NOVE AQUILLAE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1847, 2 July 1918, Page 4

NOVE AQUILLAE.

A NEW SUPERSTITION.

A In-illiani theory bused on superstition lias eonimoneed to circulate as the result oE some oE the women of Wellington having made a further discovery in connection with the new star, remarks the Wellington Times.

The name of the constellation is Aquila, the name of the new star is Nova Aquiline, The star Nova Aquiline was of the first magnitude when discovered, at latest reports it, was approximately .of. second magnitude, and steadily becoming less luminous.

The second discovery is that “Aquila” means “eagle”; the eagle is the German coat of arms, and therefore symbolic of the German nation.

So everything points, the superstitious say, to the nation of the Hun doing a similar fad,e away'in the near future; but it is hard to say in how near a future this will occur. It may he mentioned that the constellation Aquila has rather a had habit of producing “Nova.” One came to light in 1899, and another in 1905. The 1899 one was of seventh magnitude at discovery, and it faded. The German nation did not appear to feel any effects. Another paper points out that it was in 1899 that the German eagle attempted a little flight in connection with the Boer War, when the Kaiser cabled a message of good cheer to his friend Paul Kruger. Then about 1905 the Moroccan incident occurred, when the eagle again attempted a premature flight. In both these years the constellation Aquila produced new stars, which soon faded away. The present star seems to have achieved its greatest magnitude (so far as this earth is concerned) simultaneously with the maximum effort in France, and it is rapidly fading awmy, as the German offensive is apparently

doing also. These cranky and superstitious notions can only appeal to those of very low T mentality.