CANES VENATICI (" The HouNDS," or " the GREYHOUNDS ")  , in

astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere named by Hevelius in 1690, who compiled it from the stars between the older asterisms Ursa Major, Bootes and Coma Berenices . Interesting objects in this portion of the heavens are: the famous spiral nebula first described by Lord Rosse; a-Canum Venaticorum, a double star, of magnitudes 3 and 6; this star was named Cor Caroli, or The Heart of Charles II., by Edmund Halley, on the suggestion of Sir Charles Scarborough (1616-1694), the court physician; a cluster of stars of the 11th magnitude and fainter, extremely rich in variables, of the 900 stars examined no less than 132 being regularly variable . CANGA-ARGUELLES, JOSE (1770-1843), Spanish statesman, was born in 1770 . He took an active part in the Spanish resistance to Napoleon in a civil capacity and was an energetic member of the tortes of 1812 . On the return of the Bourbon line in 1814, Canga-Arguelles was sent into exile in the province of Valencia . On the restoration in 1820 of the constitution of 1812, he was appointed minister of finance . He continued at this post till the spring of 1821, distinguishing himself by the zeal and ability with which he sought to reform the finances of Spain . It was high time; for the annual deficit was greater than the entire revenue itself, and landed and other property was, to an unheard-of extent, monopolized by the priests . The measures he proposed had been only partially enforced, when the action of the king with regard to the ministry, of which he was a member, obliged him to resign . Thereafter, as a member of the Moderate Liberal party, Canga-Arguelles advocated constitutional government and financial reform, till the overthrow of the constitution in 1823, when he fled to England . He did not return to Spain till 1829, and did not again appear in public life, being appointed keeper of the archives at Simancas . He died in 1843 .

Canga-Arguelles is the author of three

works: Elementos de la Ciencia de Hacienda (Elements of the Science of Finance), London, 1825; Diccionario de Hacienda (Dictionary of Finance), London, 1827; and Observaciones sabre la guerra de la Peninsula (Observations on the Peninsular War), in which he endeavoured to show that his countrymen had taken a far more effective part in the national struggle against the French than English historians were willing to admit .