The bright arc of the circle nearest the center is the path of the North star.  The other arcs are the impressions left by neighboring stars, and it will be noticed that their brightness varies with their relative brilliancy.  Many are so faint as to be scarcely distinguished, and, of course, telescopic power would reveal myriads of heavenly bodies which leave no trace on a plate in an ordinary camera.  The North or pole star is commonly considered at a point directly out from the axis of the earth, but the photograph shows that it is not so located.  The variation is known astronomically to be 1-1/4 deg.  There is a slight irregularity in the position of the earth’s axis, but the changes are so slow as to be noticed only by the lapse of a thousand years.  Five thousand years ago the pole star was Draconis, and in eighteen thousand years it will be Lyrae.  We have direct evidence of the change of the earth’s axis in one of the Egyptian pyramids where an aperture marked the position of the pole star in ancient times, and from this it is now deviated considerable.

[Illustration:  Photograph of the North Star]

This experiment is within the reach of everyone owning a camera.  The photograph shown was taken by an ordinary instrument, using a standard plate of common speed.  The largest stop was used and the only requirement beyond this is to adjust the camera in a position at the proper inclination and to make the exposure for as long as desired.  On long winter nights the exposure may be extended to 12 hours, in which event the curves would be lengthened to full half-circles.

The North star is one of the easiest to locate in the entire heavens.  The constellation known as the Great Dipper is near by, and the two stars that mark the corners of the dipper on the extremity farthest from the handle lie in a line that passes across the North star.  These two stars in the Great Dipper are called the pointers.  The North Star is of considerable brilliancy, though by no means the brightest in that part of the heavens.  —­Contributed by O. S. B.

** How to Relight a Match [444]

A match may be a small thing on which to practice economy and yet a great many times one wishes to relight a match either for economy or necessity.  The usual method is to place the burnt portion of the match in the flame to be relighted as shown

[Illustration:  Relighting a Match]

in Fig. 1.  It is very hard to relight the charred end and usually burnt fingers are the result of pushing the match farther in the flame.  Hold the burnt end in the fingers and place the other end in the flame as shown in Fig. 2.  A light will be secured quickly and the flame will only follow the stick to the old burnt portion.

** Home-Made Hand Drill [444]

In the old kitchen tool box I found a rusty egg beater of the type shown in Fig. 1.  A shoemaker friend

[Illustration:  Details of Hand Drill Construction]