SERPENTARIUS

, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, being one of the 48 old constellations mentioned by all the Ancients. It is called also Ophiuchus, and anciently Æsculapius. It is in the figure of a man grasping the serpent.

The Greeks had different fables about this, and other constellations, because they were ignorant of the true meaning of them. Some of them say, it represents Carnabos, who killed one of the dragons of Triptolemus. Others say, it was Hercules, killing the serpent at the river Segaris. And others again say, it represents the celebrated physician Æsculapius, to denote his skill in medicine to cure the bite of the serpent.

The stars in the constellation Serpentarius, in Ptolomy's catalogue are 29, in Tycho's 15, in Hevelius's 40, and in the Britannic catalogue they are 74.

SERPENTINE Line, the same with spiral.