Note 14 — THE CONSTELLATIONS.—Camille Flammarion

Especially those which are absolutely superfluous, and occupy places stolen from the ancient constellations, like the Heart of Charles II, the Fox and Goose, the Lizard, the Sextant, the Shield of Sobieski, Mount Mænalus, the Reindeer, the Solitaire, the Messier, the Bull of Poniatowski, the Honors of Frederick, the Harp, the Telescope, the Mural Circle, the Air Balloon, the Electrical Machine, the Printer’s Workshop, and the Cat. I know, however, with reference to this last animal, that Lalande wrote: “I love cats! I adore cats! I may be pardoned for having placed one in the sky after my sixty years of assiduous labors.” But the illustrious astronomer had no necessity for this plea in order that his name should remain inscribed in letters of gold on the tablets of Urania. The Heart of Charles II is but the flattery of a courtier; the Shield of Sobieski, the Bull of Poniatowski, should fall from the sky; the Messier is but a play on words which makes the celestial flocks guarded by a pastor whose name is the same as that of the prolific hunter of comets, Messier. As for the Honors of Frederick, they usurp an unmerited place, for, in order to make room for them, Andromeda has been obliged to draw in her arm, which she had stretched out there for three thousand years.