- A lion cub accompanying Leo, introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his star catalogue of 1687 and depicted in his star atlas published posthumously in 1690. He formed it from 18 faint stars between Ursa Major and Leo where the short-lived constellation Jordanus once flowed. The brightest stars of Leo Minor are of only fourth magnitude and there are no legends associated with it.
Tom Paine has almost no influence on present-day thinking in the United States because he is unknown to the average citizen. Perhaps I might say right here that this is a national loss and a deplorable lack of understanding concerning the man who first proposed and first wrote those impressive words, ’the United States of America.’ But it is hardly strange. Paine’s teachings have been debarred from schools everywhere and his views of life misrepresented until his memory is hidden in shadows, or he is looked upon as of unsound mind.
Thomas Edison, Essay in The Diary and Sundry Observations (1948) edited by Dagobert D. Runes