SIRIUS and PROCYON (Vinos and Ilpetnfoo), the Greek names of the bright stars in the constellations of the Great and Little Dog [Cams MAJOR and Minor.]. These are Orion's dogs, according to ;some, and those of minor personages, according to ethers; the whole of their mythic explanations form a strong proof, in addition to those already noticed, that the constellations are not Greek in their origin. The Egyptians called the dog-star Sothis [SOTULAO PERIOD], and from its IIELIACAL rising had warning that the overflow of the Nile was about to commence. Now the overflow of the Nile follows the summer solstice ; whereas, by the precession of the equinoxes, the heliacal rising of Sirius is now about the tenth of August. This heliacal rising is a very indefinite phenomenon, and will serve any system : by it &illy, from Bainbridge 's calculations, was able to carry back the settlement of Egypt 2S00 years before Christ : while Newton, by a reckoning made on the same principles, made many ancient events seem later than was generally supposed.
The greatest heats of summer generally follow the summer solstice, and in the Mediterranean latitudes, and in ancient times, it was observed that the unhealthy and oppressive period coincided with the behead rising of the dog-star. We say the dog-star, without specifying whether it was Sirius or Procyon ; it is uncertain which it was, and may have been both, for the heliacal risings do not differ by many days. All antiquity attributed an evil influence to the star ; and
though Geminus among the ancients, and Petavius among the moderns, thought that the effects were to be attributed to the sun alone, they had hardly any followers until the fall of judicial astrology. Even at this day, when the heats of the latter part of the summer are excessive, we are gravely told that we are in the deg-days; and most of the almanacs, in which an absurdity has the lives of a cat, persist to this very year in informing us that the dog-days begin en the 3rd of July, and end on the 11th of August. Now as the heliacal rising of Sirius takes place about the very end of this period, it is clear that the cart has got before the horse, or the mischief before the dog. Moreover, it is notorious that in our island the oppressive heats of the summer, during which dogs are apt to run mad (which is what many people think the name arises from, as indeed it was anciently recorded among the effects of the star), generally fall about the middle or end of August. The real classical deg-days are the twenty days preceding and the twenty days following the heliacal rising of whichever star it was, Sirius or Procyon. It is perfectly useless to retain this period : surely these dogs have had their day.