slowly, and
it has never entirely disappeared. It is now of the twelfth or
thirteenth magnitude.

In passing we may glance with a low power at nu Serpentis, a wide
double, magnitudes four and nine, distance 50", p. 31 deg., colors
contrasted but uncertain.

Sagittarius and its neighbor, the small but rich constellation Scutum
Sobieskii, attract us next. We shall first deal with the western
portions of these constellations which are represented on Map No. 12.
The star in Sagittarius is a wide triple, magnitudes three and a half,
nine and a half, and ten, distances 40", p. 315 deg., and 45", p. 114 deg.. But
the chief glory of Sagittarius (and the same statement applies to Scutum
Sobieskii) lies in its assemblage of star clusters. One of these, No.
4361, also known as M 8, is plainly visible to the naked eye as a bright
spot in the Milky Way. We turn our five-inch telescope, armed with a low
magnifying power, upon this subject and enjoy a rare spectacle. As we
allow it to drift through the field we see a group of three
comparatively brilliant stars advancing at the front of a wonderful
train of mingled star clusters and nebulous clouds. A little northwest
of it appears the celebrated trifid nebula, No. 4355 on the map. There
is some evidence that changes have occurred in this nebula since its
discovery in the last century. Barnard has made a beautiful photograph
showing M 8 and the trifid nebula on the same plate, and he remarks that
the former is a far more remarkable object than its more famous
neighbor. Near the eastern border of the principal nebulous cloud there
is a small and very black hole with a star poised on its eastern edge.
This hole and the star are clearly shown in the photograph.

Cluster No. 4397 (M 24) is usually described as resembling, to the naked
eye, a protuberance on the edge of the Milky Way. It is nearly three
times as broad as the moon, and is very rich in minute stars, which are
at just such a degree of visibility that crowds of them continually
appear and disappear while the eye wanders over the field, just as faces
are seen and lost in a vast assemblage of people. This kind of luminous
agitation is not peculiar to M 24, although that cluster exhibits it
better than most others do on account of both the multitude and the
minuteness of its stars.

A slight sweep eastward brings us to yet another meeting place of stars,
the cluster M 25, situated between the variables U and V. This is
bril