conspicuous and situated at an equal distance from the pole on the
other side -- Cassiopeia. This famous star-group commemorating the
romantic Queen of Ethiopia whose vain boasting of her beauty was
punished by the exposure of her daughter Andromeda to the ``Sea
Monster,'' is well-marked by five stars which form an irregular letter
``W'' with its open side toward the pole. Three of these stars are
usually ranked as of the second magnitude, and two of the third; but
to ordinary observation they appear of nearly equal brightness, and
present a very striking picture. They mark out the chair and a part of
the figure of the beautiful queen. Beginning at the right-hand, or
western, end of the ``W,'' their Greek letter designations are: Beta
({\beta}), Alpha ({\alpha}), Gamma ({\gamma}), Delta ({\delta}), and
Epsilon ({\epsilon}). Four of them, Beta, Alpha, Delta, and Epsilon
are traveling eastwardly at various speeds, while the fifth, Gamma,
moves in a westerly direction. The motion of Beta is more rapid than
that of any of the others. It should be said, however, that no little
uncertainty attaches to the estimates of the rate of motion of stars
which are not going very rapidly, and different observers often vary
considerably in their results.

In the beautiful ``Northern Crown,'' one of the most perfect and
charming of all the figures to be found in the stars, the alternate
combining and scattering effects of the stellar motions are shown by
comparing the appearance which the constellation must have had five
hundred centuries ago with that which it has at present and that which
it will have in the future. The seven principle stars of the asterism,
forming a surprisingly perfect coronet, have movements in three
directions at right angles to one another. That in these circumstances
they should ever have arrived at positions giving them so striking an
appearance of definite association is certainly surprising; from its