CANCER, in astronomy, fourth sign in the zodiac (q.v.) marked thus FL. The sun enters this sign on or about the 21st of June. He is at his greatest northern declination on entering the sign, and the point which he reaches is called the summer solstice, because he appears for the moment to stop in his progress northward and then to turn south again. The sun is then 23W north of the equator, and a small circle of the sphere parallel to the equator at 23W distant from it is called the Tropic of Cancer. The sun leaves this sign about the 22d of July. The constellation Cancer is no longer in the sign of Cancer. At present it occupies the place of the sign Leo. The constellation Can cer contains within it the cluster of Praesepe or the Manger. This lies between two stars of the fourth magnitude, the Aselli or Asses, whose disappearance, according to the ancients, pre saged rain. The arrangement of the stars is in the triple or quadruple system c Caned.
Two close stars of the fifth and sixth magni tudes which revolve about each other during 60 years; and a third part which has a retro grade motion of longer period, which is still un and variable, form the constellation. It is probable that the third component is a satel lite of a larger body, and that the other two stars also revolve about this larger unknown.
or a branched parasitic plant (Leptamnium virginianum), of the family Orobanchacecr, with i brownish scaly leaves, indigenous in eastern North America, growing almost exclusively on the roots of the beech tree. The whole plant is powerfully astringent, and the root of a brown ish color, spongy and of a very nauseous bitter taste. It was once popularly believed to be a cure for cancer. Other plants of the same family are also called cancer-root.