What is "castor and pollux"

Saint \Saint\ (s[=a]nt), n. [F., fr. L. sanctus sacred, properly p. p. of sancire to render sacred by a religious act, to appoint as sacred; akin to sacer sacred. Cf. Sacred, Sanctity, Sanctum, Sanctus.]

1. A person sanctified; a holy or godly person; one eminent for piety and virtue; any true Christian, as being redeemed and consecrated to God.

   Them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.
   --1 Cor. i.

2. 2. One of the blessed in heaven.

   Then shall thy saints, unmixed, and from the impure Far separate, circling thy holy mount, Unfeigned hallelujahs to thee sing.
   --Milton.

3. (Eccl.) One canonized by the church. [Abbrev. St.] Saint Andrew's cross.

   1. A cross shaped like the letter X. See Illust. 4, under Cross.

   2. (Bot.) A low North American shrub ( Ascyrum Crux-Andre[ae], the petals of which have the form of a Saint Andrew's cross.
      --Gray.

      Saint Anthony's cross, a T-shaped cross. See Illust. 6, under Cross.

      Saint Anthony's fire, the erysipelas; -- popularly so called because it was supposed to have been cured by the intercession of Saint Anthony.

      Saint Anthony's nut (Bot.), the groundnut ( Bunium flexuosum); -- so called because swine feed on it, and St. Anthony was once a swineherd.
      --Dr. Prior.

      Saint Anthony's turnip (Bot.), the bulbous crowfoot, a favorite food of swine.
      --Dr. Prior.

      Saint Barnaby's thistle (Bot.), a kind of knapweed ( Centaurea solstitialis) flowering on St. Barnabas's Day, June 11th.
      --Dr. Prior.

      Saint Bernard (Zo["o]l.), a breed of large, handsome dogs celebrated for strength and sagacity, formerly bred chiefly at the Hospice of St. Bernard in Switzerland, but now common in Europe and America. There are two races, the smooth-haired and the rough-haired. See Illust. under Dog.

      Saint Catharine's flower (Bot.), the plant love-in-a-mist. See under Love.

      Saint Cuthbert's beads (Paleon.), the fossil joints of crinoid stems.

      Saint Dabeoc's heath (Bot.), a heatherlike plant ( Dab[oe]cia polifolia), named from an Irish saint.

      Saint Distaff's Day. See under Distaff.

      Saint Elmo's fire, a luminous, flamelike appearance, sometimes seen in dark, tempestuous nights, at some prominent point on a ship, particularly at the masthead and the yardarms. It has also been observed on land, and is due to the discharge of electricity from elevated or pointed objects. A single flame is called a Helena, or a Corposant; a double, or twin, flame is called a Castor and Pollux, or a double Corposant. It takes its name from St. Elmo, the patron saint of sailors.

      Saint George's cross (Her.), a Greek cross gules upon a field argent, the field being represented by a narrow fimbriation in the ensign, or union jack, of Great Britain.

      Saint George's ensign, a red cross on a white field with a union jack in the upper corner next the mast. It is the distinguishing badge of ships of the royal navy of England; -- called also the white ensign.
      --Brande & C.

      Saint George's flag, a smaller flag resembling the ensign, but without the union jack; used as the sign of the presence and command of an admiral. [Eng.]
      --Brande & C.

      Saint Gobain glass (Chem.), a fine variety of soda-lime plate glass, so called from St. Gobain in France, where it was manufactured.

      Saint Ignatius's bean (Bot.), the seed of a tree of the Philippines ( Strychnos Ignatia), of properties similar to the nux vomica.

      Saint James's shell (Zo["o]l.), a pecten ( Vola Jacob[ae]us) worn by pilgrims to the Holy Land. See Illust. under Scallop.

      Saint James's-wort (Bot.), a kind of ragwort ( Senecio Jacob[ae]a).

      Saint John's bread. (Bot.) See Carob.

      Saint John's-wort (Bot.), any plant of the genus Hypericum, most species of which have yellow flowers; -- called also John's-wort.

      Saint Leger, the name of a race for three-year-old horses run annually in September at Doncaster, England; -- instituted in 1776 by Col. St. Leger.

      Saint Martin's herb (Bot.), a small tropical American violaceous plant ( Sauvagesia erecta). It is very mucilaginous and is used in medicine.

      Saint Martin's summer, a season of mild, damp weather frequently prevailing during late autumn in England and the Mediterranean countries; -- so called from St. Martin's Festival, occurring on November 11. It corresponds to the Indian summer in America.
      --Shak.
      --Whittier.

      Saint Patrick's cross. See Illust. 4, under Cross.

      Saint Patrick's Day, the 17th of March, anniversary of the death (about 466) of St. Patrick, the apostle and patron saint of Ireland.

      Saint Peter's fish. (Zo["o]l.) See John Dory, under John.

      Saint Peter's-wort (Bot.), a name of several plants, as Hypericum Ascyron, H. quadrangulum, Ascyrum stans, etc.

      Saint Peter's wreath (Bot.), a shrubby kind of Spir[ae]a ( S. hypericifolia), having long slender branches covered with clusters of small white blossoms in spring.

      Saint's bell. See Sanctus bell, under Sanctus.

      Saint Vitus's dance (Med.), chorea; -- so called from the supposed cures wrought on intercession to this saint.

Castor and Pollux \Cas"tor and Pol"lux\ [Castor and Pollux were twin sons of Jupiter and Leda.] (Naut.) See Saint Elmo's fire, under Saint.

Castor and Pollux were two elephants kept at the zoo Jardin des Plantes in Paris. They were killed and eaten, along with many other animals from the zoo, in late 1870 during the siege of Paris. The two elephants may have been siblings, and had been popular before the siege for giving rides on their backs around the park, but the food shortages caused by the German blockade of the city eventually drove the citizens of Paris to kill them for their meat.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioskouri. Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters and half-sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.

In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini or Castores. When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire, and were also associated with horsemanship.

They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later seen as a reference to their father and stepfather Tyndareus.

The Castor and Pollux group (also known as the San Ildefonso Group, after San Ildefonso in Segovia, Spain, the location of the palace of La Granja at which it was kept until 1839) is an ancient Roman sculptural group of the 1st century AD, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Drawing on 5th- and 4th-century BC Greek sculptures in the Praxitelean tradition, such as the Apollo Sauroctonos and the "Westmacott Ephebe", and without copying any single known Greek sculpture, it shows two idealised nude youths, both wearing laurel wreaths. The young men lean against each other, and to their left on an altar is a small female figure, usually interpreted as a statue of a female divinity. She holds a sphere, variously interpreted as an egg or pomegranate. The group is 161 cm high and is now accepted as portraying Castor and Pollux.

Castor and Pollux may refer to:

• Castor and Pollux, in Greek and Roman mythology, the twin sons of Lēda and Zeus/Tyndareus, who were transformed into the constellation Gemini
• Castor and Pollux, two stars in the constellation Gemini
• Castor and Pollux (elephants), two elephants kept at the zoo of the Jardin d'Acclimatation or Jardin des Plantes in Paris
• Castor and Pollux (Prado), an ancient Roman sculptural group
• Castor et Pollux, an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau
• Castor and Pollux River, in Nunavut, Canada
• Castor and Pollux, a composition by Harry Partch
• Temple of Castor and Pollux, in the Roman Forum, Rome
• Castor (Zwillinge) and Pollux (Zwillinge), twin mountain peaks in the Pennine Alps on the Italian/Swiss border