth revolves constantly around the sun, and at the same time rotates upon an axis inclined 2314° towards the plane of its orbit. In consequence of the inclination of the axis, the declination of the sun, or its angular distance from the equator, varies with the advance of the earth in its orbit, causing periodical variations in the length of day and night, and, consequently, in temperature. THE MARINE. REVIEW POSITIONS OF THE VERTICAL SUN. _ On March 21 (vernal equinox) and Sept. 22 (autumnal equinox) the mid- day sun is vertical at the equator. Ris- ing directly in the east it ascends the heavens to the zenith, and, descending, sets directly in the west. The illuminated hemisphere extends from pole to pole, and embraces half of every parallel of latitude; hence every point of the earth's surface is under the rays of the sun dur- ing half of the diurnal rotation; the days and nights are equal all over the globe. When the earth occupies this position in its orbit the sun not only rises and sets at exactly 6 o'clock apparent time on the equator, but all over the globe as well. At all other times the sun rises and sets to the northward and southward of east and west, and its time is either before The ecliptic is a great circle whose plane coincides with that of the earth's orbit, and consequently intersects the plane of the equator at an angle of 23%4°. It marks the apparent path of the verti- cal sun from tropic to tropic during the annual revolution of the earth. The ecliptic bisects the equator, and touches the two tropics in opposite latitudes, and on opposite meridians. See diagrams. The diagram above shows the position of the north pole with respect to the edge of the sun-lighted half of the earth each month in the year. When the sun is vertically over the equator the sunlight extends to the same distance on both sides of the equator, or to both poles. As the earth rotates in this position the sun rises and sets at 6 o'clock, and the days and nights are everywhere of equal, or after 6 o'clock, depending on length. The days and nights are always the season. On the equator the of equal length on the equator, but else- sun rises and sets at exactly 6 where, except at the equinoxes, they are MARCH EQUINOX SUMNER SOLSTICE SEPTEMBER EQUINOX ' FIGURE 2. o'clock, true time, throughout the never equal. When the earth passes year, but it must not be understood either equinox, the poles gradually re- from this that the sun rises and sets exactly east and west, for it does not. From March until September the sun rises and sets to the northward of east and west in north latitude, reaching its greatest northerly bearing on. June 21. Just the opposite effects take place be- tween September and March, the sun at rising and setting reaches its most south- erly bearing on Dec. 21. The tropics, situated 2314° from the equator, mark the highest latitude which receives vertical rays of the sun. Their position is fixed by the inclination of the earth's axis 2314° towards the plane of its orbit. On June 21 the vertical sun, in its diurnal course, passes over every point on the northern tropic; on Dec. 21, over every point on the southern. Twice in the year it passes, in succession, over every parallel between the tropics; from June to December advancing south- ward, from December to June, north- ward, cede from the sunrise and sunset line for three months, and then approach and reach it again three months later at the other equinox. Thus, at the poles there are six months of continuous daylight, followed by six months of continuous darkness. Note that at March and September the north pole in each case receives the sun's light. From that time on the north pole is either in the light or dark. From March to June the sun's light itluminates more and more of the arctic pole region, and on June 21 throws its light the farthest beyond the pole. The sun's light reaches the pole about March 21, and from that time onward increases its dis- tance a fraction of a degree each day, till June 21 its sum is Zou. tliat 1s 23%° beyond the north pole, or latitude 66%° north. In other words, it has been continuous day at the north pole all this time and then beyond the pole until June 21, when all places within the arctic cir-