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diff --git a/36495.txt b/36495.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21d74f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/36495.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9989 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Astronomical Myths, by John F. Blake + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Astronomical Myths + Based on Flammarions's History of the Heavens + +Author: John F. Blake + +Release Date: June 22, 2011 [EBook #36495] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS. + + + [Illustration] + + + [Illustration: THE CLIFFS OF FLAMANVILLE.] + + + + ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS, + + BASED ON + FLAMMARION'S + "HISTORY OF THE HEAVENS." + + BY + + JOHN F. BLAKE. + + [Illustration] + + London: + MACMILLAN AND CO. + 1877. + + + + LONDON: + R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, + BREAD STREET HILL, + QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. + + + + +[Illustration] + +PREFACE. + + +The Book which is here presented to the public is founded upon a French +work by M. Flammarion which has enjoyed considerable popularity. It +contained a number of interesting accounts of the various ideas, +sometimes mythical, sometimes intended to be serious, that had been +entertained concerning the heavenly bodies and our own earth; with a +popular history of the earliest commencement of astronomy among several +ancient peoples. It was originally written in the form of conversations +between the members of an imaginary party at the seaside. It was +thought that this style would hardly be so much appreciated by English +as by French readers, and therefore in presenting the materials of the +French author in an English dress the conversational form has been +abandoned. Several facts of extreme interest in relation to the early +astronomical myths and the development of the science among the ancients +having been brought to light, especially by the researches of Mr. +Haliburton, a considerable amount of new matter, including the whole +chapter on the Pleiades, has been introduced, which makes the present +issue not exactly a translation, but rather a book founded on the French +author's work. It is hoped that it may be found of interest to those who +care to know about the early days of the oldest of our sciences, which +is now attracting general attention again by the magnitude of its recent +advances. Astronomy also, in early days, as will be seen by a perusal of +this book, was so mixed up with all the affairs of life, and contributed +so much even to religion, that a history of its beginnings is found to +reveal the origin of several of our ideas and habits, now apparently +quite unconnected with the science. There is matter of interest here, +therefore, for those who wish to know only the history of the general +ideas of mankind. + + + + +[Illustration: THE ANNUAL REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH ROUND THE SUN, WITH +THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC AND THE CONSTELLATIONS.] + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + THE CLIFFS OF FLAMANVILLE _Frontispiece._ + THE ANNUAL REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH ROUND THE SUN, WITH + THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC AND THE CONSTELLATIONS Page ix + THE EARTH'S YEAR, AND THE MONTHS " xiv + AN ASTRONOMER AT WORK To face page 1 + THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS " 49 + THE CONSTELLATIONS FROM THE SEA-SHORE " 65 + THE ZODIAC OF DENDERAH " 102 + + I. BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMERS 19 + II. DRUIDICAL WORSHIP 37 + III. CHALDEAN ASTRONOMERS 87 + IV. THE ZODIAC AND THE DEAD IN EGYPT 108 + V. THE LEGENDS OF THE DRUIDS 123 + VI. THE NEMAEAN LION 146 + VII. HEAVENS OF THE FATHERS 191 + VIII. DEATH OF COPERNICUS 208 + IX. THE SOLAR SYSTEM 225 + X. THE DISCOVERY OF THE TELESCOPE 227 + XI. THE FOUNDATION OF THE PARIS OBSERVATORY 229 + XII. THE LEGEND OF OWEN 315 + XIII. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE ECLIPSE OF THE MOON 336 + XIV. PRODIGIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES 358 + XV. AN ASTROLOGER AT WORK 385 + XVI. THE END OF THE WORLD 429 + + 1. THE EARLIEST (ARYAN) REPRESENTATION OF THE EARTH 12 + 2. ANCIENT GAULISH MEDALS, BEARING ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS 42 + 3. ANCIENT CELESTIAL SPHERE 58 + 4. POSITIONS OF THE GREAT BEAR ON SEPTEMBER 4 62 + 5. CONSTELLATION OF THE BEAR 63 + 6. CONSTELLATION OF ORION 73 + 7. CHART OF CONSTELLATIONS IN SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES 78 + 8. FLAMSTEED'S CHART 79 + 9. ARABIAN SPHERE OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY 84 + 10. ANCIENT CHINESE PIECES OF MONEY, BEARING REPRESENTATIONS OF + THE ZODIAC 93 + 11. THE ZODIAC 96 + 12. DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE POSITION OF CERTAIN STARS, B.C. 1200 98 + 13. CURIOUS FIFTEENTH CENTURY FIGURE, REPRESENTING ELEVEN + DIFFERENT HEAVENS 150 + 14. PTOLEMY'S ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEM 181 + 15. THE EPICYCLES OF PTOLEMY 184 + 16. HEAVENS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 188 + 17. EMBLEMATIC DRAWING FROM ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL WORK 193 + 18. EGYPTIAN SYSTEM 194 + 19. CAPELLA'S SYSTEM 195 + 20. THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM 205 + 21. TYCHO BRAHE'S SYSTEM 212 + 22. DESCARTES' THEORY OF VORTICES 216 + 23. VORTICES OF THE STARS 218 + 24. VARIATION OF DESCARTES' THEORY 219 + 25. THE EARTH FLOATING 237 + 26. THE EARTH WITH ROOTS 237 + 27. THE EARTH OF THE VEDIC PRIESTS 238 + 28. HINDOO EARTH 239 + 29. THE EARTH OF ANAXIMANDER 240 + 30. PLATO'S CUBICAL EARTH 241 + 31. EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATION OF THE EARTH 243 + 32. HOMERIC COSMOGRAPHY 247 + 33. THE EARTH OF THE LATER GREEKS 256 + 34. POMPONIUS MELA'S COSMOGRAPHY 257 + 35. THE EARTH'S SHADOW 262 + 36. DITTO 263 + 37. DITTO 264 + 38. DITTO 264 + 39. THE COSMOGRAPHY OF COSMAS 268 + 40. THE SQUARE EARTH 269 + 41. EXPLANATION OF SUNRISE 271 + 42. THE EARTH AS AN EGG 273 + 43. THE EARTH AS A FLOATING EGG 274 + 44. EIGHTH-CENTURY MAP OF THE WORLD 276 + 45. TENTH-CENTURY MAPS 277 + 46. THE MAP OF ANDREA BIANCO 283 + 47. FROM THE MAP IN HEREFORD CATHEDRAL 285 + 48. DITTO 286 + 49. COSMOGRAPHY OF ST. DENIS 291 + 50. THE MAP OF MARCO POLO 293 + 51. MAP ON A MEDAL OF CHARLES V 294 + 52. DANTE'S INFERNAL REGIONS 311 + 53. PARADISE OF FRA MAURO 322 + 54. THE PARADISE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 324 + 55. REPRESENTATION OF A COMET, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 349 + 56. AN EGG MARKED WITH A COMET 352 + 57. THE ROMAN CALENDAR 403 + 58. DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE ORDER OF THE DAYS OF THE WEEK 413 + + + + +[Illustration: THE EARTH'S YEAR, AND THE MONTHS.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I. + THE FIRST BEGINNINGS OF ASTRONOMY 1 + + CHAPTER II. + ASTRONOMY OF THE CELTS 29 + + CHAPTER III. + ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS 49 + + CHAPTER IV. + THE ZODIAC 89 + + CHAPTER V. + THE PLEIADES 111 + + CHAPTER VI. + THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF THE HEAVENS ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENTS 138 + + CHAPTER VII. + THE CELESTIAL HARMONY 161 + + CHAPTER VIII. + ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEMS 179 + + CHAPTER IX. + THE TERRESTRIAL WORLD OF THE ANCIENTS.--COSMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY 231 + + CHAPTER X. + COSMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE CHURCH 258 + + CHAPTER XI. + LEGENDARY WORLDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 300 + + CHAPTER XII. + ECLIPSES AND COMETS 330 + + CHAPTER XIII. + THE GREATNESS AND THE FALL OF ASTROLOGY 360 + + CHAPTER XIV. + TIME AND THE CALENDAR 387 + + CHAPTER XV. + THE END OF THE WORLD 418 + + + + +[Illustration: AN ASTRONOMER AT WORK.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +HISTORY OF THE HEAVENS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FIRST BEGINNINGS OF ASTRONOMY. + + +Astronomy is an ancient science; and though of late it has made a fresh +start in new regions, and we are opening on the era of fresh and +unlooked-for discoveries which will soon reveal our present ignorance, +our advance upon primitive ideas has been so great that it is difficult +for us to realize what they were without an attentive and not +uninstructive study of them. No other science, not even geology, can +compare with astronomy for the complete revolution which it has effected +in popular notions, or for the change it has brought about in men's +estimate of their place in creation. It is probable that there will +always be men who believe that the whole universe was made for their +benefit; but, however this may be, we have already learned from +astronomy that our habitation is not that central spot men once deemed +it, but only an ordinary planet circulating round an ordinary star, just +as we are likely also to learn from biology, that we occupy the +position, as animals, of an ordinary family in an ordinary class. + +That we may more perfectly realize this strange revolution of ideas, we +must throw ourselves as far as possible into the feeling and spirit of +our ancestors, when, without the knowledge we now possess, they +contemplated, as they could not fail to do, the marvellous and +awe-inspiring phenomena of the heavens by night. To them, for many an +age, the sun and moon and stars, with all the planets, seemed absolutely +to rise, to shine, and to set; the constellations to burst out by night +in the east, and travel slowly and in silence to the west; the ocean +waves to rise and fall and beat against the rock-bound shore as if +endowed with life; and even in the infancy of the intellect they must +have longed to pierce the secrets of this mysterious heavenly vault, and +to know the nature of the starry firmament as it seemed to them, and +the condition of the earth which appeared in the centre of these +universal movements. The simplest hypothesis was for them the truth, and +they believed that the sky was in reality a lofty and extended canopy +bestudded with stars, and the earth a vast plain, the solid basis of the +universe, on which dwelt man, sole creature that lifted his eyes and +thoughts above. Two distinct regions thus appeared to compose the whole +system--the upper one, or the air, in which were the moving stars, the +lights of heaven, and the firmament over all; and the lower one, or +earth and sea, adorned on the surface with the products of life, and +below with the minerals, metals, and stones. For a long time the various +theories of the universe, grotesque and changing as they might be, were +but modifications of this one central idea, the earth below, the heavens +above, and on this was based every religious system that was +promulgated--the very phrases founded upon it remaining to this day for +a testimony to the intimate relation thus manifested between the infant +ideas in astronomy and theology. No wonder that early revolutions in the +conceptions in one science were thought to militate against the other. +It is only when the thoughts on both are enlarged that it is seen that +their connection is not necessary, but accidental, or, at least, +inevitable only in the infancy of both. + +It is scarcely possible to estimate fully the enormous change from +these ideas representing the appearances to those which now represent +the reality; or to picture to ourselves the total revolution in men's +minds before they could transform the picture of a vast terrestrial +surface, to which the sun and all the heavenly bodies were but +accessories for various purposes, to one in which the earth is but a +planet like Mars, moving in appearance among the stars, as it does, and +rotating with a rapidity that brings a whole hemisphere of the heavens +into view through the course of a single day and night. At first sight, +what a loss of dignity! but, on closer thought, what a gain of grandeur! +No longer some little neighbouring lights shine down upon us from a +solid vault; but we find ourselves launched into the sea of infinity; +with power to gaze into its almost immeasurable depths. + +To appreciate rightly our position, we have to plant ourselves, in +imagination, in some spot removed from the surface of the earth, where +we may be uninfluenced by her motion, and picture to ourselves what we +should see. Were we placed in some spot far enough removed from the +earth, we should find ourselves in eternal day; the sun would ever +shine, for no great globe would interpose itself between it and our +eyes; there would be no night there. Were we in the neighbourhood of the +earth's orbit, and within it, most wonderful phenomena would present +themselves. At one time the earth would appear but an ordinary planet, +smaller than Venus, but, as time wore on, unmeasured by recurring days +or changing seasons, it would gradually be seen to increase in size--now +appearing like the moon at the full, and shining like her with a silver +light. As it came nearer, and its magnitude increased, the features of +the surface would be distinguished; the brighter sea and the darker +shining continents, with the brilliant ice-caps at the poles; but, +unlike what we see in the moon, these features would appear to move, +and, one after another, every part of the earth would be visible. The +actual time required for all to pass before us would be what we here +call a day and night. And still, as it rotates, the earth passes nearer +to us, assumes its largest apparent size, and so gradually decreasing +again, becomes once more, after the interval we here call a year, an +ordinary-looking star-like planet. To us, in these days, this +description is easy of imagination; we find no difficulty in picturing +it to ourselves; but, if we will think for a moment what such an idea +would have been to the earliest observers of astronomy, we shall better +appreciate the vast change that has taken place--how we are removed from +them, as we may say, _toto coelo_. + +But not only as to the importance of the earth in the universe, but on +other matters connected with astronomy, we perceive the immensity of the +change in our ideas--in that of distance, for instance. This celestial +vault of the ancients was near enough for things to pass from it to us; +it was in close connection with the earth, supported by it, and +therefore of less diameter; but now, when our distance from the sun is +expressed by numbers that we may write, indeed, but must totally fail to +adequately appreciate, and the distance from the _next_ nearest star is +such, that with the velocity of light--a velocity we are accustomed to +regard as instantaneous--we should only reach it after a three years' +journey, we are reminded of the pathetic lines of Thomas Hood: + + "I remember, I remember, the fir trees straight and high, + And how I thought their slender tops were close against the sky; + It was a childish fantasy, but now 'tis little joy, + To know I'm further off from heaven than when I was a boy." + +The astronomer's answer to the last line would be that as far as the +material heaven goes, we are just as much in it as the stars or as any +other member of the universe; we cannot, therefore, be far off or near +to it. + +It is probable that we are even yet but little awake to true cosmical +ideas in other respects;--as to velocity, for instance. We know indeed, +of light and electricity and the motions of the earth, but revelations +are now being made to us of motions of material substances in the sun +with such velocities that in comparison with them any motions on the +earth appear infinitesimally small. Our progress to our present notions, +and appreciations of the truth of nature in the heavens, will thus +occupy much of our thoughts; but we must also recount the history of the +acquirement of those facts which have ultimately become the basis for +our changes of idea. + +Our rustic forefathers, whatever their nation, were not so enamoured of +the "wonders of science"--that their astronomy was greatly a collection +of theories, though theories, and wild ones, they had; it was a more +practical matter, and was believed too by them to be more practical than +we now find reason to believe to be the case. They noticed the various +seasons, and they marked the changes in the appearances of the heavens +that accompanied them; they connected the two together, and conceived +the latter to be the cause of the former, and so, with other apparently +uncertain events. The celestial phenomena thus acquired a fictitious +importance which rendered their study of primary necessity, but gave no +occasion for a theory. + +That we may better appreciate the earliest observations on astronomy, it +may be well to mention briefly what are the varying phenomena which may +most easily be noticed. If we except the phases of the moon, which +almost without observation would force their recognition on people who +had no other than lunar light by night, and which must therefore, from +the earliest periods of human history have divided time into lunar +months; there are three different sets of phenomena which depend on the +arrangement of our planetary system, and which were early observed. + +The first of these depends upon the earth's rotation on its axis, the +result of which is that the stars appear to revolve with a uniform +motion from east to west; the velocity increasing with the distance from +the pole star, which remains nearly fixed. This circumstance is almost +as easy of observation as the phases of the moon, and was used from the +earliest ages to mark the passage of time during the night. The next +arises from the motion of the earth in her orbit about the sun, by which +it happens that the earth is in a different position with respect to the +sun every night, and, therefore, a different set of stars are seen in +his neighbourhood; these are setting with him, and therefore also a +different set are just rising at sunset every evening. These changes, +which would go through the cycle in a year, are, of course, less +obvious, but of great importance as marking the approach of the various +seasons during ages in which the hour of the sun's rising could not be +noted by a clock. The last depends on the proper motions of the moon and +planets about the earth and sun respectively, by reason of which those +heavenly bodies occupy varying positions among the stars. Only a careful +and continuous scrutiny of the heavens would detect these changes, +except, perhaps, in the case of the moon, and but little of importance +really depends on them; nevertheless, they were very early the subject +of observation, as imagination lent them a false value, and in some +cases because their connection with eclipses was perceived. The +practical cultivation of astronomy amongst the earliest people had +always reference to one or other of these three sets of appearances, and +the various terms and signs that were invented were intended for the +clearer exposition of the results of their observations on these points. + +In looking therefore into extreme antiquity we shall find in many +instances our only guide to what their knowledge was is the way in which +they expressed these results. + +We do not find, and perhaps we should scarcely expect to find, any one +man or even one nation who laid the foundation of astronomy--for it was +an equal necessity for all, and was probably antecedent to the practice +of remembering men by their names. We cannot, either, conjecture the +antiquity of ideas and observations met with among races who are +themselves the only record of their past; and if we are to find any +origins of the science, it is only amongst those nations which have been +cultivators of arts by which their ancient doings are recorded. + +Amongst the earliest cultivators of astronomy we may refer to the +Primitive Greeks, the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the +Aryans, and also to certain traditions met with amongst many savage as +well as less barbarous races, the very universality of which proclaims +as loudly as possible their extreme antiquity. + +Each of the four above-mentioned races have names with which are +associated the beginnings of astronomy--Uranus and Atlas amongst the +Greeks; Folic amongst the Chinese; Thaut or Mercury in Egypt; Zoroaster +and Bel in Persia and Babylonia. Names such as these, if those of +individuals, are not necessarily those of the earliest astronomers--but +only the earliest that have come down to us. Indeed it is very far from +certain whether these ancient celebrities have any real historical +existence. The acts and labours of the earliest investigators are so +wrapped in obscurity, there is such a mixture of fable with tradition, +that we can have no reliance that any of them, or that others mentioned +in ancient mythology, are not far more emblematical than personal. Some, +such as Uranus, are certainly symbolical; but the very existence of the +name handed down to us, if it prove nothing else, proves that the +science was early cultivated amongst those who have preserved or +invented them. + +If we attempt to name in years the date of the commencement--not of +astronomy itself--for that probably in some form was coeval with the +race of man itself, but of recorded observations, we are met with a new +difficulty arising from the various ways in which they reckoned time. +This was in every case by the occurrence of the phases of one or other +of the above-mentioned phenomena; sometimes however they selected the +apparent rotation of the sun in twenty-four hours, sometimes that of the +moon in a month, sometimes the interval from one solstice to the next, +and yet they apparently gave to each and all of these the same +title--such as _annus_--obviously representing a cycle only, but +without reference to its length. By these different methods of +counting, hopeless confusion has often been introduced into chronology; +and the moderns have in many instances unjustly accused the ancients of +vanity and falsehood. Bailly attempted to reconcile all these various +methods and consequent dates with each other, and to prove that +practical astronomy commenced "about 1,500 years before the Deluge, or +that it is about 7,000 years old;" but we shall see reason in the sequel +for suspecting any such attempt, and shall endeavour to arrive at more +reliable dates from independent evidence. + +Perhaps the remotest antiquity to which we can possibly mount is that of +the Aryans, amongst whom the hymns of the _Rig Veda_ were composed. The +short history of Hebrew and Greco-Roman civilization seems to be lost in +comparison with this the earliest work of human imagination. When +seeking for words to express their thoughts, these primitive men by the +banks of the Oxus personified the phenomena of the heavens and earth, +the storm, the wind, the rain, the stars and meteors. Here, of course, +it is not practical but theoretical astronomy we find. We trace the +first figuring of that primitive idea alluded to before--the heaven +above, the earth below. Here, as we see, is the earth represented as an +indefinite plane surface and passive being forming the foundation of +the world; and above it the sky, a luminous and variable vault beneath +which shines out the fertile and life-giving light. Thus to the earth +they gave the name P'RTHOVI, "the wide expanse;" the blue and +star-bespangled heavens they called VARUNA, "the vault;" and beneath it +in the region of the clouds they enthroned the light DYAUS, _i.e._ "the +luminous air." + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +From hence, it would appear, or on this model, the early ideas of all +peoples have been formed. Among the Greeks the name for heaven expresses +the same idea of a hollow vault ([Greek: koilos], hollow, concave) and +the earth is called [Greek: ge], or mother. Among the Latins the name +_coelum_ has the same signification, while the earth _terra_ comes +from the participle _tersa_ (the dry element) in contradistinction to +_mare_ the wet. + +In this original Aryan notion, however, as represented by the figure, we +have more than this, the origin of the names _Jupiter_ and _Deus_ comes +out. For it is easy to trace the connection between _Dyaus_ (the +luminiferous air) and the Greek word _Zeus_ from whence _Dios_, [Greek: +_theos_], _Deus_, and the French word _Dieu_, and then by adding _pater_ +or father we get _Deuspater_, _Zeuspater_, Jupiter. + +These etymologies are not however matters beyond dispute, and there are +at least two other modes of deriving the same words. Thus we are told +the earliest name for the Deity was Jehovah, the word _Jehov_ meaning +father of life; and that the Greeks translated this into _Dis_ or +_Zeus_, a word having, according to this theory, the same sense, being +derived from [Greek: zao] to live. Of course there can be no question of +the later word _Deus_ being the direct translation of _Dios_. + +A third theory is that there exists in one of the dialects which formed +the basis of the old languages of Asia, a word _Yahouh_, a participle of +the verb _nih_, to exist, to be; which therefore signifies the +self-existent, the principle of life, the origin of all motion, and this +is supposed to be the allusion of Diodorus, who explaining the theology +of the Greeks, says that the Egyptians according to Manetho, priest of +Memphis, in giving names to the five elements have called the spirit or +ether Youpiter in the _proper sense_ of the word, for the spirit is the +source of life, the author of the vital principle in animals, and is +hence regarded as the father or generator of all beings. The people of +the Homeric ages thought the lightning-bearing Jupiter was the +commencement, origin, end, and middle of all things, a single and +universal power, governing the heavens, the earth, fire, water, day and +night, and all things. Porphyry says that when the philosophers +discoursed on the nature and parts of the Deity, they could not imagine +any single figure that should represent all his attributes, though they +presented him under the appearance of a man, who was _seated_ to +represent his immovable essence; uncovered in his upper part, because +the upper parts of the universe or region of the stars manifest most of +his nature; but clothed below the loins, because he is more hidden in +terrestrial things; and holding a sceptre in his left hand, because his +heart is the ruler of all things. There are, besides, the etymologies +which assert that Jupiter is derived from _juvare_ to help, meaning the +assisting father; or again that he is _Dies pater_--the god of the +day--in which case no doubt the sun would be alluded to. + +It appears then that the ancient Aryan scheme, though _possibly_ +supplying us with the origin of one of the widest spread of our words, +is not universally allowed to do so. This origin, however, appears to +derive support from the apparent occurrence of the original of another +well-known ancient classical word in the same scheme, that is Varuna, +obviously the same word as [Greek: Ouranos], and Uranus, signifying the +heavens. Less clearly too perhaps we may trace other such words to the +same source. Thus the Sun, which according to these primitive +conceptions is the husband of the Earth, which it nourishes and makes +fruitful, was called _Savitr_ and _Surya_, from which the passage to the +Gothic _Sauil_ is within the limits of known etymological changes, and +so comes the Lithuanian _Saull_, the Cymric _Haul_, the Greek _Heilos_, +the Latin _Sol_, and the English _Solar_. So from their _Nakt_, the +destructive, we get _Nux_, _Nacht_, _Night_. From _Glu_, the Shining, +whence the participle _Glucina_, and so to _Lucina_, _Luena_, _Luna_, +_Lune_. + +Turning from the ancient Aryans, whose astronomy we know only from poems +and fables, and so learn but little of their actual advance in the +science of observation, we come to the Babylonians, concerning whose +astronomical acquirements we have lately been put in possession of +valuable evidence by the tablets obtained by Mr. Smith from Kouyunjik, +an account the contents of which has been given by Mr. Sayce (_Nature_, +vol. xii. p. 489). As the knowledge thus obtained is more certain, being +derived from their actual records, than any that we previously +possessed, it will be well to give as full an account of it as we are +able. + +The originators of Babylonian astronomy were not the Chaldaeans, but +another race from the mountains of Elam, who are generally called +Acadians. Of the astronomy of this race we have no complete records, but +can only judge of their progress by the words and names left by them to +the science, as afterwards cultivated by the Semitic Babylonians. These +last were a subsequent race, who entering the country from the East, +conquered the original inhabitants about 2000 B.C., and borrowed their +civilization, and with it their language in the arts and sciences. But +even this latter race is one of considerable antiquity, and when we see, +as we shortly shall, the great advances they had made in observations of +the sun and moon, and consider the probable slowness of development in +those early ages, we have some idea of the remoteness of the date at +which astronomical science was there commenced. Our chief source of +information is an extremely ancient work called The _Observations of +Bell_, supposed to have been written before 1700 B.C., which was +compiled for a certain King Saigou, of Agave in Babylonia. This work is +in seventy books or parts, and is composed of numerous small earthen +tablets having impressed upon them the cuneiform character in which +they printed, and which we are now able to read. We generally date the +art of printing from Caxton, in 1474, because it took the place of +manuscript that had been previously in use in the West; but that method +of writing, if in some respects an improvement on previous methods of +recording ideas as more easily executed, was in others a retrogression +as being less durable: while the manuscripts have perished the +impressions on stone have remained to this day, and will no doubt last +longer than even our printed books. These little tablets represented so +many leaves, and in large libraries, such as that from which those known +have been derived, they were numbered as our own are now, so that any +particular one could be asked for by those who might wish to consult it. +The great difficulty of interpreting these records, which are written in +two different dialects, and deal often with very technical matters, may +well be imagined. These difficulties however have been overcome, and a +good approach to the knowledge of their contents has been made. The +Chaldaeans, as is well known, were much given to astronomy and many of +their writings deal with this subject; but they did practical work as +well, and did not indulge so much in theory as the Aryans. We shall have +future occasion in this book to refer to their observations on various +points, as they did not by any means confine themselves to the simplest +matters; much, in fact, of that with which modern astronomy deals, the +dates and duration of eclipses of the sun and moon, the accurate +measurement of time, the existence of cycles in lunar and solar +phenomena, was studied and recorded by them. We can make some approach +to the probable dates of the invention of some part of their system, by +means of the signs of the Zodiac, which were invented by them and which +we will discuss more at length hereafter. We need only say at present +that what is now the sign of spring, was not reckoned so with them, and +that we can calculate how long ago it is that the sign they reckoned the +spring sign was so. + +Semiramis also raised in the centre of Babylon a temple consecrated to +Jupiter, whom the Babylonians called Bel. It was of an extraordinary +height and served for an observatory. The whole edifice was constructed +with great art in asphalte and brick. On its summit were placed the +statues of Jupiter, Juno, and Rhea, covered with gold. + +The Egyptians have always been named as the earliest cultivators of +astronomy by the Grecian writers, by whom the science has been handed +down to us, and the Chaldaeans have even been said to have borrowed from +them. The testimony of such writers however is not to be received +implicitly, but to be weighed with the knowledge we may now obtain, as +we have noticed above with respect to the Babylonians, from the actual +records they have left us, whether by actual records, or by words and +customs remaining to the present day. + +[Illustration: PLATE I.--BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMERS.] + +Herodotus declares that the Egyptians had made observations for 11,340 +years and had seen the course of the sun change four times, and the +ecliptic placed perpendicular to the equator. This is the style of +statement on which opinions of the antiquity of Egyptian astronomy have +been founded, and it is obviously unworthy of credit. + +Diodorus says that there is no country in which the positions and +motions of the stars have been so accurately observed as in Egypt +(_i.e._ to his knowledge). They have preserved, he says, for a great +number of years registers in which their observations are recorded. +Expositions are found in these registers of the motions of the planets, +their revolutions and their stations, and, moreover, the relation which +each bears to the birthdays of animals, and its good or evil influence. +They often predicted the future with success. The earthquakes, +inundations, the appearance of comets, and many other phenomena which it +is impossible for the vulgar to know beforehand, were foreseen by them +by means of the observations they had made over a long series of years. + +On the occasion of the French expedition to Egypt, a long passage was +discovered leading from Karnak to Lucksor. This passage was adorned on +each side of the way with a range of 1600 sphinxes with the body of a +lion and the head of a ram. Now in Egyptian architecture, the ornaments +are never the result of caprice or chance; on the contrary, all is done +with intention, and what often appears at first sight strange, appears, +after having been carefully examined and studied, to present allegories +full of sense and reason, founded on a profound knowledge of natural +phenomena, that the ornaments are intended to record. These sphinxes and +rams of the passage were probably the emblems of the different signs of +the Zodiac along the route of the sun. The date of the avenue is not +known; but it would doubtless lead us to a high antiquity for the +Egyptian observations. + +The like may be said of the great pyramid, which according to Piazzi +Smyth was built about 2170 B.C. Certainly there are no carvings about it +exhibiting any astronomical designs; but the exact way in which it is +executed would seem to indicate that the builders had a very clear +conception of the importance of the meridian line. It should, however, +be stated that Piazzi Smyth does not consider it to have been built by +the Egyptians for themselves; but under the command of some older race. + +There seem, however, to be indications in various festivals and +observances, which are met with widely over the earth's surface, as will +be indicated more in detail in the chapter on the Pleiades, that some +astronomical observations, though of the rudest, were made by races +anterior even to those whose history we partially possess; and that not +merely because of its naturalness, but because of positive evidence, we +must trace back astronomy to a source from whence Egyptians, Indians, +and perhaps Babylonians themselves derived it. + +The Chinese astronomy is totally removed from these and stands on its +own basis. With them it was a matter concerning the government, and +stringent laws were enforced on the state astronomers. The advance, +however, that they made would appear to be small; but if we are to +believe their writers, they made observations nearly three thousand +years before our era. + +Under the reign of Hoangti, Yuchi recorded that there was a large star +near the poles of the heavens. By a method which we shall enlarge upon +further on, it can be astronomically ascertained that about the epoch +this observation was said to be made there was a star ([Greek: a] +Draconis) so near the pole as to appear immovable, which is so far a +confirmation of his statement. In 2169 the first of a series of eclipses +was recorded by them; but the value of their astronomy seems to be +doubtful when we learn that calculation proves that not one of them +previous to the age of Ptolemy can be identified with the dates given. + +Amongst all nations except the Chinese, where it was political, and the +Greeks, where it was purely speculative, astronomy has been intimately +mixed with religious ideas, and we consequently find it to have taken +considerable hold on the mind. + +Just as we have seen among the Indians that the basis of their +astronomical ideas was the two-fold division into heaven and earth, so +among other nations this duality has formed the basis of their +religion. Two aspects of things have been noticed by men in the +constitution of things--that which remains always, and that which is +merely transitory, causes and effects. The heaven and the earth have +presented the image of this to their minds--one being the eternal +existence, the other the passing form. In heaven nothing seems to be +born, increase, decrease, or die above the sphere of the moon. That +alone showed the traces of alteration in its phases; while on the other +hand there was an image of perpetuity in its proper substance, in its +motion, and the invariable succession of the same phases. + +From another point of view, the heavens were regarded as the father, and +the earth as the mother of all things. For the principle of fertility in +the rains, the dew and the warmth, came from above; while the earth +brought forth abundantly of the products of nature. Such is the idea of +Plutarch, of Hesiod, and of Virgil. From hence have arisen the fictions +which have formed the basis of theogony. Uranus is said to have espoused +Ghe, or the heavens took the earth to wife, and from their marriage was +born the god of time or Saturn. + +Another partly religious, and partly astronomical antagonism has been +drawn between light and darkness, associated respectively with good and +evil. In the days when artificial lights, beyond those of the flickering +fire, were unknown, and with the setting of the sun all the world was +enveloped in darkness and seemed for a time to be without life, or at +least cut off entirely from man, it would seem that the sun and its +light was the entire origin of life. Hence it naturally became the +earliest divinity whose brilliant light leaping out of the bosom of +chaos, had brought with it man and all the universe, as we see it +represented in the theologies of Orpheus and of Moses; whence the god +Bel of the Chaldeans, the Oromaza of the Persians, whom they invoke as +the source of all that is good in nature, while they place the origin of +all evil in darkness and its god Ahrinam. We find the glories of the sun +celebrated by all the poets, and painted and represented by numerous +emblems and different names by the artists and sculptors who have +adorned the temples raised to nature or the great first cause. + +Among the Jews there are traditions of a very high antiquity for their +astronomy. Josephus assures us that it was cultivated before the Mosaic +Deluge. According to him it is to the public spirit and the labour of +the antediluvians that we owe the science of astrology: "and since they +had learnt from Adam that the world should perish by water and by fire, +the fear that their science should be lost, made them erect two columns, +one of brick the other of stone, on which they engraved the knowledge +they had acquired, so that if a deluge should wash away the column of +brick, the stone one might remain to preserve for posterity the memory +of what they had written. The prescience was rewarded, and the column of +stone is still to be seen in Syria." Whatever we may think of this +statement it would certainly be interesting if we could find in Syria or +anywhere else a monument that recorded the ancient astronomical +observations of the Jews. Ricard and others believe that they were very +far advanced in the science, and that we owe a great part of our present +astronomy to them; but such a conjecture must remain without proof +unless we could prove them anterior to the other nations, whom, we have +seen, cultivated astronomy in very remote times. + +One observation seems peculiar to them, if indeed it be a veritable +observation. Josephus says, "God prolonged the life of the patriarchs +that preceded the deluge, both on account of their virtues, and to give +them the opportunity of perfecting the sciences of geometry and +astronomy which they had discovered; which they could not have done if +they had not lived for 600 years, because it is only after the lapse of +600 years that the _great year_ is accomplished." + +Now what is this great year or cycle of 600 years? M. Cassini, the +director of the Observatory of Paris, has discussed it astronomically. +He considers it as a testimony of the high antiquity of their astronomy. +"This period," he says, "is one of the most remarkable that have been +discovered; for, if we take the lunar month to be 29 days 12h. 44m. 3s. +we find that 219,146-1/2 days make 7,421 lunar months, and that this +number of days gives 600 solar years of 365 days 5h. 51m. 36s. If this +year was in use before the deluge, it appears very probable it must be +acknowledged that the patriarchs were already acquainted to a +considerable degree of accuracy with the motions of the stars, for this +lunar month agrees to a second almost with that which has been +determined by modern astronomers." + +A very similar argument has been used by Prof. Piazzi Smyth to prove +that the Great Pyramids were built by the descendants of Abraham near +the time of Noah; namely, that measures of two different elements in the +measurement of time or space when multiplied or divided produce a number +which may be found to represent some proportion of the edifice, and +hence to assume that the two numbers were known to the builders. + +We need scarcely point out that numbers have always been capable of +great manipulation, and the mere fact of one number being so much +greater than another, is no proof that _both_ were known, unless we knew +that _one_ of them was known independently, or that they are intimately +connected. + +In the case of Josephus' number the cycle during which the lunar months +and solar years are commensurable has been long discussed and if the +number had been 19 instead of 600, we should have had little doubt of +its reference; yet 600 is a very simple number and might refer to many +other cycles than the complicated one pointed out by M. Cassini. A +similar case may be quoted with regard to the Indians, which, according +to our temperament, may be either considered a proof that these +reasonings are correct, or that they are easy to make. They say that +there are two stars diametrically opposite which pass through the zodiac +in 144 years; nothing can be made of this period, nor yet of another +equally problematical one of 180 years; but if we multiply the two +together we obtain 25,920, which is very nearly the length of the cycle +for the precession of the equinoxes. + +In this review of the ancient ideas of different peoples, we have +followed the most probable order in considering that the observation of +nature came first, and the different parts of it were afterwards +individualized and named. It is proper to add that according to some +ancient authors--such as Diodorus Siculus--the process was considered to +have been the other way. That Uranus was an actual individual, that +Atlas and Saturn were his sons or descendants or followers, and that +because Atlas was a great astronomer he was said to support the heavens, +and that his seven daughters were real, and being very spiritual they +were regarded as goddesses after death and placed in heaven under the +name of the Pleiades. + +However, the universality of the ideas seems to forbid this +interpretation, which is also in itself much less natural. + +These various opinions lead us to remark, in conclusion, that the +fables of ancient mythological astronomy must be interpreted by means of +various keys. Allegory is the first--the allegory employed by +philosophers and poets who have spoken in figurative language. Their +words taken in the letter are quite unnatural, but many of the fables +are simply the description or explanation of physical facts. +Hieroglyphics are another key. Having become obscure by the lapse of +time they sometimes, however, present ideas different from those which +they originally expressed. It is pretty certain that hieroglyphics have +been the source of the men with dogs' heads, or feet of goats, &c. +Fables also arise from the adoption of strange words whose sound is +something like another word in the borrowing language connected with +other ideas, and the connection between the two has to be made by +fable. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ASTRONOMY OF THE CELTS. + + +The numerous stone monuments that are to be found scattered over this +country, and over the neighbouring parts of Normandy, have given rise to +many controversies as to their origin and use. By some they have been +supposed to be mere sepulchral monuments erected in late times since the +Roman occupation of Great Britain. Such an idea has little to rest upon, +and we prefer to regard them, as they have always been regarded, as +relics of the Druidical worship of the Celtic or Gaulish races that +preceded us in this part of Europe. + +If we were to believe the accounts of ordinary historians, we might +believe that the Druids were nothing more than a kind of savage race, +hidden, like the fallow-deer in the recesses of their woods. Thought to +be sanguinary, brutal, superstitious, we have learned nothing of them +beyond their human sacrifices, their worship of the oak, their raised +stones; without inquiring whether these characteristics which scandalize +our tastes, are not simply the legacy of a primitive era, to which, by +the side of the tattered religions of the old Paganism, Druidism +remained faithful. Nevertheless the Druids were not without merit in the +order of thought. + +For the Celts, as for all primitive people, astronomy and religion were +intimately associated. They considered that the soul was eternal, and +the stars were worlds successively inhabited by the spiritual emigrants. +They considered that the stars were as much the abodes of human life as +our own earth, and this image of the future life constituted their power +and their grandeur. They repelled entirely the idea of the destruction +of life, and preferred to see in the phenomena of death, a voyage to a +region already peopled by friends. + +Under what form did Druidical science represent the universe? Their +scientific contemplation of the heavens was at the same time a religious +contemplation. It is therefore impossible to separate in our history +their astronomical and theological heavens. + +In their theological astronomy, or astronomical theology, the Druids +considered the totality of all living beings as divided into three +circles. The first of these circles, the circle of immensity, _Ceugant_, +corresponding to incommunicable, infinite attributes, belonged to God +alone; it was properly the absolute, and none, save the ineffable +being, had a right there. The second circle, that of blessedness, +_Gwyn-fyd_, united in it the beings that have arrived at the superior +degrees of existence; this was heaven. The third, the circle of voyages, +_Abred_, comprised all the noviciate; it was there, at the bottom of the +abysses, in the great oceans, as Taliesin says, that the first breath of +man commenced. The object proposed to men's perseverance and courage was +to attain to what the bards called the point of liberty, very probably +the point at which, being suitably fortified against the assaults of the +lower passions, they were not exposed to be troubled, against their +wills, in their celestial aspirations; and when they arrived at such a +point--so worthy of the ambition of every soul that would be its own +master--they quitted the circle of Abred and entered that of Gwyn-fyd; +the hour of their recompense had come. + +Demetrius, cited by Plutarch, relates that the Druids believed that +these souls of the elect were so intimately connected with our circle +that they could not emerge from it without disturbing its equilibrium. +This writer states, that being in the suite of the Emperor Claudius, in +some part of the British isles, he heard suddenly a terrible hurricane, +and the priests, who alone inhabited these sacred islands, immediately +explained the phenomenon, by telling him that a vacuum had been produced +on the earth, by the departure of an important soul. "The great men," he +said, "while they live are like torches whose light is always +beneficent and never harms any one, but when they are extinguished their +death generally occasions, as you have just seen, winds, storm, and +derangements of the atmosphere." + +The palingenetic system of the Druids is complete in itself, and takes +the being at his origin, and conducts him to the ultimate heaven. At the +moment of his creation, as Henry Martyn says in his Commentary, the +being has no conscience of the gifts that are latent in him. He is +created in the lowest stage of life, in _Annwfn_, the shadowy abyss at +the base of _Abred_. There, surrounded by nature, submitted to +necessity, he rises obscurely through the successive degrees of +inorganic matter, and then through the organic. His conscience at last +awakes. He is man. "Three things are primarily contemporaneous--man, +liberty, and light." Before man there was nothing in creation but fatal +obedience to physical laws; with man commences the great battle between +liberty and necessity, good and evil. The good and the evil present +themselves to man in equilibrium, "and he can at his pleasure attach +himself to one or the other of them." + +It might appear at first sight that it was carrying things too far to +attribute to the Druids the knowledge, not indeed of the true system of +the world, but the general idea on which it was constructed. But, on +closer examination, this opinion seems to have some consistency. If it +was from the Druids that Pythagoras derived the basis of his theology, +why should it not be from them that he derived also that of his +astronomy? Why, if there is no difficulty in seeing that the principle +of the subordination of the earth might arise from the meditations of an +isolated spirit, should there be any more difficulty in thinking that +the principles of astronomy should take birth in the midst of a +corporation of theologians embued with the same ideas as the +philosophers on the circulation of life, and applied with continued +diligence to the study of celestial phenomena. The Druid, not having to +receive mythological errors, might be led by that circumstance to +imagine in space other worlds similar to our own. + +Independently of its intrinsic value, this supposition rests also upon +the testimony of historians. A singular statement made by Hecataeus with +regard to the religious rites of Great Britain exhibits this in a +striking manner. This historian relates that the moon, seen in this +island, appears much larger than it does anywhere else, and that it is +possible to distinguish mountains on its surface, such as there are on +the earth. Now, how had the Druids made an observation of this kind? It +is of not much consequence whether they had actually seen the lunar +mountains or had only imagined them, the curious thing is that they were +persuaded that that body was like the earth, and had mountains and +other features similar to our own. Plutarch, in his treatise _De facie +in orbe Lunae_, tells us that, according to the Druids, and conformably +to an idea which had long been held in science, the surface of the moon +is furrowed with several Mediterraneans, which the Grecian philosophers +compare to the Red and Caspian seas. It was also thought that immense +abysses were seen, which were supposed to be in communication with the +hemisphere that is turned away from the earth. Lastly, the dimensions of +this sky-borne country were estimated; (ideas very different to those +that were current in Greece): its size and its breadth, says the +traveller depicted by the writer, are not at all such as the geometers +say, but much larger. + +It is through the same author, who is in accordance in this respect with +all the bards, that we know that this celestial earth was considered by +the theologians of the West as the residence of happy souls. They rose +and approached it in proportion as their preparation had been complete, +but, in the agitation of the whirlwind, many reached the moon that it +would not receive. "The moon repelled a great number, and rejected them +by its fluctuations, at the moment they reached it; but those that had +better success fixed themselves there for good; their soul is like the +flame, which, raising itself in the ether of the moon, as fire raises +itself on that of the earth receives force and solidity in the same way +that red-hot iron does when plunged into the water." + +They thus traced an analogy between the moon and the earth, which they +doubtless carried out to its full development, and made the moon an +image of what they knew here, picturing there the lunar fields and +brooks and breezes and perfumes. What a charm such a belief must have +given to the heavens at night. The moon was the place and visible pledge +of immortality. On this account it was placed in high position in their +religion; the order of all the festivals was arranged after that which +was dedicated to it; its presence was sought in all their ceremonies, +and its rays were invoked. The Druids are always therefore represented +as having the crescent in their hands. + +Astronomy and theology being so intimately connected in the spirit of +the Druids, we can easily understand that the two studies were brought +to the front together in their colleges. From certain points of view we +may say that the Druids were nothing more than astronomers. This quality +was not less striking to the ancients in them than in the Chaldaeans. The +observation of the stars was one of their official functions. Caesar +tells us, without entering more into particulars, that they taught many +things about _the form and dimensions of the earth, the size and +arrangements of the different parts of heaven, and the motions of the +stars_, which includes the greater part of the essential problems of +celestial geometry, which we see they had already proposed to +themselves. We can see the same fact in the magnificent passage of +Taliesin. "I will ask the bards," he says in his _Hymn of the World_, +"and why will not the bards answer me? I will ask of them what sustains +the earth, since having no support it does not fall? or if it falls +which way does it go? But what can serve for its support? Is the world a +great traveller? Although it moves without ceasing, it remains tranquil +in its route; and how admirable is that route, seeing that the world +moves not in any direction." This suffices to show that the ideas of the +Druids on material phenomena were not at all inferior to their +conceptions of the destiny of the soul, and that they had scientific +views of quite another origin from the Alexandrian Greeks, the Latins, +their disciples, or the middle ages. An anecdote of the eighth century +furnishes another proof in favour of Druidical science. Every one knows +that Virgilius, bishop of Salzburg, was accused of heresy by Boniface +before the Pope Zacharias, because he had asserted that there were +antipodes. Now Virgilius was educated in one of the learned monasteries +of Ireland, which were fed by the Christian bards, who had preserved the +scientific traditions of Druidism. + +[Illustration: PLATE II.--DRUIDICAL WORSHIP.] + +The fundamental alliance between the doctrine of the plurality of worlds +and of the eternity of the soul is perhaps the most memorable character +in the thoughts of this ancient race. The death upon earth was for them +only a psychological and astronomical fact, not more grave than that +which happened to the moon when it was eclipsed, nor the fall of the +verdant clothing of the oak under the breath of the autumnal breeze. We +see these conceptions and manners, at first sight so extraordinary, +clothe themselves with a simple and natural aspect. The Druids were so +convinced of the future life in the stars, that they used _to lend money +to be repaid in the other world_. Such a custom must have made a +profound impression on the minds of those who daily practised it. +Pomponius Mela and Valerius Maximus both tell us of this custom. The +latter says, "After having left Marseilles I found that ancient custom +of the Gauls still in force, namely, of lending one another money to be +paid back in the infernal regions, for they are persuaded that the souls +of men are immortal." + +In passing to the other world they lost neither their personality, their +memory, nor their friends; they there re-encountered the business, the +laws, the magistrates of this world. They had capitals and everything +the same as here. They gave one another rendezvous as emigrants might +who were going to America. This superstition, so laudable as far as it +had the effect of pressing on the minds of men the firm sentiment of +immortality, led them to burn, along with the dead, all the objects +which had been dear to them, or of which they thought they might still +wish to make use. "The Gauls," says Pomponius Mela, "burn and bury with +the dead that which had belonged to the living." + +They had another custom prompted by the same spirit, but far more +touching. When any one bade farewell to the earth, each one charged him +to take letters to his absent friends, who should receive him on his +arrival and doubtless load him with questions as to things below. It is +to Diodorus that we owe the preservation of the remembrance of this +custom. "At their funerals," he says, "they place letters with the dead +which are written to those already dead by their parents, so that they +may be read by them." They followed the soul in thought in its passage +to the other planets, and the survivors often regretted that they could +not accomplish the voyage in their company; sometimes, indeed, they +could not resist the temptation. "There are some," says Mela, "who burn +themselves with their friends in order that they may continue to live +together." They entertained another idea also, which led even to worse +practices than this, namely, that death was a sort of recruiting that +was commanded by the laws of the universe for the sustenance of the army +of existences. In certain cases they would replace one death by another. +Posidonius, who visited Gaul at an epoch when it had not been broken up, +and who knew it far better than Caesar, has left us some very curious +information on this subject. If a man felt himself seriously warned by +his disease that he must hold himself in readiness for departure, but +who, nevertheless, had, for the moment, some important business on hand, +or the needs of his family chained him to this life, or even that death +was disagreeable to him; if no member of his family or his clients were +willing to offer himself instead, he looked out for a substitute; such a +one would soon arrive accompanied by a troop of friends, and stipulating +for his price a certain sum of money, he distributed it himself as +remembrances among his companions,--often even he would only ask for a +barrel of wine. Then they would erect a stage, improvise a sort of +festival, and finally, after the banquet was over, our hero would lie +down on the shield, and driving a sword into his bosom, would take his +departure for the other world. + +Such a custom, indeed, shows anything but what we should rightly call +civilization, however admirable may have been their opinions; but it +receives its only palliation from the fact that their indifference to +death did not arise from their undervaluing life here, but that they had +so firm a belief in the existence and the happiness of a life hereafter. + +That these beliefs were not separated from their astronomical ideas is +seen from the fact that they peopled the firmament with the departed. +The Milky Way was called the town of Gwyon (Coer or Ker Gwydion, Ker in +Breton, Caer in Gaulish, Kohair in Gaelic); certain bardic legends gave +to Gwyon as father a genius called Don, who resides in the constellation +of Cassiopeia, and who figures as "the king of the fairies" in the +popular myths of Ireland. The empyrean is thus divided between various +heavenly spirits. Arthur had for residence the Great Bear, called by +the Druids "Arthur's Chariot." + +We are not, however, entirely limited to tradition and the reports of +former travellers for our information as to the astronomy of the Druids, +but we have also at our service numerous coins belonging to the old +Gauls, who were of one family with those who cultivated Druidism in our +island, which have been discovered buried in the soil of France. The +importance which was given to astronomy in that race becomes immediately +evident upon the discovery of the fact that these coins are marked with +figures having reference to the heavenly bodies, in other words are +astronomical coins. If we examine, from a general point of view, a large +collection of Gaulish medals such as that preserved in the National +Museum of Paris, we observe that among the essential symbols that occupy +the fields are types of the Horse, the Bull, the Boar, the Eagle, the +Lion, the Horseman, and the Bear. We remark next a great number of +signs, most often astronomical, ordinarily accessory, but occasionally +the chief, such as the sign [symbol: rotated mirrored S], globules +surrounded by concentric circles, stars of five, six, or eight points, +radiated and flaming bodies, crescents, triangles, wheels with four +spokes, the sign [symbol: infinity], the lunar crescent, the zigzag, &c. +Lastly, we remark other accessory types represented by images of real +objects or imaginary figures, such as the Lyre, the Diota, the Serpent, +the Hatchet, the Human Eye, the Sword, the Bough, the Lamp, the Jewel, +the Bird, the Arrow, the Ear of Corn, the Fishes, &c. + +On a great number of medals, on the stateres of Vercingetorix, on the +reverses of the coins of several epochs, we recognize principally the +sign of the Waterer, which appears to symbolize for one part of +antiquity the knowledge of the heavenly sphere. On the Gaulish types +this sign (an amphora with two handles) bears the name of Diota, and +represents amongst the Druids as amongst the Magi the sciences of +astronomy and astrology. + +Some of these coins are represented in the woodcut below. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +The first of these represents the course of the Sun-Horse reaching the +Tropic of Cancer (summer solstice), and brought back to the Tropic of +Capricorn (winter solstice). + +On the second is seen the symbol of the year between the south +(represented by the sun [symbol: sun]) and the north (represented by the +Northern Bear). In the third the calendar (or course of the year) +between the sun [symbol: sun] and the moon [symbol: moon]. Time the Sun, +and the Bear are visible on the fourth. The diurnal motion of the +heavens is represented on the fifth; and lastly, on the sixth, appears +the Watering-pot, the Sun-Horse, and the sign of the course of the +heavenly bodies. + +On other groups of money the presence of the zodiac may be made out. + +These medals would seem to show that some part of the astronomical +knowledge of the Druids was not invented by themselves, but borrowed +from the Chaldeans or others who in other lands invented them in +previous ages, and from whom they may have possibly derived them from +the Phenicians. + +We may certainly expect, however, from these pieces of money, if found +in sufficient number and carefully studied, to discover a good many +positive facts now wanting to us, of the religion, sciences, manners, +language, commercial relation, &c. which belonged to the Celtic +civilization. It was far from being so barbarous as is ordinarily +supposed, and we shall do more justice to it when we know it better. + +M. Fillioux, the curator of the museum of Gueret, who has studied these +coins with care, after having sought for a long time for a clear and +concise method of determining exactly the symbolic and religious +character of the Gaulish money, has been able to give the following +general statements. + +The coins have for their ordinary field the heavens. + +On the right side they present almost universally the ideal heads of +gods or goddesses, or in default of these, the symbols that are +representative of them. + +On the reverse for the most part, they reproduce, either by direct types +or by emblems artfully combined, the principal celestial bodies, the +divers aspects of the constellations, and probably the laws, which, +according to their ancient science, presided over their course; in a +smaller proportion they denote the religious myths which form the base +of the national belief of the Gauls. As we have seen above, for them the +present life was but a transitory state of the soul, only a prodrome of +the future life, which should develop itself in heaven and the +astronomical worlds with which it is filled. + +Borrowed from an elevated spiritualism, incessantly tending towards the +celestial worlds, these ideas were singularly appropriate to a nation at +once warlike and commercial. These circumstances explain the existence +of these strange types, founded at the same time on those of other +nations, and on the symbolism which was the soul of the Druidical +religion. To this religious caste, indeed, we must give the merit of +this ingenious and original conception, of turning the reverses of the +coins into regular charts of the heavens. Nothing indeed could be better +calculated to inspire the people with respect and confidence than these +mysterious and learned symbols, representing the phenomena of the +heavens. + +Not making use of writing to teach their dogmas, which they wished to +maintain as part of the mysteries of their caste, the Druids availed +themselves of this method of placing on the money that celestial +symbolism of which they alone possessed the key. + +The religious ideas founded on astronomical observations were not +peculiar to, or originated by, the Druids, any more than their zodiac. +There seems reason to believe that they had come down from a remote +antiquity, and been widely spread over many nations, as we shall see in +the chapter on the Pleiades; but we can certainly trace them to the +East, where they first prevailed in Persia and Egypt, and were +afterwards brought to Greece, where they disappeared before the new +creations of anthropomorphism, though they were not forgotten in the +days of the poet Anacreon, who says, "Do not represent for me, around +this vase" (a vase he had ordered of the worker in silver), "either the +heavenly bodies, or the chariot, or the melancholy Orion; I have nothing +to do with the Pleiades or the Herdsman." He only wanted mythological +subjects which were more to his taste. + +The characters which are made use of in these astronomical moneys of +the Druids would appear to have a more ancient origin than we are able +to trace directly, since they are most of them found on the arms and +implements of the bronze age. Some of them, such as the concentric +pointed circles, the crescent with a globule or a star, the line in +zigzag, were used in Egypt; where they served to mark the sun, the +month, the year, the fluid element; and they appear to have had among +the Druids the same signification. The other signs, such as the +[symbol: wave], and its multiple combinations, the centred circles, +grouped in one or two, the little rings, the alphabetical characters +recalling the form of a constellation, the wheel with rays, the +radiating discs, &c. are all represented on the bronze arms found in the +Celtic, Germanic, Breton, and Scandinavian lands. From this remote +period, which was strongly impressed with the Oriental genius, we must +date the origin of the Celtic symbolism. It has been supposed, and not +without reason, that this epoch, besides being contemporaneous with the +Phenician establishments on the borders of the ocean, was an age of +civilization and progress in Gaul, and that the ideas of the Druids +became modified at the same time that they acquired just notions in +astronomy and in the art of casting metals. At a far later period, the +Druidic theocracy having, with religious care, preserved the symbols of +its ancient traditions, had them stamped on the coins which they caused +to be struck. + +This remarkable fact is shown in an incontestable manner in the rougher +attempts in Gaulish money, and this same state of things was perpetuated +even into the epoch of the high arts, since we find on the imitation +statues of Macedonia the old Celtic symbols associated with emblems of a +Grecian origin. + +In Italy a different result was arrived at, because the warlike element +of the nobles soon predominated over the religious. Nevertheless the +most ancient Roman coins, those which are known to us under the name of +Consular, have not escaped the common law which seems to have presided, +among all nations, over the origin of money. The two commonest types, +one in bronze of _Janus Bifrons_ with the _palus_; the other in silver, +the _Dioscures_ with their stars, have an eminently astronomical aspect. + +The comparison between the Gaulish and Roman coins may be followed in a +series of analogies which are very remarkable from an astronomical point +of view. To cite only a few examples, we may observe on a large number +of pennies of different families, the impression of Auriga "the +Coachman" conducting a quadriga; or the sun under another form (with his +head radiated and drawn in profile); or Diana with her lunar attributes; +or the five planets well characterised; for example, Venus by a double +star, as that of the morning or of the evening; or the constellations of +the Dog, Hercules, the Kid, the Lyre, and almost all those of the +zodiac and of the circumpolar region and the seven-kine (septemtriones). +In later times, under the Caesars, in the villa of Borghese, is found a +calendar whose arrangements very much recall the ancient Gaulish coin. +The head of the twelve great gods and the twelve signs of the zodiac are +represented, and the drawing of the constellations establishes a +correspondence between their rising and the position of the sun in the +zodiac. It may therefore be affirmed that in the coinage and works of +art in Italy and Greece, the characteristic influence of astronomical +worship is found as strongly as among the Druids. Nor have the Western +nations alone had the curious habit of impressing their astronomical +ideas upon their coinage, for in China and Japan coins of a similar +description have been met with, containing on their reverse all the +signs of the zodiac admitted by them. + +In conclusion, we may say, that it was cosmography, that constructed the +dogmas of the Druidical religion, which was, in its essential elements, +the same as that of the old Oriental theocracies. The outward ceremonies +were addressed to the sun, the moon, the stars, and other visible +phenomena; but, above nature, there was the great generating and moving +principle, which the Celts placed, at a later period perhaps, among the +attributes of their supreme deities. + +[Illustration: THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS. + +The Lyre--Cassiopeia--The Little Bear--The Dragon--Andromeda--The Great +Bear--Capella--Algol, or Medusa's Head.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS. + + +When we look upon the multitude of heavenly bodies with which the +celestial vault is strewed, our attention is naturally arrested by +certain groupings of brilliant stars, apparently associated together on +account of their great proximity; and also by certain remarkable single +stars which have excessive brilliancy or are completely isolated from +the rest. These natural groups seem to have some obscure connection with +or dependence on each other. They have always been noticed, even by the +most savage races. The languages of several such races contain different +names for the same identical groups, and these names, mostly borrowed +from terrestrial beings, give an imaginary life to the solitude and +silence of the skies. A celestial globe, as we know, presents us with a +singular menagerie, rich in curious monsters placed in inconceivable +positions. How these constellations, as they are called, were first +invented, and by whom, is an interesting question which by the aid of +comparative philology we must endeavour now to answer. + +Among these constellations there are twelve which have a more than +ordinary importance, and to which more attention has always been paid. +They are those through which the sun appears to pass in his annual +journey round the ecliptic, entering one region each month. At least, +this is what they were when first invented. They were called the +zodiacal constellations or signs of the zodiac--the name being derived +from their being mostly named after living beasts. In our own days the +zodiacal constellations are no longer the signs of the zodiac. When they +were arranged the sun entered each one on a certain date. He now is no +longer at the same point in the heavens at that date, nevertheless he is +still said to enter the same sign of the zodiac--which therefore no +longer coincides with the zodiacal constellation it was named from--but +merely stands for a certain twelfth part of the ecliptic, which varies +from time to time. It will be of course of great interest to discover +the origin of these particular constellations, the date of their +invention, &c.; and we shall hope to do so after having discussed the +origin of those seen in the Northern hemisphere which may be more +familiar even than those. + +We have represented in the frontispiece the two halves of the Grecian +celestial sphere--the Northern and the Southern, with the various +constellations they contain. This sphere was not invented by the Greeks, +but was received by them from more ancient peoples, and corrected and +augmented. It was used by Hipparchus two thousand years ago; and Ptolemy +has given us a description of it. It contained 48 constellations, of +which 21 belonged to the Northern, 15 to the Southern hemisphere, and +the remaining twelve were those of the zodiac, situated along the +ecliptic. + +The constellations reckoned by Ptolemy contained altogether 1,026 stars, +whose relative positions were determined by Hipparchus; with reference +to which accomplishment Pliny says, "Hipparchus, with a height of +audacity too great even for a god, has ventured to transmit to posterity +the number of the stars!" + +Ptolemy's catalogue contains:-- + + For the northern constellations 361 stars + For the zodiacal 350 " + For the southern 318 " + or ----- + For all the 48 constellations 1,029 " + or, since 3 of these are named twice 1,026 " + +Of course this number is not to be supposed to represent the whole of +the stars visible even to the naked eye; there are twice as many in the +Northern hemisphere alone, while there are about 5,000 in the whole sky. +The number visible in a telescope completely dwarfs this, so that more +than 300,000 are now catalogued; while the number visible in a large +telescope may be reckoned at not less than 77 millions. The principal +northern constellations named by Ptolemy are contained in the following +list, with the stars of the first magnitude that occur in each:-- + +The Great Bear, or David's Chariot, near the centre. + +The Little Bear, with the Pole Star at the end of the tail. + +The Dragon. + +Cepheus, situated to the right of the Pole. + +The Herdsman, or the Keeper of the Bear, with the star Arcturus. + +The Northern Crown to the right. + +Hercules, or the Man who Kneels. + +The Lyre, or Falling Vulture, with the beautiful star Vega. + +The Swan, or Bird, or Cross. + +Cassiopeia, or the Chair, or the Throne. + +Perseus. + +The Carter, or the Charioteer, with Capella Ophiuchus, or Serpentarius, +or Esculapius. + +The Serpent. + +The Bow and Arrow, or the Dart. + +The Eagle, or the Flying Vulture, with Altair. + +The Dolphin. + +The Little Horse, or the Bust of the Horse. + +Pegasus, or the Winged Horse, or the Great Cross. + +Andromeda, or the Woman with the Girdle. + +The Northern Triangle, or the Delta. + +The fifteen constellations on the south of the ecliptic were:-- + +The Whale. + +Orion, with the beautiful stars Rigel and Betelgeuse. + +The River Endanus, or the River Orion, with the brilliant Achernar. + +The Hare. + +The Great Dog, with the magnificent Sirius. + +The Little Dog, or the Dog which runs before, with Procyon. + +The ship Argo, with its fine Alpha (Canopus) and Eta. + +The Female Hydra, or the Water Snake. + +The Cup, or the Urn, or the Vase. + +The Raven. + +The Altar, or the Perfuming Pot. + +The Centaur, whose star Alpha is the nearest to the earth. + +The Wolf, or the Centaur's Lance, or the Panther, or the Beast. + +The Southern Crown, or the Wand of Mercury, or Uraniscus. + +The Southern Fish, with Fomalhaut. + +The twelve zodiacal constellations, which are of more importance than +the rest, are generally named in the order in which the sun passes +through them in its passage along the ecliptic, and both Latins and +English have endeavoured to impress their names on the vulgar by +embodying them in verses. The poet Ausonius thus catalogues them:-- + + "Sunt: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, + Libraque, Scorpius, Arcitenens, Caper, Amphora, Pisces." + +and the English effusion is as follows:-- + + "The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, + And next the Crab the Lion shines, + The Virgin and the Scales. + The Scorpion, Archer, and He Goat, + The Man that holds the watering-pot, + And Fish with glittering scales." + +These twelve have hieroglyphics assigned to them, by which they are +referred to in calendars and astronomical works, some of the marks being +easily traced to their origin. Thus [symbol: aries] refers to the horns +of the Ram; [symbol: taurus] to the head of the Bull; [symbol: scorpion] +to the joints and tail-sting of the Scorpion; [symbol: saggitarius] is +very clearly connected with an archer; [symbol: capricorn] is formed by +the junction of the first two letters [Greek: t] and [Greek: r] in +[Greek: tragos], the Sea-goat, or Capricorn; [symbol: libra] for the +Balance, is suggestive of its shape; [symbol: aquarius] refers to the +water in the Watering-pot; and perhaps [symbol: pisces] to the Two +Fishes; [symbol: gemini] for Twins may denote two sides alike; [symbol: +cancer] for the Crab, has something of its side-walking appearance; +while [symbol: leo] for the Lion, and [symbol: virgo] for the Virgin, +seem to have no reference that is traceable. + +These constellations contain the following stars of the first +magnitude--Aldebaran, Antares, and Spica. + +To these constellations admitted by the Greeks should be added the Locks +of Berenice, although it is not named by Ptolemy. It was invented indeed +by the astronomer Conon. The story is that Berenice was the spouse and +the sister of Ptolemy Euergetes, and that she made a vow to cut off her +locks and devote them to Venus if her husband returned victorious; to +console the king the astronomer placed her locks among the stars. If +this is a true account Arago must be mistaken in asserting that the +constellation was created by Tycho Brahe in 1603. The one he did add to +the former ones was that of Antinoeus, by collecting into one figure some +unappropriated stars near the Eagle. At about the same time J. Bayer, +from the information of Vespuccius and the sailors, added twelve to the +southern constellations of Ptolemy; among which may be mentioned the +Peacock, the Toucan, the Phoenix, the Crane, the Fly, the Chameleon, +the Bird of Paradise, the Southern Triangle, and the Indian. + +Augustus Royer, in 1679, formed five new groups, among which we may name +the Great Cloud, the Fleur-de-Lis, and the Southern Cross. + +Hevelius, in 1690, added 16; the most important being the Giraffe, the +Unicorn, the Little Lion, the Lynx, the Little Triangle. + +Among these newer-named constellations none is more interesting than the +Southern Cross, which is by some considered as the most brilliant of all +that are known. Some account of it, possibly from the Arabs, seems to +have reached Dante, who evidently refers to it, before it had been named +by Royer, in a celebrated passage in his "Purgatory." Some have thought +that his reference to such stars was only accidental, and that he really +referred only to the four cardinal virtues of theology, chiefly on +account of the difficulty of knowing how he could have heard of them; +but as the Arabs had establishments along the entire coast of Africa, +there is no difficulty in understanding how the information might reach +Italy. + +Americus Vespuccius, who in his third voyage refers to these verses of +Dante, does not mention the name of the Southern Cross. He simply says +that the four stars form a rhomboidal figure. As voyages round the Cape +multiplied, however, the constellation became rapidly more celebrated, +and it is mentioned as forming a brilliant cross by the Florentine +Andrea Corsali, in 1517, and a little later by Pigafetta, in 1520. + +All these constellations have not been considered sufficient, and many +subsequent additions have been made. Thus Lacaille, in 1752, created +fourteen new ones, mostly characterized by modern names--as the +Sculptor's Studio, the Chemical Furnace, the Clock, the Compass, the +Telescope, the Microscope, and others. + +Lemonnier, in 1766, added the Reindeer, the Solitaire, and the Indian +Bird, and Lalande the Harvestman. Poczobut, in 1777, added one more, +and P. Hell another. Finally, in the charts drawn by Bode, eight more +appear, among which the Aerostat, and the Electrical and Printing +Machines. + +We thus arrive at a total of 108 constellations. To which we may add +that the following groups are generally recognized. The Head of Medusa, +near Perseus; the Pleiades, on the back, and the Hyades on the forehead +of the Bull; the Club of Hercules; the Shield of Orion, sometimes called +the Rake; the Three Kings; the Staff of S. James; the Sword of Orion; +the Two Asses in the Crab, having between them the Star Cluster, called +the Stall, or the Manger; and the Kids, near Capella, in the +constellation of the Coachman. + +This brings the list of the constellations to 117, which is the total +number now admitted. + +A curious episode with respect to these star arrangements may here be +mentioned. + +About the eighth century Bede and certain other theologians and +astronomers wished to depose the Olympian gods. They proposed, +therefore, to change the names and arrangements of the constellations; +they put S. Peter in the place of the Ram; S. Andrew instead of the +Bull; and so on. In more recent calendars David, Solomon, the Magi, and +other New and Old Testament characters were placed in the heavens +instead of the former constellations; but these changes of name were not +generally adopted. + +As an example of these celestial spheres we figure a portion of one +named _Coeli stellati Christiani hemisphericum prius_. We here see the +Great Bear replaced by the Barque of S. Peter, the Little Bear by S. +Michael, the Dragon by the Innocents, the Coachman by S. Jerome, Perseus +by S. Paul, Cassiopeia by the Magdalene, Andromache by S. Sepulchre, and +the Triangle by S. Peter's mitre; while for the zodiac were substituted +the Twelve Apostles. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.] + +In the seventeenth century a proposal was made by Weigel, a professor +in the University of Jena, to form a series of heraldic constellations, +and to use for the zodiac the arms of the twelve most illustrious +families in Europe; but these attempts at change have been in vain, the +old names are still kept. + +Having now explained the origin in modern times of 69 out of the 117 +constellations, there remain the 48 which were acknowledged by the +Greeks, whose origin is involved in more obscurity. + +One of the first to be noticed and named, as it is now the most easily +recognized and most widely known, is the _Great Bear_, which attracts +all the more attention that it is one of those that never sets, being at +a less distance from the pole than the latter is from the horizon. + +Every one knows the seven brilliant stars that form this constellation. +The four in the rectangle and the three in a curved line at once call to +mind the form of a chariot, especially one of antique build. It is this +resemblance, no doubt, that has obtained for the constellation the name +of "the Chariot" that it bears among many people. Among the ancient +Gauls it was "Arthur's Chariot." In France it is "David's Chariot," and +in England it goes by the name of "King Charles' Wain," and by that of +the "Plough." The latter name was in vogue, too, among the Latins +(_Plaustrum_), and the three stars were three oxen, from whence it would +appear that they extended the idea to all the seven stars, and at last +called them the _seven_ oxen, _septem-triones_, from whence the name +sometimes used for the north--septentrional. The Greeks also called it +the Chariot ([Greek: Hamaxa]), and the same word seems to have stood +sometimes for a plough. It certainly has some resemblance to this +instrument. + +If we take the seven stars as representing the characteristic points of +a chariot, the four stars of the quadrilateral will represent the four +wheels, and the three others will represent the three horses. Above the +centre of the three horses any one with clear sight may perceive a small +star of the fifth or sixth magnitude, called the Cavalier. Each of these +several stars is indicated, as is usual with all the constellations, by +a Greek letter, the largest being denoted by the first letter. Thus the +4 stars in the quadrilateral are [Greek: a], [Greek: b], [Greek: g], +[Greek: d], and the 3 tail stars [Greek: e], [Greek: x], [Greek: e]. The +Arabs give to each star its special name, which in this case are as +follows:--Dubhe and Merak are the stars at the back; Phegda and Megrez +those of the front; Alioth, Mizat, and Ackiar the other three, while the +little one over Mizat is Alcor. Another name for it is Saidak, or the +Tester, the being able to see it being a mark of clear vision. + +There is some little interest in the Great Bear on account of the +possibility of its being used as a kind of celestial time-keeper, and +its easy recognition makes it all the more available. The line through +[Greek: a] and [Greek: b] passes almost exactly through the pole. Now +this line revolves of course with the constellation round the pole in 24 +hours; in every such interval being once, vertical above the pole, and +once vertical below, taking the intermediate positions to right and left +between these times. The instant at which this line is vertical over the +pole is not the same on any two consecutive nights, since the stars +advance each day 4 minutes on the sun. On the 21st of March the superior +passage takes place at 5 minutes to 11 at night; on the following night +four minutes earlier, or at 9 minutes to 11. In three months the +culmination takes place 6 hours earlier, or at 5 minutes to 5. In six +months, _i.e._ on Sept. 22, it culminates at 10.55 in the morning, being +vertically below the pole at the same hour in the evening. The following +woodcut exhibits the positions of the Great Bear at the various hours of +September 4th. It is plain from this that, knowing the day of the month, +the hour of the night may be told by observing what angle the line +joining [Greek: a] and [Greek: b] of this constellation makes with the +vertical. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.] + +We have used the name _Great Bear_, by which the constellation is best +known. It is one of the oldest names also, being derived from the +Greeks, who called it Arctos megale ([Greek: Arktos megale]), whence the +name Arctic; and singularly enough the Iroquois, when America was +discovered, called it Okouari, their name for a bear. The explanation of +this name is certainly not to be found in the resemblance of the +constellation to the animal. The three stars are indeed in the tail, but +the four are in the middle of the back; and even if we take in the +smaller stars that stand in the feet and head, no ingenuity can make it +in this or any other way resemble a bear. It would appear, as Aristotle +observes, that the name is derived from the fact, that of all known +animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture +into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +Other origins of the name, and other names, have been suggested, of +which we may mention a few. For example, "Ursa" is said to be derived +from _versus_, because the constellation is seen to _turn_ about the +pole. It has been called the Screw ([Greek: Elike]), or Helix, which has +plainly reference to its turning. Another name is Callisto, in reference +to its beauty; and lastly, among the Arabs the Great and Little Bears +were known as the Great and Little Coffins in reference to their slow +and solemn motion. These names referred to the four stars of each +constellation, the other three being the mourners following the bearers. +The Christian Arabs made it into the grave of Lazarus and the three +weepers, Mary, Martha, and their maid. + +Next as to the Little Bear. This constellation has evidently received +its name from the similarity of its form to that of the Great Bear. In +fact, it is composed of seven stars arranged in the same way, only in an +inverse order. If we follow the line from [Greek: b] to [Greek: a] of +the Great Bear to a distance of five times as great as that between +these stars we reach the brightest star of the Little Bear, called the +Pole Star. All the names of the one constellation have been applied to +the other, only at a later date. + +The new constellations were added one by one to the celestial sphere by +the Greeks before they arranged certain of them as parts of the zodiac. +The successive introduction of the constellations is proved completely +by a long passage of Strabo, which has been often misunderstood. "It is +wrong," he says, "to accuse Homer of ignorance because he speaks only of +one of the two Celestial Bears. The second was probably not formed at +that time. The Phenicians were the first to form them and to use them +for navigation. They came later to the Greeks." + +[Illustration: THE CONSTELLATIONS FROM THE SEA-SHORE. + +The Swan--The Lyre--Hercules--The Crown--The Herdsman--The Eagle--The +Serpent--The Balance--The Scorpion--Sagittarius.] + +All the commentators on Homer, Hygin and Diogenes Laertes, attribute to +Thales the introduction of this constellation. Pseudo-Eratosthenes +called the Little Bear [Greek: Phoinike], to indicate that it was a +guide to the Phenicians. A century later, about the seventeenth +Olympiad, Cleostrates of Tenedos enriched the sphere with the Archer +([Greek: Toxotes], Sagittarius) and the Ram ([Greek: Krios], Aries), and +about the same time the zodiac was introduced into the Grecian sphere. + +With regard to the Little Bear there is another passage of Strabo which +it will be interesting to quote. He says--"The position of the people +under the parallel of Cinnamomophore, _i.e._ 3,000 stadia south of Meroe +and 8,800 stadia north of the equator, represents about the middle of +the interval between the equator and the tropic, which passes by Syene, +which is 5,000 stadia north of Meroe. These same people are the first +for whom the Little Bear is comprised entirely in the Arctic circle and +remains always visible; the most southern star of the constellation, the +brilliant one that ends the tail being placed on the circumference of +the Arctic circle, so as just to touch the horizon." The remarkable +thing in this passage is that it refers to an epoch anterior to Strabo, +when the star [Greek: a] of the Little Bear, which now appears almost +immovable, owing to its extreme proximity to the pole, was then more to +the south than the other stars of the constellation, and moved in the +Arctic circle so as to touch the horizon of places of certain latitudes, +and to set for latitudes nearer the equator. + +In those days it was not the _Pole_ Star--if that word has any relation +to [Greek: poleo], I turn--for the heavens did not turn about it then as +they do now. + +The Grecian geographer speaks in this passage of a period when the most +brilliant star in the neighbourhood of the pole was [Greek: a] of the +Dragon. This was more than three thousand years ago. At that time the +Little Bear was nearer to the pole than what we now call the Polar Star, +for this latter was "the most southern star in the constellation." If we +could alight upon documents dating back fourteen thousand years, we +should find the star Vega ([Greek: a] Lyra) referred to as occupying the +pole of the world, although it now is at a distance of 51 degrees from +it, the whole cycle of changes occupying a period of about twenty-six +thousand years. + +Before leaving these two constellations we may notice the origin of the +names according to Plutarch. He would have it that the names are derived +from the use that they were put to in navigation. He says that the +Phenicians called that constellation that guided them in their route the +_Dobebe_, or _Doube_, that is, the speaking constellation, and that this +same word happens to mean also in that language a bear; and so the name +was confounded. Certainly there is still a word _dubbeh_ in Arabic +having this signification. + +Next as to the Herdsman. The name of its characteristic star and of +itself, Arcturus ([Greek: Arktos], bear; [Greek: Ouros], guardian), is +explained without difficulty by its position near the Bears. There are +six small stars of the third magnitude in the constellation round its +chief one--three of its stars forming an equilateral triangle. Arcturus +is in the continuation of the curved line through the three tail stars +of the Great Bear. The constellation has also been called Atlas, from +its nearness to the pole--as if it held up the heavens, as the fable +goes. + +Beyond this triangle, in the direction of the line continued straight +from the Great Bear, is the Northern Crown, whose form immediately +suggests its name. Among the stars that compose it one, of the second +magnitude, is called the Pearl of the Crown. It was in this point of the +heavens that a temporary star appeared in May, 1866, and disappeared +again in the course of a few weeks. + +Among the circumpolar constellations we must now speak of Cassiopeia, or +the Chair--or Throne--which is situated on the opposite side of the Pole +from the Great Bear; and which is easily found by joining its star +[Greek: d] to the Pole and continuing it. The Chair is composed +principally of five stars, of the third magnitude, arranged in the form +of an M. A smaller star of the fourth magnitude completes the square +formed by the three [Greek: b], [Greek: a], and [Greek: g]. The figure +thus formed has a fair resemblance to a chair or throne, [Greek: d] and +[Greek: e] forming the back; and hence the justification for its popular +name. The other name Cassiopeia has its connection and meaning unknown. + +We may suitably remark in this place, with Arago, that no precise +drawing of the ancient constellations has come down to us. We only know +their forms by written descriptions, and these often very short and +meagre. A verbal description can never take the place of a drawing, +especially if it is a complex figure, so that there is a certain amount +of doubt as to the true form, position, and arrangement of the figures +of men, beasts, and inanimate objects which composed the star-groups of +the Grecian astronomers--so that unexpected difficulties attend the +attempt to reproduce them on our modern spheres. Add to this that +alterations have been avowedly introduced by the ancient astronomers +themselves, among others by Ptolemy, especially in those given by +Hipparchus. Ptolemy says he determined to make these changes because it +was necessary to give a better proportion to the figures, and to adapt +them better to the real positions of the stars. Thus in the +constellation of the Virgin, as drawn by Hipparchus, certain stars +corresponded to the shoulders; but Ptolemy placed them in the sides, so +as to make the figure a more beautiful one. The result is that modern +designers give scope to their imagination rather than consult the +descriptions of the Greeks. _Cassiopeia_, _Cepheus_, _Andromeda_, and +_Perseus_ holding in his hand the _Head of Medusa_, appear to have been +established at the same epoch, no doubt subsequently to the Great Bear. +They form one family, placed together in one part of the heavens, and +associated in one drama; the ardent Perseus delivering the unfortunate +Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. We can never be sure, +however, whether the constellations suggested the fable, or the fable +the constellations: the former may only mean that Perseus, rising before +Andromeda, seems to deliver it from the Night and from the constellation +of the Whale. The Head of Medusa, a celebrated woman, that Perseus cut +off and holds in his hand, is said by Volney to be only the head of the +constellation Virgo, which passes beneath the horizon precisely as the +Perseus rises, and the serpents which surround it are Ophiucus and the +polar Dragon, which then occupies the zenith. + +Either way, we have no account of the origin of the _names_, and it is +possible that we may have to seek it, if ever we find it, from other +sources--for it would appear that similar names were used for the same +constellations by the Indians. This seems inevitably proved by what is +related by Wilford (_Asiatic Researches_, III.) of his conversation with +his pundit, an astronomer, on the names of the Indian constellations. +"Asking him," he says, "to show me in the heavens the constellation of +Antarmada, he immediately pointed to Andromeda, though I had not given +him any information about it beforehand. He afterwards brought me a very +rare and curious work in Sanscrit, which contained a chapter devoted to +_Upanacchatras_, or extra-zodiacal constellations, with drawings of +_Capuja_ (Cepheus), and of _Casyapi_ (Cassiopeia) seated and holding a +lotus flower in her hand, of _Antarmada_ charmed with the fish beside +her, and last of _Parasiea_ (Perseus) who, according to the explanation +of the book, held the head of a monster which he had slain in combat; +blood was dropping from it, and for hair it had snakes." As the stars +composing a constellation have often very little connection with the +figure they are supposed to form, when we find the same set of stars +called by the same name by two different nations, as was the case, for +instance, in some of the Indian names of constellations among the +Americans, it is a proof that one of the nations copied it from the +other, or that both have copied from a common source. So in the case +before us, we cannot think these similar names have arisen +independently, but must conclude that the Grecian was borrowed from the +Indian. + +Another well-known constellation in this neighbourhood, forming an +isosceles triangle with Arcturus and the Pole Star, is the Lyre. Lucian +of Samosatus says that the Greeks gave this name to the constellation to +do honour to the Lyre of Orpheus. Another possible explanation is this. +The word for lyre in Greek [Greek: chelys] and in Latin (_testudo_) +means also a tortoise. Now at the time when this name was imposed the +chief star in the Lyre may have been very near to the pole of the +heavens and therefore have had a very slow motion, and hence it might +have been named the tortoise, and this in Greek would easily be +interpreted into lyre instead. Indeed this double meaning of the word +seems certainly to have given rise to the fable of Mercury having +constructed a lyre out of the back of a tortoise. Circling round the +pole of the ecliptic, and formed by a sinuous line of stars passing +round from the Great Bear to the Lyre, is the Dragon, which owes its +name to its form. Its importance is derived from its relation to the +ecliptic, the pole of which is determined by reference to the stars of +the first coil of the body. The centre of the zodiacal circle is a very +important point, that circle being traced on the most ancient spheres, +and probably being noticed even before the pole of the heavens. + +Closely associated with the Dragon both in mythology and in the +celestial sphere is Hercules. He is always drawn kneeling; in fact, the +constellation is rather a man in a kneeling posture than any particular +man. The poets called it Engonasis with reference to this, which is too +melancholy or lowly a position than would agree well with the valiant +hero of mythology. There is a story related by AEschylus about the stones +in the Champ des Cailloux, between Marseilles and the embouchure of the +Rhone, to the effect that Hercules, being amongst the Ligurians, found +it necessary to fight with them; but he had no more missiles to throw; +when Jupiter, touched by the danger of his son, sent a rain of round +stones, with which Hercules repulsed his enemies. The Engonasis is thus +considered by some to represent him bending down to pick up the stones. +Posidonius remarks that it was a pity Jupiter did not rain the stones on +the Ligurians at once, without giving Hercules the trouble to pick them +up. + +Ophiucus, which comes close by, simply means the man that holds the +serpent [Greek: ophi-ouchos]. + +It is obviously impossible to know the origins of all the names, as +those we now use are only the surviving ones of several that from time +to time have been applied to the various constellations according to +their temporary association with the local legends. The prominent ones +are favoured with quite a crowd of names. We need only cite a few. +Hercules, for instance, has been called [Greek: Okalzon Korynetes], +Engonasis, Ingeniculus, Nessus, Thamyris, Desanes, Maceris, Almannus, +Al-chete, &c. The Swan has the names of [Greek: Kyknos], [Greek: Iktin], +[Greek: Ornis], Olar, Helenae genitor, Ales Jovis, Ledaeus, Milvus, +Gallina, The Cross, while the Coachman has been [Greek: Ippilates], +[Greek: Elastippos], [Greek: Airoelates], [Greek: Eniochos], Auriga, +Acator, Hemochus, Erichthonus, Mamsek, Alanat, Athaiot, Alatod, &c. With +respect to the Coachman, in some old maps he is drawn with a whip in his +left hand turned towards the chariot, and is called the charioteer. No +doubt its proximity to the former constellation has acquired for it its +name. The last we need mention, as of any celebrity, is that of Orion, +which is situated on the equator, which runs exactly through its midst. +Regel forms its left foot, and the Hare serves for a footstool to the +right foot of the hero. Three magnificent stars in the centre of the +quadrilateral, which lie in one straight line are called the Rake, or +the Three Kings, or the Staff of Jacob, or the Belt. These names have +an obvious origin; but the meaning of Orion itself is more doubtful. In +the Grecian sphere it is written [Greek: Orion], which also means a kind +of bird. The allied word [Greek: oros] has very numerous meanings, the +only one of which that could be conjectured to be connected with the +constellations is a "guardian." The word [Greek: horion], on the +contrary, the diminutive of [Greek: horos], means a limit, and has been +assigned to Jupiter; and in this case may have reference to the +constellation being situated on the confines of the two hemispheres. In +mythology Orion was an intrepid hunter of enormous size. He was the same +personage as Orus, Arion, the Minotaur, and Nimrod, and afterwards +became Saturn. Orion is called _Tsan_ in Chinese, which signifies three, +and corresponds to the three kings. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.] + +The Asiatics used not to trace the images of their constellations, but +simply joined the component stars by straight lines, and placed at the +side the hieroglyphic characters that represented the object they wished +to name. Thus joining by five lines the principal stars in Orion, they +placed at the side the hieroglyphics representing a man and a sword, +from whence the Greeks derived the figure they afterwards drew of a +giant armed with a sword. + +We must include in this series that brightest of all stars, Sirius. It +forms part of the constellation of the Great Dog, and lies to the south +of Orion near the extreme limit of our vision into the Southern +hemisphere in our latitudes. This star seems to have been intimately +connected with Egypt, and to have derived its name--as well as the name +of the otherwise unimportant constellation it forms part of--from that +country, and in this way:-- + +The overflowing of the Nile was always preceded by an Etesian wind, +which, blowing from north to south about the time of the passage of the +sun beneath the stars of the Crab, drove the mists to the south, and +accumulated them over the country whence the Nile takes its source, +causing abundant rains, and hence the flood. The greatest importance +attached to the foretelling the time of this event, so that people might +be ready with their provisions and their places of security. The moon +was no use for this purpose, but the stars were, for the inundation +commenced when the sun was in the stars of the Lion. At this time the +stars of the Crab just appeared in the morning, but with them, at some +distance from the ecliptic, the bright star Sirius also rose. The +morning rising of this star was a sure precursor of the inundation. It +seemed to them to be the warning star, by whose first appearance they +were to be ready to move to safer spots, and thus acted for each family +the part of a faithful dog. Whence they gave it the name of the Dog, or +Monitor, in Egyptian _Anubis_, in Phenician _Hannobeach_, and it is +still the Dog-Star--_Caniculus_, and its rising commences our +_dog-days_. The intimate connection between the rising of this star and +the rising of the Nile led people to call it also the Nile star, or +simply the Nile; in Egyptian and Hebrew, _Sihor_; in Greek, [Greek: +Sothis]; in Latin, _Sirius_. + +In the same way the Egyptians and others characterised the different +days of the year by the stars which first appeared in the evening--as we +shall see more particularly with reference to the Pleiades--and in this +way certain stars came to be associated in their calendar with +variations of temperature and operations of agriculture. They soon took +for the cause what was originally but the sign, and thus they came to +talk of moist stars, whose rising brought rain, and arid stars, which +brought drought. Some made certain plants to grow, and others had +influence over animals. + +In the case of Egypt, no other so great event could occur as that which +the Dog-Star foretold, and its appearance was consequently made the +commencement of the year. Instead, therefore, of painting it as a simple +star, in which case it would be indistinguishable from others, they gave +it shape according to its function and name. When they wished to signify +that it opened the year, it was represented as a porter bearing keys, or +else they gave it two heads, one of an old man, to represent the passing +year, the other of a younger, to denote the succeeding year. When they +would represent it as giving warning of the inundation they painted it +as a dog. To illustrate what they were to do when it appeared, Anubis +had in his arms a stew-pot, wings to his feet, a large feather under his +arm, and two reptiles behind him, a tortoise and a duck. + +There is also in the celestial sphere a constellation called the Little +Dog and Procyon; the latter name has an obvious meaning, as appearing +_before_ the Dog-Star. + +We cannot follow any farther the various constellations of the northern +sphere, nor of the southern. The zodiacal constellations we must +reserve for the present, while we conclude by referring to some of the +changes in form and position that some of the above-mentioned have +undergone in the course of their various representations. + +These changes are sometimes very curious, as, for example, in a coloured +chart, printed at Paris in 1650, we have the Charioteer drawn in the +costume of Adam, with his knees on the Milky Way, and turning his back +to the public; the she-goat appears to be climbing over his neck, and +two little she-goats seem to be running towards their mother. Cassiopeia +is more like King Solomon than a woman. Compare this with the _Phenomena +of Aratus_, published 1559, where Cassiopeia is represented sitting on +an oak chair with a ducal back, holding the holy palm in her left hand, +while the Coachman, "Erichthon," is in the costume of a minion of Henry +the Third of France. Now compare the Cassiopeia of the Greeks with that +drawn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, or the Coachman of the +same periods, and we can easily see the fancies of the painters have +been one of the most fertile sources of change. They seem, too, to have +had the fancy in the middle ages to draw them all hideous and turning +their backs. Compare, for instance, the two pictures of Andromeda and +Hercules, as given below, where those on one side are as heavy and gross +as the others are artistic and pretty. Unfortunately for the truth of +Andromeda's beauty, as depicted in these designs, she was supposed to +be a negress, being the daughter of the Ethiopians, Cepheus and +Cassiopeia. Not one of the drawings indicates this; indeed they all take +after their local beauties. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.] + +In Flamsteed's chart, as drawn above, the Coachman is a female; and +instead of the she-goat being on the back, she holds it in her arms. No +one, indeed, from any of the figures of this constellation would ever +dream it was intended to represent a coachman. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.] + +One more fundamental cause of changes has been the confusion of names +derived by one nation from another, these having sometimes followed +their signification, but at others being translated phonetically. Thus +the Latins, in deriving names from the Greek [Greek: Arktos], have +partly translated it by Ursa, and partly have copied it in the form +Arcticus. So also with reference to the three stars in the head of the +Bull, called by the Greeks Hyades. The Romans thought it was derived +from [Greek: hyes], sows, so they called them _suculae_, or little sows; +whereas the original name was derived from [Greek: hyein], to rain, and +signified stars whose appearance indicated the approach of the rainy +season. + +More curious still is the transformation of the Pearl of the Northern +Crown (Margarita Coronae) in a saint--S. Marguerite. + +The names may have had many origins whose signification is lost, owing +to their being misunderstood. Thus figurative language may have been +interpreted as real, as when a conjunction is called a marriage; a +disappearance, death; and a reappearance, a resurrection; and then +stories must be invented to fit these words; or the stars that have in +one country given notice of certain events lose the meaning of their +names when these are used elsewhere; as when a boat painted near the +stars that accompany an inundation, becomes the ship Argo; or when, to +represent the wind, the bird's wing is drawn; or those stars that mark a +season are associated with the bird of passage, the insect or the animal +that appears at that time: such as these would soon lose their original +signification. + +The celestial sphere, therefore, as we now possess it, is not simply a +collection of unmeaning names, associated with a group of stars in no +way connected with them, which have been imposed at various epochs by +capricious imagination, but in most instances, if not in all, they +embody a history, which, if we could trace it, would probably lead us to +astronomical facts, indicating the where and the when of their first +introduction; and the story of their changes, so far as we can trace it, +gives us some clue to the mental characteristics or astronomical +progress of the people who introduced the alterations. + +We shall find, indeed, in a subsequent chapter, that many of our +conclusions as to the birth and growth of astronomy are derived from +considerations connected with the various constellations, more +especially those of the zodiac. + +With regard to the date when and the country where the constellations of +the sphere were invented, we will here give what evidence we possess, +independent of the origin of the zodiac. + +In the first place it seems capable of certain proof that they were not +invented by the Greeks, from whom we have received them, but adopted +from an older source, and it is possible to give limits to the date of +introduction among them. + +Newton, who attributes its introduction to Musaeus, a contemporary of +Chiron, remarks, that it must have been settled _after_ the expedition +of the Argonauts, and _before_ the destruction of Troy; because the +Greeks gave to the constellation names that were derived from their +history and fables, and devoted several to celebrate the memory of the +famous adventurers known as the Argonauts, and they would certainly have +dedicated some to the heroes of Troy, if the siege of that place had +happened at the time. We remark that at this time astronomy was in too +infant a state in Greece for them to have fixed with so much accuracy +the position of the stars, and that we have in this a proof they must +have borrowed their knowledge from older cultivators of the science. + +The various statements we meet with about the invention of the sphere +may be equally well interpreted of its introduction only into Greece. +Such, for instance, as that Eudoxus first constructed it in the +thirteenth or fourteenth century B.C., or that by Clement of Alexandria, +that Chiron was the originator. + +The oldest direct account of the names of the constellations and their +component stars is that of Hesiod, who cites by name in his _Works and +Days_ the Pleiades, Arcturus, Orion, and Sirius. He lived, according to +Herodotus, about 884 years before Christ. + +The knowledge of all the constellations did not reach the Greeks at the +same time, as we have seen from the omission by Homer of any mention of +the Little Bear, when if he had known it, he could hardly have failed to +speak of it. For in his description of the shield of Achilles, he +mentions the Pleiades, the Hyades, Orion and the Bear, "which alone does +not bathe in the Ocean." He could never have said this last if he had +known of the Dragon and Little Bear. + +We may then safely conclude that the Greeks received the idea of the +constellations from some older source, probably the Chaldeans. They +received it doubtless as a sphere, with figured, but nameless +constellations; and the Greeks by slight changes adapted them to +represent the various real or imaginary heroes of their history. It +would be a gracious task, for their countrymen would glory in having +their great men established in the heavens. When they saw a ship +represented, what more suitable than to name it the ship Argo? The Swan +must be Jupiter transformed, the Lyre is that of Orpheus, the Eagle is +that which carried away Ganymede, and so on. + +This would be no more than what other nations have done, as, for +example, the Chinese, who made greater changes still, unless we consider +theirs to have had an entirely independent origin. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.] + +That the celestial sphere was a conception known to others than the +Greeks is easily proved. The Arabians, for instance, certainly did not +borrow it from them; yet they have the same things represented. Above is +a figure of a portion of an Arabian sphere drawn in the eleventh +century, where we get represented plainly enough the Great and Little +Bears, the Dragon, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, with the Triple Head +of Medusa; the Triangle, one of the Fishes, Auriga, the Ram, the Bull +obscurely, and the Twins. + +There is also the famous so-called zodiac of Denderah, brought from +Egypt to Paris. This in reality contains more constellations than those +of the zodiac. Most of the northern ones can be traced, with certain +modifications. Its construction is supposed to belong to the eighth +century B.C. Most conspicuous on it is the Lion, in a kind of barque, +recalling the shape of the Hydra. Below it is the calf Isis, with +Sirius, or the Dog-Star, on the forehead; above it is the Crab, to the +right the Twins, over these along instrument, the Plough, and above that +a small animal, the Little Bear, and so we may go on:--all the zodiacal +constellations, especially the Balance, the Scorpion, and the Fishes +being very clear. This sphere is indeed of later date than that supposed +for the Grecian, but it certainly appears to be independent. The remains +we possess of older spheres are more particularly connected with the +zodiac, and will be discussed hereafter. + +From what people the Greeks received the celestial sphere, is a question +on which more than one opinion has been formed. One is that it was +originated in the tropical latitudes of Egypt. The other, that it came +from the Chaldeans, and a third that it came from more temperate +latitudes further to the east. The arguments for the last of these are +as follow: + +There is an empty space of about 90 deg., formed by the last constellations +of the sphere, towards the south pole, that is by the Centaur, the +Altar, the Archer, the Southern Fish, the Whale, and the Ship. Now in a +systematic plan, if the author were situated near the equator there +would be no vacant space left in this way, for in this case the southern +stars, attracting as much attention as the northern, would be inevitably +inserted in the system of constellations which would be extended to the +horizon on all sides. But a country of sufficiently high latitude to be +unable to see at any time the stars about the southern pole must be +north both of Egypt and Chaldea. + +This empty space remained unfilled until the discovery of the Cape of +Good Hope, except that the star Canopus was included in the +constellation Argo, and the river Eridan had an arbitrary extension +given to it, instead of terminating in latitude 40 deg.. + +Another less cogent argument is derived from the interpretation of the +fable of the Phoenix. This is supposed to represent the course of the +sun, which commences its growth at the time of its death. A similar +fable is found among the Swedes. Now a tropical nation would find the +difference of days too little to lead it to invent such a fable to +represent it. It must needs have arisen where the days of winter were +very much shorter than those of summer. + +The Book of Zoroaster, in which some of the earliest notices of +astronomy are recorded, states that the length of a summer day is twice +as long as that of winter. This fixes the latitude in which that book +must have been composed, and makes it 49 deg.. Whence it follows, that to +such a place must we look for the origin of these spheres, and not to +Egypt or Chaldea. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.--CHALDEAN ASTRONOMERS.] + +Diodorus Siculus speaks of a nation in that part of the world, whom he +calls Hyperboreans, who had a tradition that their country is the +nearest to the moon, on which they discovered mountains like those on +the earth, and that Apollo comes there once every nineteen years. This +period being that of the metonic cycle of the moon, shows that if this +could have really been discovered by them, they must have had a long +acquaintance with astronomy. + +The Babylonian tablets lead us to the belief that astronomy, and with it +the sphere, and the zodiac were introduced by a nation coming from the +East, from the mountains of Elam, called the Accadians, before 3000 +B.C., and these may have been the nation to whom the whole is due. + +On the other hand, the arguments for the Egyptians, or Chaldeans being +the originators depend solely on the tradition handed down by many, that +one or other are the oldest people in the world, with the oldest +civilization, and they have long cultivated astronomy. More precise +information, however, seems to render these traditions, to say the +least, doubtful, and certainly incapable of overthrowing the arguments +adduced above. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ZODIAC. + + +The zodiac, as already stated, is the course in the heavens apparently +pursued by the sun in his annual journey through the stars. Let us +consider for a moment, however, the series of observations and +reflections that must have been necessary to trace this zone as +representing such a course. + +First, the diurnal motion of the whole heavens from east to west must +have been noticed during the night, and the fact that certain stars +never set, but turn in a circle round a fixed point. What becomes then, +the next question would be, of those stars that do descend beneath the +horizon, since they rise in the same relative positions as those in +which they set. They could not be thought to be destroyed, but must +complete the part of the circle that is invisible _beneath the earth_. +The possibility of any stars finding a path beneath the earth must have +led inevitably to the conception of the earth as a body suspended in the +centre with nothing to support it. But leaving this alone, it would +also be concluded that the sun went with the stars, and was in a certain +position among them, even when both they and it were invisible. The next +observations necessary would be that the zodiacal constellations visible +during the nights of winter were not the same as those seen in summer, +that such and such a group of stars passed the meridian at midnight at a +certain time, and that six months afterwards the group exactly opposite +in the heavens passed at the same hour. Now since at midnight the sun +will be exactly opposite the meridian, if it continues uniformly on its +course, it will be among that group of stars that is opposite the group +that culminates at midnight, and so the sign of the zodiac the sun +occupies would be determined. + +This method would be checked by comparisons made in the morning and +evening with the constellations visible nearest to the sun at its rising +and setting. + +The difficulty and indirectness of these observations would make it +probable that originally the zodiac would be determined rather by the +path of the moon, which follows nearly the same path as the sun, and +which could be observed at the same time as, and actually associated +with, the constellations. Now the moon is found each night so far to the +east of its position on the previous night that it accomplishes the +whole circumference in twenty-seven days eight hours. The two nearest +whole number of days have generally been reckoned, some taking +twenty-eight, and others twenty-seven. The zodiac, or, as the Chinese +called it, the Yellow Way, was thus divided into twenty-eight parts, +which were called _Nakshatras_ (mansions, or hotels), because the moon +remains in each of them for a period of twenty-four hours. These +mansions were named after the brightest stars in each, though sometimes +they went a long way off to fix upon a characteristic star, as in the +sixteenth Indian constellation, _Vichaca_, which was named after the +Northern Crown, in latitude 40 deg.. This arose from the brightness of the +moon extinguishing the light of those that lie nearest to it. + +This method of dividing the zodiac was very widely spread, and was +common to almost all ancient nations. The Chinese have twenty-eight +constellations, but the word _siou_ does not mean a group of stars, but +simply a mansion or hotel. In the Coptic and ancient Egyptian the word +for constellation has the same meaning. They also had twenty-eight, and +the same number is found among the Arabians, Persians, and Indians. +Among the Chaldeans, or Accadians, we find no sign of the number +twenty-eight. The ecliptic or "Yoke of the Sky," with them, as we see in +the newly-discovered tablets, was divided into twelve divisions as now, +and the only connection that can be imagined between this and the +twenty-eight is the opinion of M. Biot, who thinks that the Chinese had +originally only twenty-four mansions, four more being added by Chenkung +(B.C. 1100), and that they corresponded with the twenty-four stars, +twelve to the north and twelve to the south, that marked the twelve +signs of the zodiac among the Chaldeans. But under this supposition the +twenty-eight has no reference to the moon, whereas we have every reason +to believe that it has. + +The Siamese only reckoned twenty-seven, and occasionally inserted an +extra one, called _Abigitten_, or intercalary moon. They made use, +moreover, of the constellations to tell the hour of the night by their +position in the heavens, and their method of doing this appears to have +involved their having twenty-eight constellations. The names of the +twenty-eight divisions among the Arabs were derived from parts of the +larger constellations that made the twelve signs, the first being the +horns, and the second the belly, of the Ram. + +The twenty-eight divisions among the Persians, of which we may notice +that the second was formed by the Pleiades, and called _Pervis_, soon +gave way to the twelve, the names of which, recorded in the works of +Zoroaster, and therefore not less ancient than he, were not quite the +same as those now used. They were the Lamb, the Bull, the Twins, the +Crab, the Lion, the Ear of Corn, the Balance, the Scorpion, the Bow, the +Sea-Goat, the Watering-pot, and the Fishes. + +Nor were the Chinese continually bound to the number twenty-eight. They, +too, had a zodiac for the sun as well as the moon, as may be seen on +some very curious pieces of money, of which those figured below are +specimens. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.] + +On some of these the various constellations of the Northern hemisphere +are engraved, especially the Great Bear--under innumerable +disguises--and on others the twelve signs of the zodiac. These are very +different, however, from the Grecian set--they are the Mouse, the Bull, +the Tiger, the Hare, the Dragon, the Serpent, the Horse, the Ram, the +Monkey, the Cock, the Dog, and the Pig. The Japanese series were the +same. The Mongolians had a series of zodiacal coins struck in the reign +of Jehanjir Shah (1014). He had pieces of gold stamped, representing the +sun in the constellation of the Lion; and some years afterwards other +coins were made, with one side having the impress of the particular sign +in which the sun happened to be when the coin was struck. In this way a +series is preserved having all the twelve signs. Tavernier tells the +story that one of the wives of the Sultan, wishing to immortalise +herself, asked Jehanjir to be allowed to reign for four-and-twenty +hours, and took the opportunity to have a large quantity of new gold and +silver zodiacal coins struck and distributed among the people. + +The twenty-eight divisions are less known now, simply from the fact that +the Greeks did not adopt them; but they were much used by the early +Asian peoples, who distinguished them, like the twelve, by a series of +animals, and they are still used by the Arabs. + +So far for the nature of the zodiac, as used in various countries, and +as adopted from more ancient sources by the Greeks and handed on to us. +It is very remarkable that the arrangement of it, and its relation to +the pole of the equator, carries with it some indication of the age in +which it must have been invented, as we now proceed to show. + +We may remark, in the first place, that from very early times the centre +of the zodiacal circle has been marked in the celestial sphere, though +there is no remarkable star near the spot; and the centre of the +equatorial circle, or pole, has been even less noticed, though much more +obvious. We cannot perhaps conclude that the instability of the pole was +known, but that the necessity for drawing the zodiac led to attention +being paid to its centre. Both the Persians and the Chinese noted in +addition four bright stars, which they said watched over the rest, +_Taschter_ over the east, _Sateris_ over the west, _Venaud_ over the +south, and _Hastorang_ over the north. Now we must understand these +points to refer to the sun, the east being the spring equinox, the west +the autumnal, and the north and south the summer and winter solstices. +There are no stars of any brilliancy that we could now suppose referred +to in these positions; but if we turn the zodiac through 60 deg. we shall +find Aldebaran, the Antares, Regulus, and Fomalhaut, four stars of the +first magnitude, pretty nearly in the right places. Does the zodiac then +turn in this way? The answer is, It does. + +The effect of the attraction of the sun and moon upon the equatorial +protuberance of the earth is to draw it round from west to east by a +very slow motion, and make the ecliptic cross the equator each year +about one minute of arc to the east of where it crossed it the year +before. So, then, the sidereal year, or interval between the times at +which the sun is in a certain position amongst the stars, is longer than +the solar year, or interval between the times at which the sun crosses +the equator at the vernal equinox. Now the sun's position in the zodiac +refers to the former, his appearance at the equinox to the latter kind +of year. Each solar year then--and these are the years we usually reckon +by--the equinox is at a point fifty seconds of arc to the east on the +zodiac, an effect which is known by the name of the precession of the +equinoxes. + +Now it is plain that if it keeps moving continuously to the east it will +at last come round to the same point again, and the whole period of its +revolution can easily be calculated from the distance it moves each +year. The result of such a calculation shows that the whole revolution +is completed in 25,870 years, after which time all will be again as it +is now in this respect. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.] + +If we draw a figure of the zodiac, as below, and know that at this time +the vernal equinox takes place when the sun is in the Fishes, then, the +constellation of the Ram being to the west of this, the date at which +the equinox was there must be before our present date, while at some +time in the future it will be in Aquarius. + +Now if in any old description we find that the equinox is referred to as +being in the Ram or in the Bull, it tells us at once how long ago such a +description was a true one, and, therefore, when it was written. This is +the way in which the Zodiac carries with it an intimation of its date. +Thus in the example lately referred to of the Persians and their four +stars, it must have been about 5,000 years ago, according to the above +calculation, that these were in the positions assigned, which is +therefore the date of this part of Persian astronomy, if we have rightly +conjectured the stars referred to. + +We have already said that the signs of the zodiac are not now the same +as the zodiacal constellations, and this is now easily understood. It is +not worth while to say that the sun enters such and such a part of the +Fishes at the equinox, and changes every year. So the part of the +heavens it _does_ then enter--be it Fishes, or Aquarius, or the Ram--is +called by the same name--and is called a _sign_; the name chosen is the +Ram or Aries, which coincided with the constellation of that name when +the matter was arranged. There is another equally important and +instructive result of this precession of the equinox. For the earth's +axis is always perpendicular to the plane of the equator, and if the +latter moves, the former must too, and change its position with respect +to the axis of the ecliptic, which remains immovable. And the ends of +these axes, or the points they occupy among the stars, called their +poles, will change in the same way; the pole of the equator, round which +the heavens appear to move, describing a curve about the pole of the +ecliptic; and since the ecliptic and equator are always _nearly_ at the +same angle, this curve will be very nearly a circle, as represented on +preceding page. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.] + +Now the pole of the equator is a very marked point in the heavens, +because the star nearest to it appears to have no motion. If then we +draw such a figure as above, so as to see where this pole would be at +any given date, and then read in any old record that such and such a +star had no motion, we know at once at what date such a statement must +have been made. This means of estimating dates is less certain than the +other, because any star that is nearer to the pole than any other will +appear to have no motion _relatively_ to the rest, unless accurate +measurements were made. Nevertheless, when we have any reason to believe +that observations were carefully made, and there is any evidence that +some particular star was considered the Pole Star, we have some +confidence in concluding the date, examples of which will appear in the +sequel; and we may give one illustration now, though not a very +satisfactory one. Hipparchus cites a passage from the sphere of Eudoxus, +in which he says, _Est vero stella quaedam in eodem consistens loco, quae +quidem polus est mundi._ (There is a certain immovable star, which is +the pole of the world.) + +Now referring to our figure, we find that about 1300 B.C. the two stars, +[Greek: b] Ursae Minoris and [Greek: k] Draconis were fairly near the +pole, and this fact leads us to date the invention of this sphere at +about this epoch, rather than a little before or a little after, +although, of course, there is nothing in _this_ argument (though there +may be in others), to prevent us dating it when [Greek: a] Draconis was +near the pole, 2850 B.C. This star was indeed said by the Chinese +astronomers in the reign of Hoangti to mark the pole, which gives a date +to their observations. The chief use of this latter method is to +_confirm_ our conclusions from the former, rather than to originate any. +Let us now apply our knowledge to the facts. + +In the first place we may notice that in the time of Hipparchus the +vernal equinox was in the first degree of the Ram, from which our own +arrangement has originated. Hipparchus lived 128 years B.C., or nearly +2,000 years ago, at which time the equinox was exactly at [Greek: b] +Aries. Secondly, there are many reasons for believing that at the time +of the invention of the zodiac, indeed in the first dawning of +astronomy, the Bull was the first sign into which the sun entered at the +vernal equinox. Now it takes 2,156 years to retrograde through a sign, +and therefore the Bull might occupy this position any time between 2400 +and 4456 B.C., and any nearer approximation must depend on our ability +to fix on any particular _part_ of the constellation as the original +equinoctial point. We may say that whoever invented the zodiac would no +doubt make this point the _beginning_ of a sign, and therefore date its +invention 2400 B.C.; or on the other hand, if it can be proved that the +constellations were known and observed before this, we may have to put +back the date to near the end of the sign, and make its last remarkable +stars the equinoctial ones, say those in the horns of Taurus. Compare +the line of Virgil, + + "Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum + Taurus." + +The date in this case would be about 4500 B.C.--or once more some +remarkable part of the constellation may give proof that its appearance +with the sun commenced the year--and our date would be intermediate +between these two. In fact, the remarkable group of stars known as the +_Pleiades_ actually does play this part. So much interest clusters, +however, round this group, so much light is thrown by it on the past +history of astronomical ideas--and so much new information has recently +been obtained about it--that it requires a chapter to itself, and we +shall therefore pass over its discussion here. Let us now review some of +the indications that some part of the constellation of the Bull was +originally the first sign of the zodiac. + +We need perhaps only mention the astrological books of the Jews--the +Cabal--in which the Bull is dealt with as the first zodiacal sign. Among +the Persians, who designate the successive signs by the letters of the +alphabet, _A_ stands for Taurus, _B_ for the Twins, and so on. The +Chinese attribute the commencement of the sun's apparent motion to the +stars of Taurus. In Thebes is a sepulchral chamber with zodiacal signs, +and Taurus at the head of them. The zodiac of the pagoda of Elephanta +(Salsette) commences with the same constellation. + +However, reasons have been given for assigning to the zodiac a still +earlier date than this would involve. Thus Laplace writes:--"The names +of the constellations of the zodiac have not been given to them by +chance--they embody the results of a large number of researches and of +astronomical systems. Some of the names appear to have reference to the +motion of the sun. The Crab, for instance, and the He-Goat, indicate its +retrogression at the solstices. The Balance marks the equality of the +days and nights at the equinoxes, and the other names seem to refer to +agriculture and to the climate of the country in which the zodiac was +invented. The He-Goat appears better placed at the highest point of the +sun's course than the lowest. In this position, which it occupied +fifteen thousand years ago, the Balance was at the vernal equinox, and +the zodiacal constellations match well with the climate and agriculture +of Egypt." If we examine this, however, we see that all that is probable +in it is satisfied by the Ram being at the vernal, and the Balance at +the autumnal equinox, which corresponds much better with other evidence. + +[Illustration: THE ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.] + +In the first instance, no doubt, the names of the zodiacal +constellations would depend on the principal star or stars in each, and +these stars and the portion of the ecliptic assigned to each may have +been noticed before the stars round them were grouped into +constellations with different names. In any case, the introduction of +the zodiac into Greece seems to have been subsequent to that of the +celestial sphere, and not to have taken place more than five or six +centuries before our era. Eudemus, of Rhodes, one of the most +distinguished of the pupils of Aristotle, and author of a History of +Astronomy, attributes the introduction of the zodiac to Oenopides of +Chio, a contemporary of Anaxagoras. They did not receive it complete, as +at first it had only eleven constellations, one of them, the Scorpion, +being afterwards divided, to complete the necessary number. Their +zodiacal divisions too would have been more regular had they derived +them directly from the East, and would not have stretched in some +instances over 36 deg. to 48 deg., like the Lion, the Bull, the Fishes, or the +Virgin--while the Crab, the Ram, and the He-Goat, have only 19 deg. to 23 deg.. +Nor would their constellations be disposed so irregularly, some to the +north and some to the south of the ecliptic, nor some spreading out +widely and others crammed close together, so that we see that they only +borrowed the idea from the Easterns, and filled it out with their +ancient constellations. Such is the opinion of Humboldt. + +With regard to the origin of the names of the signs of the zodiac, we +must remember that a certain portion of the zodiacal circle, and not any +definite group of stars, forms each sign, and that the constellations +may have been formed separately, and have received independent names, +though afterwards receiving those of the sign in which they were. The +only rational suggestion for the origin of the names is that they were +connected with some events which took place, or some character of the +sun's motion observed, when it was in each sign. Thus we have seen that +the Balance may refer to equal nights and days (though only introduced +among the _Greeks_ in the time of Hipparchus), and the Crab to the +retrogression or stopping of the sun at the solstice. + +The various pursuits of husbandry, having all their necessary times, +which in the primeval days were determined by the positions of the +stars, would give rise to more important names. Thus the Ethiopian, at +Thebes, would call the stars that by their rising at a particular time +indicated the inundation, Aquarius, or the Waterer; those beneath which +it was necessary to put the plough to the earth, the Bull stars. The +Lion stars would be those at whose appearance this formidable animal, +driven from the deserts by thirst, showed himself on the borders of the +river. Those of the Ear of Corn, or the Virgin of harvest, those beneath +which the harvest was to be gathered in; and the sign of the Goat, that +in which the sun was when these animals were born. + +There can be but little doubt but that such was the origin of the names +imposed, and for a time they would be understood in that sense. But +afterwards, when time was more accurately kept, and calendars +regulated, without each man studying the stars for himself, when the +precession of the equinoxes made the periods not exactly coincide, the +original meaning would be lost, the stars would be associated with the +animals, as though there was a real bull, a real lion, &c., in the +heavens; and then the step would be easy to represent these by living +animals, whom they would endow with the heavenly attributes of what they +represented; and so the people came at last to pray to and worship the +several creatures for the sake of their supposed influence. They asked +of the Ram from their flocks the influences they thought depended on the +constellation. They prayed the Scorpion not to spread his evil venom on +the world; they revered the Crab, the Scarabaeus, and the Fish, without +perceiving the absurdity of it. + +It is certain at least that the gods of many nations are connected or +are identical with the signs of the zodiac, and it seems at least more +reasonable to suppose the former derived from the latter than _vice +versa_. + +Among the Greeks indeed, who had, so to speak, their gods ready made +before they borrowed the idea of the zodiac, the process appears to have +been the reverse, they made the signs to represent as far as they could +their gods. In the more pastoral peoples, however, of the East, and in +Egypt, this process can be very clearly traced. Among the Jews there +seems to be some remarkable connection between their patriarchs and +these signs, though the history of that connection may not well be made +out. The twelve signs are mentioned as being worshipped, along with the +sun and moon, in the Book of Kings. But what is more remarkable is the +dream of Joseph, in which the sun and moon and the other eleven stars +worshipped him, coupled with the various designations or descriptions +given to each son in the blessing of Jacob. In Reuben we have the man +who is said to be "unstable as water," in which we may recognise +Aquarius. In Simeon and Levi "the brethren," we trace the Twins. Judah +is the "Lion." Zebulun, "that dwells at the haven of the sea," +represents Fishes. Issachar is the Bull, or "strong ass couching down +between two burdens." Dan, "the serpent by the way, the adder in the +path," represents the Scorpion. Gad is the Ram, the leader to a flock or +troop of sheep. Asher the Balance, as the weigher of bread. Naphtali, +"the hind let loose," is the Capricorn, Joseph the Archer, whose bow +abode in strength. Brujanin the Crab, changing from morning to evening, +and Dinah, the only daughter, represents the Virgin. + +There is doubtless something far-fetched in some of these comparisons, +but when we consider the care with which the number twelve was retained, +and that the four chief tribes carried on their sacred standards these +very signs--namely, Judah a lion, Reuben a man, Ephraim a bull, and Dan +a scorpion--and notice the numerous traces of astronomical culture in +the Jewish ceremonies, the seven lights of the candlestick, the twelve +stones of the High Priest, the feasts at the two equinoxes, the +ceremonies connected with a ram and a bull, we cannot doubt that there +is something more than chance in the matter, but rather conclude that we +have an example of the process by which, in the hands of the Egyptians +themselves, astronomical representations became at last actually +deified. + +It has been thought possible indeed to assign definitely each god of the +Egyptians to one of the twelve zodiacal signs. The Ram was consecrated +to Jupiter Ammon, who was represented with a ram's head and horns. The +Bull became the god Apis, who was worshipped under that similitude. The +Twins correspond to Horus and Harpocrates, two sons of Osiris. The Crab +was consecrated to Anubis or Mercury. The Lion belonged to the summer +sun, Osiris; the Virgin to Isis. The Balance and the Scorpion were +included together under the name of Scorpion, which animal belongs to +Typhon, as did all dangerous animals. The Archer was the image of +Hercules, for whom the Egyptians had great veneration. The Capricorn was +consecrated to Pan or Mendes. The Waterer--or man carrying a +water-pot--is found on many Egyptian monuments. + +This process of deification was rendered easier by the custom they had +of celebrating a festival each month, under the name _neomenia_. They +characterised the neomenias of the various months by making the animal +whose sign the sun was entering accompany the Isis which announced the +_fete_. They were not content with a representation only, but had the +animal itself. The dog, being the symbol of Cannulus, with which the +year commenced, a living dog was made to head the ceremonial of the +first neomenia. Diodorus testifies to this as an eye-witness. + +These neomenias thus came to be called the festival of the Bull, of the +Ram, the Dog, or the Lion. That of the Ram would be the most solemn and +important in places where they dealt much in sheep. That of the Bull in +the fat pasture-lands of Memphis and Lower Egypt. That of Capella would +be brilliant at Mendes, where they bred goats more than elsewhere. + +We may fortify these opinions by a quotation from Lucian, who gives +expression to them very clearly. "It is from the divisions of the +zodiac," he says, "that the crowd of animals worshipped in Egypt have +had their origin. Some employed one constellation, and some another. +Those who used to consult that of the Ram came to adore a ram. Those who +took their presages from the Fishes would not eat fish. The goat was not +killed in places were they observed Capricornus, and so on, according to +the stars whose influence they cared most for. If they adored a bull it +was certainly to do honour to the celestial Bull. The Apis, which was a +sacred object with them, and wandered at liberty through the country, +and for which they founded an oracle, was the astrological symbol of the +Bull that shone in the heavens." + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.--THE ZODIAC AND THE DEAD IN EGYPT.] + +Their use of the zodiac is illustrated in an interesting manner by a +mummy found some years ago in Egypt. At the bottom of the coffin was +found painted a zodiac, something like that of Denderah; underneath the +lid, along the body of a great goddess, were drawn eleven signs, but +with that of _Capricornus_ left out. The inscription showed that the +mummy was that of a young man, aged 21 years, 4 months, and 22 days, who +died the 19th year of Trajan, on the 8th of the month Pazni, which +corresponds to the 2nd of June, A.D. 116. The embalmed was therefore +born on the 12th of January, A.D. 95, at which time the sun was in the +constellation of Capricornus. This shows that the zodiac was the +representation of the astrological theories about the person embalmed, +who was doubtless a person of some importance. (See Plate IV.) Any such +use as this, however, must have been long subsequent to the invention of +the signs themselves, as it involves a much more complicated idea. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PLEIADES. + + +Among the most remarkable of the constellations is a group of seven +stars arranged in a kind of triangular cluster, and known as the +Pleiades. It is not, strictly speaking, one of the constellations, as it +forms only part of one. We have seen that one of the ancient signs of +the zodiac is the Bull, or Taurus; the group of stars we are now +speaking of forms part of this, lying towards the eastern part in the +shoulders of the Bull. The Pleiades scarcely escape anybody's +observation now, and we shall not be, therefore, surprised that they +have always attracted great attention. So great indeed has been the +attention paid to them that festivals and seasons, calendars and years, +have by many nations been regulated by their rising or culmination, and +they have been thus more mixed up with the early history of astronomy, +and have left more marks on the records of past nations, than any other +celestial object, except the sun and moon. + +The interesting details of the history of the Pleiades have been very +carefully worked out by R. G. Haliburton, F.S.A., to whom we owe the +greater part of the information we possess on the subject.[1] + +Let us first explain what may be observed with respect to the Pleiades. +It is a group possessing peculiar advantages for observation; it is a +compact group, the whole will appear at once; and it is an unmistakable +group and it is near the equator, and is therefore visible to observers +in either hemisphere. + +Now suppose the sun to be in the same latitude as the Pleiades on some +particular day; owing to the proximity of the group to the ecliptic, it +will be then very near the sun, and it will set with it and be invisible +during the night. If the sun were to the east of the Pleiades they would +have already set, and the first view of the heavens at sunset would not +contain this constellation; and so it would be so long as the sun was to +the east, or for nearly half a year; though during some portion of this +time it would rise later on in the night. During the other half year, +while the sun was to the west, the Pleiades would be visible at sunset, +and we immediately see how they are thus led to divide the whole year +into two portions, one of which might be called _the Pleiades below_, +and the other _the Pleiades above_. It is plain that the Pleiades first +become visible at sunset, when they are then just rising, in which case +they will culminate a little after midnight (not at midnight, on account +of the twilight) and be visible all night. This will occur when the sun +is about half a circle removed from them--that is, at this time, about +the beginning of November; which would thus be the commencement of one +half of the year, the other half commencing in May. The culmination of +the Pleiades at midnight takes place a few days later, when they rise at +the time that the sun is really on the horizon, in which case they are +exactly opposite to it; and this will happen on the same day all over +the earth. The opposite effect to this would be when the sun was close +to the Pleiades--a few days before which the latter would be just +setting after sunset, and a few days after would be just rising before +sunrise. + + [1] Mr. Haliburton's observations are contained in an interesting + pamphlet, entitled _New Materials for the History of Man_, which + is quoted by Prof. Piazzi Smyth, but which is not easy to obtain. + It may be seen, however, in the British Museum. + +We have thus the following observations, that might be made with respect +to this, or any other well-marked constellation. First, the period +during which it was visible at sunset; secondly, the date of its +culmination at midnight; thirdly, its setting in the evening; and +fourthly, its rising in the morning: the last two dates being nearly six +months removed from the second. There are also the dates of its +culmination at sunrise and sunset, which would divide these intervals +into two equal halves. On account of the precession of the equinoxes, +as explained in the last chapter, the time at which the sun has any +particular position with respect to the stars, grows later year by year +in relation to the equinoctial points. And as we regulate our year by +the date of the sun's entrance on the northern hemisphere, the sidereal +dates, as we may call them, keep advancing on the months. As, however, +the change is slow, it has not prevented years being commenced and +husbandry being regulated by the dates above mentioned. Any date that is +regulated by the stars we might expect to be nearly the same all over +the world, and the customs observed to be universal, though the date +itself might alter, and in this way. So long as the date was directly +obtained from the position of the star, all would agree; but as soon as +a solar calendar was arranged, and it was found that at that time this +position coincided with a certain day, say the Pleiades culminating at +midnight on November 17, then some would keep on the date November 17 as +the important day, even when the Pleiades no longer culminated at +midnight then, and others would keep reckoning by the stars, and so have +a different date. + +With these explanations we shall be able to recognise how much the +configurations of the Pleiades have had to do with the festivals and +calendars of nations, and have even left their traces on customs and +names in use among ourselves to the present day. + +We have evidences from two very different quarters of the universality +of the division of the year into two parts by means of the Pleiades. On +the one hand we learn from Hesiod that the Greeks commenced their winter +seasons in his days by the setting of the Pleiades in the morning, and +the summer season by their rising at that time. And Mr. Ellis, in his +_Polynesian Researches_, tells us that "the Society Islanders divided +the year into two seasons of the Pleiades, or _Matarii_. The first they +called _Matarii i nia_, or the _Pleiades above_. It commenced when, in +the evening, these stars appeared at or near the horizon, and the half +year during which, immediately after sunset, they were seen above the +horizon was called _Matarii i nia_. The other season commenced when at +sunset these stars are invisible, and continued until at that time they +appeared again above the horizon. This season was called _Matarii i +raro_, i.e. _the Pleiades below_." Besides these direct evidences we +shall find that many semi-annual festivals connected with these stars +indicate the commencement of the two seasons among other nations. + +One of these festivals was of course always taken for the commencement +of the year, and much was made of it as new-year's day. A new-year's +festival connected with and determined by the Pleiades appears to be one +of the most universal of all customs; and though some little difficulty +arises, as we have already pointed out, in fixing the date with +reference to solar calendars, and differences and coincidences in this +respect among different nations may be to a certain extent accidental, +yet the fact of the wide-spread observance of such a festival is certain +and most interesting. + +The actual observance at the present day of this festival is to be found +among the Australian savages. At their midnight culmination in November, +they still hold a new-year's _corroboree_, in honour of the +_Mormodellick_, as they call the Pleiades, which they say are "very good +to the black fellows." With them November is somewhat after the +beginning of spring, but in former days it would mark the actual +commencement, and the new year would be regulated by the seasons. + +In the northern hemisphere this culmination of the Pleiades has the same +relation to the autumnal equinox, which would never be taken as the +commencement of the year; and we must therefore look to the southern +hemisphere for the origin of the custom; especially as we find the very +Pleiades themselves called _Vergiliae_, or stars of spring. Of course we +might suppose that the rising of the constellation in the _morning_ had +been observed in the northern hemisphere, which would certainly have +taken place in the beginning of spring some 5,000 years ago; but this +seems improbable, first, because it is unlikely that different phenomena +of the Pleiades should have been most noticed, and secondly, because +neither April nor May are among any nations connected with this +constellation by name. Whereas in India the year commenced in the month +they called _Cartiguey_, which means the Pleiades. Among the ancient +Egyptians we find the same connection between _Athar-aye_, the name of +the Pleiades, with the Chaldeans and Hebrews, and _Athor_ in the +Egyptian name of November. The Arabs also call the constellation +_Atauria_. We shall have more to say on this etymology presently, but in +the meantime we learn that it was the phenomenon connected with the +Pleiades at or about November that was noticed by all ancient nations, +from which we must conclude that the origin of the new-year's spring +festival came from the southern hemisphere. + +There is some corroboration of this in the ancient traditions as to the +stars having changed their courses. In the southern hemisphere a man +standing facing the position of the sun at noon would see the stars rise +on his right hand and move towards his left. In the northern hemisphere, +if he also looked in the direction of the sun at noon, he would see them +rise on his left hand. Now one of a race migrating from one side to the +other of the equator would take his position from the sun, and fancy he +was facing the same way when he looked at it at noon, and so would think +the motion of the stars to have altered, instead of his having turned +round. Such a tradition, then, seems to have arisen from such a +migration, the fact of which seems to be confirmed by the calling the +Pleiades stars of spring, and commencing the year with their +culmination at midnight. In order to trace this new-year's festival into +other countries, and by this means to show its connection with the +Pleiades, we must remark that every festival has its peculiar features +and rites, and it is by these that we must recognise it, where the +actual date of its occurrence has slightly changed; bearing, of course, +in mind that the actual change of date must not be too great to be +accounted for by the precession of the equinoxes, or about seventy-one +years for each day of change, since the institution of the festival, and +that the change is in the right direction. + +Now we find that everywhere this festival of the Pleiades' culmination +at midnight (or it may be of the slightly earlier one of their first +appearance at the horizon at apparent sunset) was always connected with +the memory of the dead. It was a "feast of ancestors." + +Among the Australians themselves, the _corroborees_ of the natives are +connected with a worship of the dead. They paint a white stripe over +their arms, legs, and ribs, and, dancing by the light of their fires by +night, appear like so many skeletons rejoicing. What is also to be +remarked, the festival lasts three days, and commences in the evening; +the latter a natural result of the date depending on the appearance of +the Pleiades on the horizon at that time. + +The Society Islanders, who, as we have seen, divided their year by the +appearance of the Pleiades at sunset, commenced their year on the first +day of the appearance, about November, and also celebrated the closing +of one and the opening of a new year by a "usage resembling much the +popish custom of mass for souls in purgatory," each man returning to his +home to offer special prayers for the spirits of departed relatives. + +In the Tonga Islands, which belong to the Fiji group, the festival of +_Inachi_, a vernal first-fruits' celebration, and also a commemoration +of the dead takes place towards the end of October, and commences at +sunset. + +In Peru the new-year's festival occurs in the beginning of November, and +is "called _Ayamarca_ from _aya_, a corpse, and _marca_, carrying in +arms, because they celebrated the solemn festival of the dead, with +tears, lugubrious songs, and plaintive music; and it was customary to +visit the tombs of relations, and to leave in them food and drink." The +fact that this took place at the time of the discovery of Peru on the +very same day as a similar ceremony takes place in Europe, was only an +accidental coincidence, which is all the more remarkable because the two +appear, as will be seen in the sequel, to have had the same origin, and +therefore at first the same date, and to have altered from it by exactly +the same amount. These instances from races south of the equator prove +clearly that there exists a very general connection with new-year's day, +as determined by the rising of the Pleiades at sunset, and a festival of +the dead; and in some instances with an offering of first-fruits. What +the origin of this connection may be is a more difficult matter. At +first sight one might conjecture that with the year that was passed it +was natural to connect the men that had passed away; and this may indeed +be the true interpretation: but there are traditions and observances +which may be thought by some to point to some ancient wide-spread +catastrophe which happened at this particular season, which they yearly +commemorated, and reckoned a new year from each commemoration. Such +traditions and observances we shall notice as we trace the spread of +this new-year's festival of the dead among various nations, and its +connection, with the Pleiades. + +We have seen that in India November is called the month of the Pleiades. +Now on the 17th day of that month is celebrated the Hindoo Durga, a +festival of the dead, and said by Greswell to have been a new-year's +commemoration at the earliest time to which Indian calendars can be +carried back. + +Among the ancient Egyptians the same day was very noticeable, and they +took care to regulate their solar calendars that it might remain +unchanged. Numerous altered calendars have been discovered, but they are +all regulated by this one day. This was determined by the culmination of +the Pleiades at midnight. On this day commenced the solemn festival of +the Isia, which, like the _corroborees_ of the Australians, lasted three +days, and was celebrated in honour of the dead, and of Osiris, the lord +of tombs. Now the month Athyr was undoubtedly connected with the +Pleiades, being that "in which the Pleiades are most distinct"--that +is, in which they rise near and before sunset. Among the Egyptians, +however, more attention was paid to astronomy than amongst the savage +races with which the year of the Pleiades would appear to have +originated, and they studied very carefully the connection between the +positions of the stars and the entrance of the sun into the northern +hemisphere, and regulated their calendar accordingly; as we shall see +shortly in speaking of the pyramid builders. + +The Persians formerly called the month of November _Mordad_, the angel +of death, and the feast of the dead took place at the same time as in +Peru, and was considered a new-year's festival. It commenced also in the +evening. + +In Ceylon a combined festival of agriculture and of the dead takes place +at the beginning of November. + +Among the better known of the ancient nations of the northern +hemispheres, such as the Greeks and Romans, the anomaly of having the +beginning of the year at the autumnal equinox seems to have induced them +to make a change to that of spring, and with this change has followed +the festival of the dead, although some traces of it were left in +November. + +The commemoration of the dead was connected among the Egyptians with a +deluge, which was typified by the priest placing the image of Osiris in +a sacred coffer or ark, and launching it out into the sea till it was +borne out of sight. Now when we connect this fact, and the celebration +taking place on the 17th day of Athyr, with the date on which the Mosaic +account of the deluge of Noah states it to have commenced, "in the +second month (of the Jewish year, which corresponds to November), the +17th day of the month," it must be acknowledged that this is no chance +coincidence, and that the precise date here stated must have been +regulated by the Pleiades, as was the Egyptian date. This coincidence is +rendered even stronger by the similiarity of traditions among the two +nations concerning the dove and the tree as connected with the deluge. +We find, however, no festival of the dead among the Hebrews; their +better form of faith having prevented it. + +We have not as yet learnt anything of the importance of the Pleiades +among the ancient Babylonian astronomers, but as through their tablets +we have lately become acquainted with their version of the story of the +deluge, we may be led in this way to further information about their +astronomical appreciation of this constellation. + +From whatever source derived, it is certain that the Celtic races were +partakers in this general culture, we might almost call it, of the +Pleiades, as shown by the time and character of their festival of the +dead. This is especially interesting to ourselves, as it points to the +origin of the superstitions of the Druids, and accounts for customs +remaining even to this day amongst us. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--THE LEGENDS OF THE DRUIDS.] + +The first of November was with the Druids a night full of mystery, in +which they annually celebrated the reconstruction of the world. A +terrible rite was connected with this; for the Druidess nuns were +obliged at this time to pull down and rebuild each year the roof of +their temple, as a symbol of the destruction and renovation of the +world. If one of them, in bringing the materials for the new roof, let +fall her sacred burden, she was lost. Her companions, seized with a +fanatic transport, rushed upon her and tore her to pieces, and scarcely +a year is said to have passed without there being one or more victims. +On this same night the Druids extinguished the sacred fire, which was +kept continually burning in the sacred precincts, and at that signal all +the fires in the island were one by one put out, and a primitive night +reigned throughout the land. Then passed along to the west the phantoms +of those who had died during the preceding year, and were carried away +by boats to the judgment-seat of the god of the dead. (Plate V.) +Although Druidism is now extinct, the relics of it remain to this day, +for in our calendar we still find November 1 marked as All Saints' Day, +and in the pre-Reformation calendars the last day of October was marked +All Hallow Eve, and the 2nd of November as All Souls'; indicating +clearly a three days' festival of the dead, commencing in the evening, +and originally regulated by the Pleiades--an emphatic testimony how much +astronomy has been mixed up with the rites and customs even of the +English of to-day. In former days the relics were more numerous, in the +Hallowe'en torches of the Irish, the bonfires of the Scotch, the +_coel-coeth_ fires of the Welsh, and the _tindle_ fires of Cornwall, all +lighted on Hallowe'en. In France it still lingers more than here, for to +this very day the Parisians at this festival repair to the cemeteries, +and lunch at the graves of their ancestors. + +If the extreme antiquity of a rite can be gathered from the remoteness +of the races that still perform it, the fact related to us by Prescott +in his _History of the Conquest of Mexico_ cannot fail to have great +interest. There we find that the great festival of the Mexican cycle was +held in November, at the time of the midnight culmination of the +Pleiades. It began at sunset, and at midnight as that constellation +approached the zenith, a human victim, was offered up, to avert the +dread calamity which they believed impended over the human race. They +had a tradition that the world had been previously destroyed at this +time, and they were filled with gloom and dismay, and were not at rest +until the Pleiades were seen to culminate, and a new cycle had begun; +this great cycle, however, was only accomplished in fifty-two years. + +It is possible that the festival of lanthorns among the Japanese, which +is celebrated about November, may be also connected with this same day, +as it is certain that that nation does reckon days by the Pleiades. + +These instances of a similar festival at approximately the same period +of the year, and regulated (until fixed to a particular day in a solar +calendar) by the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, show conclusively +how great an influence that constellation has had on the manners and +customs of the world, and throw some light on the history of man. + +Even where we find no festival connected with the particular position of +the Pleiades which is the basis of the above, they still are used for +the regulation of the seasons--as amongst the Dyaks of Borneo. This race +of men are guided in their farming operations by this constellation. +"When it is low in the east at early morning, before sunrise, the elders +know it is time to cut down the jungle; when it approaches mid-heaven, +then it is time to burn what they have cut down; when it is declining +towards the west, then they plant; and when in the early evening it is +seen thus declining, then they may reap in safety and in peace;" the +latter period is also that of their feast of _Nycapian_, or +first-fruits. + +We find the same regulations amongst the ancient Greeks in the days of +Hesiod, who tells us that the corn is to be cut when the Pleiades rise, +and ploughing is to be done when they set. Also that they are invisible +for forty days, and reappear again at harvest. When the Pleiades rise, +the care of the vine must cease; and when, fleeing from Orion, they are +lost in the waves, sailing commences to be dangerous. The name, indeed, +by which we now know these stars is supposed to be derived from the word +[Greek: plein], to sail--because sailing was safe after they had risen; +though others derive it from [Greek: peleiai], a flight of doves. + +Any year that is regulated by the Pleiades, or by any other group of +stars, must, as we have seen before, be what is called a sidereal, and +not a solar year. Now a year in uncivilised countries can only mean a +succession of seasons, as is illustrated by the use of the expression "a +person of so many summers." It is difficult of course to say when any +particular season begins by noticing its characteristics as to weather; +even the most regular phenomena are not certain enough for that; we +cannot say that when the days and nights become exactly equal any marked +change takes place in the temperature or humidity of the atmosphere, or +in any other easily-noticed phenomena. The day therefore on which spring +commences is arbitrary, except that, inasmuch as spring depends on the +position of the sun, its commencement, ought to be regulated by that +luminary, and not by some star-group which has no influence in the +matter. Nevertheless the position of such a group is much more easily +observed, and in early ages could almost alone be observed; and so long +as the midnight culmination of the Pleiades--judged of, it must be +noticed, by their appearance _on the horizon_ at sunset--fairly +coincided with that state of weather which might be reckoned the +commencement of spring conditions, no error would be detected, because +the change in their position is so slow. The solar spring is probably a +later discovery, which now, from its greater reasonableness and +constancy, has superseded the old one. But since the time of the sun's +crossing the equator is the natural commencement of spring, whether +discovered or not, it is plain that no group of stars could be taken as +a guide instead, if their indication did not approximately coincide with +this. + +If then we can determine the exact date at which the Pleiades indicated +by their midnight culmination the sun's passage across the equator, we +can be sure that the spring could only have been regulated by this +during, say, a thousand years at most, on either side of this date. It +is very certain that if the method of reckoning spring by the stars had +been invented at a more remote date, some other set of stars would have +been chosen instead. + +Now when was this date? It is a matter admitting of certain calculation, +depending only on numbers derived from observation in our own days and +records of the past few centuries, and the answer is that this date is +about 2170 B.C. + +We have seen that, though it was probably brought from the southern +hemisphere, the Egyptians adopted the year of the Pleiades, and +celebrated the new-year's festival of the dead; but they were also +advanced astronomers, and would soon find out the change that took place +in the seasons when regulated by the stars. And to such persons the date +at which the two periods coincided, or at least were exactly half a year +apart, would be one of great importance and interest, and there seems +to be evidence that they did commemorate it in a very remarkable manner. +The evidence, however, is all circumstantial, and the conclusion +therefore can only claim probability. The evidence is as follows:--The +most remarkable buildings of Egypt are the pyramids. These are of +various sizes and importance, but are built very much after the same +plan. They seem, however, to be all copies from one, the largest, +namely, the Pyramid of Gizeh, and to be of subsequent date to this. +Their object has long been a puzzle, and the best conclusion has been +supposed to be that they were for sepulchral purposes, as in some of +them coffins have been found. The large one, however, shows far more +than the rest of the structure, and cannot have been meant for a funeral +pile alone. + +Its peculiarities come out on a careful examination and measurement such +as it has been subjected to at the devoted hands of Piazzi Smyth, the +Astronomer Royal for Scotland. He has shown that it is not built at +random, as a tomb might be, but it is adjusted with exquisite design, +and with surprising accuracy. In the first place it lies due north, +south, east, and west, and the careful ascertainment of the meridian of +the place, by modern astronomical instruments, could not suggest any +improvement in its position in this respect. The outside of it is now, +so to speak, pealed, that is to say, there was originally, covering the +whole, another layer of stones which have been taken away. These stones, +which were of a different material, were beautifully polished, as some +of the remaining ones, now covered and concealed, can testify. The angle +at which they are cut, and which of course gives the angle and elevation +of the whole pyramid, is such that the height of it is in the same +proportion to its circumference or perimeter, as the radius of a circle +is to its circumference approximately. The height, in fact, is proved by +measurement and observation to be 486 ft., and the four sides together +to be 3,056 ft., or about 6-2/7 times the height. It does not seem +improbable that, considering their advancement, the Egyptians might have +calculated approximately how much larger the circumference of the circle +is than its diameter, and it is a curious coincidence that the pyramid +expresses it. Professor Piazzi Smyth goes much further and believes that +they knew, or were divinely taught, the shape and size of the earth, and +by a little manipulation of the length of their unit, or as he expresses +it the "pyramid inch," he makes the base of the pyramid express the +number of miles in the diameter of the earth. + +Now in the interior of the apparently solid structure, besides the usual +slanting passage down to a kind of cellar or vault beneath the middle of +the base, which may have been used for a sepulchral resting-place, there +are two slanting passages, one running north and the other running +south, and slanting up at different angles. Part of that which leads +south is much enlarged, and is known as the grand gallery. It is of a +very remarkable shape, being perfectly smooth and polished along its +ascending base, as indeed it is in every part, and having a number of +steps or projections, pointing also upwards at certain angles, very +carefully maintained. Whether we understand its use or not, it is very +plain that it has been made with a very particular design, and one not +easily comprehended. This leads into a chamber known as the king's +chamber, whose walls are exquisitely polished and which contains a +coffer known as _Cheops' Coffin_. This coffer has been villainously +treated by travellers, who have chipped and damaged it, but originally +it was very carefully made and polished. It is too large to have been +brought in by the only entrance into the chamber after it was finished, +and therefore is obviously no coffin at all, as is proved also by the +elaborateness of the means of approach. Professor Piazzi Smyth has made +the happy suggestion that it represents their standard of length and +capacity, and points out the remarkable fact that it contains exactly as +much as four quarters of our dry measure. As no one has ever suggested +what our "quarters" are quarters of, Professor Smyth very naturally +supplies the answer--"of the contents of the pyramid coffer." There are +various other measurements that have been made by the same worker, and +their meaning suggested in his interesting book, _Our Inheritance in the +Great Pyramid_, which we may follow or agree to as we can; but from all +that has been said above, it will appear probable that this pyramid was +built with a definite design to mark various natural phenomena or +artificial measures, which is all we require for our present purpose. +Now we come to the question, what is the meaning of the particular +angles at which the north-looking and south-looking passages rise, if, +as we now believe, they must have _some_ meaning. + +The exits of these passages were closed, and they could not therefore +have been for observation, but they may have been so arranged as to be a +memorial of any remarkable phenomena to be seen in those directions. To +ascertain if there be any such to which they point, we must throw back +the heavens to their position in the days of the Egyptians, because, as +we have seen, the precession of the equinoxes alters the meridian +altitude of every star. As the passages point north and south, if they +refer to any star at all, it must be to their passing the meridian. + +Now let us take the heavens as they were 2170 B.C., the date at which +the Pleiades _really_ commenced the spring, by their midnight +culmination, and ask how high they would be then. The answer of +astronomy is remarkable--"_Exactly at that height that they could be +seen in the direction of the southward-pointing passage of the +pyramid._" And would any star then be in a position to be seen in the +direction of the other or northward-looking passage? Yes, the largest +star in the constellation of the Dragon, which would be so near the pole +(3 deg. 52') as to be taken as the Pole Star in those days. These are such +remarkable coincidences in a structure admittedly made with mathematical +accuracy and design, and truly executed, that we cannot take them to be +accidental, but must endeavour to account for them. + +The simplest explanation seems to be, that everything in the pyramid is +intended to represent some standard or measure, and that these passages +have to do with their year. They had received the year of the Pleiades +from a remoter antiquity than their own, they had discovered the true +commencement of solar spring, as determined from the solar autumnal +equinox, and they commemorated by the building of the pyramid the +coincidence of the two dates, making passages in it which would have no +meaning except at that particular time. + +Whether the pyramid was built _at that time_, or whether their +astronomical knowledge was sufficient to enable them to predict it and +build accordingly, just as we calculate back to it, we have no means of +knowing. It is very possible that the pyramid may have been built by +some immigrating race more learned in astronomy, like the Accadians +among the Babylonians. + +Either the whole of the conclusions respecting the pyramid is founded on +pure imagination and the whole work upon it thrown away, or we have here +another very remarkable proof of the influence of the Pleiades on the +reckoning of the year, and a very interesting chapter in the history of +the heavens. + +Following the guidance of Mr. Haliburton, we shall find still more +customs, and names depending in all probability on the influence the +Pleiades once exerted, and the observances connected with the feasts in +their honour. + +The name by which the Pleiades are known among the Polynesians is the +"Tau," which means a season, and they speak of the years of the Tau, +that is of the Pleiades. Now we have seen that the Egyptians had similar +feasts at similar times, in relation to this constellation, and argued +that they did not arise independently. This seems still further proved +by their name for these stars--the Atauria. + +Now the Egyptians do not appear to have derived their signs of the +Zodiac from the same source; these had a Babylonian origin, and the +constellation in which the Pleiades were placed by the latter people was +the Bull, by whatever name he went. The Egyptians, we may make the fair +surmise, adopted from both sources; they took the Pleiades to indicate +the Bull, and they called this animal after the Atauria. From thence we +got the Latin Taurus, and the German Thier. + +It is possible that this somehow got connected with the letter "tau" in +Greek, which seems itself connected with the sacred scarabaeus or +Tau-beetle of Egypt; but the nature of the connection is by no means +obvious. Mr. Haliburton even suggests that the "tors" and "Arthur's +seat," which are names given to British hill-tops, may be connected with +the "high places," of the worship of the Pleiades, but of this we have +no proof. + +Among the customs possibly derived from the ancients, through the +Phoenicians, though now adopted as conveying a different meaning in a +Christian sense, is that of the "hot cross bun," or "bull cake." It is +found on Egyptian monuments, signifying the four quarters of the year, +and sometimes stamped with the head and horns of the bull. It is found +among ourselves too, essentially connected with the dead, and something +similar to it appears in the "soul cake" connected originally with All +Souls' Day. + +Among the Scotch it was traditionally thought that on New Year's Eve the +Candlemas Bull can be seen, rising at twilight and sailing over the +heavens--a very near approach to a matter-of-fact statement. + +We have seen that among the ancient Indians there was some notice taken +of the Pleiades, and that they in all probability guided their year by +them or by some other stars: it would therefore behove them to know +something of the precession of the equinoxes. It seems very well proved +that their days of Brahma and other periods were meant to represent some +astronomical cycles, and among these we find one that is applicable to +the above. They said that in every thousand divine ages, or in every day +of Brahma, fourteen Menus are successively invested with the sovereignty +of the earth. Each Menu transmits his empire to his sons during +seventy-one divine ages. We may find a meaning for this by putting it +that the equinox goes forward fourteen days in each thousand years, and +each day takes up seventy-one years. + +These may not be the only ones among the various customs, sayings, and +names that are due in one way or other to this primitive method of +arranging the seasons by the positions of the stars, especially of those +most remarkable and conspicuous ones the Pleiades, but they are those +that are best authenticated. If the connection between the Pleiades and +the festival of the dead, the new year and a deluge, can be clearly made +out; if the tradition of the latter be found as universal as that of the +former, and be connected with it in the Mosaic narrative; if we can +trace all these traditions to the south of the equator, and find +numerous further traditions connected with islands, we may find some +reason for believing in their theory who suggest that the early +progenitors of the human race (? all of them) were inhabitants of some +fortunate islands of even temperature in the southern hemisphere, where +they made some progress in civilisation, but that their island was +swallowed up by the sea, and that they only escaped by making huge +vessels, and, being carried by the waves, they landed on continental +shores, where they commemorated yearly the great catastrophe that had +happened to them, notifying its time by the position of the Pleiades, +making it a feast of the dead whom they had left behind, and opening +the year with the day, whether it were spring or not, and handing down +to their descendants and to those among whom they came, the traditions +and customs which such events had impressed upon them. + +Whether such an account be probable, mythical, or unnatural, there are +certainly some strange things to account for in connection with the +Pleiades. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF THE HEAVENS ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENTS. + + +Many and various have been the ideas entertained by reflecting men in +former times on the nature and construction of the heavenly vault, +wherein appeared those stars and constellations whose history we have +already traced. Is it solid? or liquid? or gaseous? Each of these and +many other suppositions have been duly formulated by the ancient +philosophers and sages, although, as we are told by modern astronomy, it +does not exist at all. + +In our study of the ancient ideas about the structure of the universe, +we will commence with that early and curious system which considered the +heavenly vault to be material and solid. + +The theory of a solid sky received the assent of all the most ancient +philosophers. In his commentary on Aristotle's work on the heavens, +Simplicius reveals the repugnance the ancient philosophers felt in +admitting that a star could stand alone in space, or have a free motion +of its own. It must have a support, and they therefore conceived that +the sky must be solid. However strange this idea may now appear, it +formed for many centuries the basis of all astronomical theories. Thus +Anaximenas (in the sixth century B.C.) is related by Plutarch to have +said that "the outer sky is solid and crystalline," and that the stars +are "fixed to its surface like studs," but he does not say on what this +opinion was founded, though it is probable that, like his master +Anaximander, he could not understand how the stars could move without +being supported. + +Pythagoras, who lived about the same epoch, is also supposed by some to +have held the same views, and it is possible that they all borrowed +these ideas from the Persians, whose earliest astronomers are said in +the _Zend avesta_ to have believed in concentric solid skies. + +Eudoxus of Cnidus, in the fifth century B.C., is said by his commentator +Aratus to have also believed in the solidity of the heavens, but his +reasons are not assigned. + +Notwithstanding these previously expressed opinions, Aristotle (fourth +century, B.C.) has for a long time been generally supposed to be the +inventor of solid skies, but in fact he only gave the idea his valuable +and entire support. The sphere of the stars was his eighth heaven. The +less elevated heavens, in which he also believed, were invented to +explain as well as they might, the proper motions of the sun, moon, and +planets. + +The philosopher of Stagira said that the motion of his eighth or +outermost solid sky was uniform, nor ever troubled by any perturbation. +"Within the universe there is," he says, "a fixed and immovable centre, +the earth; and without there is a bounding surface enclosing it on all +sides. The outermost part of the universe is the sky. It is filled with +heavenly bodies which we know as stars, and it has a perpetual motion, +carrying round with it these immortal bodies in its unaltering and +unending revolution." + +Euclid, to whom we may assign a date of about 275 before our present +era, also considered the stars to be set in a solid sphere, having the +eye of the observer as centre; though for him this conception was simply +a deduction from exact and fundamental observations, namely, that their +revolution took place as a whole, the shape and size of the +constellation being never altered. + +Cicero, in the last century before Christ, declared himself a believer +in the solidity of the sky. According to him the ether was too rarefied +to enable it to move the stars, which must therefore require to be fixed +to a sphere of their own, independent of the ether. + +In the time of Seneca there seem to have been difficulties already +raised about the solidity of the heavens, for he only mentions it in the +form of a question--"Is the sky solid and of a firm and compact +substance?" (_Questions_, Book ii.) + +In the fifth century the idea of the star sphere still lingered, and in +the eyes of Simplicius, the commentator of Aristotle, it was not merely +an artifice suitable for the representation of the apparent motions, but +a firm and solid reality; while Mahomet and most of the Fathers of the +Christian Church had the same conception of these concentric spheres. + +It appears then from this review that the phrases "starry vault," and +especially "fixed stars," have been used in two very distinct senses. +When we meet with them in Aristotle or Ptolemy, it is obvious that they +have reference to the crystal sphere of Anaximenas, to which they were +supposed to be affixed, and to move with it; but that later the word +"fixed" carried with it the sense of immovable, and the stars were +conceived as fixed in this sense, independently of the sphere to which +they were originally thought to be attached. Thus Seneca speaks of them +as the _fixum et immobilem populum_. + +If we would inquire a little further into the supposed nature of this +solid sphere, we find that Empedocles considered it to be a solid mass, +formed of a portion of the ether which the elementary fire has converted +into crystal, and his ideas of the connection between cold and +solidification being not very precise, he described it by names that +give the best idea of transparence, and, like Lactantius, called it +_vitreum caelum_, or said _caelum aerem glaciatum esse_, though we cannot +suppose that he made any allusion to what we now call glass, but simply +meant some body eminently transparent into which the fire had +transformed the air; while so far from having any idea of cold, as we +might imagine possible from observations of the snowy tops of mountains, +they actually believed in a warm region above the lower atmosphere. Thus +Aristotle considers that the spheres heat by their motion the air below +them, without being heated themselves, and that there is thus a +production of heat. "The motion of the sphere of fixed stars," he says, +"is the most rapid, as it moves in a circle with all the bodies attached +to it, and the spaces immediately below are strongly heated by the +motion, and the heat, thus engendered, is propagated downwards to the +earth." This however, strangely enough, does not appear to have +prevented their supposing an eternal cold to reign in the regions next +below, for Macrobius, in his commentary on Cicero, speaks of the +decrease of temperature with the height, and concludes that the extreme +zones of the heavens where Saturn moves must be eternally cold; but this +they reckoned as part of the atmosphere, beyond whose limits alone was +to be found the fiery ether. + +It is to the Fathers of the Church that we owe the transmission during +the middle ages of the idea of a crystal vault. They conceived a heaven +of glass composed of eight or ten superposed layers, something like so +many skins in an onion. This idea seems to have lingered on in certain +cloisters of southern Europe even into the nineteenth century, for a +venerable Prince of the Church told Humboldt in 1815, that a large +aerolite lately fallen, which was covered with a vitrified crust, must +be a fragment of the crystalline sky. On these various spheres, one +enveloping without touching another, they supposed the several planets +to be fixed, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter. + +Whether the greater minds of antiquity, such as Plato, Plutarch, +Eudoxus, Aristotle, Apollonius, believed in the reality of these +concentric spheres to carry the planets, or whether this conception was +not rather with them an imaginary one, serving only to simplify +calculation and assist the mind in the solution of the difficult problem +of their motion, is a point on which even Humboldt cannot decide. It is +certain, however, that in the middle of the sixteenth century, when the +theory involved no less than seventy-seven concentric spheres, and +later, when the adversaries of Copernicus brought them all into +prominence to defend the system of Ptolemy, the belief in the existence +of these solid spheres, circles and epicycles, which was under the +especial patronage of the Church, was very widespread. + +Tycho Brahe expressly boasts of having been the first, by considerations +concerning the orbits of the comets, to have demonstrated the +impossibility of solid spheres, and to have upset this ingenious +scaffolding. He supposed the spaces of our system to be filled with air, +and that this medium, disturbed by the motion of the heavenly bodies, +opposed a resistance which gave rise to the harmonic sounds. + +It should be added also that the Grecian philosophers, though little +fond of observation, but rejoicing rather in framing systems for the +explanation of phenomena of which they possessed but the faintest +glimpse, have left us some ideas about the nature of shooting stars and +aerolites that come very close to those that are now accepted. "Some +philosophers think," says Plutarch in his life of Lysander, "that +shooting stars are not detached particles of ether which are +extinguished by the atmosphere soon after being ignited, nor do they +arise from the combustion of the rarefied air in the upper regions, but +that they are rather heavenly bodies which fall, that is to say, which +escaping in some way from the general force of rotation are precipitated +in an irregular manner, sometimes on inhabited portions of the earth, +but sometimes also in the ocean, where of course they cannot be found." +Diogenes of Apollonius expresses himself still more clearly: "Amongst +the stars that are visible move others that are invisible, to which in +consequence we are unable to give any name. These latter often fall to +the earth and take fire like that star-stone which fell all on fire near +AEgos Potamos." These ideas were no doubt borrowed from some more ancient +source, as he believed that all the stars were made of something like +pumice-stone. Anaxagoras, in fact, thought that all the heavenly bodies +were fragments of rocks which the ether, by the force of its circular +motion, had detached from the earth, set fire to, and turned into +stars. Thus the Ionic school, with Diogenes of Apollonius, placed the +aerolites and the stars in one class, and assigned to all of them a +terrestrial origin, though in this sense only, that the earth, being the +central body, had furnished the matter for all those that surround it. + +Plutarch speaks thus of this curious combination:--"Anaxagoras teaches +that the ambient ether is of an igneous nature, and by the force of its +gyratory motion it tears off blocks of stone, renders them incandescent, +and transforms them into stars." It appears that he explained also by an +analogous effect of the circular motion the descent of the Nemaean Lion, +which, according to an old tradition, fell out of the moon upon the +Peloponnesus. According to Boeckh, this ancient myth of the Nemaean +Lion had an astronomical origin, and was symbolically connected in +chronology with the cycle of intercalation of the lunar year, with the +worship of the moon in Nemaea, and the games by which it was +accompanied. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE NEMAEAN LION.] + +Anaxagoras explains the apparent motion of the celestial sphere from +east to west by the hypothesis of a general revolution, the interruption +of which, as we have just seen, caused the fall of meteoric stones. This +hypothesis is the point of departure of the theory of vortices, which +more than two thousand years later, by the labours of Descartes, +Huyghens, and Hooke, took so prominent a place among the theories of +the world. + +It may be worth adding with regard to the famous aerolite of AEgos +Potamus, alluded to above, that when the heavens were no longer believed +to be solid, the faith in the celestial origin of this, as of other +aerolites, was for a long time destroyed. Thus Bailly the astronomer, +alluding to it, says, "if the fact be true, this stone must have been +thrown out by a volcano." Indeed it is only within the last century that +it has been finally accepted for fact that stones do fall from the sky. +Laplace thought it probable that they came from the moon; but it has now +been demonstrated that aerolites, meteors, and shooting stars belong all +to one class of heavenly bodies, that they are fragments scattered +through space, and circulate like the planets round the sun. When the +earth in its motion crosses this heavenly host, those which come near +enough to touch its atmosphere leave a luminous train behind them by +their heating by friction with the air: these are the _shooting stars_. +Sometimes they come so close as to appear larger than the moon, then +they are _meteors;_ and sometimes too the attraction of the earth makes +them fall to it, and these become _aerolites_. + +But to return to our ancient astronomers:-- + +They believed the heavens to be in motion, not only because they saw the +motion with their eyes, but because they believed them to be animated, +and regarded motion as the essence of life. They judged of the rapidity +of the stars' motion by a very ingenious means. They perceived that it +was greater than that of a horse, a bird, an arrow, or even of the +voice, and Cleomenas endeavoured to estimate it in the following way. He +remarks that when the king of Persia made war upon Greece he placed men +at certain intervals, so as to lie in hearing of each other, and thus +passed on the news from Athens to Susa. Now this news took two days and +nights to pass over this distance. The voice therefore only accomplished +a fraction of the distance that the stars had accomplished twice in the +same time. + +The heavens, as we have seen, were not supposed to consist of a single +sphere, but of several concentric ones, the arrangement and names of +which we must now inquire into. + +The early Chaldeans established three. The first was the empyreal +heaven, which was the most remote. This, which they called also the +solid firmament, was made of fire, but of fire of so rare and +penetrating a nature, that it easily passed through the other heavens, +and became universally diffused, and in this way reached the earth. The +second was the ethereal heaven, containing the stars, which were simply +formed of the more compact and denser parts of this substance; and the +third heaven was that of the planets. The Persians, however, gave a +separate heaven to the sun, and another to the moon. + +The system which has enjoyed the longest and most widely-spread reign +is that which places above, or rather round, the solid firmament a +heaven of water--(the nature of which is not accurately defined), and +round this a _primum mobile_, prime mover, or originator of all the +motions, and round all this the empyreal heaven, or abode of the +blessed. In the most anciently printed scientific encyclopaedia known, +the _Magarita philosophica_, edited in the fifteenth century, that is, +two centuries before the adoption of the true system of the world, we +have the curious figure represented on the next page, in which we find +no less than eleven different heavens. We here see on the exterior the +solid empyreal heaven, which is stated in the body of the work to be the +abode of the blessed and to be immovable, while the next heaven gives +motion to all within, and is followed by the aqueous heaven, then the +crystal firmament, and lastly by the several heavens of the planets, +sun, and moon. The revolution of these spheres was not supposed to take +place, like the motion of the earth in modern astronomy, round an +imaginary axis, but round one which had a material existence, which was +provided with pivots moving in fixed sockets. Thus Vitruvius, architect +to Augustus, teaches it expressly in these words:-- + +"The heaven turns continually round the earth and sea upon an axis, +where two extremities are like two pivots that sustain it: for there are +two places in which the Governor of Nature has fashioned and set these +pivots as two centres; one is above the earth among the northern stars; +the other is at the opposite end beneath the earth to the south; and +around these pivots, as round two centres, he has placed little naves, +like those of a wheel upon which the heaven turns continually." + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.] + +Similarly curious ideas we shall find to have prevailed with respect to +the meaning of everything that they observed in the heavens: thus what a +number of opinions have been hazarded on the nature of the "Milky Way" +alone! some of which we may learn from Plutarch. The Milky Way, he says, +is a nebulous circle, which constantly appears in the sky, and which +owes its name to its white appearance. Certain Pythagoreans assert that +when Phaeton lit up the universe, one star, which escaped from its +proper place, set light to the whole space it passed over in its +circular course, and so formed the Milky Way. Others thought that this +circle was where the sun had been moving at the beginning of the world. +According to others it is but an optical phenomenon produced by the +reflection of the sun's rays from the vault of the sky as from a mirror, +and comparable with the effects seen in the rainbow and illuminated +clouds. Metrodorus says it is the mark of the sun's passage which moves +along this circle. Parmenidas pretends that the milky colour arises from +a mixture of dense and rare air. Anaxagoras thinks it an effect of the +earth's shadow projected on this part of the heavens, when the sun is +below. Democritus says that it is the lustre of several little stars +which are very near together, and which reciprocally illuminate each +other. Aristotle believes it to be a vast mass of arid vapours, which +takes fire from a glowing tress, above the region of the ether, and far +below that of the planets. Posidonius says that the circle is a +compound of fire less dense than that of the stars, but more luminous. +All such opinions, except that of Democritus, are of little value, +because founded on nothing; perhaps the worst is that of Theophrastus, +who said it was the junction between the two hemispheres, which together +formed the vault of heaven: and that it was so badly made that it let +through some of the light that he supposed to exist everywhere behind +the solid sky. + +We now know that the Milky Way, like many of the nebulae, is an immense +agglomeration of suns. The Milky Way is itself a nebula, a mass of +sidereal systems, with our own among them, since our sun is a single +star in this vast archipelago of eighteen million orbs. The Greeks +called it the Galaxy. The Chinese and Arabians call it the River of +Heaven. It is the Path of Souls among the North American Indians, and +the Road of S. Jacques de Compostelle among French peasants. + +In tracing the history of ideas concerning the structure of the heavens +among the Greek philosophers, we meet with other modifications which it +will be interesting to recount. Thus Eudoxus, who paid greater attention +than others to the variations of the motions of the planets, gave more +than one sphere to each of them to represent these observed changes. +Each planet, according to him, has a separate part of the heaven to +itself, which is composed of several concentric spheres, whose +movements, modifying each other, produce that of the planet. He gave +three spheres to the sun: one which turned from east to west in +twenty-four hours, to represent the diurnal rotation; a second, which +turned about the pole of the ecliptic in 365-1/4 days, and produced its +annual movement; and a third was added to account for a certain supposed +motion, by which the sun was drawn out of the ecliptic, and turned about +an axis, making such an angle with that of the ecliptic, as represented +the supposed aberration. The moon also had three spheres to produce its +motions in longitude and latitude, and its diurnal motion. Each of the +other planets had four, the extra one being added to account for their +stations and retrogressions. It should be added that these concentric +spheres were supposed to fit each other, so that the different planets +were only separated by the thicknesses of these crystal zones. + +Polemarch, the disciple of Eudoxus, who went to Athens with his pupil +Calippus for the express purpose of consulting Aristotle on these +subjects, was not satisfied with the exactness with which these spheres +represented the planetary motions, and made changes in the direction of +still greater complication. Instead of the twenty-six spheres which +represented Eudoxus' system, Calippus established thirty-three, and by +adding also intermediary spheres to prevent the motion of one planet +interfering with that of the adjacent ones, the number was increased to +fifty-six. + +There is extant a small work, ascribed to Aristotle, entitled "Letter of +Aristotle to Alexander on the system of the world," which gives so clear +an account of the ideas entertained in his epoch that we shall venture +to give a somewhat long extract from it. The work, it should be said, is +not by all considered genuine, but is ascribed by some to Nicolas of +Damas, by others to Anaximenas of Lampsacus, a contemporary of +Alexander's, and by others to the Stoic Posidonius. It is certain, +however, that Aristotle paid some attention to astronomy, for he records +the rare phenomena of an eclipse of Mars by the moon, and the +occultation of one of the Gemini by the planet Jupiter, and the work may +well be genuine. It contains the following:-- + +"There is a fixed and immovable centre to the universe. This is occupied +by the earth, the fruitful mother, the common focus of every kind of +living thing. Immediately surrounding it on all sides is the air. Above +this in the highest region is the dwelling-place of the gods, which is +called the heavens. The heavens and the universe being spherical and in +continual motion, there must be two points on opposite sides, as in a +globe which turns about an axis, and these points must be immovable, and +have the sphere between them, since the universe turns about them. They +are called the poles. If a line be drawn from one of these points to the +other it will be the diameter of the universe, having the earth in the +centre and the two poles at the extremities; of these two poles the +northern one is always visible above our horizon, and is called the +Arctic pole; the other, to the south, is always invisible to us--it is +called the Antarctic pole. + +"The substance of the heavens and of the stars is called ether; not that +it is composed of flame, as pretended by some who have not considered +its nature, which is very different from that of fire, but it is so +called because it has an eternal circular motion, being a divine and +incorruptible element, altogether different from the other four. + +"Of the stars contained in the heavens some are fixed, and turn with the +heavens, constantly maintaining their relative positions. In their +middle portion is the circle called the _zoophore_, which stretches +obliquely from one tropic to the other, and is divided into twelve +parts, which are the twelve signs (of the zodiac). The others are +wandering stars, and move neither with the same velocity as the fixed +stars, nor with a uniform velocity among themselves, but all in +different circles, and with velocities depending on the distances of +these circles from the earth. + +"Although all the fixed stars move on the same surface of the heavens, +their number cannot be determined. Of the movable stars there are seven, +which circulate in as many concentric circles, so arranged that the +lower circle is smaller than the higher, and that the seven so placed +one within the other are all within the spheres of the fixed stars. + +"On the nearer, that is inner, side of this ethereal, immovable, +unalterable, impassible nature is placed our movable, corruptible, and +mortal nature. Of this there are several kinds, the first of which is +fire, a subtle inflammable essence, which is kindled by the great +pressure and rapid motion of the ether. It is in this region of air, +when any disturbance takes place in it, that we see kindled +shooting-stars, streaks of light, and shining motes, and it is there +that comets are lighted and extinguished. + +"Below the fire comes the air, by nature cold and dark, but which is +warmed and enflamed, and becomes luminous by its motion. It is in the +region of the air, which is passive and changeable in any manner, that +the clouds condense, and rain, snow, frost, and hail are formed and fall +to the earth. It is the abode of stormy winds, of whirlwinds, thunder, +lightning, and many other phenomena. + +"The cause of the heaven's motion is God. He is not in the centre, where +the earth is a region of agitation and trouble, but he is above the +outermost circumference, which is the purest of all regions, a place +which we call rightly _ouranos_, because it is the highest part of the +universe, and _olympos_, that is, perfectly bright, because it is +altogether separated from everything like the shadow and disordered +movements which occur in the lower regions." + +We notice in this extract a curious etymology of the word ether, namely, +as signifying perpetual motion ([Greek: aei teein]), though it is more +probable that its true, as its more generally accepted derivation is +from [Greek: aithein], to burn or shine, a meaning doubtless alluded to +in a remarkable passage of Hippocrates, [Greek: Peri Sarkon]. "It +appears to me," he says, "that what we call the principle of heat is +immortal, that it knows all, sees all, hears all, perceives all, both in +the past and in the future. At the time when all was in confusion, the +greater part of this principle rose to the circumference of the +universe; it is this that the ancients have called _ether_." + +The first Greek that can be called an astronomer was Thales, born at +Miletus 641 B.C., who introduced into Greece the elements of astronomy. +His opinions were these: that the stars were of the same substance as +the earth, but that they were on fire; that the moon borrowed its light +from the sun, and caused the eclipses of the latter, while it was itself +eclipsed when it entered the earth's shadow; that the earth was round, +and divisible into five zones, by means of five circles, _i.e._ the +Arctic and Antarctic, the two tropics, and the equator; that the latter +circle is cut obliquely by the ecliptic, and perpendicularly by the +meridian. Up to his time no division of the sphere had been made beyond +the description of the constellations. These opinions do not appear to +have been rapidly spread, since Herodotus, one of the finest intellects +of Greece, who lived two centuries later, was still so ill-instructed as +to say, in speaking of an eclipse, "The sun abandoned its place, and +night took the place of day." + +Anaxagoras, of whom we have spoken before, asserted that the sun was a +mass of fire larger than the Peloponnesus. Plutarch says he regarded it +as a burning stone, and Diogenes Laertius looked upon it as hot iron. +For this bold idea he was persecuted. They considered it a crime that he +taught the causes of the eclipses of the moon, and pretended that the +sun is larger than it looks. He first taught the existence of one God, +and he was taxed with impiety and treason against his country. When he +was condemned to death, "Nature," he said, "has long ago condemned me to +the same; and as to my children, when I gave them birth I had no doubt +but they would have to die some day." His disciple Pericles, however, +defended him so eloquently that his life was spared, and he was sent +into exile. + +Pythagoras, who belonged to the school of Thales, and who travelled in +Phoenicia, Chaldea, Judaea, and Egypt, to learn their ideas, ventured, +in spite of the warnings of the priests, to submit to the rites of +initiation at Heliopolis, and thence returned to Samos, but meeting with +poor reception there, he went to Italy to teach. From him arose the +_Italian School_, and his disciples took the name of philosophers +(lovers of wisdom) instead of that of sages. We shall learn more about +him in the chapter on the Harmony of the Spheres. + +His first disciple, Empedocles, famous for the curiosity which led him +to his death in the crater of AEtna, as the story goes, thought that the +true sun, the fire that is in the centre of the universe, illuminated +the other hemisphere, and that what we see is only the reflected image +of that, which is invisible to us, and all of whose movements it +follows. + +His disciple, Philolaus, also taught that the sun was a mass of glass, +which sent us by reflection all the light that it scattered through the +universe. We must not, however, forget that these opinions are recorded +by historians who probably did not understand them, and who took in the +letter what was only intended for a comparison or figure. + +If we are to believe Plutarch, Xenophanes, who flourished about 360 +B.C., was very wild in his opinions. He thought the stars were lighted +every night and extinguished every morning; that the sun is a fiery +cloud; that eclipses take place by the sun being extinguished and +afterwards rekindled; that the moon is inhabited, but is eighteen times +larger than the earth; that there are several suns and several moons for +giving light to different countries. This can only be matched by those +who said the sun went every night through a hole in the earth round +again to the east; or that it went above ground, and if we did not see +it going back it was because it accomplished the journey in the night. + +Parmenidas was the disciple of Xenophanes. He divided the earth, like +Thales, into zones; and he added that it was suspended in the centre of +the universe, and that it did not fall because there was no reason why +it should move in one direction rather than another. This argument is +perfectly philosophical, and illustrates a principle employed since the +time of Archimedes, and of which Leibnitz made so much use. + +Such are some of the general ideas which were held by the Greeks and +others on the nature of the heavens, omitting that of Ptolemy, of which +we shall give a fuller account hereafter. We see that they were all +affected by the dominant idea of the superiority of the earth over the +rest of the universe, and were spoiled for want of the grand conception +of the immensity of space. The universe was for them a closed space, +outside of which there was _nothing_; and they busied themselves with +metaphysical questions as to the possibility of space being infinite. In +the meantime their conceptions of the distances separating us from other +visible parts of the universe were excessively cramped. Hesiod, for +instance, thinks to give a grand idea of the size of the universe by +saying that Vulcan's anvil took seven days to fall from heaven to earth, +when in reality, as now calculated, it would take no less than +seventy-two years for the light, even travelling at a far greater rate, +to reach us from one of the nearest of the fixed stars. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE CELESTIAL HARMONY. + + +Nature presents herself to us under various aspects. At times, it may +be, she presents to us the appearance of discord, and we fail to +perceive the unity that pervades the whole of her actions. At others, +however, and most often to an instructed mind, there is a concord +between her various powers, a harmony even in her sounds, that will not +escape us. Even the wild notes of the tempest and the bass roll of the +thunder form themselves into part of the grand chorus which in the great +opera are succeeded by the solos of the evening breeze, the songs of +birds, or the ripple of the waves. These are ideas that would most +naturally present themselves to contemplative minds, and such must have +been the students of the silent, but to them harmonious and tuneful, +star-lit sky, under the clear atmosphere of Greece. The various motions +they observed became indissolubly connected in their minds with music, +and they did not doubt that the heavenly spheres made harmony, if +imperceptible to human ears. But their ideas were more precise than +this. They discovered that harmony depended on number, and they +attempted to prove that whether the music they might make were audible +or not, the celestial spheres had motions which were connected together +in the same way as the numbers belonging to a harmony. The study of +their opinions on this point reveals some very curious as well as very +interesting ideas. We may commence by referring to an ancient treatise +by Timaeus of Locris on the soul of the universe. To him we owe the first +serious exposition of the complete harmonic cosmography of Pythagoras. +We must premise that, according to this school, God employed all +existing matter in the formation of the universe--so that it comprehends +all things, and all is in it. "It is a unique, perfect, and spherical +production, since the sphere is the most perfect of figures; animated +and endowed with reason, since that which is animated and endowed with +reason is better than that which is not." + +So begins Timaeus, and then follows, as a quotation from Plato, a +comparison of the earth to what would appear to us nowadays to be a very +singular animal. Not only, says Plato, is the earth a sphere, but this +sphere is perfect, and its maker took care that its surface should be +perfectly uniform for many reasons. The universe in fact has no need of +eyes, since there is nothing outside of it to see; nor yet of ears, +since there is nothing but what is part of itself to make a sound; nor +of breathing organs, as it is not surrounded by air: any organ that +should serve to take in nourishment, or to reject the grosser parts, +would be absolutely useless, for there being nothing outside it, it +could not receive or reject anything. For the same reason it needs no +hands with which to defend itself, nor yet of feet with which to walk. +Of the seven kinds of motion, its author has given it that which is most +suitable for its figure in making it turn about its axis, and since for +the execution of this rotatory motion no arms or legs are wanted, its +maker gave it none. + +With regard to the soul of the universe, Plato, according to Timaeus, +says that God composed it "of a mixture of the divisible and indivisible +essences, so that the two together might be united into one, uniting two +forces, the principles of two kinds of motion, one that which is _always +the same_, and the other that which is _always changing_. The mixture of +these two essences was difficult, and was not accomplished without +considerable skill and pains. The proportions of the mixture were +according to harmonic numbers, so chosen that it is possible to know of +what, and by what rule, the soul of the universe is compounded." + +By harmonic numbers Timaeus means those that are proportional to those +representing the consonances of the musical scale. The consonances known +to the ancients were three in number: the diapason, or octave, in the +proportion of 2 to 1, the diapent, or fifth, in that of 3 to 2, and the +diatessaron, or fourth, in that of 4 to 3; when to these are joined the +tones which fill the intervals of the consonances, and are in the +proportion of 9 to 8, and the semitones in that of 256 to 243, all the +degrees of the musical scale is complete. + +The discovery of these harmonic numbers is due to Pythagoras. It is +stated that when passing one day near a forge, he noticed that the +hammers gave out very accurate musical concords. He had them weighed, +and found that of those which sounded the octave, one weighed twice as +much as the other; that of those which made a perfect fifth, one weighed +one third more than the other, and in the case of a fourth, one quarter +more. After having tried the hammers, he took a musical string stretched +with weights, and found that when he had applied a given weight in the +first instance to make any particular note, he had to double the weight +to obtain the octave, to add one third extra only to obtain a fifth, a +quarter for the fourth, and eight for one tone, and about an eighteenth +for a half-tone; or more simply still, he stretched a cord once for all, +and then when the whole length sounded any note, when stopped in the +middle it gave the octave, at the third it gave the fifth, at the +quarter the fourth, at the eighth the tone, and at the eighteenth the +semi-tone. + +Since the ancients conceived of the soul by means of motion, the +quantity of motion developed in anything was their measure of the +quantity of its soul. Now the motion of the heavenly bodies seemed to +them to depend on their distance from the centre of the universe, the +fastest being those at the circumference of the whole. To determine the +relative degrees of velocity, they imagined a straight line drawn +outwards from the centre of the earth, as far as the empyreal heaven, +and divided it according to the proportions of the musical scale, and +these divisions they called the harmonic degrees of the soul of the +universe. Taking the earth's radius for the first number, and calling it +unity, or, in order to avoid fractions, denoting it by 384, the second +degree, which is at the distance of an harmonic third, will be +represented by 384 plus its eighth part, or 432. The third degree will +be 432, plus its eighth part, or 486. The fourth, being a semitone, will +be as 243 to 256, which will give 512; and so on. The eighth degree will +in this way be the double of 384 or 768, and represents the first +octave. + +They continued this series to 36 degrees, as in the following table:-- + +The Earth. + + Mi 384 + 1/8 = 432 + Re 432 + 1/8 = 486 + Ut 486 : 512 : : 243 : 256 + Si 512 + 1/8 = 576 + La 576 + 1/8 = 648 + Sol 648 + 1/8 = 729 + Fa 729 : 768 : : 243 : 256 + Mi 768 + 1/8 = 864 + Re 864 + 1/8 = 972 + Ut 972 : 1024 : : 243 : 256 + Si 1024 + 1/8 = 1152 + La 1152 + 1/8 = 1296 + Sol 1296 + 1/8 = 1458 + Fa 1458 : 1536 : : 243 : 256 + Mi 1536 + 1/8 = 1728 + Re 1728 + 1/8 = 1944 + Ut 1944 : 2048 : 243 : 256 + Si 2048 + 139 = 2187 + Si 2 2187 : 2304 : : 243 : 256 + La 2304 + 1/8 = 2592 + Sol 2592 + 1/8 = 2916 + Fa 2916 : 3072 : : 243 : 256 + Mi 3072 + 1/8 = 3456 + Re 3457 + 1/8 = 3888 + Ut 3888 + 1/8 = 4374 + Si 4374 : 4608 : : 243 : 256 + La 4608 + 1/8 = 5184 + Sol 5184 + 1/8 = 5832 + Fa 5832 : 6144 : : 243 : 256 + Mi 6144 + 417 = 6561 + Mi 2 6561 : 6912 : : 243 : 256 + Re 6912 + 1/8 = 7776 + Ut 7776 + 1/8 = 8748 + Si 8748 : 9216 : : 243 : 256 + La 9216 + 1/8 = 10368 + Sol 10368 = 384 + 27 + + The empyreal heaven. + Sum of all the terms, 114,695. + +This series they considered a complete one, because by taking the terms +in their proper intervals, the last becomes 27 times the original +number, and in the school of Pythagoras this 27 had a mystic +signification, and was considered as the perfect number. + +The reason for considering 27 a perfect number was curious. It is the +sum of the first linear, square, and cubic numbers added to unity. First +there is 1, which represents the point, then 2 and 3, the first linear +numbers, even and uneven, then 4 and 9, the first square or surface +numbers, even and uneven, and the last 8 and 27, the first solid or +cubic numbers, even and uneven, and 27 is the sum of all the former. +Whence, taking the number 27 as the symbol of the universe, and the +numbers which compose it as the elements, it appeared right that the +soul of the universe should be composed of the same elements. + +On this scale of distances, with corresponding velocities, they arranged +the various planets, and the universe comprehended all these spheres, +from that of the fixed stars (which was excluded) to the centre of the +earth. The sphere of the fixed stars was the common envelope, or +circumference of the universe, and Saturn, immediately below it, +corresponded to the thirty-sixth tone, and the earth to the first, and +the other planets with the sun and moon at the various harmonic +distances. + +They reckoned one tone from the earth to the moon, half a tone from the +moon to Mercury, another half-tone to Venus, one tone and a half from +Venus to the sun, one from the sun to Mars, a semitone from Mars to +Jupiter, half a tone from Jupiter to Saturn, and a tone and a half from +Saturn to the fixed stars; but these distances were not, as we shall +see, universally agreed upon. + +According to Timaeus, the sphere of the fixed stars, which contains +within it no principle of contrariety, being entirely divine and pure, +always moves with an equal motion in the same direction from east to +west. But the stars which are within it, being animated by the mixed +principle, whose composition has been just explained, and thus +containing two contrary forces, yield on account of one of these forces +to the motion of the sphere of fixed stars from east to west, and by the +other they resist it, and move in a contrary direction, in proportion to +the degree with which they are endowed with each; that is to say, that +the greater the proportion of the material to the divine force that they +possess, the greater is their motion from west to east, and the sooner +they accomplish their periodic course. Now the amount of this force +depends on the matter they contain. Thus, according to this system, the +planets turn each day by the common motion with all the heavens about +the earth from east to west, but they also retrograde towards the east, +and accomplish their periods according to their component parts. + +The additions which Plato made to this theory have always been a proverb +of obscurity, and none of his commentators have been able to make +anything of them, and very possibly they were never intended to. + +So far the harmony of the heavenly bodies has been explained with +reference to numbers only, and we may add to this that they reckoned +126,000 stadia, or 14,286 miles, to represent a tone, which was thus the +distance of the earth to the moon, and the same measurement made it +500,000 from the earth to the sun, and the same distance from the sun to +the fixed stars. + +But Plato teaches in his _Republic_ that there is actual musical, +harmony between the planets. Each of the spheres, he said, carried with +it a Siren, and each of these sounding a different note, they formed by +their union a perfect concert, and being themselves delighted with their +own harmony, they sang divine songs, and accompanied them by a sacred +dance. The ancients said there were nine Muses, eight of whom, according +to Plato, presided over celestial, and the ninth over terrestrial +things, to protect them from disorder and irregularity. + +Cicero and Macrobius also express opinions on this harmonious concert. +Such great motions, says Cicero, cannot take place in silence, and it is +natural that the two extremes should have related sounds as in the +octave. The fixed stars must execute the upper note, and the moon the +base. Kepler has improved on this, and says Jupiter and Saturn sing +bass, Mars takes the tenor, the earth and Venus are contralto, and +Mercury is soprano! True, no one has ever heard these sounds, but +Pythagoras himself may answer this objection. We are always surrounded, +he says, by this melody, and our ears are accustomed to it from our +birth, so that, having nothing different to compare it with, we cannot +perceive it. + +We may here recall the further development of the idea of the soul of +the universe, which was the source of this harmony, and endeavour to +find a rational interpretation of their meaning. They said that nature +had made the animals mortal and ephemeral, and had infused their souls +into them, as they had been extracts from the sun or moon, or even from +one of the planets. A portion of the unchangeable essence was added to +the reasoning part of man, to form a germ of wisdom in privileged +individuals. For the human soul there is one part which possesses +intelligence and reason, and another part which has neither the one nor +the other. + +The various portions of the general soul of the universe resided, +according to Timaeus, in the different planets, and depended on their +various characters. Some portions were in the moon, others in Mercury, +Venus, or Mars, and so on, and thus they give rise to the various +characters and dispositions that are seen among men. But to these parts +of the human soul that are taken from the planets is joined a spark of +the supreme Divinity, which is above them all, and this makes man a more +holy animal than all the rest, and enables him to have immediate +converse with the Deity himself. All the different substances in nature +were supposed to be endowed with more or less of this soul, according to +their material nature or subtilty, and were placed in the same order +along the line, from the centre to the circumference, on which the +planets were situated, as we have seen above. In the centre was the +earth, the heaviest and grossest of all, which had but little if any +soul at all. Between the earth and the moon, Timaeus placed first water, +then the air, and lastly elementary fire, which he considered to be +principles, which were less material in proportion as they were more +remote and partook of a larger quantity of the soul of the universe. +Beyond the moon came all the planets, and thus were filled up the +greater number of the harmonic degrees, the motions of the various +bodies being guided by the principle enunciated above. + +When we carefully consider this theory we find that by a slight change +of name we may bring it more into harmony with modern ideas. It would +appear indeed that the ancients called that "soul" which we now call +"force," and while we say that this force of attraction is in proportion +to the masses and the inverse square of the distance, they put it that +it was proportional to the matter, and to the divine substance on which +the distance depended. So that we may interpret Timaeus as stating this +proposition: _The distances of the stars and their forces are +proportional among themselves to their periodic times._ "Some people," +says Plutarch, "seek the proportions of the soul of the universe in the +velocities (or periodic times), others in the distances from the centre; +some in the masses of the heavenly bodies, and others more acute in the +ratios of the diameters of their orbits. It is probable that the mass of +each planet, the intervals between the spheres and the velocities of +their motions, are like well-tuned musical instruments, all proportional +harmonically with each other and with all other parts of the universe, +and by necessary consequence that there are the same relative +proportions in the soul of the universe by which they were formed by the +Deity." + +It is marvellous how deeply occupied were all the best minds in Greece +and Italy on this subject, both poets and philosophers; Ocellus, +Democritus, Timaeus, Aristotle, and Lucretius have all left treatises on +the same subject, and almost with the same title, "The Nature of the +Universe." + +Though somewhat similar to that of Timaeus, it will be interesting to +give an account of the ideas of one of these, Ocellus of Lucania. + +Ocellus represents the universe as having a spherical form. This sphere +is divided into concentric layers; above that of the moon they were +called celestial spheres, while below it and inwards as far as the +centre of the earth they were called the elementary spheres, and the +earth was the centre of them all. + +In the celestial spheres all the stars were situated, which were so many +gods, and among them the sun, the largest and most powerful of all. In +these spheres is never any disturbance, storm, or destruction, and +consequently no reparation, no reproduction, no action of any kind was +required on the part of the gods. Below the moon all is at war, all is +destroyed and reconstructed, and here therefore it is that generations +are possible. But these take place under the influence of the stars, and +particularly that of the sun, which in its course acts in different ways +on the elementary spheres, and produces continual variations in them, +from whence arises the replenishing and diversifying of nature. It is +the sun that lights up the region of fire, that dilates the air, melts +the water, and renders fertile the earth, in its daily course from east +to west, as well as in this annual journey into the two tropics. But to +what does the earth owe its germs and its species? According to some +philosophers these germs were celestial ideas which both gods and demons +scattered from above over every part of nature, but according to Ocellus +they arise continually under the influence of the heavenly bodies. The +divisions of the heavens were supposed to separate the portion that is +unalterable from that which is in ceaseless change. The line dividing +the mortal from the immortal is that described by the moon: all that +lies above that, inclusive, is the habitation of the gods; all that lies +below is the abode of nature and discord; the latter tending constantly +to destruction, the former to the reconstruction of all created things. + +Ideas such as these, of which we could give other examples more remotely +connected with harmony, whatever amount of truth we may discover in +them, prove themselves to have been made before the sciences of +observation had enabled men to make anything better than empty theories, +and to support them with false logic. No better example of the latter +can perhaps be mentioned here than the way in which Ocellus pretends to +prove that the world is eternal. "The universe," he says, "_having_ +always existed, it follows that everything in it and every arrangement +of it must always have been as it is now. The several parts of the +universe _having_ always existed with it, we may say the same of the +parts of these parts; thus the sun, the moon, the fixed stars, and the +planets have always existed with the heavens; animals, vegetables, gold, +and silver with the earth; the currents of air, winds, and changes from +hot to cold, from cold to hot, with the air. _Therefore_ the heaven, +with all that it now contains; the earth, with all that it produces and +supports; and lastly, the whole aerial region, with all its phenomena, +have always existed." When this system of argument passed away, and +exact observation took its place, it was soon found that so far from +what the ancients had argued _must be_ really being the case, no such +relation as they indicated between the distances or velocities of the +planets could be traced, and therefore no harmony in the heavens in this +sense. It is not indeed that we can say no sounds exist because we hear +none; but considering harmony really to consist of the relations of +numbers, no such relations exist between the planets' distances, as +measured now of course from the sun, instead of being, as then, imagined +from the earth. + +The gamut is nothing else than the series of numbers:-- + + do re mi fa sol la si do + 1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2 + +and is independent of our perception of the corresponding notes. A +concert played before a deaf assembly would be a concert still. If one +note is made by 10,000 vibrations per second, and another by 20,000, we +should hear them as an octave, but if one had only 10 and the other 20, +they would still be an octave, though inaudible as notes to us; so too +we may speak even of the harmony of luminous vibrations of ether, though +they do not affect our ears. + +The velocities of the planets do not coincide with the terms of this +series. The nearer they are to the sun the faster is their motion, +Mercury travelling at the mean rate of 55,000 metres a second, Venus, +36,800, the earth 30,550, Mars 24,448, Jupiter 13,000, Saturn 9,840, +Uranus 6,800, and Neptune 5,500, numbers which are in the proportion +roundly of 100, 67, 55, 44, 24, 16, 12, 10, which have no sufficient +relation to the terms of an harmonic series, to make any harmony +obvious. + +Returning, however, to the ancient philosophers, we are led by their +ideas about the soul of the universe to discover the origin of their +gods and natural religion. They were persuaded that only living things +could move, and consequently that the moving stars must be endowed with +superior intelligence. It may very well be that from the number seven +of the planets, including the sun and moon, which were their earliest +gods, arose the respect and superstition with which all nations, and +especially the Orientals, regarded that number. From these arose the +seven superior angels that are found in the theologies of the Chaldeans, +Persians, and Arabians; the seven gates of Mithra, through which all +souls must pass to reach the abode of bliss; the seven worlds of +purification of the Indians, and all the other applications of the +number seven which so largely figure in Judaism, and have descended from +it to our own time. On the other hand, as we have seen, this number +seven may have been derived from the number of the stars in the +Pleiades. + +We have noticed in our chapter on the History of the Zodiac how the +various signs as they came round and were thought to influence the +weather and other natural phenomena, came at last to be worshipped. Not +less, of course, were the sun and moon deified, and that by nations who +had no zodiac. Among the Egyptians the sun was painted in different +forms according to the time of year, very much as he is represented in +our own days in pictures of the old and new years. At the winter +solstice with them he was an infant, at the spring equinox he was a +young man, in summer a man in full age with flowing beard, and in the +autumn an old man. Their fable of Osiris was founded on the same idea. +They represented the sun by the hawk, and the moon by the Ibis, and to +these two, worshipped under the names of Osiris and Isis they attributed +the government of the world, and built a city, Heliopolis, to the +former, in the temple of which they placed his statue. + +The Phenicians in the same way, who were much influenced by ideas of +religion, attributed divinity to the sun, moon, and stars, and regarded +them as the sole causes of the production and destruction of all things. +The sun, under the name of Hercules, was their great divinity. + +The Ethiopians worshipped the same, and erected the famous table of the +sun. Those who lived above Meroe, admitted the existence of eternal and +incorruptible gods, among which they included the sun, moon, and the +universe. Like the Incas of Peru, they called themselves the children of +the sun, whom they regarded as their common father. + +The moon was the great divinity of the Arabs. The Saracens called it +Cabar, or the great, and its crescent still adorns the religious +monuments of the Turks. Each of their tribes was under the protection of +some particular star. Sabeism was the principal religion of the east. +The heavens and the stars were its first object. + +In reading the sacred books of the ancient Persians contained in the +_Zendavesta_, we find on every page invocations addressed to Mithra, to +the moon, the stars, the elements, the mountains, the trees, and every +part of nature. The ethereal fire circulating through all the universe, +and of which the sun is the principal focus, was represented among the +fire-worshippers by the sacred and perpetual fire of their priests. Each +planet had its own particular temple, where incense was burnt in its +honour. These ancient peoples embodied in their religious systems the +ideas which, as we have seen, led among the Greeks to the representation +of the harmony of heaven. All the world seemed to them animated by a +principle of life which circulated through all parts, and which +preserved it in an eternal activity. They thought that the universe +lived like man and the other animals, or rather that these latter only +lived because the universe was essentially alive, and communicated to +them for an instant an infinitely small portion of its own immortality. +They were not wise, it may be, in this, but they appear to have caught +some of the ideas that lie at the basis of religious thought, and to +have traced harmony where we have almost lost the perception of it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEMS. + + +In our former chapters we have gained some idea of the general structure +of the heavens as represented by ancient philosophers, and we no longer +require to know what was thought in the infancy of astronomy, when any +ideas promulgated were more or less random ones; but in this chapter we +hope to discuss those arrangements of the heavenly bodies which have +been promulgated by men as complete systems, and were supposed to +represent the totality of the facts. + +The earliest thoroughly-established system is that of Ptolemy. It was +not indeed invented by him. The main ideas had been entertained long +before his time, but he gave it consistence and a name. + +We obtain an excellent view of the general nature of this system from +Cicero. He writes:-- + +"The universe is composed of nine circles, or rather of nine moving +globes. The outermost sphere is that of the heavens which surrounds all +the others, and on which are fixed the stars. Beneath this revolve +seven other globes, carried round by a motion in a direction contrary to +that of the heavens. On the first circle revolves the star which men +call Saturn; on the second Jupiter shines, that beneficent and +propitious star to human eyes; then follows Mars, ruddy and awful. +Below, and occupying the middle region, revolves the Sun, the chief, +prince, and moderator of the other stars, the soul of the world, whose +immense globe spreads its light through space. After him come, like two +companions, Venus and Mercury. Lastly, the lowest globe is occupied by +the moon, which borrows its light from the star of day. Below this last +celestial circle, there is nothing but what is mortal and corruptible, +except the souls given by a beneficent Divinity to the race of men. +Above the moon all is eternal. The earth, situated in the centre of the +world, and separated from heaven on all sides, forms the ninth sphere; +it remains immovable, and all heavy bodies are drawn to it by their own +weight." + +The earth, we should add, is surrounded by the sphere of air, and then +by that of fire, and by that of ether and the meteors. + +With respect to the motions of these spheres. The first circle described +about the terrestrial system, namely, that of the moon, was accomplished +in 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes. Next to the moon, Mercury in the +second, and Venus in the third, and the sun in the fourth circle, all +turned about the earth in the same time, 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 +minutes. But these planets, in addition to the general movement, which +carried them in 24 hours round from east to west and west to east, and +the annual revolution, which made them run through the zodiacal circle, +had a third motion by which they described a circle about each point of +their orbit taken as a centre. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--PTOLEMY'S ASTRONOMICAL SYSTEM.] + +The fifth sphere, carrying Mars, accomplished its revolution in two +years. Jupiter took 11 years, 313 days, and 19 hours to complete his +orbit, and Saturn in the seventh sphere took 29 years and 169 days. +Above all the planets came the sphere of the fixed stars, or Firmament, +turning from east to west in 24 hours with inconceivable rapidity, and +endued also with a proper motion from west to east, which was measured +by Hipparchus, and which we now call the precession of the equinoxes, +and know that it has a period of 25,870 years. Above all these spheres, +a _primum mobile_ gave motion to the whole machine, making it turn from +east to west, but each planet and each fixed star made an effort against +this motion, by means of which each of them accomplished their +revolution about the earth in greater or less time, according to its +distance, or the magnitude of the orbit it had to accomplish. + +One immense difficulty attended this system. The apparent motions of the +planets is not uniform, for sometimes they are seen to advance from west +to east, when their motion is called _direct_, sometimes they are seen +for several nights in succession at the same point in the heavens, when +they are called _stationary_, and sometimes they return from east to +west, and then their motion is called _retrograde_. + +We know now that this apparent variation in the motion of the planets is +simply due to the annual motion of the earth in its orbit round the sun. +For example, Saturn describes its vast orbit in about thirty years, and +the earth describes in one year a much smaller one inside. Now if the +earth goes faster in the same direction as Saturn, it is plain that +Saturn will be left behind and appear to go backwards, while if the +earth is going in the same direction the velocity of Saturn will appear +to be decreased, but his direction of motion will appear unaltered. + +To explain these variations, however, according to his system, Ptolemy +supposed that the planets did not move exactly in the circumference of +their respective orbits, but about an _ideal centre_, which itself moved +along this circumference. Instead therefore of describing a circle, they +described parts of a series of small circles, which would combine, as is +easy to see, into a series of uninterrupted waves, and these he called +_Epicycles_. + +Another objection, which even this arrangement did not overcome, was the +variation of the size of the planets. To overcome this Hipparchus gave +to the sphere of each planet a considerable thickness, and saw that the +planet did not turn centrally round the earth, but round a centre of +motion placed outside the earth. Its revolution took place in such a +manner, that at one time it reached the inner boundary, at another time +the outer boundary of its spherical heaven. + +But this reply was not satisfactory, for the differences in the apparent +sizes proved by the laws of optics such a prodigious difference between +their distances from the earth at the times of conjunction and +opposition, that it would be extremely difficult to imagine spheres +thick enough to allow of it. + +It was a gigantic and formidable piece of machinery to which it was +necessary to be continually adding fresh pieces to make observation +accord with theory. In the thirteenth century, in the times of the +King-Astronomer, Alphonso X. of Castile, there were already seventy-five +circles, one within the other. It is said that one day he exclaimed, in +a full assemblage of bishops, that if the Deity had done him the honour +to ask his advice before creating the world, he could have told Him how +to make it a little better, or at all events more simply. He meant to +express how unworthy this complication was of the dignity of nature. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--THE EPICYCLES OF PTOLEMY.] + +Fracastor, in his _Homocentrics_, says that nothing is more monstrous or +absurd than all the excentrics and epicycles of Ptolemy, and proposes +to explain the difference of velocity in the planets at different parts +of their orbits by the medium offering greater or less resistance, and +their alteration in apparent size by the effect of refraction. + +The essential element of this system was that it took appearances for +realities, and was founded on the assumption that the earth is fixed in +the centre of the universe, and of course therefore neglected all the +appearances produced by its motion, or had to explain them by some +peculiarity in the other planets. + +Although it was corrected from time to time to make it accord better +with observation, it was the same essentially that was taught officially +everywhere. It reigned supreme in Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Arabia, and +in the great school of Alexandria, which consolidated it and enriched it +by its own observations. + +But though the same in essence, the details, and especially the means of +overcoming the difficulties raised by increased observations, have much +varied, and it will be interesting and instructive to record some of the +chief of them. + +One of the most important influences in modifying the astronomical +systems taught to the world has been that of the Fathers of the +Christian Church. When, after five centuries of patient toil, of hopes, +ambitions, and discussions, the Christian Church took possession of the +thrones and consciences of men, they founded their physical edifice on +the ancient system, which they adapted to their special wants. With them +Aristotle and Ptolemy reigned supreme. They decreed that the earth +constituted the universe, that the heavens were made for it, that God, +the angels, and the saints inhabited an eternal abode of joy situated +above the azure sphere of the fixed stars, and they embodied this +gratifying illusion in all their illuminated manuscripts, their +calendars, and their church windows. + +The doctors of the Church all acknowledged a plurality of heavens, but +they differed as to the number. St. Hilary of Poitiers would not fix it, +and the same doubt held St. Basil back; but the rest, for the most part +borrowing their ideas from paganism, said there were six or seven, or up +to ten. They considered these heavens to be so many hemispheres +supported on the earth, and gave to each a different name. In the system +of Bede, which had many adherents, they were the Air, Ether, Fiery +Space, Firmament, Heaven of the Angels, and Heaven of the Trinity. + +The two chief varieties in the systems of the middle ages may be +represented as follows:-- + +Those who wished to have everything as complete as possible combined the +system of Ptolemy with that of the Fathers of the Church, and placed in +the centre of the earth the infernal regions which they surrounded by a +circle. Another circle marked the earth itself, and after that the +surrounding ocean, marked as water, then the circle of air, and lastly +that of fire. Enveloping these, and following one after the other, were +the seven circles of the seven planets; the eighth represented the +sphere of the fixed stars on the firmament, then came the ninth heaven, +then a tenth, the _coelum cristallinum_, and lastly an eleventh and +outermost, which was the empyreal heaven, where dwelt the cherubim and +seraphim, and above all the spheres was a throne on which sat the +Father, as Jupiter Olympus. + +The others who wished for more simplicity, represented the earth in the +centre of the universe, with a circle to indicate the ocean, the second +sphere was that of the moon; the third was that of the sun; on the +fourth were placed the four planets, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury; +there was a fifth for the space outside the planets, and the last +outside one was the firmament; altogether seven spheres instead of +eleven. As a specimen of the style of representation of the astronomical +systems of the middle ages, we may take the figure on the following +page:-- + +Here we see the earth placed immovable in the centre of the universe, +and represented by a disc traversed by the Mediterranean, and surrounded +by the ocean. Round this are circumscribed the celestial spheres. That +of the moon first, then that of Mercury, in which several +constellations, as the Lyre, Cassiopeia, the Crown, and others, are +roughly indicated, then comes the sphere of Venus with Sagittarius and +the Swan. After this comes the _celestis_ _paradisus_, and the legend +that, "the paradise to which Paul was raised is in this third locality; +some of these must reach to us, since in them repose the souls of the +prophets." In the other circles are yet other constellations: for +example Pegasus, Andromeda, the Dog, Argo, the He-goat, Aquarius, the +Fishes, and Canopus, figured by a star of the first magnitude. To the +north is seen near the constellation of the Swan a large star with seven +rays, meant to represent the brightest of those which compose the Great +Bear. The stars of Cassiopeia are not only misplaced, but roughly +represented. The Lyre is curiously drawn. The positions of the +constellations just named are all wrong in this figure, just as we find +those of towns in maps of the earth. The cartographers of the middle +ages, with incredible ignorance, misplaced in general every locality. +They did the same for the constellations in the celestial hemispheres. +In the heaven of Jupiter, and in that of Saturn we read the +words--Seraphim, Dominationes, Potestates, Archangeli, Virtutes +coelorum, Principatus, Throni, Cherubim, all derived from their +theology. A veritable muddle! The angels placed with the heroes of +mythology, the immortal virgins with Venus and Andromeda, and the Saints +with the Great Bear, the Hydra, and the Scorpion! + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--HEAVENS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.] + +Another such richly illuminated manuscript in the library at Ghent, +entitled Liber Floridus, contains a drawing similar to this under the +title _Astrologia secundum Bedum_. Only, instead of the earth, there is +a serpent in the centre with the name Great Bear, and the twins are +represented by a man and woman, Andromeda in a chasuble, and Venus as a +nun! + +Several similar ones might be quoted, varying more or less from this; +one, executed in a geographical manuscript of the fifteenth century, has +the tenth sphere, being that of the fixed stars, then the crystalline +heaven, and then the immovable heaven, "which," it says, "according to +sacred and certain theology, is the dwelling-place of the blessed, where +may we live for ever and ever, Amen;" "this is also called the empyreal +heaven." Near each planet the author marks the time of its revolution, +but not at all correctly. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.--HEAVENS OF THE FATHERS.] + +The constructors of these systems were not in the least doubt as to +their reality, for they actually measured the distance between one +sphere and another, though in every case their numbers were far from the +truth as we now know it. We may cite as an example an Italian system +whose spheres were as follows:--Terra, Aqua, Aria, Fuoco, Luna, +Mercurio, Venus, Sol, Marte, Giove, Saturno, Stelle fixe, Sfera nona, +Cielo empyreo. Attached to the design is the following table of +dimensions which we may copy:-- + + Miles. + From the centre of the Earth to the surface 3,245 + " " " " inner side of the + heaven of the Moon 107,936 + Diameter of Moon 1,896 + From the centre of the Earth to Mercury 209,198 + Diameter of Mercury 230 + From the centre of the Earth to Venus 579,320 + Diameter of Venus 2,884 + From the centre of the Earth to the Sun 3,892,866 + Diameter of the Sun 35,700 + From the centre of the Earth to Mars 4,268,629 + Diameter of Mars 7,572 + From the centre of the Earth to Jupiter 8,323,520 + Diameter of Jupiter 29,641 + From the centre of the Earth to outside of Saturn's + heaven 52,544,702 + Diameter of Saturn 29,202 + From the centre of the Earth to the fixed stars 73,387,747 + +The author states that he cannot pursue his calculations further, and +condescends to acknowledge that it is very difficult to know accurately +what is the thickness of the ninth and of the crystalline heavens! + +Perhaps, however, these reckonings are better than those of the +Egyptians, who came to the conclusion that Saturn was only distant 492 +miles, the sun only 369, and the moon 246. + +These numerous variations and adaptations of the Ptolemaic system, prove +what a firm hold it had taken, and how it reigned supreme over all +minds. Nor are we merely left to gather this. They consciously looked to +Ptolemy as their great light, if we may judge from an emblematic drawing +taken from an authoritative astronomical work, the _Margarita +Philosophica_, which we give on the opposite page. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.] + +In all the systems derived from Ptolemy, the order of the planets +remained the same, and Mercury and Venus were placed nearer to the earth +than the sun is. According to many authors, however, Plato made a +variation in this respect, by putting them outside the sun, on the +ground that they never were seen to pass across its surface. He had +obviously never heard of the "Transit of Venus." This arrangement was +adopted by Theon, in his commentary on the _Almagesta_ of Ptolemy, and +afterwards by Geber, who alone among the Arabians departed from the +strict Ptolemaic system. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--EGYPTIAN SYSTEM.] + +The Egyptians improved upon this idea, and made the first step towards +the true system, by representing these two planets, Mercury and Venus, +as revolving round the sun instead of the earth. All the rest of their +system was the same as that of Ptolemy, for the sun itself, and the +other planets and the fixed stars all revolved round the earth in the +centre. This system of course accounted accurately for the motions of +the two inferior planets, whose nearness to the sun may have suggested +their connection with it. This system was in vogue at the same time as +Ptolemy's, and numbers Vitruvius amongst its supporters. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.--CAPELLA'S SYSTEM.] + +In the fifth century of our era Martian Capella taught a variation on +the Egyptian system, in which he made Mercury and Venus revolve in the +same orbit round the sun. In the treatise entitled _Quod Tellus non sit +Centrum Omnibus Planetis_, he explains that when Mercury is on this side +of the orbit it is nearer to us than Venus, and farther off from us +than that planet when it is on the other side. This hypothesis was also +adopted in the middle ages. + +We have here indicated the time of the revolution of the various +planets, and notice that the firmament is said to move round from west +to east in 7,000 years; the second heaven in 49,000, while the _primum +mobile_ outside moved in the contrary direction in twenty-four hours. + +These Egyptian systems survived in some places the true one, as they +were thought to overcome the chief difficulties of the Ptolemaic without +interfering with the stability of the earth, and they were known as the +_common system_, _i.e._ containing the elements of both. + +Such were the astronomical systems in vogue before the time of +Copernicus--all of them based upon the principle of the earth being the +immovable centre of the universe. We must now turn to trace the history +of the introduction of that system which has completely thrown over all +these former ones, and which every one knows now to be the true one--the +Copernican. + +No revolution is accomplished, whether in science or politics, without +having been long in preparation. The theory of the motion of the earth +had been conceived, discussed, and even taught many ages before the +birth of Copernicus. And the best proof of this is the acknowledgment of +Copernicus himself in his great work _De Revolutionibus Orbium +Caelestium_, in which he laid down the principles of his system. We will +quote the passage in which it is contained. + +"I have been at the trouble," he writes, "to read over all the works of +philosophers that I could procure, to see if I could find in them any +different opinion to that which is now taught in the schools respecting +the motions of the celestial spheres. And I saw first in Cicero that +Maetas had put forth the opinion that the earth moves. (Maetam sensisse +terram moveri.) Afterwards I found in Plutarch that others had +entertained the same idea." + +Here Copernicus quotes the original as far as it relates to the system +of Philolaus, to the effect "that the earth turns round the region of +fire (ethereal region), and runs through the zodiac like the sun and the +moon." The principal Pythagoreans, such as Archytas of Tarentum, +Heraclides of Pontium, taught also the same doctrine, saying that "the +earth is not immovable in the centre of the universe, but revolves in a +circle, and is far from occupying the chief place among the celestial +bodies." + +Pythagoras learnt this doctrine, it is said, from the Egyptians, who in +their hieroglyphics represented the symbol of the sun by the stercoral +beetle, because this insect forms a ball with the excrement of the oxen, +and lying down on its back, turns it round and round with its legs. + +Timaeus of Locris was more precise than the other Pythagoreans in calling +"the five planets the organs of time, on account of their revolutions," +adding that we must conclude that the earth is not immovable in one +place, but that it turns, on the contrary, about itself, and travels +also through space. + +Plutarch records that Plato, who had always taught that the sun turned +round the earth, had changed his opinion towards the end of his life, +regretting that he had not placed the sun in the centre of the universe, +which was the only place, he then thought, that was suitable for that +star. + +Three centuries before Jesus Christ, Aristarchus of Samos is said by +Aristotle to have composed a special work to defend the motion of the +earth against the contrary opinions of philosophers. In this work, which +is now lost, he laid down in the most positive manner that "the sun +remains immovable, and that the Earth moves round it in a circular +curve, of which that star is the centre." It would be impossible to +state this in clearer terms; and what makes his meaning more clear, if +possible, is that he was persecuted for it, being accused of irreligion +and of troubling the repose of Vesta--"because," says Plutarch, "in +order to explain the phenomena, he taught that the heavens were +immovable, and that the earth accomplished a motion of translation in an +oblique line, at the same time that it turned round its own axis." This +is exactly the opinion that Copernicus took up, after an interval of +eighteen centuries--and he too was accused of irreligion. + +In passing from the Greeks to the Romans, and from them to the middle +ages, the doctrine of Aristarchus underwent a curious modification, +assimilating it to the system of Tycho Brahe, which we shall hereafter +consider, rather than to that of Copernicus. This consisted in making +the planets move round the sun, while the sun itself revolved round the +earth, and carried them with him, and the heavens revolved round all. +Vitruvius and Macrobius both taught this doctrine. Although Cicero and +Seneca, with Aristotle and the Stoics, taught the immobility of the +earth in the centre of the universe, the question seemed undecided, to +Seneca at least, who writes:--"It would be well to examine whether it is +the universe that turns about the immovable earth, or the earth that +moves, while the universe remains at rest. Indeed some men have taught +that the earth is carried along, unknown to ourselves, that it is not +the motion of the heavens that produces the rising and setting of the +stars, but that it is we who rise and set relatively to them. It is a +matter worthy of contemplation, to know in what state we are--whether we +are assigned an immovable or rapidly-moving home--whether God makes all +things revolve round us, or we round them." + +The double motion of the earth, then, is an idea revived from the +Grecian philosophers. The theory was known indeed to Ptolemy, who +devotes a whole chapter in his celebrated _Almagesta_ to combat it. From +his point of view it seemed very absurd, and he did not hesitate to call +it so; and it was in reality only when fresh discoveries had altered the +method of examining the question that the absurdities disappeared, and +were transferred to the other side. Not until it was discovered that the +earth was no larger and no heavier than the other planets could the idea +of its revolution and translation have appeared anything else than +absurd. We are apt to laugh at the errors of former great men, while we +forget the scantiness of the knowledge they then possessed. So it will +be instructive to draw attention to Ptolemy's arguments, that we may see +where it is that new knowledge and ideas have led us, as they would +doubtless have led him, had he possessed them, to a different +conclusion. + +His argument depends essentially on the observed effects of weight. +"Light bodies," he says, "are carried towards the circumference, they +appear to us to go _up_; because we so speak of the space that is over +our heads, as far as the surface which appears to surround us. Heavy +bodies tend, on the contrary, towards the middle, as towards a centre, +and they appear to us to fall _down_, because we so speak of whatever is +under our feet, in the direction of the centre of the earth. These +bodies are piled up round the centre by the opposed forces of their +impetus and friction. We can easily see that the whole mass of the +earth, being so large compared with the bodies that fall upon it, can +receive them without their weight or their velocity communicating to it +any perceptible oscillation. Now if the earth had a motion in common +with all the other heavy bodies, it would not be long, on account of its +weight, in leaving the animals and other bodies behind it, and without +support, and it would soon itself fall out of heaven. Such would be the +consequences of its motion, which are most ridiculous even to imagine." + +Against the idea of the earth's diurnal rotation he argued as +follows:--"There are some who pretend that nothing prevents us from +supposing that the heaven remains immovable, and the earth turns round +upon its axis from west to east, accomplishing the rotation each day. It +is true that, as far as the stars are concerned, there is nothing +against our supposing this, if guided only by appearances, and for +greater simplicity; but those who do so forget how thoroughly ridiculous +it is when we consider what happens near us and in the air. For even if +we admit, which is not the case, that the lighter bodies have no motion, +or only move as bodies of a contrary nature, although we see that aerial +bodies move with greater velocity than terrestrial--if we admit that +very dense and heavy bodies have a rapid and constant motion of their +own, whereas in reality they obey but with difficulty the impulses +communicated to them--we should then be obliged to assert that the +earth, by its rotation, has a more rapid motion than any of the bodies +that are round it, as it makes so large a circuit in so short a time. In +this case the bodies which are not supported by it would appear to have +a motion contrary to it, and no cloud or any flying bird could ever +appear to go to the east, since the earth would always move faster than +it in that direction." + +The _Almagesta_ was for a long time the gospel of astronomers; to +believe in the motion of the earth was to them more than an innovation, +it was simply folly. Copernicus himself well expresses the state of +opinion in which he found the question, and the process of his own +change, in the following words:--"And I too, taking occasion by these +testimonies, commenced to cogitate on the motion of the earth, and +although that opinion appeared absurd, I thought that as others before +me had invented an assemblage of circles to explain the motion of the +stars, I might also try if, by supposing the earth to move, I could not +find a better account of the motions of the heavenly bodies than that +with which we are at present contented. After long researches, I am at +last convinced that if we assign to the circulation of the earth the +motions of the other planets, calculation and observation will agree +better together. And I have no doubt that mathematicians will be of my +opinion, if they will take the trouble to consider carefully and not +superficially the demonstrations I shall give in this work." Although +the opinions of Copernicus had been held before, it is very just that +his should be the name by which they are known; for during the time that +elapsed before he wrote, the adherents of such views became fewer and +fewer, until at last the very remembrance of them was almost forgotten, +and it required research to know who had held them and taught them. It +took him thirty years' work to establish them on a firm basis. We shall +make no excuse for quoting further from his book, that we may know +exactly the circumstances, as far as he tells us, of his giving this +system to the world. + +"I hesitated for a long time whether I should publish my commentaries on +the motions of the heavenly bodies, or whether it would not be better to +follow the example of certain Pythagoreans, who left no writings, but +communicated the mysteries of their philosophy orally from man to man +among their adepts and friends, as is proved by the letter of Lysidas to +Hipparchus. They did not do this, as some suppose, from a spirit of +jealousy, but in order that weighty questions, studied with great care +by illustrious men, might not be disparaged by the idle, who do not care +to undertake serious study, unless it be lucrative, or by shallow-minded +men, who, though devoting themselves to science, are of so indolent a +spirit that they only intrude among philosophers, like drones among +bees. + +"When I hesitated and held back, my friends pressed me on. The first was +Nicolas Schonberg, Cardinal of Capua, a man of great learning. The other +was my best friend, Tideman Gysius, Bishop of Culm, who was as well +versed in the Holy Scriptures as in the sciences. The latter pressed me +so much that he decided me at last to give to the public the work I had +kept for more than twenty-seven years. Many illustrious men urged me, in +the interest of mathematics, to overcome my repugnance and to let the +fruit of my labours see the light. They assured me that the more my +theory of the motion of the earth appeared absurd, the more it would be +admired when the publication of my work had dissipated doubts by the +clearest demonstrations. Yielding to these entreaties, and buoying +myself with the same hope, I consented to the printing of my work." + +He tried to guard himself against the attacks of dogmatists by saying, +"If any evil-advised person should quote against me any texts of +Scripture, I deprecate such a rash attempt. Mathematical truths can only +be judged by mathematicians." + +Notwithstanding this, however, his work, after his death, was condemned +by the Index in 1616, under Paul V. + +On examining the ancient systems, Copernicus was struck by the want of +harmony in the arrangements proposed, and by the arbitrary manner in +which new principles were introduced and old ones neglected, comparing +the system to a collection of legs and arms not united to any trunk, and +it was the simplicity and harmony which the one idea of the motion of +the earth introduced into the whole system that convinced him most +thoroughly of its truth. + +He knew well that new views and truths would appear as paradoxes, and be +rejected by men who were wedded to old doctrines, and on this account he +took such pains to show that these views had been held before, and thus +to disarm them of their apparent novelty. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.--THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM.] + +Copernicus dealt only with the six planets then known and the sun and +moon. As to the stars, he had no idea that they were suns like our own, +at immense and various distances from us. The knowledge of the magnitude +of the sidereal universe was reserved for our own century, when it was +discovered by the method of parallaxes. We will give Copernicus's own +sketch of the planetary system:-- + +"In the highest place is the sphere of the fixed stars, an immovable +sphere, which surrounds the whole of the universe. Among the movable +planets the first is Saturn, which requires thirty years to make its +revolution. After it Jupiter accomplishes its journey in twelve years; +Mars follows, requiring two years. In the fourth line come the earth and +the moon which in the course of one year return to their original +position. The fifth place is occupied by Venus, which requires nine +months for its journey. Mercury occupies the sixth place, whose orbit is +accomplished in eighty days. In the midst of all is the sun. What man is +there, who in this majestic temple could choose another and better place +for that brilliant lamp which illuminates all the planets with their +satellites? It is not without reason that the sun is called the lantern +of the world, the soul and thought of the universe. In placing it in the +centre of the planets, as on a regal throne, we give it the government +of the great family of celestial bodies." + +The hypothesis of the motion of the earth in its orbit appeared simply +to Copernicus as a good basis for the exact determination of the ratios +of the distances of the several planets about the sun. But he did not +give up the excentrics and epicycles for the explanation of the +irregular motions of the planets, and certain imaginary variations in +the precession of the equinoxes and the obliquity of the ecliptic. +According to him the earth was endowed with three different motions, the +first about its axis, the second along the ecliptic, and a third, which +he called the declination, moving it backwards along the signs of the +zodiac from east to west. This last motion was invented to explain the +phenomena of the seasons. He thought, like many other ancient +philosophers, that a body could not turn about another without being +fixed in some way to it--by a crystal sphere, or something--and in this +case that the same surface would each day be presented to the sun, and +so it requires a third rotation, by which its axis may remain constantly +parallel to itself. Galileo, however, afterwards demonstrated the +independence of the two motions in question, and proved that the third +was unnecessary. + +Copernicus was born in the Polish village of Thorn, in 1473, and died in +1543, at Warmia, of which he was canon, and where he built an +observatory. The voyages of his youth, his labours, adversities, and old +age at last broke him down, and in the winter of 1542 he took to his +bed, and was incapable of further work. His work, which was just +finished printing at Nuremberg, was brought to him by his friends before +he died. He soon after completely failed in strength, and passed away +tranquilly on the 23rd of May, 1543. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--DEATH OF COPERNICUS.] + +The Copernican system required, however, establishing in the minds of +astronomers generally before it took the place it now holds, and this +work was done by Galileo--a name as celebrated as that of Copernicus +himself, if not more so. This perhaps is due not only to his +demonstration of the motion of the earth, but to his introduction of +experimental philosophy, and his observational method in astronomy. + +The next advance was made by Kepler, who overthrew at one blow all the +excentrics and epicycles of the ancients, when by his laborious +calculations he proved the ellipticity of the orbit of Mars. + +The Grecian hypotheses were the logical consequences of two propositions +which were universally admitted as axioms in the early and middle ages. +First, that the motions of the heavenly bodies were uniform; second, +that their orbits were perfect circles. Nothing appeared more natural +than this belief, though false. So then when Kepler, in 1609, recognised +the fact, by incontestable geometrical measurements, that Mars described +an oval orbit round the sun, in which its velocity varied periodically, +he could not believe either his observation or his calculation, and he +puzzled his brain to discover what secret principle it was that forced +the planet to approach and depart from the sun by turns. Fortunately for +him, in this inquietude he came across a treatise by Gilbert, _De +Magnate_, which had been published in London nine years before. In this +remarkable work Gilbert proved by experiment that the earth acts on +magnetized needles and on bars of iron placed near its surface just as a +magnet does--and by a conjectural extension of this fact, which was a +vague presentiment of the truth, he supposed that the earth itself might +be retained in its constant orbit round the sun by a magnetic +attraction. This idea was a ray of light to Kepler. It led him to see +the secret cause of the alternating motions that had troubled him so +much, and in the joy of that discovery he said, "If we find it +impossible to attribute the vibration to a magnetic power residing in +the sun, acting on the planet without any material medium between, we +must conclude that the planet is itself endowed with a kind of +intelligent perception which gives it power to know at each instant the +proper angles and distances for its motion." In the result Kepler was +led to enunciate to the world his three celebrated laws:-- + +1st. That the planets move in ellipses, of which the sun is in one of +the foci. + +2nd. The spaces described by the ideal radius which joins each planet to +the sun are proportional to the times of their description. In other +words, the nearer a planet is to the sun, the faster it moves. + +3rd. The squares of the times of revolution are as the cubes of the +major axes of the orbits. + +Such were the laws of Kepler, the basis of modern astronomy, which led +in the hands of Newton to the simple explanation by universal +gravitation, which itself is now asking to be explained. + +We are not to suppose that the system of Copernicus was universally +accepted even by astronomers of note. By some an attempt was made to +invent a system which should have all the advantages of this, and yet if +possible save the immobility of the earth. Such was that of Tycho Brahe, +who was born three years after the death of Copernicus, and died in +1601. He was one of the most laborious and painstaking observers of his +time, although by the peculiarity of fate he is known generally only by +his false system. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.--TYCHO BRAHE'S SYSTEM.] + +In 1577, Tycho Brahe wrote a little treatise, _Tychonis Brahe, Dani, De +Mundi AEtherei Recentioribus phenomenis, a propos_ of a comet that had +lately appeared. He speaks at length of his system as follows:--"I have +remarked that the ancient system of Ptolemy is not at all natural, and +too complicated. But neither can I approve of the new one introduced by +the great Copernicus after the example of Aristarchus of Samos. This +heavy mass of earth, so little fit for motion, could not be displaced in +this manner, and moved in three ways, like the celestial bodies, without +a shock to the principles of physics. Besides, it is opposed to +Scripture! I think then," he adds, "that we must decidedly and without +doubt place the earth immovable in the centre of world, according to the +belief of the ancients and the testimony of Scripture. In my opinion the +celestial motions are arranged in such a way that the sun, the moon, +and the sphere of the fixed stars, which incloses all, have the earth +for their centre. The five planets turn about the sun as about their +chief and king, the sun being constantly in the centre of their orbits, +and accompany it in its annual motion round the earth." This system +perfectly accounts for the apparent motions of the planets as seen from +the earth, and is essentially a variation on the Copernican, rather than +on the Ptolemaic system, but it lent itself less readily to future +discoveries. It simply amounts, as far as the solar system is concerned, +to impressing upon all the rest of it the motions of the earth, so as to +leave the latter at rest; and were the sun only as large with respect +to the earth as it seems, were the planets really smaller than the moon, +and the stars only at a short distance, and smaller than the planets, it +might seem more natural that they should move than the earth; but when +all these suppositions were disproved, the very argument of Tycho Brahe +for the stability of the earth turned the other way, and proved as +incontestably that it moved. In the Copernican system, however, these +questions are of no consequence; if the sun be at rest, this mass makes +no difference; if the earth moves like the planets, their relative size +does not alter anything; and if stars are immovable they may be at any +distance and of any magnitude. + +The objections of Tycho Brahe to the earth's motion were: First, that it +was too heavy--we know now, however, that some other planets are +heavier--and that the sun, which he would make move instead, is 340,000 +times as heavy. Secondly, that if the earth moved, all loose things +would be carried from east to west; but we have experience of many loose +things being kept by friction on moving bodies, and can conceive how, +all things may be kept by the attraction of the earth under the +influence of its own motion. Thirdly, that he could not imagine that the +earth was turned upside down every day, and that for twelve hours our +heads are downwards. + +But the existence of the antipodes overcomes this objection, and shows +that there is no up and down in the universe, but each man calls that +_down_ which is nearer to the centre of the earth than himself. + +A variation on Tycho Brahe's system was attempted by one Longomontanus, +who had lived with him for ten years. It consisted in admitting the +diurnal rotation, but not the annual revolution, of the earth; but it +made no progress, and was soon forgotten. + +More remarkable than this was the attempt by Descartes in the same +direction, namely, to hold the principles of Copernicus, and yet to +teach the immobility of the earth. His idea of immobility was however +very different from that of Tycho Brahe, or of any one else, and would +only be called so by those who were bound to believe it at all costs. + +His Theory of Vortices, as it is called, will be best given in his own +words as contained in his _Les Principes de la Philosophie_, third part, +chap. xxvi., entitled, "That the earth is at rest in its heaven, which +does not prevent its being carried along with it, and that it is the +same with all the planets." + +"I adhere," he says, "to the hypothesis of Copernicus, because it seems +to me the simplest and clearest. There is no vacuum anywhere in +space.... The heavens are full of a universal liquid substance. This is +an opinion now commonly received among astronomers, because they cannot +see how the phenomena can be explained without it. The substance of the +heavens has the common property of all liquids, that its minutest +particles are easily moved in any direction, and when it happens that +they all move in one way, they necessarily carry with them all the +bodies they surround, and which are not prevented from moving by any +external cause. The matter of the heaven in which the planets are turns +round continually like a vortex, which has the Sun for its centre. The +parts that are nearest the Sun move faster than those that are at a +greater distance; and all the planets, including the earth, remain +always suspended in the same place in the matter of the heaven. And just +as in the turns of rivers, when the water turns back on itself and +twists round in circles, if any twig or light body floats on it, we see +it carry them round, and make them move with it, and even among these +twigs we may see some turning on their own centre, and those that are +nearest to the middle of the vortex moving quicker than those on the +outside; so we may easily imagine it to be with the planets, and this is +all that is necessary to explain the phenomena. The matter that is round +Saturn takes about thirty years to run its circle; that which surrounds +Jupiter carries it and its satellites round in twelve years, and so +on.... The satellites are carried round their primaries by smaller +vortices.... The earth is not sustained by columns, nor suspended in the +air by ropes, but it is environed on all sides by a very liquid heaven. +It is at rest, and has no propulsion or motion, since we do not perceive +any in it. This does not prevent it being carried round by its heaven, +and following its motion without moving itself, just as a vessel which +is not moved by winds or oars, and is not retained by anchors, remains +in repose in the middle of the sea, although the flood of the great +mass of water carries it insensibly with it. Like the earth, the planets +remain at rest in the region of heaven where each one is found. +Copernicus made no difficulty in allowing that the earth moves. Tycho, +to whom this opinion seemed absurd and unworthy of common sense, wished +to correct him, but the earth has far more motion in his hypothesis than +in that of Copernicus." + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.--DESCARTES' THEORY OF VORTICES.] + +Such is the celebrated theory of vortices. The comparison of the +rotation of the earth and planets and their revolution round the sun to +the turning of small portions of a rapid stream, may contain an idea yet +destined to be developed to account for these motions; but as used by +Descartes it is a mere playing upon words admirably adapted to secure +the concurrence of all parties; those who believed in the motion of the +earth seeing that it did not interfere with their ideas in the least, +and those who believed in its stability being gratified to find some way +by which they might still cling to that belief and yet adopt the new +ideas. This was its purpose, and that purpose it well served; but as a +philosophical speculation it was worthless. When former astronomers +declared that any planet moved, whether it were the earth or any other, +they had no idea of attraction, but supposed the planet fixed to a +sphere; this sphere moving and carrying the planet with it was what they +meant by the planet moving: the theory of vortices merely substituted a +liquid for a solid sphere, with this disadvantage, that if the planet +were fixed to a solid moving sphere, it _must_ move; if only placed in a +liquid one, that liquid might pass it if it did not have motion of its +own. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.--VORTICES OF THE STARS.] + +A variation on Descartes' system of vortices was proposed in the +eighteenth century, which supposed that the sun, instead of being fixed +in the centre of the system, itself circulated round another centre, +carrying Mercury with it. This motion of the sun was intented to explain +the changes of magnitude of its disc as seen from the earth, and the +diurnal and annual variations in its motion, without discarding its +circular path. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.--VARIATION OF DESCARTES' THEORY.] + +We have thus noticed all the chief astronomical systems that have at any +time been entertained by astronomers. They one and all have given way +before the universally acknowledged truth about which there is no longer +any dispute. Systems are not now matters of opinion or theory. We speak +of facts as certain as any that can be ascertained in any branch of +knowledge. We have much to learn, but what we have settled as the basis +of our knowledge will never more be altered as far as we can see. + +Of course there have been always fantastic fancies put forth about the +solar system, but they are more amusing than instructive. Some have said +that there is no sun, moon, or stars, but that they are reflections from +an immense light under the earth. Some savage races say that the moon +when decreasing breaks up into stars, and is renewed each month by a +creative act. The Indians used to say that it was full of nectar which +the gods ate up when it waned, and which grew again when it waxed. The +Brahmins placed the earth in the centre, and said that the stars moved +like fishes in a sea of liquid. They counted nine planets, of which two +are invisible dragons which cause eclipses; which, since they happen in +various parts of the zodiac, show that these dragons revolve like the +rest. They said the sun was nearer than the moon, perhaps because it is +hotter and brighter. Berosus the Chaldean gave a very original +explanation of the phases and eclipses of the moon. He said it had one +side bright, and the other side just the colour of the sky, and in +turning it represented the different colours to us. + +Before concluding this chapter we may notice what information we possess +as to the origin of the names by which the planets are known. These +names have not always been given to them, and date only from the time +when the poets began to associate the Grecian mythology with astronomy. +The earlier names had reference rather to their several characters, +although there appear to have been among every people two sets of names +applied to them. + +The earliest Greek names referred to their various degrees of +brilliancy: thus Saturn, which is not easily distinguished, was called +Phenon, or _that which appears_; Jupiter was named Phaeton, _the +brilliant_; Mars was Pysois, or _flame-coloured_; Mercury, Stilbon, _the +sparkling_; Venus, Phosphorus; and Lucifer, _the light-bearer_. They +called the latter also Calliste, _the most beautiful_. It was also known +then as now under the appellations of the morning star and evening star, +indicating its special position. + +With the ancient Accadians, the planets had similar names, among others. +Thus, "Mars was sometimes called _the vanishing star_, in allusion to +its recession from the earth, and Jupiter the _planet of the ecliptic_, +from its neighbourhood to the latter" (Sayce). The name of Mars raises +the interesting question as to whether they had noticed its phases as +well as its movements--especially when, with reference to Venus, it is +recorded in the "Observations of Bel," that "it rises, and in its orbit +duly grows in size." They had also a rather confusing system of +nomenclature by naming each planet after the star that it happened to be +the nearest to at any point of its course round the ecliptic. + +Among less cultivated nations also the same practice held, as with the +natives of South America, whose name for the sun is a word meaning _it +brings the day_; for the moon, _it brings the night_; and for Venus, _it +announces the day_. + +But even among the Eastern nations, from whom the Greeks and Romans +borrowed their astronomical systems, it soon became a practice to +associate these planets with the names of the several divinities they +worshipped. This was perhaps natural from the adoration they paid to the +celestial luminaries themselves on account of their real or supposed +influence on terrestrial affairs; and, moreover, as time went on, and +heroes had appeared, and they had to find them dwelling-places in the +heavens, they would naturally associate them with one or other of the +most brilliant and remarkable luminaries, to which they might suppose +them translated. Beyond these general remarks, only conjectures can be +made why any particular divinity should among the Greeks be connected +with the several planets as we now know them. Such conjectures as the +following we may make. Thus Jupiter, the largest, would take first rank, +and be called after the name of the chief divinity. The soft and +sympathising Venus--appearing at the twilight--would well denote the +evening star. Mars would receive its name from its red appearance, +naturally suggesting carnage and the god of war. Saturn, or Kronos, the +god of time, is personified by the slow and almost imperceptible motion +of that remote planet. While Mercury, the fiery and quick god of thieves +and commerce, is well matched with the hide-and-seek planet which so +seldom can be seen, and moves so rapidly. + +These were the only planets known to the ancients, and were indeed all +that could be discovered without a telescope. If the ancient Babylonians +possessed telescopes, as has been conjectured from their speaking, as we +have noticed above, of the increase of the size of Venus, and from the +finding a crystal lens among the ruins of Nineveh, they did not use them +for this purpose. + +The other planets now known have a far shorter history. Uranus was +discovered by Sir William Herschel on the 13th of March, 1781, and was +at first taken for a comet. Herschel proposed to call it Georgium Sidus, +after King George III. Lalande suggested it should be named Herschel, +after its discoverer, and it bore this name for some time. Afterwards +the names, Neptune, Astroea, Cybele, and Uranus were successively +proposed, and the latter, the suggestion of Bode, was ultimately +adopted. It is the name of the most ancient of the gods, connected with +the then most modern of planets in point of discovery, though also most +ancient in formation, if recent theories be correct. Neptune, as +everybody knows, was calculated into existence, if one may so speak, by +Adams and Leverrier independently, and was first seen, in the quarter +indicated, by Dr. Galle at Berlin, in September, 1846, and by universal +consent it received the name it now bears. + +There are now also known a long series of what are called minor planets, +all circulating between Mars and Jupiter, with their irregular orbits +inextricably mingled together. Their discovery was led to in a +remarkable manner. It was observed that the distances of the several +planets might approximately be expressed by the terms of a certain +mathematical series, if one term was supplied between Mars and +Jupiter--a fact known by the name of Bode's law. When the new planet, +Uranus, was found to obey this law, the feeling was so strong that there +must be something to represent this missing term, that strong efforts +were made to discover it, which led to success, and several, whose names +are derived from the minor gods and goddesses, are now well known. + +All these planets, like the signs of the zodiac, are indicated by +astronomers by certain symbols, which, as they derive their form from +the names or nature of the planets, may properly here be explained. The +sign of Neptune is [symbol: neptune], representing the trident of the +sea; for Uranus [symbol: uranus], which is the first letter of Herschel +with a little globe below; [symbol: saturn] is the sickle of time, or +Saturn; [symbol: jupiter] is the representation of the first letter of +Zeus or Jupiter; [symbol: mars] is the lance and buckler of Mars; +[symbol: venus] the mirror of Venus; [symbol: mercury] the wand of +Mercury; [symbol: sun] the sun's disc; and [symbol: moon] the crescent +of the moon. + +[Illustration: PLATE IX.--THE SOLAR SYSTEM.] + +The more modern discoveries have, of course, been all made by means of +the telescope, and a few words on the history of its discovery may fitly +close this chapter. + +According to Olbers, a concave and convex lens were first used in +combination, to render objects less distant in appearance, in the year +1606. In that year the children of one Jean Lippershey, an optician of +Middelburg, in Zealand, were playing with his lenses, and happened to +hold one before the other to look at a distant clock. Their great +surprise in seeing how near it seemed attracted their father's +attention, and he made several experiments with them, at last fixing +them as in the modern telescope--in draw tubes. On the 2nd of October, +1606, he made a petition to the States-General of Holland for a patent. +The aldermen, however, saw no advantage in it, as you could only look +with one eye instead of two. They refused the patent, and though the +discovery was soon found of value, Lippershey reaped no benefit. + +Galileo was the first to apply the telescope to astronomical +observations. He did not have it made in Holland, but constructed it +himself on Lippershey's principle. This was in 1609. Its magnifying +power was at first 4, and he afterwards increased it to 7, and then to +30. With this he discovered the phases of Venus, the spots on the sun, +the four satellites of Jupiter, and the mountains of the moon. + +[Illustration: PLATE X.--THE DISCOVERY OF THE TELESCOPE.] + +Kepler, in 1611, made the first astronomical telescope with two concave +glasses. + +Huyghens increased the magnifying power successively to 48, 50, and 92, +and discovered Saturn's ring and his satellite No. 4. + +Cassini, the first director of the Paris Observatory, brought it to 150, +aided by Auzout Campani of Rome, and Rives of London. He observed the +rotation of Jupiter (1665), that of Venus and Mars (1666), the fifth and +third satellites of Saturn (1671), and afterwards the two nearer ones +(1684); the other satellites of this planet were discovered, the sixth +and seventh, by Sir William Herschel (1789), and the eighth by Bond and +Lasel (1848). + +We may add here that the satellites of Uranus were discovered, six by +Herschel from 1790 to 1794, and two by Lassel in 1851, the latter also +discovering Neptune's satellite in 1847. + +The rotation of Saturn was discovered by Herschel in 1789, and that of +Mercury by Schroeter in 1800. + +The earliest telescopes which were reflectors were made by Gregory in +1663 and Newton in 1672. The greatest instruments of our century are +that of Herschel, which magnifies 3,000 times, and Lord Rosse's, +magnifying 6,000 times, the Foucault telescope at Marseilles, of 4,000, +the reflector at Melbourne, of 7,000, and the Newall refractor. + +[Illustration: PLATE XI.--THE FOUNDATION OF PARIS OBSERVATORY.] + +The exact knowledge of the heavens, which makes so grand a feature in +modern science, is due, however, not only to the existence of +instruments, but also to the establishment of observatories especially +devoted to their use. The first astronomical observatory that was +constructed was that at Paris. In 1667 Colbert submitted the designs of +it to Louis XIV., and four years afterwards it was completed. The +Greenwich Observatory was established in 1676, that of Berlin in 1710, +and that of St. Petersburg in 1725. Since then numerous others have been +erected, private as well as public, in all parts of the world, and no +night passes without numerous observations being taken as part of the +ordinary duty of the astronomers attached to them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE TERRESTRIAL WORLD OF THE ANCIENTS.--COSMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY. + + +With respect to the shape and position of the earth itself in the +material universe, and the question of its motion or immobility, we +cannot go so far back as in the case of the heavens, since it obviously +requires more observation, and is not so pressing for an answer. + +Amongst the Greeks several authors appear to have undertaken the +subject, but only one complete work has come down to us which undertakes +it directly. This is a work attributed to Aristotle, _De Mundo_. It is +addressed to Alexander, and by some is considered to be spurious, +because it lacks the majestic obscurity that in his acknowledged works +repels the reader. Although, however, it is not as obscure as it might +be, for the writer, it is quite bad enough, and its dryness and +vagueness, its mixture of metaphysical and physical reasoning, logic and +observation, and the change that has naturally passed over the meanings +of many common words since they were written, render it very tedious +and unpleasant reading. + +Nevertheless, as presenting us with the first recorded ideas on these +questions of the nature and properties of the earth, it deserves +attentive study. It is not a system of observations like those of +Ptolemy and the Alexandrian School, but an entirely theoretical work. It +is founded entirely on logic; but unfortunately, if the premisses are +bad, the better the syllogism the more erroneous will be the conclusion; +and it is just this which we find here. Thus if he be asked whether the +earth turns or the heavens, he will reply that the earth is _evidently_ +in repose, and that this is the case not only because we observe it to +be so, but because it is a necessity that it should be; because repose +is _natural_ to the earth, and it is _naturally_ in equilibrium. This +idea of "natural" leads very often astray. He is guided to his idea of +what is natural by seeing what is, and then argues that what is, or +appears to be, must be, because it is natural--thus arguing in a circle. +Another example may be given in his answer to the question, Why must the +stars move round the earth? He says it is natural, because a circle is a +more perfect line, and must therefore be described by the perfect stars, +and a circle is perfect because it has no ends! Unfortunately there are +other curves that have no ends; but the circle was considered, without +more reason, the most perfect curve, and therefore the planets must move +in circles--an idea which had to wait till Kepler's time to be +exploded. One more specimen of this style may be quoted, namely, his +proof that every part of heaven must be eternally moving, while the +earth must be in the centre and at rest. The proof is this. Everything +which performs any act has been made for the purpose of that act. Now +the work of God is immortality, from which it follows that all that is +divine must have an eternal motion. But the heavens have a divine +quality, and for this reason they have a spherical shape and move +eternally in a circle. Now when a body has a circular motion, one part +of it must remain at rest in its place, namely, that which is in the +centre; the earth is in the centre--therefore it is at rest. + +Aristotle says in this work that there are two kinds of simple motion, +that in a circle and that in a straight line. The latter belongs to the +elements, which either go up or down, and the former to the celestial +bodies, whose nature is more divine, and which have never been known to +change; and the earth and world must be the only bodies in existence, +for if there were another, it must be the contrary to this, and there is +no contrary to a circle; and again, if there were any other body, the +earth would be attracted towards it, and move, which it does not. Such +is the style of argument which was in those days thought conclusive, and +which with a little development and inflation of language appeared +intensely profound. + +But what brings these speculations to the subject we have now in hand +is this: that when Aristotle thus proves the earth to be immovable in +the centre of the universe, he is led on to inquire how it is possible +for it to remain in one fixed place. He observed that even a small +fragment of earth, when it is raised into the air and then let go, +immediately falls without ever stopping in one place--falling, as he +supposed, all the quicker according to its weight; and he was therefore +puzzled to know why the whole mass of the earth, notwithstanding its +weight, could be kept from falling. + +Aristotle examines one by one the answers that have been given to this +question. Thus Xenophanes gave to the earth infinitely extended roots, +against which Empedocles uses such arguments as we should use now. +Thales of Miletus makes the earth rest upon water, without finding +anything on which the water itself can rest, or answering the question +how it is that the heavier earth can be supported on the lighter water. +Anaxemenes, Anaxagoras, and Democritus, who make the earth flat, +consider it to be sustained by the air, which is accumulated below it, +and also presses down upon it like a great coverlet. Aristotle himself +says that he agrees with those philosophers who think that the earth is +brought to the centre by the primitive rotation of things, and that we +may compare it, as Empedocles does, to the water in glasses which are +made to turn rapidly, and which does not fall out or move, even though +upside down. He also quotes with approval another opinion somewhat +similar to this, namely, that of Anaximander, which states that the +earth is in repose, on account of its own equilibrium. Placed in the +centre and at an equal distance from its extremities, there is no reason +why it should move in one direction rather than the other, and rests +immovable in the centre without being able to leave it. + +The result of all is that Aristotle concludes that the earth is +immovable, in the centre of the universe, and that it is not a star +circulating in space like other stars, and that it does not rotate upon +its axis; and he completes the system by stating that the earth is +spherical, which is proved by the different aspects of the heavens to a +voyager to the north or to the south. + +Such was the Aristotelian system, containing far more error than truth, +which was the first of any completeness. Scattered ideas, however, on +the shape and method of support of the earth and the cause of various +phenomena, such as the circulation of the stars, are met with besides in +abundance. + +The original ideas of the earth were naturally tinged by the +prepossessions of each race, every one thinking his own country to be +situated in the centre. Thus among the Hindoos, who lived near the +equator, and among the Scandinavians, inhabiting regions nearer the +pole, the same meaning attaches to the words by which they express their +own country, _medpiama_ and _medgard_, both meaning the central +habitation. Olympus among the Greeks was made the centre of the earth, +and afterwards the temple of Delphi. For the Egyptians the central point +was Thebes; for the Assyrians it was Babylon; for the Indians it was the +mountain Mero; for the Hebrews Jerusalem. The Chinese always called +their country the central empire. It was then the custom to denote the +world by a large disc, surrounded on all sides by a marvellous and +inaccessible ocean. At the extremities of the earth were placed +imaginary regions and fortunate isles, inhabited by giants or pigmies. +The vault of the sky was supposed to be supported by enormous mountains +and mysterious columns. + +Numerous variations have been suggested on the earliest supposed form of +the earth, which was, as we have seen in a former chapter, originally +supposed to be an immense flat of infinite depth, and giving support to +the heavens. + +As travels extended and geography began to be a science, it was remarked +that an immense area of water circumscribed the solid earth by irregular +boundaries--whence the idea of a universal ocean. + +When, however, it was perceived that the horizon at sea was always +circular, it was supposed that the ocean was bounded, and the whole +earth came to be represented as contained in a circle, beneath which +were roots reaching downwards without end, but with no imagined +support. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.--THE EARTH FLOATING.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.--THE EARTH WITH ROOTS.] + +The Vedic priests asserted that the earth was supported on twelve +columns, which they very ingeniously turned to their own account by +asserting that these columns were supported by virtue of the sacrifices +that were made to the gods, so that if these were not made the earth +would collapse. + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.--THE EARTH OF THE VEDIC PRIESTS.] + +These pillars were invented in order to account for the passing of the +sun beneath the earth after his setting, for which at first they were +obliged to imagine a system of tunnels, which gradually became enlarged +to the intervals between the pillars. + +The Hindoos made the hemispherical earth to be supported upon four +elephants, and the four elephants to stand on the back of an immense +tortoise, which itself floated on the surface of a universal ocean. We +are not however to laugh at this as intended to be literal; the +elephants symbolised, it may be, the four elements, or the four +directions of the compass, and the tortoise was the symbol for strength +and for eternity, which was also sometimes represented by a serpent. + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.--HINDOO EARTH.] + +The floating of the earth on water or some other liquid long held +ground. It was adopted by Thales, and six centuries later Seneca adopts +the same opinion, saying that the humid element that supports the +earth's disc like a vessel may be either the ocean or some liquid more +simple than water. + +Diodorus tells us that the Chaldeans considered the earth hollow and +boat-shaped--perhaps turned upside down--and this doctrine was +introduced into Greece by Heraclitus of Ephesus. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.--THE EARTH OF ANAXIMANDER.] + +Anaximander represents the earth as a cylinder, the upper face of which +alone is inhabited. This cylinder, he states, is one-third as high as +its diameter, and it floats freely in the centre of the celestial vault, +because there is no reason why it should move to one side rather than +the other. Leucippus, Democritus, Heraclitus, and Anaxagoras all adopted +this purely imaginary form. Europe made the northern half, and Lybia +(Africa) and Asia the southern, while Delphi was in the centre. + +Anaximenes, without giving a precise opinion as to the form of the +earth, made it out to be supported on compressed air, though he gave no +idea as to how the air was to be compressed. + +Plato thought to improve upon these ideas by making the earth cubical. +The cube, which is bound by six equal faces, appeared to him the most +perfect of solids, and therefore most suitable for the earth, which was +to stand in the centre of the universe. + +[Illustration: FIG. 30.--PLATO'S CUBICAL EARTH.] + +Eudoxus, who in his long voyages throughout Greece and Egypt had seen +new constellations appear as he went south, while others to the north +disappeared, deduced the sphericity of the earth, in which opinion he +was followed by Archimedes, and, as we have seen, by Aristotle. + +According to Achilles Tatius, Xenophanes gave to the earth the shape of +an immense inclined plane, which stretched out to infinity. He drew it +in the form of a vast mountain. The summit only was inhabited by men, +and round it circulated the stars, and the base was at an infinite +depth. Hesiod had before this obscurely said: "The abyss is surrounded +by a brazen barrier; above it rest the roots of the earth." Epicurus and +his school were well pleased with this representation. If such were the +foundations of the earth, then it was impossible that the sun, and moon, +and stars should complete their revolutions beneath it. A solid and +indefinite support being once admitted, the Epicurean ideas about the +stars were a necessary consequence; the stars must inevitably be put out +each day in the west, since they are not seen to return to the place +whence they started, and they must be rekindled some hours afterwards in +the east. In the days of Augustus, Cleomedes still finds himself obliged +to combat these Epicurean ideas about the setting and rising of the sun +and stars. "These stupid ideas," he says, "have no other foundation than +an old woman's story--that the Iberians hear each night the hissing +noise made by the burning sun as it is extinguished, like a hot iron in +the waters of the ocean." Modern travellers have shown us that similar +ideas about the support of the earth have been entertained by more +remote people. Thus, in the opinion of the Greenlanders, handed down +from antiquity to our own days, the earth is supported on pillars, which +are so consumed by time that they often crack, and were it not that they +are supported by the incantations of the magicians, they would long +since have broken down. This idea of the breaking of the pillars may +possibly have originated in the known sinking of the land beneath the +sea, which is still going on even at the present day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 31.--EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATION OF THE EARTH.] + +An ancient Egyptian papyrus in the library of Paris gives a very curious +hieroglyphical representation of the universe. The earth is here figured +under the form of a reclining figure, and is covered with leaves. The +heavens are personified by a goddess, which forms the vault by her +star-bespangled body, which is elongated in a very peculiar manner. Two +boats, carrying, one the rising sun, and the other the setting sun, are +represented as moving along the heavens over the body of the goddess. In +the centre of the picture is the god, Maon, a divine intelligence, which +presides over the equilibrium of the universe. + +We will now pass on from the early ideas of the general shape and +situation of the world to inquire into the first outlines of +geographical knowledge of details. + +Of all the ancient writings which deal with such questions, the Hebrew +Scriptures have the greatest antiquity, and in them are laid down many +details of known countries, from which a fair map of the world as known +to them might be made out. The prophet Esdras believed that six-sevenths +of the earth was dry land--an idea which could not well be exploded till +the great oceans had been traversed and America discovered. + +More interesting, as being more complete, and written to a certain +extent for the very purpose of relating what was known of the geography +of the earth, are the writings of the oldest Grecian poets. The first +elements of Grecian geography are contained in the two national and +almost sacred poems, the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. So important have these +writings been considered in regard to ancient geography, that for many +centuries discussions have been carried on with regard to the details, +though evidently fictitious, of the voyage of Ulysses, and twenty lines +of the _Iliad_ have furnished matter for a book of thirty volumes. + +The shield of Achilles, forged by Vulcan and described in the eighteenth +book of the _Iliad_, gives us an authentic representation of the +primitive cosmographical ideas of the age. The earth is there figured as +a disc, surrounded on all sides by the _River Ocean_. However strange it +may appear to us, to apply the term _river_ to the ocean, it occurs too +often in Homer and the other ancient poets to admit of a doubt of its +being literally understood by them. Hesiod even describes the sources of +the ocean at the western extremity of the world, and the representation +of these sources was preserved from age to age amongst authors posterior +to Homer by nearly a thousand years. Herodotus says plainly that the +geographers of his time drew their maps of the world according to the +same ideas; the earth was figured with them as a round disc, and the +ocean as a river, which washed it on all sides. + +The earth's disc, the _orbis terrarum_, was covered according to Homer +by a solid vault or firmament, beneath which the stars of the day and +night were carried by chariots supported by the clouds. In the morning +the sun rose from the eastern ocean, and in the evening it declined into +the western; and a vessel of gold, the mysterious work of Vulcan, +carried it quickly back by the north, to the east again. Beneath the +earth Homer places, not the habitation of the dead, the caverns of +Hades, but a vault called Tartarus, corresponding to the firmament. Here +lived the Titans, the enemies of the gods, and no breath of wind, no +ray of light, ever penetrated to this subterranean world. Writers +subsequent to Homer by a century determined even the height of the +firmament and the depth of Tartarus. An anvil, they said, would take +nine days to fall from heaven to earth, and as many more to fall from +earth to the bottom of Tartarus. This estimate of the height of heaven +was of course far too small. If a body were to fall for nine days and +nights, or 777,600 seconds under the attraction of the earth, it would +only pass over 430,500 miles, that is not much more than half as far +again as the moon. A ray of light would only take two seconds to pass +over that distance, whereas it takes eight minutes to reach us from the +sun, and four hours to come from Neptune--to say nothing of the distance +of the stars. + +The limits of the world in the Homeric cosmography were surrounded by +obscurity. The columns of which Atlas was the guardian were supported on +unknown foundations, and disappeared in the systems subsequent to Homer. +Beyond the mysterious boundary where the earth ended and the heavens +began an indefinite chaos spread out--a confused medley of life and +inanity, a gulf where all the elements of heaven, Tartarus, and earth +and sea are mixed together, a gulf of which the gods themselves are +afraid. + +Ideas such as these prevailed long after geometers and astronomers had +proved the spherical form of the globe, and they were revived by the +early Christian geographers and have left their trace even on the +common language of to-day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32.--HOMERIC COSMOGRAPHY.] + +The centre of the terrestrial disc was occupied by the continent and +isles of Greece, which in the time of Homer possessed no general name. +The centre of Greece passed therefore for the centre of the whole world; +and in Homer's system it was reckoned to be Olympus in Thessaly, but the +priests of the celebrated Temple of Apollo at Delphi (known then under +the name of Python) gave out a tradition that that sacred place was the +real centre of the habitable world. + +The straits which separate Italy from Sicily were so to speak the +vestibule of the fabulous world of Homer. The threefold ebb and flow, +the howling of the monster Scylla, the whirlpools of Charybdis, the +floating rocks--all tell us that we are quitting here the region of +truth. Sicily itself, although already known under the name of +_Trinacria_, was filled with marvels; here the flocks of the Sun +wandered in a charming solitude under the guardianship of nymphs; here +the Cyclops, with one eye only, and the anthropophagous Lestrigons +scared away the traveller from a land that was otherwise fertile in corn +and wine. Two historical races were placed by Homer in Sicily, namely +the _Sicani_, and the _Siceli_, or _Siculi_. + +To the west of Sicily we find ourselves in the midst of a region of +fables. The enchanted islands of Circe and Calypso, and the floating +island of Eolus can no longer be found, unless we imagine them to have +originated, like Graham's Island in this century, from volcanic +eruptions or elevations, and to have disappeared again by the action of +the sea. + +The Homeric map of the world terminated towards the west by two fabulous +countries which have given rise to many traditions among the ancients, +and to many discussions among moderns. Near to the entrance of the +ocean, and not far from the sombre caverns where the dead are +congregated, Ulysses found the _Cimmerians_, "an unhappy people, who, +constantly surrounded by thick shadows, never enjoyed the rays of the +sun, neither when it mounted the skies, nor when it descended below the +earth." Still farther away, and in the ocean itself, and therefore +beyond the limits of the earth, beyond the region of winds and seasons, +the poet paints for us a Fortunate Land, which he calls _Elysium_, a +country where tempests and winter are unknown, where a soft zephyr +always blows, and where the elect of Jupiter, snatched from the common +lot of mortals, enjoy a perpetual felicity. + +Whether these fictions had an allegory for their basis, or were founded +on the mistaken notions of voyagers--whether they arose in Greece, or, +as the Hebrew etymology of the name Cimmerian might seem to indicate, in +the east, or in Phenicia, it is certain that the images they present, +transferred to the world of reality, and applied successively to various +lands, and confused by contradictory explanations, have singularly +embarrassed the progress of geography through many centuries. The Roman +travellers thought they recognised the Fortunate Isles in a group to the +west of Africa, now known as the Canaries. The philosophical fictions of +Plato and Theopompus about Atlantes and Meropis have been long +perpetuated in historical theories; though of course it is possible that +in the numerous changes that have taken place in the surface of the +earth, some ancient vast and populous island may have descended beneath +the level of the sea. On the other side, the poetic imagination created +the _Hyperboreans_, beyond the regions where the northern winds were +generated, and according to a singular kind of meteorology, they +believed them for that reason to be protected from the cold winds. +Herodotus regrets that he has not been able to discover the least trace +of them; he took the trouble to ask for information about them from +their neighbours, the _Arimaspes_, a very clear-sighted race, though +having but a single eye; but they could not inform him where the +Hyperboreans dwelt. The Enchanted Isles, where the Hesperides used to +guard the golden fruit, and which the whole of antiquity placed in the +west, not far from the Fortunate Isles, are sometimes called Hyperborean +by authors well versed in the ancient traditions. It is also in this +sense that Sophocles speaks of the Garden of Phoebus, near the vault +of heaven, and not far from the _sources of the night_, _i.e._ of the +setting of the sun. + +Avienus explains the mild temperature of the Hyperborean country by the +temporary proximity of the sun, since, according to the Homeric ideas, +it passes during the night by the northern ocean to return to its palace +in the east. This ancient tradition was not entirely exploded in the +time of Tacitus, who states that on the confines of Germany might be +seen the veritable setting of Apollo beyond the water, and he believes +that as in the east the sun gives rise to incense and balm by its great +proximity to the earth, so in the regions where it sets it makes the +most precious of juices to transude from the earth and form amber. It is +this idea that is embedded in the fables of amber being the tears of +gold that Apollo shed when he went to the Hyperborean land to mourn the +loss of his son AEsculapius, or by the sisters of Phaeton, changed into +poplars; and it is denoted by the Greek name for amber, _electron_--a +sun-stone. The Grecian sages, long before the time of Tacitus, said that +this very precious material was an exhalation from the earth that was +produced and hardened by the rays of the sun, which they thought came +nearer to the earth in the west and in the north. + +Florus, in relating the expedition of Decimus Brutus along the coast of +Spain, gives great effect to the Epicurean views about the sun, by +declaring that Brutus only stopped his conquests after having witnessed +the actual descent of the sun into the ocean, and having heard with +horror the terrible noise occasioned by its extinction. The ancients +also believed that the sun and the other heavenly bodies were nourished +by the waters--partly the fresh water of the rivers, and partly the salt +water of the sea. Cleanthes gave the reason for the sun returning +towards the equator on reaching the solstices, that it could not go too +far away from the source of its nourishment. Pytheas relates that in the +Island of Thule, six days' journey north of Great Britain, and in all +that neighbourhood, there was no land nor sea nor air, but a compound of +all three, on which the earth and the sea were suspended, and which +served to unite together all the parts of the universe, though it was +not possible to go into these places, neither on foot nor in ships. +Perhaps the ice floating in the frozen seas and the hazy northern +atmosphere had been seen by some navigator, and thus gave rise to this +idea. As it stands, the history may be perhaps matched by that of the +amusing monk who said he had been to the end of the world and had to +stoop down, as there was not room to stand between heaven and earth at +their junction. + +Homer lived in the tenth century before our era. Herodotus, who lived in +the fifth, developed the Homeric chart to three times its size. He +remarks at the commencement of his book that for several centuries the +world has been divided into three parts--Europe, Asia, and Libya; the +names given to them being female. The exterior limits of these countries +remained in obscurity notwithstanding that those boundaries of them that +lay nearest to Greece were clearly defined. + +One of the greatest writers on ancient geography was Strabo, whose ideas +we will now give an account of. He seems to have been a disciple of +Hipparchus in astronomy, though he criticises and contradicts him +several times in his geography. He had a just idea of the sphericity of +the earth; but considered it as the centre of the universe, and +immovable. He takes pains to prove that there is only one inhabited +earth--not in this refuting the notion that the moon and stars might +have inhabitants, for these he considered to be insignificant meteors +nourished by the exhalations of the ocean; but he fought against the +fact of there being on this globe any other inhabited part than that +known to the ancients. + +It is remarkable to notice that the proofs then used by geographers of +the sphericity of the earth are just those which we should use now. Thus +Strabo says, "The indirect proof is drawn from the centripetal force in +general, and the tendency that all bodies have in particular towards a +centre of gravity. The direct proof results from the phenomena observed +on the sea and in the sky. It is evident, for example, that it is the +curvature of the earth that alone prevents the sailor from seeing at a +distance the lights that are placed at the ordinary height of the eye, +and which must be placed a little higher to become visible even at a +greater distance; in the same way, if the eye is a little raised it will +see things which previously were hidden." Homer had already made the +same remark. + +On this globe, representing the world, Strabo and the cosmographers of +his time placed the habitable world in a surface which he describes in +the following way: "Suppose a great circle, perpendicular to the +equator, and passing through the poles to be described about the sphere. +It is plain that the surface will be divided by this circle, and by the +equator into four equal parts. The northern and southern hemispheres +contain, each of them, two of these parts. Now on any one of these +quarters of the sphere let us trace a quadrilateral which shall have for +its southern boundary the half of the equator, for northern boundary a +circle marking the commencement of polar cold, and for the other sides +two equal and opposite segments of the circle that passes through the +poles. It is on one such quadrilateral that the habitable world is +placed." He figures it as an island, because it is surrounded on all +sides by the sea. It is plain that Strabo had a good idea of the nature +of gravity, because he does not distinguish in any way an upper or a +lower hemisphere, and declares that the quadrilateral on which the +habitable world is situated may be any one of the four formed in this +way. + +The form of the habitable world is that of a "chlamys," or cloak. This +follows, he says, both from geometry and the great spread of the sea, +which, enveloping the land, covers it both to the east and to the west +and reduces it to a shortened and truncated form of such a figure that +its greatest breadth preserved has only a third of its length. As to the +actual length and breadth, he says, "it measures seventy thousand stadia +in length, and is bounded by a sea whose immensity and solitude renders +it impassable; while the breadth is less than thirty thousand stadia, +and has for boundaries the double region where the excess of heat on +one side and the excess of cold on the other render it uninhabitable." + +The habitable world was thus much longer from east to west than it was +broad from north to south; from whence come our terms _longitude_, whose +degrees are counted in the former direction, and _latitude_, reckoned in +the latter direction. + +Eratosthenes, and after him Hipparchus, while he gives larger numbers +than the preceding for the dimensions of the inhabited part of the +earth, namely, thirty-eight thousand stadia of breadth and eighty +thousand of length, declares that physical laws accord with calculations +to prove that the length of the habitable earth must be taken from the +rising to the setting of the sun. This length extends from the extremity +of India to that of Iberia, and the breadth from the parallel of +Ethiopia to that of Ierne. + +That the earth is an island, Strabo considers to be proved by the +testimony of our senses. For wherever men have reached to the +extremities of the earth they have found the sea, and for regions where +this has not been verified it is established by reasoning. Those who +have retraced their steps have not done so because their passage was +barred by any continent, but because their supplies have run short, and +they were afraid of the solitude; the water always ran freely in front +of them. + +It is extraordinary that Strabo and the astronomers of that age, who +recognised so clearly the sphericity of the earth and the real +insignificance of mountains, should yet have supposed the stars to have +played so humble a part, but so it was; and we find Strabo arguing in +what we may call quite the contrary direction. He says, "the larger the +mass of water that is spread round the earth, so much more easy is it to +conceive how the vapours arising from it are sufficient to nourish the +heavenly bodies." + +[Illustration: FIG. 33.--THE EARTH OF THE LATER GREEKS.] + +Among the Latin cosmographers we may here cite one who flourished in the +first century after Christ, Pomponius Mela, who wrote a treatise, called +_De Situ Orbis_. From whatever source, whether traditional or otherwise, +he arrived at the conclusion, he divided the earth into two continents, +our own and that of the Antichthones, which reached to our antipodes. +This map was in use till the time of Christopher Columbus, who modified +it in the matter of the position of this second continent, which till +then remained a matter of mystery. + +[Illustration: FIG. 34.--POMPONIUS MELA'S COSMOGRAPHY.] + +Of those who in ancient times added to the knowledge then possessed of +cosmography, we should not omit to mention the name of Pytheas, of +Marseilles, who flourished in the fourth century before our era. His +chief observations, however, were not so closely related to geography as +to the relation of the earth with the heavenly bodies. By the +observation of the gnomon at mid-day on the day of the solstice he +determined the obliquity of the ecliptic in his epoch. By the +observation of the height of the pole, he discovered that in his time it +was not marked by any star, but formed a quadrilateral with three +neighbouring stars, [Greek: b] of the little Bear and [Greek: k] and +[Greek: a] of the Dragon. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +COSMOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE CHURCH. + + +After the writers mentioned in the last chapter a long interval elapsed +without any progress being made in the knowledge of the shape or +configuration of the earth. From the fall of the Roman Empire, whose +colonies themselves gave a certain knowledge of geography, down to the +fifteenth century, when the great impetus was given to discovery by the +adventurous voyagers of Spain and Portugal, there was nothing but +servile copying from ancient authors, who were even misrepresented when +they were not understood. Even the peninsula of India was only known by +the accounts of Orientals and the writings of the Ancients until the +beginning of the fifteenth century. Vague notions, too, were held as to +the limits of Africa, and even of Europe and Asia--while of course they +knew nothing of America, in spite of their marking on their maps an +antichthonal continent to the south. + +Denys, the traveller, a Greek writer of the first century, and Priscian, +his Latin commentator of the fourth, still maintained the old errors +with regard to the earth. According to them the earth is not round, but +leaf-shaped; its boundaries are not so arranged as to form everywhere a +regular circle. Macrobius, in his system of the world, proves clearly +that he had no notion that Africa was continued to the south of +Ethiopia, that is of the tenth degree of N. latitude. He thought, like +Cleanthus and Crates and other ancient authors, that the regions that +lay nearest the tropics, and were burnt by the sun, could not be +inhabited; and that the equatorial regions were occupied by the ocean. +He divided the hemisphere into five zones, of which only two were +habitable. "One of them," he said, "is occupied by us, and the other by +men of whose nature we are ignorant." + +Orosus, writing in the same century (fourth), and whose work exercised +so great an influence on the cosmographers of the middle ages and on +those who made the maps of the world during that long period, was +ignorant of the form or boundaries of Africa, and of the contours of the +peninsulas of Southern Asia. He made the heavens rest upon the earth. + +S. Basil, also of the fourth century, placed the firmament on the earth, +and on this heaven a second, whose upper surface was flat, +notwithstanding that the inner surface which is turned towards us is in +the form of a vault; and he explains in this way how the waters can be +held there. S. Cyril shows how useful this reservoir of water is to the +life of men and of plants. + +Diodorus, Bishop of Tarsus, in the same century, also divided the world +into two stages, and compared it to a tent. Severianus, Bishop of +Gabala, about the same time, compared the world to a house of which the +earth is the ground floor, the lower heavens the ceiling, and the upper, +or heaven of heavens, the roof. This double heaven was also admitted by +Eusebius of Caesaraea. + +In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries science made no progress +whatever. It was still taught that there were limits to the ocean. Thus +Lactantius asserted that there could not be inhabitants beyond the line +of the tropics. This Father of the Church considered it a monstrous +opinion that the earth is round, that the heavens turn about it, and +that all parts of the earth are inhabited. "There are some people," he +says, "so extravagant as to persuade themselves that there are men who +have their heads downwards and their feet upwards; that all that lies +down here is hung up there; that the trees and herbs grow downwards; and +that the snow and hail fall upwards.... Those people who maintain such +opinions do so for no other purpose than to amuse themselves by +disputation, and to show their spirit; otherwise it would be easy to +prove by invincible argument that it is impossible for the heavens to +be underneath the earth." (Divine Institution). Saint Augustin also, in +his _City of God_, says: "There is no reason to believe in that fabulous +hypothesis of the antipodes, that is to say, of men who inhabit the +other side of the earth--where the sun rises when it sets with us, and +who have their feet opposed to ours." ... "But even if it were +demonstrated by any argument that the earth and world have a spherical +form, it would be too absurd to pretend that any hardy voyagers, after +having traversed the immensity of the ocean, had been able to reach that +part of the world and there implant a detached branch of the primaeval +human family." + +In the same strain wrote S. Basil, S. Ambrose, S. Justin Martyr, S. +Chrysostom, Procopius of Gaza, Severianus, Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus, +and the greater number of the thinkers of that epoch. + +Eusebius of Caesaraea was bold enough on one occasion to write in his +Commentaries on the Psalms, that, "according to the opinion of some the +earth is round;" but he draws back in another work from so rash an +assertion. Even in the fifteenth century the monks of Salamanca and +Alcala opposed the old arguments against the antipodes to all the +theories of Columbus. + +[Illustration: FIG. 35.--THE EARTH'S SHADOW.] + +In the middle of the sixteenth century Gregory of Tours adopted also the +opinion that the intertropical zone was uninhabitable, and, like other +historians, he taught that the Nile came from the unknown land in the +east, descended to the south, crossed the ocean which separated the +antichthone from Africa, and then alone became: visible. The +geographical and cosmographical ideas that were then prevalent may also +be judged of by what S. Avitus, a Latin poet of the sixth century and +nephew of the Emperor Flavius Avitus, says in his poem on the Creation, +where he describes the terrestrial Paradise. "Beyond India," he writes, +"_where the world commences_, where the confines of heaven and earth are +joined, is an exalted asylum, inaccessible to mortals, and closed by +eternal barriers, since the first sin was committed." + +In a treatise on astronomy, published a little after this in 1581, by +Apian and Gemma Frison, they very distinctly state their belief in a +round earth, though they do not go into details of its surface. The +argument is the old one from eclipses, but the figures they give in +illustration are very amusing, with three or four men of the size of the +moon disporting themselves on the earth's surface. As, however, they all +have their feet to the globe representing the earth, and consequently +have their feet in opposite directions at the antipodes, the idea is +very clearly shown. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36.] + +"If," they say, "the earth were square, its shadow on the +moon would be square also. + +"If the earth were triangular, its shadow, during an eclipse of the +moon, would also be triangular. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37.] + +"If the earth had six sides, its shadow would have the same figure. + +[Illustration: FIG. 38.] + +"Since, then, the shadow of the earth is round, it is a proof that the +earth is round also." + +This of course is one of the proofs that would be employed in the +present day for the same purpose. + +The most remarkable of all the fantastical systems, however, the _chef +d'oeuvre_ of the cosmography of that age, was the famous system of the +square earth, with solid walls for supporting the heavens. Its author +was _Cosmas_, surnamed _Indicopleustes_ after his voyage to India and +Ethiopia. He was at first a merchant, and afterwards a monk. He died in +550. His manuscript was entitled "Christian Topography," and was written +in 535. It was with the object of refuting the opinions of those who +gave a spherical form to the earth that Cosmas composed his work after +the systems of the Church Fathers, and in opposition to the cosmography +of the Gentiles. He reduced to a systematic form the opinions of the +Fathers, and undertook to explain all the phenomena of the heavens in +accordance with the Scriptures. In his first book he refutes the opinion +of the sphericity of the earth, which he regarded as a heresy. In the +second he expounds his own system, and the fifth to the ninth he devotes +to the courses of the stars. This mongrel composition is a singular +mixture of the doctrines of the Indians, Chaldeans, Greeks, and +Christian Fathers. + +With respect to his opponents he says, "There are on all sides vigorous +attacks against the Church," and accuses them of misunderstanding +Scripture, being misled by the eclipses of the sun and moon. He makes +great fun of the idea of rain falling upwards, and yet accuses his +opponents of making the earth at the same time the centre and the base +of the universe. The zeal with which these pretended refutations are +used proves, no doubt, that in the sixth century there were some men, +more sensible and better instructed than others, who preserved the +deposit of progress accomplished by the Grecian genius in the +Alexandrian school, and defended the labours of Hipparchus and Ptolemy; +while it is manifest that the greater number of their contemporaries +kept the old Indian and Homeric traditions, which were easier to +understand, and more accessible to the false witness of the senses, and +not improved by combination with texts of Scripture misinterpreted. In +fact, cosmographical science in the general opinion retrograded instead +of advancing. + +According to Cosmas and his map of the world, the habitable earth is a +plane surface. But instead of being supposed, as in the time of Thales, +to be a disc, he represented it in the form of a parallelogram, whose +long sides are twice the shorter ones, so that man is on the earth like +a bird in a cage. This parallelogram is surrounded by the ocean, which +breaks in in four great gulfs, namely, the Mediterranean and Caspian +seas, and the Persian and Arabian gulfs. + +Beyond the ocean in every direction there exists another continent which +cannot be reached by man, but of which one part was once inhabited by +him before the Deluge. To the east, just as in other maps of the world, +and in later systems, he placed the _Terrestrial Paradise_, and the +four rivers that watered Eden, which come by subterranean channels to +water the post-diluvian earth. + +After the Fall, Adam was driven from Paradise; but he and his +descendants remained on its coasts until the Deluge carried the ark of +Noah to our present earth. + +On the four outsides of the earth rise four perpendicular walls, which +surround it, and join together at the top in a vault, the heavens +forming the cupola of this singular edifice. + +The world, according to Cosmas, was therefore a large oblong box, and it +was divided into two parts; the first, the abode of men, reaches from +the earth to the firmament, above which the stars accomplish their +revolutions; there dwell the angels, who cannot go any higher. The +second reaches upwards from the firmament to the upper vault, which +crowns and terminates the world. On this firmament rest the waters of +the heavens. + +Cosmas justifies this system by declaring that, according to the +doctrine of the Fathers and the Commentators on the Bible, the earth has +the form of the Tabernacle that Moses erected in the desert; which was +like an oblong box, twice as long as broad. But we may find other +similarities,--for this land beyond the ocean recalls the Atlantic of +the ancients, and the Mahomedans, and Orientals in general, say that the +earth is surrounded by a high mountain, which is a similar idea to the +walls of Cosmas. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39.--THE COSMOGRAPHY OF COSMAS.] + +"God," he says, "in creating the earth, rested it on nothing. The earth +is therefore sustained by the power of God, the Creator of all things, +supporting all things by the word of His power. If below the earth, or +outside of it, anything existed, it would fall of its own accord. So God +made the earth the base of the universe, and ordained that it should +sustain itself by its own proper gravity." + +After having made a great square box of the universe, it remained for +him to explain the celestial phenomena, such as the succession of days +and nights and the vicissitudes of the seasons. + +[Illustration: FIG. 40.--THE SQUARE EARTH.] + +This is the remarkable explanation he gives. He says that the earth, +that is, the oblong table circumscribed on all sides by high walls, is +divided into three parts; first the habitable earth, which occupies the +middle; secondly, the ocean which surrounds this on all sides; and +thirdly, another dry land which surrounds the ocean, terminated itself +by these high walls on which the firmament rests. According to him the +habitable earth is always higher as we go north, so that southern +countries are always much lower than northern. For this reason, he says, +the Tigris and Euphrates, which run towards the south, are much more +rapid than the Nile, which runs northwards. At the extreme north there +is a large conical mountain, behind which the sun, moon, planets, and +comets all set. These stars never pass below the earth, they only pass +behind this great mountain, which hides them for a longer or shorter +time from our observation. According as the sun departs from or +approaches the north, and consequently is lower or higher in the +heavens, he disappears at a point nearer to or further from the base of +the mountain, and so is behind it a longer or shorter time, whence the +inequality of the days and nights, the vicissitudes of the seasons, +eclipses, and other phenomena. This idea is not peculiar to Cosmas, for +according to the Indians, the mountain of Someirat is in the centre of +the earth, and when the sun appears to set, he is really only hiding +behind this mountain. + +His idea, too, of the manner in which the motions are performed is +strange, but may be matched elsewhere. "All the stars are created," he +says, "to regulate the days and nights, the months and the years, and +they move, not at all by the motion of the heaven itself, but by the +action of certain divine Beings, or _lampadophores_. God made the angels +for His service, and He has charged some of them with the motion of the +air, others with that of the sun, or the moon, or the other stars, and +others again with the collecting of clouds and preparing the rain." + +Similar to this were the ideas of other doctors of the + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.--EXPLANATION OF SUNRISE.] + +Church, such as S. Hilary and Theodorus, some of whom supposed that the +angels carried the stars on their shoulders like the _omophores_ of the +Manichees; others that they rolled them in front of them or drew them +behind; while the Jesuit Riccioli, who made astronomical observations, +remarks that each angel that pushes a star takes great care to observe +what the others are doing, so that the relative distances between the +stars may always remain what they ought to be. The Abbot Trithemus gives +the exact succession of the seven angels or spirits of the planets, who +take it in turns during a cycle of three hundred and fifty-four years to +govern the celestial motions from the creation to the year 1522. The +system thus introduced seems to have been spread abroad, and to have +lingered even into the nineteenth century among the Arabs. A guide of +that nationality hired at Cairo in 1830, remarked to two travellers how +the earth had been made square and covered with stones, but the stones +had been thrown into the four corners, now called France, Italy, +England, and Russia, while the centre, forming a circle round Mount +Sinai, had been given to the Arabians. + +Alongside of this system of the square was another equally curious--that +of the egg. Its author was the famous Venerable Bede, one of the most +enlightened men of his time, who was educated at the University of +Armagh, which produced Alfred and Alcuin. He says: "The earth is an +element placed in the middle of the world, as the yolk is in the middle +of an egg; around it is the water, like the white surrounding the yolk; +outside that is the air, like the membrane of the egg; and round all is +the fire which closes it in as the shell does. The earth being thus in +the centre receives every weight upon itself, and though by its nature +it is cold and dry in its different parts, it acquires accidentally +different qualities; for the portion which is exposed to the torrid +action of the air is burnt by the sun, and is uninhabitable; its two +extremities are too cold to be inhabited, but the portion that lies in +the temperate region of the atmosphere is habitable. The ocean, which +surrounds it by its waves as far as the horizon, divides it into two +parts, the upper of which is inhabited by us, while the lower is +inhabited by our antipodes; although not one of them can come to us, nor +one of us to them." + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.--THE EARTH AS AN EGG.] + +This last sentence shows that however far he may have been from the +truth, he did not, like so many of his contemporaries, stumble over the +idea of up and down in the universe, and so consider the notion of +antipodes absurd. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43.--THE EARTH AS A FLOATING EGG.] + +A great number of the maps of the world of the period followed this +idea, and drew the world in the shape of an egg at rest. It was +broached, however, in another form by Edrisi, an Arabian geographer of +the eleventh century, who, with many others, considered the earth to be +like an egg with one half plunged into the water. The regularity of the +surface is only interrupted by valleys and mountains. He adopted the +system of the ancients, who supposed that the torrid zone was +uninhabited. According to him the known world only forms a single half +of the egg, the greater part of the water belonging to the surrounding +ocean, in the midst of which earth floats like an egg in a basin. +Several artists and map-makers adopted this theory in the geographical +representations, and so, whether in this way or the last, the egg has +had the privilege of representing the form of the earth for nearly a +thousand years. + +The celebrated Raban Maur, of Mayence, composed in the ninth century a +treatise, entitled _De Universo_, divided into twenty-two books. It is a +kind of encyclopaedia, in which he gives an abridged view of all the +sciences. According to his cosmographic system the earth is in the form +of a wheel, and is placed in the middle of the universe, being +surrounded by the ocean; on the north it is bounded by the Caucasus, +which he supposes to be mountains of gold, which no one can reach +because of dragons, and griffins, and men of monstrous shape that dwell +there. He also places Jerusalem in the centre of the earth. + +The treatise of Honorus, entitled _Imago Mundi_, and many other authors +of the same kind, represent, 1st, the terrestrial paradise in the most +easterly portion of the world, in a locality inaccessible to man; 2nd, +the four rivers which had their sources in Paradise; 3rd, the torrid +zone, uninhabited; 4th, fantastic islands, transformed from the Atlantis +into _Antillia_. + +[Illustration: FIG 44.--EIGHTH CENTURY MAP OF THE WORLD.] + +In a manuscript commentary on the Apocalypse, which is in the library of +Turin, is a very curious chart, referred to the tenth, but belonging +possibly to the eighth century. It represents the earth as a circular +planisphere. The four sides of the earth are each accompanied by a +figure of a wind, as a horse on a bellows, from which air is poured out, +as well as from a shell in his mouth. Above, or to the east, are Adam, +and Eve with the serpent. To their right is Asia with two very elevated +mountains--Cappadocia and Caucasus. From thence comes the river +_Eusis_, and the sea into which it falls forms an arm of the ocean which +surrounds the earth. This arm joins the Mediterranean, and separates +Europe from Asia. Towards the middle is Jerusalem, with two curious arms +of the sea running past it; while to the south there is a long and +straight sea in an east and west direction. The various islands of the +Mediterranean are put in a square patch, and Rome, France, and Germany +are indicated, while Thula, Britannia, and Scotia are marked as islands +in the north-west of the ocean that surrounds the whole world. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45.--TENTH CENTURY MAPS.] + +We figure below two very curious maps of the world of the tenth +century--one of which is round, the other square. The first is divided +into three triangles; that of the east, or Asia, is marked with the name +of _Shem_; that of the north, or Europe, with that of _Japhet_; that of +the south, or Africa, with that of _Cham_. The second is also divided +between the three sons of Noah; the ocean surrounds it, the +Mediterranean forms the upright portion of a cross of water which +divides the Adamic world. + +Omons, the author of a geographical poem entitled _The Image of the +World_, composed in 1265, who was called the Lucretius of the thirteenth +century, was not more advanced than the cosmographers of the former +centuries of which we have hitherto spoken. The cosmographical part of +his poem is borrowed from the system of Pythagoras and the Venerable +Bede. He maintains that the earth is enveloped in the heavens, as the +yoke in the white of an egg, and that it is in the middle as the centre +is within the circle, and he speaks like Pythagoras of the harmony of +the celestial spheres. + +Omons supposed also that in his time the terrestrial paradise was still +existing in the east, with its tree of life, its four rivers, and its +angel with a flaming sword. He appears to have confounded Hecla with the +purgatory of St. Patrick, and he places the latter in Iceland, saying +that it never ceases to burn. The volcanoes were only, according to him, +the breathing places or mouths of the infernal regions. The latter he +placed with other cosmographers in the centre of the earth. + +Another author, Nicephorus Blemmyde, a monk who lived during the same +century, composed three cosmographical works, among them the following: +_On the Heavens and the Earth, On the Sun and Moon, the Stars, and Times +and Days_. According to his system the earth is flat, and he adopts the +Homeric theory of the ocean surrounding the world, and that of the seven +climates. + +Nicolas of Oresmus, a celebrated cosmographer of the fourteenth century, +although his celebrity as a mathematician attracted the attention of +King John of France, who made him tutor to his son Charles V., was not +wiser than those we have enumerated above. He composed among other works +a _Treatise on the Sphere_. He rejected the theory of an antichthonal +continent as contrary to the faith. A map of the world, prepared by him +about the year 1377, represents the earth as round, with one hemisphere +only inhabited, the other, or lower one, being plunged in the water. He +seems to have been led by various borrowed ideas, as, for instance, +theological ones, such as the statement in the Psalms that God had +founded the earth upon the waters, and Grecian ones borrowed from the +school of Thales, and the theories of the Arabian geographers. In fact +we have seen that Edrisi thought that half of the earth was in the +water, and Aboulfeda thought the same. The earth was placed by Nicolas +in the centre of the universe, which he represented by painting the sky +blue, and dotting it over with stars in gold. + +Leonardo Dati, who composed a geographical poem entitled _Della Spera_, +during this century, advanced no further. A coloured planisphere showed +the earth in the centre of the universe surrounded by the ocean, then +the air, then the circles of the planets after the Ptolemaic system, and +in another representation of the same kind he figures the infernal +regions in the centre of the earth, and gives its diameter as seven +thousand miles. He proves himself not to have known one half of the +globe by his statement of the shape of the earth--that it is like a T +inside an O. This is a comparison given in many maps of the world in the +middle ages, the mean parallel being about the 36th degree of north +latitude, that is to say at the Straits of Gibraltar; the Mediterranean +is thus placed so as to divide the earth into two equal parts. + +John Beauvau, Bishop of Angiers under Louis XL, expresses his ideas as +follows:-- + +"The earth is situated and rests in the middle of the firmament, as the +centre or point is in the middle of a circle. Of the whole earth +mentioned above only one quarter is inhabited. The earth is divided into +four parts, as an apple is divided through the centre by cutting it +lengthways and across. If one part of such an apple is taken and peeled, +and the peel is spread out over anything flat, such as the palm of the +hand, then it resembles the habitable earth, one side of which is +called the east, and the other the west." + +The Arabians adopted not only the ideas of the ancients, but also the +fundamental notions of the cosmographical system of the Greeks. Some of +them, as _Bakouy_, regarded the earth as a flat surface, like a table, +others as a ball, of which one half is cut off, others as a complete +revolving ball, and others that it was hollow within. Others again went +as far as to say that there were several suns and moons for the several +parts of the earth. + +In a map, preserved in the library at Cambridge, by Henry, Canon of St. +Marie of Mayence, the form of the world is given after Herodotus. The +four cardinal points are indicated, and the orientation is that of +nearly all the cartographic monuments of the middle ages, namely, the +east at the top of the map. The four cardinal points are four angels, +one foot placed on the disc of the earth; the colours of their vestments +are symbolical. The angel placed at the Boreal extremity of the earth, +or to the north of the Scythians, points with his finger to people +enclosed in the ramparts of Gog and Magog, _gens immunda_ as the legend +says. In his left hand he holds a die to indicate, no doubt, that there +are shut up the Jews who cast lots for the clothes of Christ. His +vestments are green, his mantle and his wings are red. The angel placed +to the left of Paradise has a green mantle and wings, and red vestments. +In his left hand he holds a kind of palm, and by the right he seems to +mark the way to Paradise. The position of the other angels placed at the +west of the world is different. They seem occupied in stopping the +passage beyond the _Columns_ (that is, the entrance to the Atlantic +Ocean). All of them have golden aureolas. The surrounding ocean is +painted of a clear green. + +Another remarkable map of the world is that of Andrea Bianco. In it we +see Eden at the top, which represents the east, and the four rivers are +running out of it. Much of Europe is indicated, including Spain, Paris, +Sweden, Norway, Ireland, which are named, England, Iceland, Spitzbergen, +&c., which are not named. The portion round the North Pole to the left +is indicated as "cold beneath the Pole star." In these maps the +systematic theories of the ancient geographers seem mixed with the +doctrines of the Fathers of the Church. They place generally in the Red +Sea some mark denoting the passage of the Hebrews, the terrestrial +paradise at the extreme east, and Jerusalem in the centre. The towns are +figured often by edifices, as in the list of Theodosius, but without any +regard to their respective positions. Each town is ordinarily +represented by two towers, but the principal ones are distinguished by a +little wall that appears between these two towers, on which are painted +several windows, or else they may be known by the size of the edifices. +St. James of Compostella in Gallicia and Rome are represented by +edifices of considerable size, as are Nazareth, Troy, Antioch, Damascus, +Babylon, and Nineveh. + +[Illustration: FIG. 46.--THE MAP OF ANDREA BIANCO.] + +One of the most remarkable monuments of the geography of the last +centuries of the middle ages is the map in Hereford Cathedral, by +Richard of Haldingham, not only on account of its numerous legends, but +because of its large dimensions, being several square yards in area. + +On the upper part of this map is represented the Last Judgment; Jesus +Christ, with raised arms, holding in His hands a scroll with these +words, _Ecce testimonium meum_. At His side two angels carry in their +hands the instruments of His passion. On the right hand stands an angel +with a trumpet to his mouth, out of which come these words, _Levez si +vendres vous par_. An angel brings forward a bishop by the hand, behind +whom is a king, followed by other personages; the angel introduces them +by a door formed of two columns, which seems to serve as an entrance to +an edifice. + +The Virgin is kneeling at the feet, of her Son. Behind her is another +woman kneeling, who holds a crown, which she seems ready to place on the +head of the Mother of Christ, and by the side of the woman is a kneeling +angel, who appears to be supporting the maternal intercessor. The Virgin +uncovers her breast and pronounces the words of a scroll which is held +by an angel kneeling in front of her, _Vei i b' fiz mon piz de deuiz +lauele chare preistes--Eles mame lettes dont leit de Virgin qui +estes--Syes merci de tous si com nos mesmes deistes.--R ... em ... ont +servi kaut sauveresse me feistes_. + +To the left another angel, also with a trumpet to his mouth, gives out +the following words, which are written on a scroll, _Leves si alles all +fu de enfer estable_. A gate, drawn like that of the entrance, +represents probably the passage by which those must go out who are +condemned to eternal pains. In fact the devil is seen dragging after him +a crowd of men, who are tied by a cord which he holds in his hand. + +[Illustration: FIG. 47.--FROM THE MAP IN HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.] + +The map itself commences at its upper part, that is, the east, by the +terrestrial paradise. It is a circle, in the centre of which is +represented the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve are +there in company with the serpent that beguiled them. The four legendary +rivers come out of the base of the tree, and they are seen below +crossing the map. Outside Eden the flight of the first couple, and the +angel that drove them away, are represented. At this extreme eastern +portion is the region of giants with the heads of beasts. There, too, +is seen the first human habitation, or town, built by Enoch. Below +appears the Tower of Babel. Near this are two men seated on a hill close +to the river Jaxartes; one of them is eating a human leg and the other +an arm, which the legend explains thus:--"Here live the Essedons, whose +custom it is to sing at the funerals of their parents; they tear the +corpses with their teeth, and prepare their food with these fragments of +flesh, mixed with that of animals. In their opinion it is more +honourable to the dead to be enclosed in the bodies of their relations +than in those of worms." + +[Illustration: FIG. 48.--FROM THE MAP IN HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. + + Tower of Babel. + Essedons. + Dragons. + Pigmies. + The Monoceros. + The Mantichore. + A Sphinx. + The King of the Cyclops. + Blemmye. + Parasol lip. + Monocle.] + +Below are seen dragons and pigmies, always to the east of Asia, and a +little further away in the midst of a strange country, _the King of the +Cyclops_. + +This extraordinary geography shows us in India the "Mantichore, who has +a triple range of teeth, the face of a man, blue eyes, the red colour of +blood, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion; its voice is a +whistle." + +On the north of the Ganges is represented a man with one leg, shading +his head with his foot, which is explained by the following legend:--"In +India dwell the Monocles, who have only one leg, but who nevertheless +move with surprising velocity; when they wish to protect themselves from +the heat of the sun they make a shadow with the sole of their foot, +which is very large." + +The Blemmys have their mouth and eyes in their chest; others have their +mouths and eyes on their shoulders. The Parvini are Ethiopians that have +four eyes. + +To the east of Syene is a man seated who is covering his head with his +lip, "people who with their prominent lip shade their faces from the +sun." + +Above is drawn a little sun, with the word _sol_. Then comes an animal +of human form, having the feet of a horse and the head and beak of a +bird; he rests on a stick, and the legend tells us it is a satyr; the +fauns, half men and half horses; the cynocephales--men with the head of +a dog; and the cyanthropes--dogs with the heads of men. The sphinx has +the wings of a bird, the tail of a serpent, the head of a woman. It is +placed in the midst of the Cordilleras, which are joined to a great +chain of mountains. Here lastly is seen the _monoceros_, a terrible +animal; but here is the marvel: "When one shows to this _monoceros_ a +young girl, who, when the animal approaches, uncovers her breast, the +monster, forgetting his ferocity, lays his head there, and when he is +asleep may be taken defenceless." + +Near to the lake Meotides is a man clothed in Oriental style, with a hat +that terminates in a point, and holding by the bridle a horse whose +harness is a human skin, and which is explained thus by the Latin +legend: "Here live the griffins, very wicked men, for among other crimes +they proceed so far as to make clothes for themselves and their horses +out of the skins of their enemies." + +More to the south is a large bird, the ostrich; according to the legend, +"the ostrich has the head of a goose, the body of a crane, the feet of a +calf; it eats iron." + +Not far from the Riphean Mountains two men with long tunics and round +bonnets are represented in the attitude of fighting; one brandishes a +sword, the other a kind of club, and the legend tells us, "The customs +of the people of the interior of Scythia are somewhat wild; they inhabit +caves; they drink the blood of the slain by sucking their wounds; they +pride themselves on the number of people they have slain--not to have +slain any one in combat is reckoned disgraceful." + +Near the river that empties itself into the Caspian Sea it is written: +"This river comes from the infernal regions; it enters the sea after +having descended from mountains covered with wood, and it is there, they +say, that the mouth of hell opens." + +To the south of this river, and to the north of Hyrcania, is represented +a monster having the body of a man, the head, tail, and feet of a bull: +this is the Minotaur. Further on are the mountains of Armenia, and the +ark of Noah on one of its plateaux. Here, too, is seen a large tiger, +and we read: "The tiger, when he sees that he has been deprived of his +young, pursues the ravisher precipitately; but the latter, hastening +away on his swift horse, throws a mirror to him and is safe." + +Elsewhere appears Lot's wife changed into a pillar of salt; the lynx who +can see through a stone wall; the river Lethe; so called because all who +drink of it forget everything. + +Numerous other details might be mentioned, but enough has been said to +show the curious nature and exceeding interest of this map, in which +matters of observation and imagination are strangely mixed. Another very +curious geographical document of that epoch is the map of the world of +the _Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis_. This belongs to the fourteenth +century. The capitals here too are represented by edifices. The +Mediterranean is a vertical canal, which goes from the Columns of +Hercules to Jerusalem. The Caspian Sea communicates with it to the +north, and the Red Sea to the south-east, by the Nile. It preserves the +same position for Paradise and for the land of Gog and Magog that we +have seen before. The geography of Europe is very defective. Britannia +and Anglia figure as two separate islands, being represented off the +west coast of Spain, with Allemania and Germania, also two distinct +countries, to the north. The ocean is represented as round the whole, +and the various points of the compass are represented by different kinds +of winds on the outside. + +[Illustration: FIG. 49.--COSMOGRAPHY OF ST. DENIS.] + +This was the general style of the maps of the world at that period, as +we may perceive from the various illustrations we have been able to +give, and it curiously initiates us into the mediaeval ideas. Sometimes +they are surrounded by laughable figures of the winds with inflated +cheeks, sometimes there are drawn light children of Eolus seated on +leathern bottles, rotating the liquid within; at other times, saints, +angels, Adam and Eve, or other people, adorn the circumference of the +map. Within are shown a profusion of animals, trees, populations, +monuments, tents, draperies, and monarchs seated on their thrones--an +idea which was useful, no doubt, and which gave the reader some +knowledge of the local riches, the ethnography, the local forms of +government and of architecture in the various countries represented; but +the drawings were for the most part childish, and more fantastic than +real. The language, too, in which they were written was as mixed as the +drawings; no regularity was preserved in the orthography of a name, +which on the same map may be written in ten different ways, being +expressed in barbarous Latin, Roman, or Old French, Catalan, Italian, +Castilian, or Portuguese! + +During the same epoch other forms of maps in less detail and of smaller +size show the characters that we have seen in the maps of earlier +centuries. + +Marco Polo, the traveller, at the end of the fourteenth century, has +preserved in his writings all the ancient traditions, and united them in +a singular manner with the results of his own observations. He had not +seen Paradise, but he had seen the ark of Noah resting on the top of +Ararat. His map of the world, preserved in the library at Stockholm, is +oval, and represents two continents. + +In that which we inhabit, the only seas indicated are the Mediterranean +and the Black Sea. Asia appears at the east, Europe to the north, and +Africa to the south. The other continent to the south of the equator, +which is not marked, is Antichthonia. + +In a map of the world engraved on a medal of the fifteenth century +during the reign of Charles V. there is still a reminiscence of the +ideas of the concealed earth and Meropides, as described by Theopompus. +We see the winds as cherubim; Europe more accurately represented than +usual; but Africa still unknown, and a second continent, called Brumae, +instead of Antichthonia, with imaginary details upon it. + +[Illustration: FIG. 50--THE MAP OF MARCO POLO.] + +If such were the ideas entertained amongst the most enlightened nations, +what may we expect among those who were less advanced? It would take us +too long to describe all that more Eastern nations have done upon this +point since the commencement of our present era, but we may give an +example or two from the Arabians. + +[Illustration: FIG. 51.--MAP ON A MEDAL OF CHARLES V.] + +In the ancient Arabian chronicle of Tabari is a system founded on the +earth being the solid foundation of all things; we read: "The prophet +says, the all-powerful and inimitable Deity has created the mountain of +Kaf round about the earth; it has been called the foundation pile of the +earth, as it is said in the Koran, 'The mountains are the piles.' This +world is in the midst of the mountain of Kaf, just as the finger is in +the midst of the ring. This mountain is emerald, and blue in colour; no +man can go to it, because he would have to pass four months in darkness +to do so. There is in that mountain neither sun, nor moon, nor stars; +it is so blue that the azure colour you see in the heavens comes from +the brilliancy of the mountain of Kaf, which is reflected in the sky. If +this were not so the sky would not be blue. All the mountains that you +see are supported by Kaf; if it did not exist, all the earth would be in +a continual tremble, and not a creature could live upon its surface. The +heavens rest upon it like a tent." + +Another Arabian author, Benakaty, writing in 1317, says: "Know that the +earth has the form of a globe suspended in the centre of the heavens. It +is divided by the two great circles of the meridian and equator, which +cut each other at light angles, into four equal parts, namely, those of +the north-west, north-east, south-west, and south-east. The inhabited +portion of the earth is situated in the southern hemisphere, of which +one half is inhabited." + +Ibn-Wardy, who lived in the same century, adopted the idea of the ocean +surrounding all the earth, and said we knew neither its depth nor its +extent. + +This ocean was also acknowledged by the author of the Kaf mountain; he +says it lies between the earth and that mountain, and calls it +Bahr-al-Mohith. + +The end of the fifteenth century saw the dawn of a new era in knowledge +and science. The discoveries of Columbus changed entirely the aspect of +matters, the imagination was excited to fresh enterprises, and the +hardihood of the adventurers through good or bad success was such as +want of liberty could not destroy. + +Nevertheless, as we have seen, Columbus imagined the earth to have the +shape of a pear. Not that he obtained this idea from his own +observations, but rather retained it as a relic of past traditions. It +is probable that it really dates from the seventh century. We may read +in several cosmographical manuscripts of that epoch, that the earth has +the form of a cone or a top, its surface rising from south to north. +These ideas were considerably spread by the compilations of John of +Beauvais in 1479, from whom probably Columbus derived his notion. + +Although Columbus is generally and rightly known as the discoverer of +the New World, a very curious suit was brought by Pinzon against his +heirs in 1514. Pinzon pretended that the discovery was due to him alone, +as Columbus had only followed his advice in making it. Pinzon told the +admiral himself that the required route was intimated by an inspiration, +or revelation. The truth was that this "revelation" was due to a flock +of parrots, flying in the evening towards the south-west, which Pinzon +concluded must be going in the direction of an invisible coast to pass +the night in the bushes. Certainly the consequences of Columbus +resisting the advice of Pinzon would have been most remarkable; for had +he continued to sail due west he would have been caught by the Gulf +Stream and carried to Florida, or possibly to Virginia, and in this +case the United States would have received a Spanish and Catholic +population, instead of an English and Protestant one. + +The discoveries of those days were often commemorated by the formation +of heraldic devices for the authors of them, and we have in this way +some curious coats of arms on record. That, for instance, of Sebastian +Cano was a globe, with the legend, _Primus circumdedisti me_. The arms +given to Columbus in 1493 consisted of the first map of America, with a +range of islands in a gulf. Charles V. gave to Diego of Ordaz the figure +of the Peak of Orizaba as his arms, to commemorate his having ascended +it; and to the historian Oviedo, who passed thirty-four years without +interruption (1513-47) in tropical America, the four beautiful stars of +the Southern Cross. + +We have arrived at the close of our history of the attempts that +preceded the actual discovery of the form and constitution of the globe; +since these were established our further progress has been in matters of +detail. There now remains briefly to notice the attempts at discovering +the size of the earth on the supposition, and afterwards certainty, of +its being a globe. + +The earliest attempt at this was made by Eratosthenes, 246 years before +our era, and it was founded on the following reasoning. The sun +illuminates the bottom of pits at Syene at the summer solstice; on the +same day, instead of being vertical over the heads of the inhabitants +of Alexandria, it is 7-1/4 degrees from the zenith. Seven-and-a-quarter +degrees is the fiftieth part of an entire circumference; and the +distance between the two towns is five thousand stadia; hence the +circumference of the earth is fifty times this distance, or 250 thousand +stadia. + +A century before our era Posidonius arrived at an analogous result by +remarking that the star Canopus touched the horizon at Rhodes when it +was 7 degrees 12 minutes above that of Alexandria. + +These measurements, which, though rough, were ingenious, were, followed +in the eighth century by similar ones by the Arabian Caliph, Almamoun, +who did not greatly modify them. + +The first men who actually went round the world were the crew of the +ship under Magellan, who started to the west in 1520; he was slain by +the Philippine islanders in 1521, but his ship, under his lieutenant, +Sebastian Cano, returned by the east in 1522. The first attempt at the +actual measurement of a part of the earth's surface along the meridian +was made by Fernel in 1528. His process was a singular, but simple one, +namely, by counting the number of the turns made by the wheels of his +carriage between Paris and Amiens. He made the number 57,020, and +accurate measurements of the distance many years after showed he had not +made an error of more than four turns. + +The astronomer Picard attempted it again under Louis XIV. by +triangulation. + +The French astronomers have always been forward in this inquiry, and to +them we owe the systematic attempts to arrive at a truer knowledge of +the length of an arc of the meridian which were made in 1735-45 in +Lapland and in Peru; and later under Mechain and Delambre, by order of +the National Assembly, for the basis of the metrical system. + +Observations of this kind have also been made by the English, as at +Lough Foyle in Ireland, and in India. + +The review which has here been made of the various ideas on what now +seems so simple a matter cannot but impress us with the vast contrast +there is between the wild attempts of the earlier philosophers and our +modern affirmations. What progress has been made in the last two +thousand years! And all of this is due to hard work. The true revelation +of nature is that which we form ourselves, by our persevering efforts. +We now know that the earth is approximately spherical, but flattened by +about 1/300 at the poles, is three-quarters covered with water, and +enveloped everywhere by a light atmospheric mantle. The distance from +the centre of the earth to its surface is 3,956 miles, its area is 197 +million square miles, its volume is 256,000 millions of cubic miles, its +weight is six thousand trillion tons. So, thanks to the bold +measurements of its inhabitants, we know as much about it as we are +likely to know for a long time to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +LEGENDARY WORLDS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. + + +The legends that were for so many ages prevalent in Europe had their +foundation in the attempt to make the accounts of Scripture and the +ideas and dogmas of the Fathers of the Church fit into the few and +insignificant facts that were known with respect to the earth, and the +system of which it forms a part, and the far more numerous imaginations +that were entertained about it. + +We are therefore led on to examine some of these legends, that we may +appreciate how far a knowledge of astronomy will effect the eradication +of errors and fantasies which, under the aspect of truth, have so long +enslaved the people. No doubt the authors of the legendary stories knew +well enough their allegorical nature; but those who received them +supposed that they gave true indications of the nature of the earth and +world, and therefore accepted them as facts. + +Some indeed considered that the whole physical constitution of the world +was a scaffold or a model, and that there was a real theological +universe hidden beneath this semblance. No one omitted from his system +the spiritual heaven in which the angels and just men might spend their +existence; but in addition to this there were places whose reality was +believed in, but whose locality is more difficult to settle, and which +therefore were moved from one place to another by various writers, viz., +the infernal regions, purgatory, and the terrestrial paradise. + +We will here recount some of those legends, which wielded sufficient +sway over men's minds as to gain their belief in the veritable existence +of the places described, and in this way to influence their astronomical +and cosmographical ideas. + +And for the first we will descend to the infernal regions with Plutarch +and Thespesius. + +This Thespesius relates his adventures in the other world. Having fallen +head-first from an elevated place, he found himself unwounded, but was +contused in such a way as to be insensible. He was supposed to be dead, +but, after three days, as they were about to bury him, he came to life +again. In a few days he recovered his former powers of mind and body; +but made a marvellous change for the better in his life. + +He said that at the moment that he lost consciousness he found himself +like a sailor at the bottom of the sea; but afterwards, having recovered +himself a little, he was able to breathe perfectly, and seeing only with +the eyes of his soul, he looked round on all that was about him. He saw +no longer the accustomed sights, but stars of prodigious magnitude, +separated from each other by immense distances. They were of dazzling +brightness and splendid colour. His soul, carried like a vessel on the +luminous ocean, sailed along freely and smoothly, and moved everywhere +with rapidity. Passing over in silence a large number of the sights that +met his eye, he stated that the souls of the dead, taking the form of +bubbles of fire, rise through the air, which opens a passage above them; +at last the bubbles, breaking without noise, let out the souls in a +human form and of a smaller size, and moving in different ways. Some, +rising with astonishing lightness, mounted in a straight line; others, +running round like a whipping-top, went up and down by turns with a +confused and irregular motion, making small advance by long and painful +efforts. Among this number he saw one of his parents, whom he recognised +with difficulty, as she had died in his infancy; but she approached him, +and said, "Good day, Thespesius." Surprised to hear himself called by +this name, he told her that he was called Arideus, and not Thespesius. +"That was once your name," she replied, "but in future you will bear +that of Thespesius, for you are not dead, only the intelligent part of +your soul has come here by the particular will of the gods; your other +faculties are still united to your body, which keeps them like an +anchor. The proof I will give you is that the souls of the dead do not +cast any shadow, and they cannot move their eyes." + +Further on, in traversing a luminous region, he heard, as he was +passing, the shrill voice of a female speaking in verse, who presided +over the time Thespesius should die. His genius told him that it was the +voice of the Sibyl, who, turning on the orbit of the moon, foretold the +future. Thespesius would willingly have heard more, but, driven off by a +rapid whirlwind, he could make out but little of her predictions. In +another place he remarked several parallel lakes, one filled with melted +and boiling gold, another with lead colder than ice, and a third with +very rough iron. They were kept by genii, who, armed with tongs like +those used in forges, plunged into these lakes, and then withdrew by +turns, the souls of those whom avarice or an insatiable cupidity had led +into crime; after they had been plunged into the lake of gold, where the +fire made them red and transparent, they were thrown into the lake of +lead. Then, frozen by the cold, and made as hard as hail, they were put +into the lake of iron, where they became horribly black. Broken and +bruised on account of their hardness, they changed their form, and +passed once more into the lake of gold, and suffered in these changes +inexpressible pain. + +In another place he saw the souls of those who had to return to life and +be violently forced to take the form of all sorts of animals. Among the +number he saw the soul of Nero, which had already suffered many +torments, and was bound with red-hot chains of iron. The workmen were +seizing him to give him the form of a viper, under which he was destined +to live, after having devoured the womb that bore him. + +The locality of these infernal regions was never exactly determined. The +ancients were divided upon the point. In the poems of Homer the infernal +regions appear under two different forms: thus, in the _Iliad_, it is a +vast subterranean cavity; while in the _Odyssey_, it is a distant and +mysterious country at the extremity of the earth, beyond the ocean, in +the neighbourhood of the Cimmerians. + +The description which Homer gives of the infernal region proves that in +his time the Greeks imagined it to be a copy of the terrestrial world, +but one which had a special character. According to the philosophers it +was equally remote from all parts of the earth. Thus Cicero, in order to +show that it was of no consequence where one died, said, wherever we die +there is just as long a journey to be made to reach the "infernal +regions." + +The poets fixed upon certain localities as the entrance to this dismal +empire: such was the river Lethe, on the borders of the Scythians; the +cavern Acherusia in Epirus, the mouth of Pluto, in Laodicoea, the cave +of Zenarus near Lacedaemon. + +In the map of the world in the _Polychronicon_ of Ranulphus Uygden, now +in the British Museum, it is stated: "The Island of Sicily was once a +part of Italy. There is Mount Etna, containing the infernal regions and +purgatory, and it has Scylla and Charybdis, two whirlpools." + +Ulysses was said to reach the place of the dead by crossing the ocean to +the Cimmerian land, AEneas to have entered it by the Lake of Avernus. +Xenophon says that Hercules went there by the peninsula of Arechusiade. + +Much of this, no doubt, depends on the exaggeration and +misinterpretation of the accounts of voyagers; as when the Phoenicians +related that, after passing the Columns of Hercules, to seek tin in +Thule and amber in the Baltic, they came, at the extremity of the world, +to the Fortunate Isles, the abode of eternal spring, and further on to +the Hyperborean regions, where a perpetual night enveloped the +country--the imagination of the people developed from this the Elysian +fields, as the places of delight in the lower regions, having their own +sun, moon, and stars, and Tartarus, a place of shades and desolation. + +In every case, however, both among pagans and Christians, the locality +was somewhere in the centre of the earth. The poets and philosophers of +Greece and Rome made very detailed and circumstantial maps of the +subterranean regions. They enumerated its rivers, its lakes, and woods, +and mountains, and the places where the Furies perpetually tormented the +wicked souls who were condemned to eternal punishment. These ideas +passed naturally into the creeds of Christians through the sect of the +Essenes, of whom Josephus writes as follows:--"They thought that the +souls of the just go beyond the ocean to a place of repose and delight, +where they were troubled by no inconvenience, no change of seasons. +Those of the wicked, on the contrary, were relegated to places exposed +to all the inclemencies of the weather, and suffered eternal torments. +The Essenes," adds the same author, "have similar ideas about these +torments to those of the Greeks about Tartarus and the kingdom of Pluto. +The greater part of the Gnostic sects, on the contrary, considered the +lower regions as simply a place of purgatory, where the soul is purified +by fire." + +Amongst all the writings of Christian ages in which matters such as we +are now passing in review are described, there is one that stands out +beyond all others as a masterpiece, and that is the magnificent poem of +Dante, his _Divine Comedy_, wherein he described the infernal regions as +they presented themselves to his lively and fertile imagination. We have +in it a picture of mediaeval ideas, painted for us in indelible lines, +before the remembrance of them was lost in the past. The poem is at once +a tomb and a cradle--the tomb of a world that was passing, the cradle of +the world that was to come: a portico between two temples, that of the +past and that of the future. In it are deposited the traditions, the +ideas, the sciences of the past, as the Egyptians deposited their kings +and symbolic gods in the sepulchres of Thebes and Memphis. The future +brings into it its aspirations and its germs enveloped in the swaddling +clothes of a rising language and a splendid poetry--a mysterious infant +that is nourished by the two teats of sacred tradition and profane +fiction, Moses and St. Paul, Homer and Virgil. + +The theology of Dante, strictly orthodox, was that of St. Thomas and the +other doctors of the Church. Natural philosophy, properly so called, was +not yet in existence. In astronomy, Ptolemy reigned supreme, and in the +explanation of celestial phenomena no one dreamt or dared to dream of +departing in any way from the traditionally sacred system. + +In those days astronomy was indissolubly linked with a complete series +of philosophical and theological ideas, and included the physics of the +world, the science of life in every being, of their organisation, and +the causes on which depended the aptitudes, inclinations, and even in +part the actions, of men, the destinies of individuals, and the events +of history. In this theological, astronomical, and terrestrial universe +everything emanated from God; He had created everything, and the +creation embraced two orders of beings, the immaterial and the +corporeal. + +The pure spirits composed the nine choirs of the celestial hierarchy. +Like so many circles, they were ranged round a fixed point, the Eternal +Being, in an order determined by their relative perfection. First the +seraphim, then the cherubim, and afterwards the simple angels. Those of +the first circle received immediately from the central point the light +and the virtue which they communicated to those of the second; and so +on from circle to circle, like mirrors which reflect, with an +ever-lessening light, the brilliancy of a single luminous point. The +nine choirs, supported by Love, turned without ceasing round their +centre in larger and larger circles according to their distance; and it +was by their means that the motion and the divine inflatus was +communicated to the material creation. + +This latter had in the upper part of it the empyreal, or heaven of pure +light. Below that, was the _Primum mobile_, the greatest body in the +heavens, as Dante calls it, because it surrounds all the rest of the +circle, and bounds the material world. Then came the heaven of the fixed +stars; then, continuing to descend, the heavens of Saturn, Jupiter, +Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury, the moon, and lastly, the earth, whose +solid and compact nucleus is surrounded by the spheres of water, air, +and fire. + +As the choirs of angels turn about a fixed point, so the nine material +circles turn also about another fixed point, and are moved by the pure +spirits. + +Let us now descend to the geography of the interior of the earth. Within +the earth is a large cone, whose layers are the frightful abodes of the +condemned, and which ends in the centre, where the divine Justice keeps +bound up to his chest in ice the prince of the rebellious angels, the +emperor of the kingdom of woe. Such are the infernal regions which +Dante describes according to ideas generally admitted in the middle +ages. + +The form of the infernal regions was that of a funnel or reversed cone. +All its circles were concentric, and continually diminished; the +principal ones were nine in number. Virgil also admitted nine +divisions--three times three, a number sacred _par excellence_. The +seventh, eighth, and ninth circles were divided into several regions; +and the space between the entrance to the infernal regions and the river +Acheron, where the resting-place of the damned really commenced, was +divided into two parts. Dante, guided by Virgil, traversed all these +circles. + +It was in 1300 that the poet, "in the midst of the course of life," at +the age of thirty-five, passed in spirit through the three regions of +the dead. Lost in a lonely, wild, and dismal forest, he reached the base +of a hill, which he attempted to climb. But three animals, a panther, a +lion, and a thin and famished wolf, prevented his passage; so, returning +again where the sun was powerless, into the shades of the depths of the +valley, there met him a shadow of the dead. This human form, whom a long +silence had deprived of speech, was Virgil, who was sent to guide and +succour him by a celestial dame, Beatrice, the object of his love, who +was at the same time a real and a mystically ideal being. + +Virgil and Dante arrived at the gate of the infernal regions; they read +the terrible inscription placed over the gate; they entered and found +first those unhappy souls who had lived without virtue and without vice. +They reached the banks of Acheron and saw Charon, who carried over the +souls in his bark to the other side; and Dante was surprised by a +profound sleep. He woke beyond the river, and he descended into the +Limbo which is the first circle of the infernal regions. He found there +the souls of those who had died without baptism, or who had been +indifferent to religion. + +They descended next to the second circle, where Minos, the judge of +those below, is enthroned. Here the luxurious are punished. The poet +here met with Francesca of Rimini and Paul, her friend. He completely +recovered the use of his senses, and passed through the third circle, +where the gourmands are punished. In the fourth he found Plutus, who +guards it. Here are tormented the prodigal and the avaricious. In the +fifth are punished those who yield to anger. Dante and Virgil there saw +a bark approaching, conducted by Phlegias; they entered it, crossed a +river, and arrived thus at the base of the red-hot iron walls of the +infernal town of Dite. The demons that guarded the gates refused them +admittance, but an angel opened them, and the two travellers there saw +the heretics that were enclosed in tombs surrounded by flames. + +The travellers then visited the circles of violence, fraud, and usury, +when they came to a river of blood guarded by a troop of centaurs; +suddenly they saw coming to them Geryon, who represents fraud, and +this beast took them behind him to carry them across the rest of the +infernal space. + +[Illustration: FIG. 52.--DANTE'S INFERNAL REGIONS.] + +The eighth circle was divided into ten valleys, comprising: the +flatterers; the simoniacal; the astrologers; the sorcerers; the false +judges; the hypocrites who walked about clothed with heavy leaden +garments; the thieves, eternally stung by venomous serpents; the +heresiarchs; the charlatans, and the forgers. + +At last the poets descended into the ninth circle, divided into four +regions, where are punished four kinds of traitors. Here is recounted +the admirable episode of Count Ugolin. In the last region, called the +region of Judas, LUCIFER is enchained. There is the centre of the earth, +and Dante, hearing the noise of a little brook, reascended to the other +hemisphere, on the surface of which he found, surrounded by the Southern +Ocean, the mountain of Purgatory. + +Such was the famous _Inferno_ of Dante. + +Not only was the geography of the infernal regions attempted in the +middle ages, but even their size. Dexelius calculated that the number of +the damned was a hundred millions, and that their abode need not measure +more than one German mile in every direction. Cyrano of Bergerac +amusingly said that it was the damned that kept turning the earth, by +hanging on the ceiling like bats, and trying to get away. + +In 1757 an English clergyman, Dr. Swinden, published a book entitled, +_Researches on the Nature of the Fire of Hell and the Place where it is +situated_. He places it in the sun. According to him the Christians of +the first century had placed it beneath the earth on account of a false +interpretation of the descent of Jesus into hell after his crucifixion, +and by false ideas of cosmography. He attempted to show, 1st, that the +terrestrial globe is too small to contain even the angels that fell from +heaven after their battle; 2nd, that the fire of hell is real, and that +the closed globe of earth could not support it a sufficiently long +period; 3rd, that the sun alone presents itself as the necessary place, +being a well-sustained fire, and directly opposite in situation to +heaven, since the empyreal is round the outside of the universe, and the +sun in the centre. What a change to the present ideas, even of doctors +of divinity, in a hundred years! + +So far, then, for mediaeval ideas on the position and character of hell. +Next as to purgatory. + +The voyage to purgatory that has met with most success is certainly the +celebrated Irish legend of St. Patrick, which for several centuries was +admitted as authentic, and the account of which was composed certainly a +century before the poem of Dante. + +This purgatory, the entrance to which is drawn in more than one +illuminated manuscript, is situated in Ireland, on one of the islands +of Lough Derg, County Donegal, where there are still two chapels and a +shrine, at which annual ceremonies are performed. A knight, called Owen, +resolved to visit it for penance; and the chronicle gives us an account +of his adventures. + +First he had his obsequial rites performed, as if he had been dead, and +then he advanced boldly into the deep ravine; he marched on +courageously, and entered into the semi-shadows; he marched on, and even +this funereal twilight abandoned him, and "when he had gone for a long +time in this obscurity, there appeared to him a little light as it were +from a glimmer of day." He arrived at a house, built with much care, an +imposing mansion of grief and hope, a marvellous edifice, but similar +nevertheless to a monkish cloister, where there was no more light than +there is in this world in winter at vesper-time. + +The knight was in dreadful suspense. Suddenly he heard a terrible noise, +as if the universe was in a riot; for it seemed certainly to him as if +every kind of beast and every man in the world were together, and each +gave utterance to their own cry, at one time and with one voice, so that +they could not make a more frightful noise. + +Then commenced his trials, and discourse with the infernal beings; the +demons yelled with delight or with fury round him. "Miserable wretch," +said some, "you are come here to suffer." "Fly," said others, "for you +have not behaved well in the time that is passed: if you will take our +advice, and will go back again to the world, we will take it as a great +favour and courtesy." + +[Illustration: PLATE XII.--THE LEGEND OF OWEN.] + +Owen was thrown on the dark shadowy earth, where the demons creep like +hideous serpents. A mysterious wind, which he scarcely heard, passed +over the mud, and it seemed to the knight as if he had been pierced by a +spear-head. After a while the demons lifted him up; they took him +straight off to the east, where the sun rises, as if they were going to +the place where the universe ends. "Now, after they had journeyed for a +long time here and there over divers countries, they brought him to an +open field, very long and very full of griefs and chastisements; he +could not see the end of the field, it was so long; there were men and +women of various ages, who lay down all naked on the ground with their +bellies downwards, who had hot nails driven into their hands and feet; +and there was a fiery dragon, who sat upon them and drove his teeth into +their flesh, and seemed as if he would eat them; hence they suffered +great agony, and bit the earth in spite of its hardness, and from time +to time they cried most piteously 'Mercy, mercy;' but there was no one +there who had pity or mercy, for the devils ran among them and over +them, and beat them most cruelly." + +The devils brought the knight towards a house of punishment, so broad +and long that one could not see the end. This house is the house of +baths, like those of the infernal regions, and the souls that are bathed +in ignominy are there heaped in large vats. "Now so it was, that each of +these vats was filled with some kind of metal, hot and boiling, and +there they plunged and bathed many people of various ages, some of whom +were plunged in over their heads, others up to the eyebrows, others up +to the eyes, and others up to the mouth. Now all in truth of these +people cried out with a loud voice and wept most piteously." + +Scarcely had the knight passed this terrible place, and left behind in +his mysterious voyage that column of fire which rose like a lighthouse +in the shades, and which shone so sadly betwixt hope and eternal +despair, than a vast and magnificent spectacle displayed itself in the +subterranean space. + +This luminous and odorescent region, where one might see so many +archbishops, bishops, and monks of every order, was the terrestrial +paradise; man does not stay there always; they told the knight that he +could not taste too long its rapid delights; it is a place of transition +between purgatory and the abodes of heaven, just as the dark places +which he had traversed were made by the Creator between the world and +the infernal regions. + +"In spite of our joys," said the souls, "we shall pass away from here." +Then they took him to a mountain, and told him to look, and asked of him +what colour the heavens seemed to be there where he was standing, and +he replied it was the colour of burning gold, such as is in the furnace; +and then they said to him, "That which you see is the entrance to heaven +and the gate of paradise." + +The attempts at identification of hell and purgatory have not been so +numerous, perhaps because the subjects were not very attractive, except +as the spite of men might think of them in reference to other people; +but when we come to the terrestrial paradise, quite a crowd of attempts +by every kind of writer to fix its position in any and every part of the +globe is met with on every side. + +In the seventeenth century, under Louis XIV., Daniel Huet, Bishop of +Avranches, gave great attention to the question, and collected every +opinion that had been expressed upon it, with a view to arriving at some +definite conclusion for himself. He was astonished at the number of +writings and the diversity of the opinions they expressed. + +"Nothing," he says, "could show me better how little is really known +about the situation of the terrestrial paradise than the differences in +the opinions of those who have occupied themselves about the question. +Some have placed it in the third heaven, some in the fourth, in the +heaven of the moon, in the moon itself, on a mountain near the lunar +heaven, in the middle region of the air, out of the earth, upon the +earth, beneath the earth, in a place that is hidden and separated from +man. It has been placed under the North Pole, in Tartary, or in the +place now occupied by the Caspian Sea. Others placed it in the extreme +south, in the land of fire. Others in the Levant, or on the borders of +the Ganges, or in the Island of Ceylon, making the name India to be +derived from Eden, the land where the paradise was situated. It has been +placed in China, or in an inaccessible place beyond the Black Sea; by +others in America, in Africa, beneath the equator, in the East, &c. &c." + +Notwithstanding this formidable array, the good bishop was bold enough +to make his choice between them all. His opinion was that the +dwelling-place of the first man was situated between the Tigris and +Euphrates, above the place where they separate before falling into the +Persian Gulf; and, founding this opinion on very extensive reading, he +declared that of all his predecessors, Calvin had come nearest to the +truth. + +Among the other authors of greater or less celebrity that have occupied +themselves in this question, we may instance the following:-- + +Raban Maur (ninth century) believed that the terrestrial paradise was at +the eastern extremity of the earth. He described the tree of life, and +added that there was neither heat nor cold in that garden; that immense +rivers of water nourished all the forest; and that the paradise was +surrounded by a wall of fire, and its four rivers watered the earth. + +James of Vitry supposed Pison to come out of the terrestrial paradise. +He describes also the garden of Eden; and, like all the cosmographers of +the middle ages, he placed it in the most easterly portion of the world +in an inaccessible place, and surrounded by a wall of fire, which rose +up to heaven. + +Dati placed also the terrestrial paradise in Asia, like the +cosmographers that preceded him, and made the Nile come from the east. +Stenchus, the librarian of St. Siege, who lived in the sixteenth +century, devoted several years to the problem, but discovered nothing. +The celebrated orientalist and missionary Bochart wrote a treatise on +this subject in 1650. Thevenot published also in the seventeenth century +a map representing the country of the Lybians, and adds that "several +great doctors place the terrestrial paradise there." + +An Armenian writer who translated and borrowed from St. Epiphanius +(eighth century) produced a _Memorial on the Four Rivers of the +Terrestrial Paradise_. He supposes they rise in the unknown land of the +Amazons, whence also arise the Danube and the Hellespont, and they +deliver their waters into that great sea that is the source of all seas, +and which surrounds the four quarters of the globe. He afterwards says, +following up the same theory, that the rivers of paradise surround the +world and enter again into the sea, which is the universal ocean." + +Gervais and Robert of St. Marien d'Auxerre taught that the terrestrial +paradise was on the eastern border of the _square_ which formed the +world. Alain de Lille, who lived in the thirteenth century, maintained +in his _Anticlaudianus_ that the earth is circular, and the garden of +Eden is in the east of Asia. Joinville, the friend of St. Louis, gives +us a curious notion of his geographical ideas, since, with regard to +paradise, he assures us that the four great rivers of the south come out +of it, as do the spices. "Here," he says, referring to the Nile, "it is +advisable to speak of the river which passes by the countries of Egypt, +and comes from the terrestrial paradise. Where this river enters Egypt +there are people very expert and experienced, as thieves are here, at +stealing from the river, who in the evening throw their nets on the +streams and rivers, and in the morning they often find and carry off the +spices which are sold here in Europe as coming from Egypt at a good +rate, and by weight, such as cinnamon, ginger, rhubarb, cloves, lignum, +aloes, and several other good things, and they say that these good +things come _from the terrestrial paradise_, and that the wind blows +them off the trees that are growing there." And he says that near the +end of the world are the peoples of Gog and Magog, who will come at the +end of the world with Antichrist. + +We find, however, more than descriptions--we have representations of +the terrestrial paradise by cartographers of the middle ages, some of +which we have seen in speaking of their general ideas of geography, and +we will now introduce others. + +[Illustration: FIG. 53.--PARADISE OF FRA MAURO.] + +Fra Mauro, a religious cosmographer of the fifteenth century, gives on +the east side of a map of the world a representation which shows us that +at that epoch the "garden of delights" had become very barren. It is a +vast plain, on which we see Jehovah and the first human couple, with a +circular rampart surrounding it. The four rivers flow out of it by +bifurcating. An angel protects the principal gate, which cannot be +reached but by crossing barren mountains. + +The cosmographical map of Gervais, dedicated to the Emperor Otho IV., +shows the terrestrial paradise in the centre of the earth, which is +square, and is situated in the midst of the seas. Adam and Eve appear in +consultation. + +The map of the world prepared by Andreas Bianco, in the fifteenth +century, represents Eden, Adam and Eve, and the tree of life. On the +left, on a peninsula, are seen the reprobated people of Gog and Magog, +who are to accompany Antichrist. Alexander is also represented there, +but without apparent reason. The paradisaical peninsula has a building +on it with this inscription, "Ospitius Macarii." + +Formalconi says, on this subject, that a certain Macarius lives near +paradise, who is a witness to all that the author states, and as Bianco +has indicated, his cell was close to the gates of paradise. + +This legend has reference to the pilgrims of St. Macarius, a tradition +that was spread on the return of the Crusaders, of three monks who +undertook a voyage to discover the point where the earth and heaven +meet, that is to say, the place of the terrestrial paradise. The map of +Rudimentum, a vast compilation published at Luebeck in 1475 by the +Dominican Brocard, represents the terrestrial paradise surrounded by +walls, but it is less sterile that in the last picture, as may be seen +on the next page. + +In the year 1503, when Varthema, the adventurous Bolognian, went to the +Indies by the route of Palestine and Syria, he was shown the +evil-reputed house which Cain dwelt in, which was not far from the +terrestrial paradise. Master Gilius, the learned naturalist who +travelled at the expense of Francis I., had the same satisfaction. The +simple faith of our ancestors had no hesitation in accepting such +archaeology. + +[Illustration: FIG. 54.--THE PARADISE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.] + +The most curious and interesting of all attempts to discover the +situation of paradise was that made half unconsciously by Columbus when +he first found the American shore. + +In his third voyage, when for the first time he reached the main land, +he was persuaded not only that he had arrived at the extremity of Asia, +but that he could not be far from the position of paradise. The Orinoco +seemed to be one of those four great rivers which, according to +tradition, came out of the garden inhabited by our first parents, and +his hopes were supported by the fragrant breezes that blew from the +beautiful forests on its banks. This, he thought, was but the entrance +to the celestial dwelling-place, and if he had dared--if a religious +fear had not held back him who had risked everything amidst the elements +and amongst men, he would have liked to push forward to where he might +hope to find the celestial boundaries of the world, and, a little +further, to have bathed his eyes, with profound humility, in the light +of the flaming swords which were wielded by two seraphim before the gate +of Eden. + +He thus expresses himself on this subject in his letter to one of the +monarchs of Spain, dated Hayti, October, 1498. "The Holy Scriptures +attest that the Lord created paradise, and placed in it the tree of +life, and made the four great rivers of the earth to pass out of it, the +Ganges of India, the Tigris, the Euphrates (passing from the mountains +to form Mesopotamia, and ending in Persia), and the Nile, which rises in +Ethiopia and goes to the Sea of Alexander. I cannot, nor have been ever +able to find in the books of the Latins or Greeks anything authentic on +the site of this terrestrial paradise, nor do I see anything more +certain in the maps of the world. Some place it at the source of the +Nile, in Ethiopia; but the travellers who have passed through those +countries have not found either in the mildness of the climate or in the +elevation of the site towards heaven anything that could lead to the +presumption that paradise was there, and that the waters of the Deluge +were unable to reach it or cover it. Several pagans have written for the +purpose of proving it was in the Fortunate Isles, which are the +Canaries. St. Isidore, Bede, and Strabo, St. Ambrosius, Scotus, and all +judicious theologians affirm with one accord that paradise was in the +East. It is from thence only that the enormous quantity of water can +come, seeing that the course of the rivers is extremely long; and these +waters (of paradise) arrive here, where I am, and form a lake. There are +great signs here of the neighbourhood of the terrestrial paradise, for +the site is entirely conformable to the opinion of the saints and +judicious theologians. The climate is of admirable mildness. I believe +that if I passed beneath the equinoctial line, and arrived at the +highest point of which I have spoken, I should find a milder +temperature, and a change in the stars and the waters; not that I +believe that the point where the greatest height is situated is +navigable, or even that there is water there, or that one could reach +it, but I am convinced that _there_ is the terrestrial paradise, where +no one can come except by the will of God." + +In the opinion of this illustrious navigator the earth had the form of +a pear, and its surface kept rising towards the east, indicated by the +point of the fruit. It was there that he supposed might be found the +garden where ancient tradition imagined the creation of the first human +couple was accomplished. + +We can scarcely think without astonishment of the great amount of +darkness that obscured scientific knowledge, when this great man +appeared on the scene of the world, nor of the rapidity with which the +obscurity and vagueness of ideas were dissipated almost immediately +after his marvellous discoveries. Scarcely had a half century elapsed +after his death, than all the geographical fables of the middle ages did +no more than excite smiles of incredulity, although during his life the +universal opinion was not much advanced upon the times of the famous +knight John of Mandeville, who wrote gravely as follows:-- + +"No mortal man can go to or approach this paradise. By land no one can +go there on account of savage beasts which are in the deserts, and +because of mountains and rocks that cannot be passed over, and dark +places without number; nor can one go there any better by sea; the water +rushes so wildly, it comes in so great waves, that no vessel dare sail +against them. The water is so rapid, and makes so great a noise and +tempest, that no one can hear however loud he is spoken to, and so when +some great men with good courage have attempted several times to go by +this river to paradise, in large companies, they have never been able +to accomplish their journey. On the contrary, many have died with +fatigue in swimming against the watery waves. Many others have become +blind, others have become deaf by the noise of the water, and others +have been suffocated and lost in the waves, so that no mortal man can +approach it except by the special grace of God." + +With one notable exception, no attempts have been made of late years to +solve such a question. That exception is by the noble and indefatigable +Livingstone, who declared his conviction to Sir Roderick Murchison, in a +letter published in the _Athenaeum_, that paradise was situated somewhere +near the sources of the Nile. + +Those generally who now seek an answer to the question of the birthplace +of the human race do not call it paradise. + +Since man is here, and there was a time quite recent, geologically +speaking, when he was not, there must have been some actual locality on +the earth's surface where he was first a man. Whether we have, or even +can hope to have, enough information to indicate where that locality was +situated, is a matter of doubt. We have not at present. Those who have +attended most to the subject appear to think some island the most +probable locality, but it is quite conjectural. + +The name "Paradise" appears to have been derived from the Persian, in +which it means a garden; similarly derived words express the same idea +in other languages; as in the Hebrew _pardes_, in the Arabian +_firdaus_, in the Syriac _pardiso_, and in the Armenian _partes_. It has +been thought that the Persian word itself is derived from the Sanscrit +_pradesa_, or _paradesa_, which means a circle, a country, or strange +region; which, though near enough as to sound, does not quite agree as +to meaning. "Eden" is from a Hebrew root meaning delights. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ECLIPSES AND COMETS. + + +We have seen in the earlier chapters on the systems of the ancients and +their ideas of the world how everything was once supposed to have +exclusive reference to man, and how he considered himself not only chief +of animate objects, but that his own city was the centre of the material +world, and his own world the centre of the material universe; that the +sun was made to shine, as well as the moon and stars, for his benefit; +and that, were it not for him they would have no reason for existence. +And we have seen how, step by step, these illusions have been dispelled, +and he has learnt to appreciate his own littleness in proportion as he +has realised the immensity of the universe of which he forms part. + +If such has been his history, and such his former ideas on the regular +parts, as we may call them, of nature, much more have similar ideas been +developed in relation to those other phenomena which, coming at such +long intervals, have not been recognised by him as periodic, but have +seemed to have some relation to mundane affairs, often of the smallest +consequence. Such are eclipses of the sun and moon, comets, +shooting-stars, and meteors. Among the less instructed of men, even when +astronomers of the same age and nation knew their real nature, eclipses +have always been looked upon as something ominous of evil. + +Among the ancient nations people used to come to the assistance of the +moon, by making a confused noise with all kinds of instruments, when it +was eclipsed. It is even done now in Persia and some parts of China, +where they fancy that the moon is fighting with a great dragon, and they +think the noise will make him loose his hold and take to flight. Among +the East Indians they have the same belief that when the sun and the +moon are eclipsed, a dragon is seizing them, and astronomers who go +there to observe eclipses are troubled by the fears of their native +attendants, and by their endeavours to get into the water as the best +place under the circumstances. In America the idea is that the sun and +moon are tired when they are eclipsed. But the more refined Greeks +believed for a long time that the moon was bewitched, and that the +magicians made it descend from heaven, to put into the herbs a certain +maleficent froth. Perhaps the idea of the Dragon arose from the ancient +custom of calling the places in the heavens at which the eclipses of the +moon took place the head and tail of the Dragon. + +In ancient history we have many curious instances of the very critical +influence that eclipses have had, especially in the case of events in a +campaign, where it was thought unfavourable to some projected attempt. + +Thus an eclipse of the moon was the original cause of the death of the +Athenian general Nicias. Just at a critical juncture, when he was about +to depart from the harbour of Syracuse, the eclipse filled him and his +whole army with dismay. The result of his terror was that he delayed the +departure of his fleet, and the Athenian army was cut in pieces and +destroyed, and Nicias lost his liberty and life. + +Plutarch says they could understand well enough the cause of the eclipse +of the sun by the interposition of the moon, but they could not imagine +by the opposition of what body the moon itself could be eclipsed. + +One of the most famous eclipses of antiquity was that of Thales, +recorded by Herodotus, who says:--"The Lydians and the Medes were at war +for five consecutive years. Now while the war was sustained on both +sides with equal chance, in the sixth year, one day when the armies were +in battle array, it happened that in the midst of the combat the day +suddenly changed into night. Thales of Miletus had predicted this +phenomenon to the Ionians, and had pointed out precisely that very year +as the one in which it would take place. The Lydians and Medes, seeing +the night succeeding suddenly to the day, put an end to the combat, and +only cared to establish peace." + +Another notable eclipse is that related by Diodorus Siculus. It was a +total eclipse of the sun, which took place while Agathocles, fleeing +from the port of Syracuse, where he was blockaded by the Carthaginians, +was hastening to gain the coast of Africa. "When Agathocles was already +surrounded by the enemy, night came on, and he escaped contrary to all +hope. On the day following so complete an eclipse of the sun took place +that it seemed altogether night, for the stars shone out in all places. +The soldiers therefore of Agathocles, persuaded that the gods were +intending them some misfortune, were in the greatest perturbation about +the future. Agathocles was equal to the occasion. When disembarked in +Africa, where, in spite of all his fine words, he was unable to reassure +his soldiers, whom the eclipse of the sun had frightened, he changed his +tactics, and pretending to understand the prodigy, "I grant, comrades," +he said, "that had we perceived this, eclipse before our embarkation we +should indeed have been in a critical situation, but now that we have +seen it after our departure, and as it always signifies a change in the +present state of affairs, it follows that our circumstances, which were +very bad in Sicily, are about to amend, while we shall indubitably ruin +those of the Carthaginians, which have been hitherto so flourishing." + +We are reminded by this of the story of Pericles, who, when ready to set +sail with his fleet on a great expedition, saw himself stopped by a +similar phenomenon. He spread his mantle over the eyes of the pilot, +whom fear had prevented acting, and asked him if that was any sign of +misfortune, when the pilot answered in the negative. "What misfortune +then do you suppose," said he, "is presaged by the body that hides the +sun, which differs from this in nothing but being larger?" + +With reference to these eclipses, when their locality and approximate +date is known, astronomy comes to the assistance of history, and can +supply the exact day, and even hour, of the occurrence. For the eclipses +depend on the motions of the moon, and just as astronomers can calculate +both the time and the path of a solar eclipse in the future, so they can +for the past. If then the eclipses are calculated back to the epoch when +the particular one is recorded, it can be easily ascertained which one +it was that about that time passed over the spot at which it was +observed, and as soon as the particular eclipse is fixed upon, it may be +told at what hour it would be seen. + +Thus the eclipse of Thales has been assigned by different authors to +various dates, between the 1st of October, 583 B.C., and the 3rd of +February, 626 B.C. The only eclipse of the sun that is suitable between +those dates has been found by the Astronomer-Royal to be that which +would happen in Lydia on the 28th of May, 585 B.C., which must therefore +be the date of the event. + +So of the eclipse of Agathocles, M. Delaunay has fixed its date to the +15th August, 310 B.C. + +In later days, when Christopher Columbus had to deal with the ignorant +people of America, the same kind of story was repeated. He found himself +reduced to famine by the inhabitants of the country, who kept him and +his companions prisoners; and being aware of the approach of the +eclipse, he menaced them with bringing upon them great misfortunes, and +depriving them of the light of the moon, if they did not instantly bring +him provisions. They cared little for his menaces at first; but as soon +as they saw the moon disappear, they ran to him with abundance of +victuals, and implored pardon of the conqueror. This was on the 1st of +March, 1504, a date which may be tested by the modern tables of the +moon, and Columbus's account proved to be correct. The eclipse was +indeed recorded in other places by various observers. + +Eclipses in their natural aspect have thus had considerable influence on +the vulgar, who knew nothing of their cause. This of course was the +state with all in the early ages, and it is interesting to trace the +gradual progress from their being quite unexpected to their being +predicted. + +It is very probable, if not certain, that their recurrence in the case +of the moon at least was recognised long before their nature was +understood. + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII.--CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE ECLIPSE OF THE +MOON.] + +Among the Chinese they were long calculated, and, in fact, it is thought +by some that they have pretended to a greater antiquity by calculating +backwards, and recording as observed eclipses those which happened +before they understood or noticed them. It seems, however, authenticated +that they did in the year 2169 B.C. observe an eclipse of the sun, and +that at that date they were in the habit of predicting them. For this +particular eclipse is said to have cost several of the astronomers their +lives, as they had not calculated it rightly. As the lives of princes +were supposed to be dependent on these eclipses, it became high treason +to expose them to such a danger without forewarning them. They paid more +attention to the eclipses of the sun than of the moon. + +Among the Babylonians the eclipses of the moon were observed from a very +early date, and numerous records of them are contained in the +Observations of Bel in Sargon's library, the tablets of which have +lately been discovered. In the older portion they only record that on +the 14th day of such and such a (lunar) month an eclipse takes place, +and state in what watch it begins, and when it ends. In a later portion +the observations were more precise, and the descriptions of the eclipse +more accurate. Long before 1700 B.C. the discovery of the lunar cycle of +223 lunar months had been made, and by means of it they were able to +state of each lunar eclipse, that it was either "according to +calculation" or "contrary to calculation." + +They dealt also with solar eclipses, and tried to trace on a sphere the +path they would take on the earth. Accordingly, like the eclipses of the +moon, these too were spoken of as happening either "according to +calculation" or "contrary to calculation." "In a report sent in to one +of the later kings of Assyria by the state astronomer, Abil Islar states +that a watch had been kept on the 28th, 29th, and 30th of Sivan, or May, +for an eclipse of the sun, which did not, however, take place after all. +The shadow, it is clear, must have fallen outside the field of +observation." Besides the more ordinary kind of solar eclipses, mention +is made in the Observations of Bel of annular eclipses which, strangely +enough, are seldom alluded to by classical writers. + +A record of a later eclipse has been found by Sir Henry Rawlinson on one +of the Nineveh Tablets. This occurred near that city in B.C. 763, and +from the character of the inscription it may be inferred that it was a +rare occurrence with them, indeed that it was nearly, if not quite, a +total eclipse. This has an especial interest as being the earliest that +we have any approximate date for. + +It is possible that the remarkable phenomenon, alluded to by the prophet +Isaiah, of the shadow going backwards ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz, +may be really a record of an eclipse of the sun, such as astronomy +proves to have occurred at Jerusalem in the year 689 B.C. + +We have very little notice of the calculation of eclipses by the +Egyptians; all that is told us is more or less fabulous. Thus Diogenes +Laertius says that they reckoned that during a period of 48,863 years, +373 eclipses of the sun and 832 eclipses of the moon had occurred, which +is far fewer than the right number for so long a time, and which, of +course, has no basis in fact. + +Among the Greeks, Anaxagoras was the first who entertained clear ideas +about the nature of eclipses; and it was from him that Pericles learnt +their harmlessness. + +Plutarch relates that Helicon of Cyzicus predicted an eclipse of the sun +to Dionysius of Syracuse, and received as a reward a talent of silver. + +Livy records an eclipse of the sun as having taken place on the 11th of +Quintilis, which corresponds to the 11th of July. It happened during the +Appollinarian games, 190 B.C. + +The same author tells us of an eclipse of the moon that was predicted by +one Gallus, a tribune of the second legion, on the eve of the battle of +Pydna--a prediction which was duly fulfilled on the following night. The +fact of its having been foretold quieted the superstitious fears of the +soldiers, and gave them a very high opinion of Gallus. Other authors, +among them Cicero, do not give so flattering a story, but state that +Gallus's part consisted only in explaining the cause of the eclipse +after it had happened. The date of this eclipse was the 3rd of +September, 168 B.C. + +Ennius, writing towards the end of the second century B.C., describes an +eclipse which was said to have happened nearly two hundred years before +(404, B.C.), in the following remarkable words:--"On the nones of July +the moon passed over the sun, and there was night." Aristarchus, three +centuries before Christ, understood and explained the nature of +eclipses; but the chief of the ancient authors upon this subject was +Hipparchus. He and his disciples were able to predict eclipses with +considerable accuracy, both as to their time and duration. Geminus and +Cleomedes were two other writers, somewhat later, who explained and +predicted eclipses. In later times regular tables were drawn up, showing +when the eclipses would happen. One that Ptolemy was the author of was +founded on data derived from ancient observers--Callipus, Democritus, +Eudoxus, Hipparchus--aided by his own calculations. After the days of +Ptolemy the knowledge of the eclipses advanced _pari passu_ with the +advance of astronomy generally. So long as astronomy itself was +empirical, the time of the return of an eclipse was only reckoned by the +intervals that had elapsed during the same portion of previous cycles; +but after the discovery of elliptic orbits and the force of gravitation +the whole motion of the moon could be calculated with as great accuracy +as any other astronomical phenomenon. + +In point of fact, if the new moon is in the plane of the ecliptic there +must be an eclipse of the sun; if the full moon is there, there must be +an eclipse of the moon; and if it should in these cases be only +partially in that plane, the eclipses also will be partial. The cycle of +changes that the position of the moon can undergo when new and full +occupies a period of eighteen years and eleven days, in which period +there are forty-one eclipses of the sun and twenty-nine of the moon. +Each year there are at most seven and at least two eclipses; if only +two, they are eclipses of the sun. Although more numerous in reality for +the whole earth, eclipses of the sun are more rarely observed in any +particular place, because they are not seen everywhere, but only where +the shadow of the moon passes; while all that part of the earth that +sees the moon at all at the time sees it eclipsed. + +We now come to comets. + +The ancients divided comets into different classes, the chief points +of distinction being derived from the shape, length, and brilliancy +of the tails. Pliny distinguished twelve kinds, which he thus +characterised:--"Some frighten us by their blood-coloured mane; their +bristling hair rises towards the heaven. The bearded ones let their long +hair fall down like a majestic beard. The javelin-shaped ones seem to +be projected forwards like a dart, as they rapidly attain their shape +after their first appearance; if the tail is shorter, and terminates in +a point, it is called a sword; this is the palest of all the comets; it +has the appearance of a bright sword without any diverging rays. The +plate or disc derives its name from its shape, its colour is that of +amber, it gives out some diverging rays from its sides, but not in large +quantity. The cask has really the form of a cask, which one might +suppose to be staved in smoke enveloped in light. The retort imitates +the figure of a horn, and the lamp that of a burning flame. The +horse-comet represents the mane of a horse which is violently agitated, +as by a circular, or rather cylindrical, motion. Such a comet appears +also of singular whiteness, with hair of a silver hue; it is so bright +that one can scarcely look at it. There are bristling comets, they are +like the skins of beasts with their hair on, and are surrounded by a +nebulosity. Lastly, the hair of the comet sometimes takes the form of a +lance." + +Pingre, a celebrated historian of comets, tells us that one of the first +comets noticed in history is that which appeared over Rome forty years +before Christ, and in which the Roman people imagined they saw the soul +of Caesar endowed with divine honours. Next comes that which threw its +light on Jerusalem when it was being besieged and remained for a whole +year above the city, according to the account of Josephus. It was of +this kind that Pliny said it "is of so great a whiteness that one can +scarcely look at it, and _one may see in it the image of God in human +form_." + +Diodorus tells us that, a little after the subversion of the towns of +Helix and Bura, there were seen, for several nights in succession, a +brilliant light, which was called a beam of fire, but which Aristotle +says was a true comet. + +Plutarch, in his life of Timoleon, says a burning flame preceded the +fleet of this general until his arrival at Sicily, and that during the +consulate of Caius Servilius a bright shield was seen suspended in the +heavens. + +The historians Sazoncenas and Socrates relate that in the year 400 A.D. +a comet in the form of a sword shone over Constantinople, and appeared +to touch the town just at the time when great misfortunes were impending +through the treachery of Gainas. + +The same phenomenon appeared over Rome previous to the arrival of +Alaric. + +In fact the ancient chroniclers always associated the appearance of a +comet with some terrestrial event, which it was not difficult to do, +seeing that critical situations were at all times existing in some one +country or other where the comet would be visible, and probably those +which could not be connected with any were not thought worthy of being +recorded. + +It is well known that the year 1000 A.D. was for a long time predicted +to be the end of the world. In this year the astronomers and +chroniclers registered the fall of an enormous burning meteor and the +appearance of a comet. Pingre says: "On the 19th of the calends of +January"--that is the 14th of December--"the heavens being dark, a kind +of burning sword fell to the earth, leaving behind it a long train of +light. Its brilliancy was such that it frightened not only those who +were in the fields, but even those who were shut up in their houses. +This great opening in the heavens was gradually closed, and then was +seen the figure of a dragon, whose feet were blue, and whose head kept +continually increasing. A comet having appeared at the same time as this +chasm, or meteor, they were confounded." This relation is given in the +chronicles of Seigbert in Hermann Corner, in the Chronique de Tours, in +Albert Casin, and other historians of the time. + +Bodin, resuscitating an idea of Democritus, wrote that the comets were +the souls of illustrious personages, who, after having lived on the +earth a long series of centuries, and being ready at last to pass away, +were carried in a kind of triumph to heaven. For this reason, famine, +epidemics, and civil wars followed on the apparition of comets, the +towns and their inhabitants finding themselves then deprived of the help +of the illustrious souls who had laboured to appease their intestinal +feuds. + +One of the comets of the middle ages which made the greatest impression +on the minds of the people was that which appeared during Holy Week of +the year 837, and frightened Louis the Debonnaire. The first morning of +its appearance he sent for his astrologer. "Go," he said, "on to the +terrace of the palace, and come back again immediately and tell me what +you have seen, for I have not seen that star before, and you have not +shown it to me; but I know that this sign is a comet: it announces a +change of reign and the death of a prince." The son of Charlemagne +having taken counsel with his bench of bishops, was convinced that the +comet was a notice sent from heaven expressly for him. He passed the +nights in prayer, and gave large donations to the monasteries, and +finally had a number of masses performed out of fear for himself and +forethought for the Church committed to his care. The comet, however, +was a very inoffensive one, being none other than that known as Halley's +comet, which returned in 1835. While they were being thus frightened in +France, the Chinese were observing it astronomically. + +The historian of Merlin the enchanter relates that a few days after the +_fetes_ which were held on the occasion of the erection of the funeral +monument of Salisbury, a sign appeared in heaven. It was a comet of +large size and excessive splendour. It resembled a dragon, out of whose +mouth came a long two-forked tongue, one part of which turned towards +the north and the other to the east. The people were in a state of fear, +each one asking what this sign presaged. Uter, in the absence of the +king, Ambrosius, his brother, who was engaged in pursuing one of the +sons of Vortigern, consulted all the wise men of Britain, but no one +could give him any answer. Then he thought of Merlin the enchanter, and +sent for him to the court. "What does this apparition presage?" demanded +the king's brother. Merlin began to weep. "O son of Britain, you have +just had a great loss--the king is dead." After a moment of silence he +added, "But the Britons have still a king. Haste thee, Uter, attack the +enemy. All the island will submit to you, for the figure of the fiery +dragon is thyself. The ray that goes towards Gaul represents a son who +shall be born to thee, who will be great by his achievements, and not +less so by his power. The ray that goes towards Ireland represents a +daughter of whom thou shalt be the father, and her sons and grandsons +shall reign over all the Britons." These predictions were realised; but +it is more than probable that they were made up after the event. + +The comet of 1066 was regarded as a presage of the Conquest under +William of Normandy. In the Bayeaux tapestry, on which Matilda of +Flanders had drawn all the most memorable episodes in the transmarine +expedition of her husband, the comet appears in one of the corners with +the inscription, _Isti mirantur stellam_, which proves that the comet +was considered a veritable marvel. It is said even to be traditionally +reported that one of the jewels of the British crown was taken from the +tail of this comet. Nevertheless it was no more than Halley's comet +again in its periodical visit every seventy-six years. + +In July, 1214, a brilliant comet appeared which was lost to view on the +same day as the Pope, Urban IV., died, _i.e._ the third of October. + +In June, 1456, a similar body of enormous size, with a very long and +extraordinarily bright tail, put all Christendom in a fright. The Pope, +Calixtus III., was engaged in a war at that time with the Saracens. He +showed the Christians that the comet "had the form of a cross," and +announced some great event. At the same time Mahomet announced to his +followers that the comet, "having the form of a yataghan," was a +blessing of the Prophet's. It is said that the Pope afterwards +recognised that it had this form, and excommunicated it. Nevertheless, +the Christians obtained the victory under the walls of Belgrade. This +was another appearance of Halley's comet. + +In the early months of 1472 appeared a large comet, which historians +agree in saying was very horrible and alarming. Belleforest said it was +a hideous and frightening comet, which threw its rays from east to west, +giving great cause for fear to great people, who were not ignorant that +comets are the menacing rods of God, which admonish those who are in +authority, that they may be converted. + +Pingre, who has told us of so many of the comets that were seen before +his time, wrote of this epoch: "Comets became the most efficacious signs +of the most important and doubtful events. They were charged to announce +wars, seditions, and the internal movements of republics; they presaged +famines, pestilence, and epidemics; princes, or even persons of dignity, +could not pay the tribute of nature without the previous appearance of +that universal oracle, a comet; men could no longer be surprised by any +unexpected event; the future might be as easily read in the heavens as +the past in history. Their effect depended on the place in the heavens +where they shone, the countries over which they directly lay, the signs +of the zodiac that they measured by their longitude, the constellations +they traversed, the form and length of their tails, the place where they +went out, and a thousand other circumstances more easily indicated than +distinguished; they also announced in general wars, and the death of +princes, or some grand personage, but there were few years that passed +without something of this kind occurring. The devout astrologers--for +there were many of that sort--risked less than the others. According to +them, the comet threatened some misfortune; if it did not happen, it was +because the prayers of penitence had turned aside the wrath of God; he +had returned his sword to the scabbard. But a rule was invented which +gave the astrologers free scope, for they said that events announced by +a comet might be postponed for one or more periods of forty years, or +even as many years as the comet had appeared days; so that one which had +appeared for six months need not produce its effect for 180 years." + +[Illustration: FIG. 55.--REPRESENTATION OF A COMET, 16TH CENTURY.] + +The most frightful of the comets of this period, according to Simon +Goulart, was that of 1527. "It put some into so great a fright that they +died; others fell sick. It was seen by several thousand people, and +appeared very long, and of the colour of blood. At the summit was seen +the representation of a curved arm, holding a large sword in its hand, +as if it would strike; at the top of the point of the sword were three +stars, but that which touched the point was more brilliant than the +others. On the two sides of the rays of this comet were seen large +hatchets, poignards, bloody swords, among which were seen a great +number of men decapitated, having their heads and beards horribly +bristling." + +A view of this comet is given in the _History of Prodigies_. + +There was another comet remarked in 1556, and another in 1577, like the +head of an owl, followed by a mantle of scattered light, with pointed +ends. Of this comet we read in the same book that recorded the last +described: "The comet is an infallible sign of a very evil event. +Whenever eclipses of the sun or moon, or comets, or earthquakes, +conversions of water into blood, and such like prodigies happen, it has +always been known that very soon after these miserable portents +afflictions, effusion of human blood, massacres, deaths of great +monarchs, kings, princes, and rulers, seditions, treacheries, raids, +overthrowings of empires, kingdoms, or villages; hunger and scarcity of +provisions, burning and overthrowing of towns; pestilences, widespread +mortality, both of beasts and men; in fact all sorts of evils and +misfortunes take place. Nor can it be doubted that all these signs and +prodigies give warning that the end of the world is come, and with it +the terrible last judgment of God." + +But even now comets were being observed astronomically, and began to +lose their sepulchral aspect. + +A remarkable comet, however, which appeared in 1680, was not without its +fears for the vulgar. We are told that it was recognised as the same +which appeared the year of Caesar's death, then in 531, and afterwards +in 1106, having a period of about 575 years. The terror it produced in +the towns was great; timid spirits saw in it the sign of a new deluge, +as they said water was always announced by fire. While the fearful were +making their wills, and, in anticipation of the end of the world, were +leaving their money to the monks, who in accepting them showed +themselves better physicists than the testators, people in high station +were asking what great person it heralded the death of, and it is +reported of the brother of Louis XIV., who apparently was afraid of +becoming too suddenly like Caesar, that he said sharply to the courtiers +who were discussing it, "Ah, gentlemen, you may talk at your ease, if +you please; you are not princes." + +This same comet gave rise to a curious story of an "extraordinary +prodigy, how at Rome a hen laid an egg on which was drawn a picture of +the comet. + +"The fact was attested by his Holiness, by the Queen of Sweden, and all +the persons of first quality in Rome. On the 4th December, 1680, a hen +laid an egg on which was seen the figure of the comet, accompanied by +other marks such as are here represented. The cleverest naturalists in +Rome have seen and examined it, and have never seen such a prodigy +before." + +Of this same comet Bernouilli wrote, "_That if the body of the comet is +not a visible sign of the anger of God, the tail may be_." It was this +too that suggested to Whiston the idea that he put forward, not as a +superstitious, but as a physical speculation, that a comet approaching +the earth was the cause of the deluge. + +[Illustration: FIG. 56.--AN EGG MARKED WITH A COMET.] + +The last blow to the superstitious fear of the comets was given by +Halley, when he proved that they circulated like planets round the sun, +and that the comets noticed in 837, 1066, 1378, 1456, 1531, 1607, 1682 +were all one, whose period was about 76 years, and which would return in +1759, which prediction was verified, and the comet went afterwards by +the name of this astronomer. It returned again in 1835, and will revisit +us in 1911. + +Even after the fear arising from the relics of astrology had died away, +another totally different alarm was connected with comets--an alarm +which has not entirely subsided even in our own times. This is that a +comet may come in contact with the earth and destroy it by the +collision. The most remarkable panic in this respect was that which +arose in Paris in 1773. At the previous meeting of the Academy of +Sciences, M. Lalande was to have read an interesting paper, but the time +failed. It was on the subject of comets that could, by approaching the +earth, cause its destruction, with special reference to the one that was +soon to come. From the title only of the paper the most dreadful fears +were spread abroad, and, increasing day by day, were with great +difficulty allayed. The house of M. Lalande was filled with those who +came to question him on the memoir in question. The fermentation was so +great that some devout people, as ignorant as weak, asked the archbishop +to make a forty hours' prayer to turn away the enormous deluge that they +feared, and the prelate was nearly going to order these prayers, if the +members of the Academy had not persuaded him how ridiculous it would be. +Finally, M. Lalande, finding it impossible to answer all the questions +put to him about his fatal memoir, and wishing to prevent the real evils +that might arise from the frightened imaginations of the weak, caused +it to be printed, and made it as clear as was possible. When it +appeared, it was found that he stated that of the sixty comets known +there were eight which could, by coming too near the earth, say within +40,000 miles, occasion such a pressure that the sea would leave its bed +and cover part of the globe, but that in any case this could not happen +till after twenty years. This was too long to make it worth while to +make provision for it, and the effervescence subsided. + +A similar case to this occurred with respect to Biela's comet, which was +to return in 1832. In calculating its reappearance in this year, +Damoiseau found that it would pass through the plane of the earth's +orbit on the 29th of October. Rushing away with this, the papers made +out that a collision was inevitable, and the end of the world was come. +But no one thought to inquire where the earth would be when the comet +passed through the plane in which it revolved. Arago, however, set +people's minds at rest by pointing out that at that time the earth would +be a month's journey from the spot, which with the rate at which the +earth is moving would correspond to a distance of sixty millions of +miles. + +This, like other frights, passed away, but was repeated again in 1840 +and 1857 with like results, and even in 1872 a similar end to the world +was announced to the public for the 12th of August, on the supposed +authority of a Professor at Geneva, but who had never said what was +supposed. + +But in reality all cause of fear has now passed away, since it has been +proved that the comet is made of gaseous matter in a state of extreme +tenuity, so that, though it may make great show in the heavens, the +whole mass may not weigh more than a few pounds; and we have in addition +the testimony of experience, which might have been relied on on the +occasions above referred to, for in 1770 Lexele's comet was seen to pass +through the satellites of Jupiter without deranging them in the least, +but was itself thrown entirely out of its path, while there is reason to +believe that on the 29th of June, 1861, the earth remained several hours +in the tail of a comet without having experienced the slightest +inconvenience. + +As to the nature of comets, the opinions that have been held have been +mostly very vague. Metrodorus thought they were reflections from the +sun; Democritus, a concourse of several stars; Aristotle, a collection +of exhalations which had become dry and inflamed; Strabo, that they are +the splendour of a star enveloped in a cloud; Heracletes of Pontus, an +elevated cloud which gave out much light; Epigenes, some terrestrial +matter that had caught fire, and was agitated by the wind; Boecius, +part of the air, coloured; Anaxagoras, sparks fallen from the elementary +fire; Xenophanes, a motion and spreading out of clouds which caught +fire; and Descartes, the debris of vortices that had been destroyed, the +fragments of which were coming towards us. + +It is said that the Chaldaeans held the opinion that they were analogous +to planets by their regular course, and that when we ceased to see them, +it was because they had gone too far from us; and Seneca followed this +explanation, since he regarded them as globes turning in the heavens, +and which appear and disappear in certain times, and whose periodical +motions might be known by regular observation. + +We have thus traced the particular ideas that have attached themselves +to eclipses and comets, as the two most remarkable of the extraordinary +phenomena of the heavens, and have seen how the fears and superstitions +of mankind have been inevitably linked with them in the earlier days of +ignorance and darkness, but they are only part of a system of phenomena, +and have been no more connected with superstition than others less +remarkable, except in proportion to their remarkableness. Other minor +appearances that are at all unusual have, on the same belief in the +inextricable union of celestial and terrestrial matters, been made the +signs of calamities or extra-prosperity; the doleful side of human +nature being usually the strongest, the former have been chosen more +often than the latter. + +According to Seneca, the tradition of the Chaldees announced that a +universal deluge would be caused by the conjunction of all the planets +in the sign of Capricorn, and that a general breaking up of the earth +would take place at the moment of their conjunction in Cancer. "The +general break-up of the world," they said, "will happen when the stars +which govern the heaven, penetrated with a quality of heat and dryness, +meet one another in a fiery triplicity." + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV.--PRODIGIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES.] + +Everywhere, and in all ages of the past, men have thought that a +protecting providence, always watching over them, has taken care to warn +them of the destinies which await them; thence the good and evil +_presages_ taken from the appearance of certain heavenly bodies, of +divers meteors, or even the accidental meeting of certain animate or +inanimate objects. The Indian of North America dying of famine in his +miserable cabin, will not go out to the chase if he sees certain +presages in the atmosphere. Nor need we be astonished at such ideas in +an uncultivated man, when even among Europeans, a salt-cellar upset, a +glass broken, a knife and fork crossed, the number thirteen at dinner, +and such things are regarded as unlucky accidents. The employment of +sorcery and divination is closely connected with these superstitions. +Besides eclipses and comets, meteors were taken as the signs of divine +wrath. We learn from S. Maximus of Turin, that the Christians of his +time admitted the necessity of making a noise during eclipses, so as +to prevent the magicians from hurting the sun or moon, a superstition +entirely pagan. They used to fancy they could see celestial armies in +the air, coming to bring miraculous assistance to man. They thought the +hurricanes and tempests the work of evil spirits, whose rage kept them +set against the earth. S. Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian of the +thirteenth century, accepted this opinion, just as he admitted the +reality of sorceries. But the full development, as well as the +nourishment of these superstitious ideas, was derived from the +storehouse of astrology, which dealt with matters of ordinary +occurrence, both in the heavens and on the earth--and to the history of +which our next chapter is devoted. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE GREATNESS AND THE FALL OF ASTROLOGY. + + +Our study of the opinions of the ancients on the various phenomena of +astronomy, leads us inevitably to the discussion of their astrology, +which has in every age and among every people accompanied it--and though +astrology be now no more as a science, or lingers only with those who +are ignorant and desirous of taking advantage of the still greater +ignorance of others--yet it is not lacking in interest as showing the +effect of the phenomena of the heavens on the human mind, when that +effect is brought to its most technical and complete development. + +We must distinguish in the first place two kinds of astrology, viz., +natural and judicial. The first proposed to foresee and announce the +changes of the seasons, the rains, wind, heat, cold, abundance, or +sterility of the ground, diseases, &c., by means of a knowledge of the +causes which act on the air and on the atmosphere. The other is occupied +with objects which would be still more interesting to men. It traced at +the moment of his birth, or at any other period of his life, the line +that each must travel according to his destiny. It pretended to +determine our characters, our passions, fortune, misfortunes, and perils +in reserve for each mortal. + +We have not here to consider the natural astrology, which is a veritable +science of observation and does not deserve the name of astrology. It is +rather worthy to be called the meteorological calendar of its +cultivators. More rural than their descendants of the nineteenth +century, the ancients had recognised the connection between the +celestial phenomena and the vicissitudes of the seasons; they observed +these phenomena carefully to discover the return of the same +inclemencies; and they were able (or thought they were) to state the +date of the return of particular kinds of weather with the same +positions of the stars. But the very connection with the stars soon led +the way to a degeneracy. The autumnal constellations, for example, Orion +and Hercules, were regarded as rainy, because the rains came at the time +when these stars rose. The Egyptians who observed in the morning, called +Sirius "the burning," because his appearance in the morning was followed +by the great heat of the summer: and it was the same with the other +stars. Soon they regarded them as the cause of the rain and the +heat--although they were but remote witnesses. The star Sirius is still +connected with heat--since we call it the dog-star--and the hottest days +of the year, July 22nd to August 23rd, we call dog-days. At the +commencement of our era, the morning rising of Sirius took place on the +earlier of those days--though it does not now rise in the morning till +the middle of August--and 4,000 years ago it rose about the 20th of +June, and preceded the annual rise of the Nile. + +The belief in the meteorological influence of the stars is one of the +causes of judicial astrology. This latter has simply subjected man, like +the atmosphere, to the influence of the stars; it has made dependent on +them the risings of his passions, the good and ill fortune of his life, +as well as the variations of the seasons. Indeed, it was very easy to +explain. It is the stars, or heavenly bodies in general, that bring the +winds, the rains, and the storms; their influences mixed with the action +of the rays of the sun modify the cold or heat; the fertility of the +fields, health or sickness, depend on these beneficial or injurious +influences; not a blade of grass can grow without all the stars having +contributed to its increase; man breathes the emanations which escaping +from the heavenly bodies fill the air; man is therefore in his entire +nature subjected to them; these stars must therefore influence his will +and his passions; the good and evil passages in his career, in a word, +must direct his life. + +As soon as it was established that the rising of a certain star or +planet, and its aspect with regard to other planets, announced a certain +destiny to man, it was natural to believe that the rarer configurations +signified extraordinary events, which concerned great empires, nations, +and towns. And lastly, since errors grow faster than truth, it was +natural to think that the configurations which were still more rare, +such as the reunion of all the planets in conjunction with the same +star, which can occur only after thousands of centuries, while nations +have been renewed an infinity of times, and empires have been ruined, +had reference to the earth itself, which had served as the theatre for +all these events. Joined to these superstitious ideas was the tradition +of a deluge, and the belief that the world must one day perish by fire, +and so it was announced that the former event took place when all the +planets were in conjunction in the sign of the Fishes, and the latter +would occur when they all met in the sign of the Lion. + +The origin of astrology, like that of the celestial sphere, was in all +probability in upper Asia. + +There, the starry heavens, always pure and splendid, invited observation +and struck the imagination. We have already seen this with respect to +the more matter-of-fact portions of astronomy. The Assyrians looked upon +the stars as divinities endued with beneficent or maleficent power. The +adoration of the heavenly bodies was the earliest form of religion among +the pastoral population that came down from the mountains of Kurdestan +to the plains of Babylon. The Chaldaeans at last set apart a sacerdotal +and learned caste devoted to the observation of the heavens; and the +temples became regular observatories. Such doubtless was the tower of +Babel--a monument consecrated to the seven planets, and of which the +account has come down to us in the ancient book of Genesis. + +A long series of observations put the Chaldaeans in possession of a +theological astronomy, resting on a more or less chimerical theory of +the influence of the celestial bodies on the events of nations and +private individuals. Diodorus Siculus, writing towards the commencement +of our era, has put us in possession of the most circumstantial details +that have reached us with regard to the Chaldaean priests. + +At the head of the gods, the Assyrians placed the sun and moon, whose +courses and daily positions they had noted in the constellation of the +zodiac, in which the sun remained, one month in each. The twelve signs +were governed by as many gods, who had the corresponding months under +their influence. Each of these months were divided into three parts, +which made altogether thirty-six subdivisions, over which as many stars +presided, called gods of consultation. Half of these gods had under +their control the things which happen above the earth, and the other +half those below. The sun and moon and the five planets occupied the +most elevated rank in the divine hierarchy and bore the name of gods of +interpretation. Among these planets Saturn or old Bel, which was +regarded as the highest star and the most distant from us, was +surrounded by the greatest veneration; he was the interpreter _par +excellence_--the revealer. Each of the other planets had his own +particular name. Some of them, such as _Bel_ (Jupiter), _Merodaez_ +(Mars), _Nebo_ (Mercury), were regarded as male, and the others, as +_Sin_ (the Moon), and _Mylitta_ or _Baulthis_ (Venus), as females; and +from their position relative to the zodiacal constellations, which were +also called _Lords_ or masters of the _Gods_, the Chaldaeans derived the +knowledge of the destiny of the men who were born under such and such a +conjunction--predictions which the Greeks afterwards called horoscopes. +The Chaldaeans invented also relations between each of the planets and +meteorological phenomena, an opinion partly founded on fortuitous +coincidences which they had more or less frequently observed. In the +time of Alexander their credit was considerable, and the king of +Macedonia, either from superstition or policy, was in the habit of +consulting them. + +It is probable that the Babylonian priests, who referred every natural +property to sidereal influences, imagined there were some mysterious +relations between the planets and the metals whose colours were +respectively somewhat analogous to theirs. Gold corresponded to the sun, +silver to the moon, lead to Saturn, iron to Mars, tin to Jupiter, and +mercury still retains the name of the planet with which it was +associated. It is less than two centuries ago, since the metals have +ceased to be designated by the signs of their respective planets. +Alchemy, the mother of chemistry, was an intimately connected sister of +Astrology, the mother of Astronomy. + +Egyptian civilisation dates back to a no less remote period than that of +Babylon. Not less careful observers than the Babylonish astrologers of +the meteors and the atmospheric revolutions, they could predict certain +phenomena, and they gave it out that they had themselves been the cause +of them. + +Diodorus Siculus tells us that the Egyptian priests pretty generally +predicted the years of barrenness or abundance, the contagions, the +earthquakes, inundations, and comets. The knowledge of celestial +phenomena made an essential part of the theology of the Egyptians as it +did of the Chaldaeans. They had colleges of priests specially attached to +the study of the stars, at which Pythagoras, Plato, and Eudoxus were +instructed. + +Religion was besides completely filled with the symbols relating to the +sun or moon. Each month, each decade, each day was consecrated to a +particular god. These gods, to the number of thirty, were called in the +Alexandrine astronomy _decans_ ([Greek: dekavoi]). The festivals were +marked by the periodical return of certain astronomical phenomena, and +those heliacal risings to which any mythological ideas were attached, +were noted with great care. We find even now proof of this old +sacerdotal science in the zodiac sculptured on the ceilings of certain +temples, and in the hieroglyphic inscriptions relating to celestial +phenomena. + +According to the Egyptians, who were no less aware than the Greeks, of +the influence of atmospheric changes on our organs, the different stars +had a special action on each part of the body. In the funeral rituals +which were placed at the bottom of the coffins, constant allusion is +made to this theory. Each limb of the dead body was placed under the +protection of a particular god. The divinities divided between them, so +to speak, the spoils of the dead. The head belonged to Ra, or the Sun, +the nose and lips to Anubis, and so on. To establish the horoscope of +anyone, this theory of specific influences was combined with the state +of the heavens at the time of his birth. It seems even to have been the +doctrine of the Egyptians, that a particular star indicated the coming +of each man into the world, and this opinion was held also by the Medes, +and is alluded to in the Gospels. In Egypt, as in Persia and Chaldaea, +the science of nature was a sacred doctrine, of which magic and +astrology constituted the two branches, and in which the phenomena of +the universe were attached very firmly to the divinities or genii with +which they believed it filled. It was the same in the primitive +religions of Greece. + +The Thessalian women had an especially great reputation in the art of +enchantments. All the poets rival one another in declaring how they are +able, by their magical hymns, to bring down the moon. Menander, in his +comedy entitled _The Thessalian_, represents the mysterious ceremonies +by the aid of which these sorcerers force the moon to leave the heavens, +a prodigy which so completely became the type of enchantments that +Nonnus tells us it is done by the Brahmins. There was, in addition, +another _cultus_ in Greece, namely, that of Hecate with mysterious rays, +the patron of sorcerers. Lucian of Samosate--if the work on astrology +which is ascribed to him be really his--justifies his belief in the +influence of the stars in the following terms:--"The stars follow their +orbit in the heaven; but independently of their motion, they act upon +what passes here below. If you admit that a horse in a gallop, that +birds in flying, and men in walking, make the stones jump or drive the +little floating particles of dust by the wind of their course, why +should you deny that the stars have any effect? The smallest fire sends +us its emanations, and although it is not for us that the stars burn, +and they care very little about warming us, why should we not receive +any emanations from them? Astrology, it is true, cannot make that good +which is evil. It can effect no change in the course of events; but it +renders a service to those who cultivate it by announcing to them good +things to come; it procures joy by anticipation at the same time that it +fortifies them against the evil. Misfortune, in fact, does not take them +by surprise, the foreknowledge of it renders it easier and lighter. That +is my way of looking at astrology." + +Very different is the opinion of the satirist Juvenal, who says that +women are the chief cultivators of it. "All that an astrologer predicts +to them," he says, "they think to come from the temple of Jupiter. Avoid +meeting with a lady who is always casting up her _ephemerides_, who is +so good an astrologer that she has ceased to consult, and is already +beginning to be consulted; such a one on the inspection of the stars +will refuse to accompany her husband to the army or to his native land. +If she only wishes to drive a mile, the hour of departure is taken from +her book of astrology. If her eye itches and wants rubbing, she will do +nothing till she has run through her conjuring book. If she is ill in +bed, she will take her food only at the times fixed in her _Petosiris_. +Women of second-rate condition," he adds, "go round the circus before +consulting their destiny, after which they show their hands and face to +the diviner." + +When Octavius came into the world a senator versed in astrology, +Nigidius Figulus, predicted the glorious destiny of the future emperor. +Livia, the wife of Tiberius, asked another astrologer, Scribius, what +would be the destiny of her infant; his reply was, they say, like the +other's. + +The house of Poppea, the wife of Nero, was always full of astrologers. +It was one of the soothsayers attached to her house, Ptolemy, who +predicted to Otho his elevation to the empire, at the time of the +expedition into Spain, where he accompanied him. + +The history of astrology under the Roman empire supplies some very +curious stories, of which we may select an illustrative few. + +Octavius, in company with Agrippa, consulted one day the astrologer +Theagenes. The future husband of Julia, more credulous or more curious +than the nephew of Caesar, was the first to take the horoscope. Theagenes +foretold astonishing prosperity for him. Octavius, jealous of so happy a +destiny, and fearing that the reply would be less favourable to him, +instead of following the example of his companion, refused at first to +state the day of his birth. But, curiosity getting the better of him, he +decided to reply. No sooner had he told the day of his birth than the +astrologer threw himself at his feet, and worshipped him as the future +master of the empire. Octavius was transported with joy, and from that +moment was a firm believer in astrology. To commemorate the happy +influence of the zodiacal sign under which he was born, he had the +picture of it struck on some of the medals that were issued in his +reign. + +The masters of the empire believed in astrological divination, but +wished to keep the advantages to themselves. They wanted to know the +future without allowing their subjects to do the same. Nero would not +permit anyone to study philosophy, saying it was a vain and frivolous +thing, from which one might take a pretext to divine future events. He +feared lest some one should push his curiosity so far as to wish to +find out when and how the emperor should die--a sort of indiscreet +question, replies to which lead to conspiracies and attempts. This was +what the heads of the state were most afraid of. + +Tiberius had been to Rhodes, to a soothsayer of renown, to instruct +himself in the rules of astrology. He had attached to his person the +celebrated astrologer Thrasyllus, whose fate-revealing science he proved +by one of those pleasantries which are only possible with tyrants. + +Whenever Tiberius consulted an astrologer he placed him in the highest +part of his palace, and employed for his purpose an ignorant and +powerful freedman, who brought by difficult paths, bounded by +precipices, the astrologer whose science his Majesty wished to prove. On +the return journey, if the astrologer was suspected of indiscretion or +treachery, the freedman threw him into the sea, to bury the secret. +Thrasyllus having been brought by the same route across these +precipices, struck Tiberius with awe while he questioned him, by showing +him his sovereign power, and easily disclosing the things of the future. +Caesar asked him if he had taken his own horoscope, and with what signs +were marked that day and hour for himself. Thrasyllus then examined the +position and the distance of the stars; he hesitated at first, then he +grew pale; then he looked again, and finally, trembling with +astonishment and fear, he cried out that the moment was perilous, and +he was very near his last hour. Tiberius then embraced him and +congratulated him on having escaped a danger by foreseeing it; and +accepting henceforth all his predictions as oracles, he admitted him to +the number of his intimate friends. + +Tiberius had a great number of people put to death who were accused of +having taken their horoscope to know what honours were in store for +them, although in secret he took the horoscopes of great people, that he +might ascertain that he had no rivalry to fear from them. Septimus +Severus was very nearly paying with his head for one of those +superstitious curiosities that brought the ambitious of the time to the +astrologer. In prosperous times he had gained faith in their +predictions, and consulted them about important acts. Having lost his +wife, and wishing to contract a second marriage, he took the horoscopes +of the well-connected ladies who were at the time open to marriage. None +of their fortunes, taken by the rules of astrology, were encouraging. He +learnt at last that there was living in Syria a young woman to whom the +Chaldaeans had predicted that she should be the wife of a king. Severus +was as yet but a legate. He hastened to demand her in marriage, and he +obtained her; Julia was the name of the woman who was born under so +happy a star; but was he the crowned husband which the stars had +promised to the young Syrian? This reflection soon began to perplex +Severus, and to get out of his perplexity he went to Sicily to consult +an astrologer of renown. The matter came to the ears of the Emperor +Commodus; and judge of his anger! The anger of Commodus was rage and +frenzy; but the event soon gave the response that Severus was seeking in +Sicily,--Commodus was strangled. + +Divination which had the emperor for its object at last came to be a +crime of high treason. The rigorous measures resorted to against the +indiscreet curiosity of ambition took more terrible proportions under +the Christian emperors. + +Under Constantine, a number of persons who had applied to the oracles +were punished with cruel tortures. + +Under Valens, a certain Palladius was the agent of a terrible +persecution. Everyone found himself exposed to being denounced for +having relations with soothsayers. Traitors slipped secretly into houses +magic formulae and charms, which then became so many proofs against the +inhabitant. The fear was so great in the East, says Ammienus +Marcellinus, that a great number burned their books, lest matter should +be found in them for an accusation of magic or sorcery. + +One day in anger, Vitellius commanded all the astrologers to leave Italy +by a certain day. They responded by a poster, which impudently commanded +the prince to leave the earth before that date, and at the end of the +year Vitellius was put to death; on the other hand, the confidence +accorded to astrologers led sometimes to the greatest extremes. For +instance, after having consulted Babylus, Nero put to death all those +whose prophecies promised the elevation of Heliogabalus. Another +instance was that of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina. The latter +was struck with the beauty of a gladiator. For a long time she vainly +strove in secret with the passion that consumed her, but the passion did +nothing but increase. At last Faustina revealed the matter to her +husband, and asked him for some remedy that should restore peace to her +troubled soul. The philosophy of Marcus Aurelius could not suggest +anything. So he decided to consult the Chaldaeans, who were adepts at the +art of mixing philters and composing draughts. The means prescribed were +more simple than might have been expected from their complicated +science; it was that the gladiator should be cut in pieces. They added +that Faustina should afterwards be anointed with the blood of the +victim. The remedy was applied, the innocent athlete was immolated, and +the empress afterwards only dreamed of him with great pleasure. + +The first Christians were as much addicted to astrology as the other +sects. The Councils of Laodicea (366, A.D.), of Arles (314), of Agdus +(505), Orleans (511), Auxerre (570), and Narbonne (589), condemned the +practice. According to a tradition of the commencement of our era, which +appears to have been borrowed from Mazdeism, it was the rebel angels who +taught men astrology and the use of charms. + +Under Constantius the crime of high treason served as a pretext for +persecution. A number of people were accused of it, who simply continued +to practise the ancient religion. It was pretended that they had +recourse to sorceries against the life of the emperor, in order to bring +about his fall. Those who consulted the oracles were menaced with severe +penalties and put to death by torture, under the pretence that by +dealing with questions of fate they had criminal intentions. Plots +without number multiplied the accusations; and the cruelty of the judges +aggravated the punishments. The pagans, in their turn had to suffer the +martyrdom which they had previously inflicted on the early disciples of +Christ--or rather, to be truer, it was authority, always intolerable, +whether pagan or Christian, that showed itself inexorable against those +who dared to differ from the accepted faith. Libanius and Jamblicus were +accused of having attempted to discover the name of the successor to the +empire. Jamblicus, being frightened at the prosecution brought against +him, poisoned himself. The name only of philosopher was sufficient to +found an accusation upon. The philosopher Maximus Diogenes Alypius, and +his son Hierocles, were condemned to lose their lives on the most +frivolous pretence. An old man was put to death because he was in the +habit of driving off the approach of fever by incantations, and a young +man who was surprised in the act of putting his hands alternately to a +marble and his breast, because he thought that by counting in this way +seven times seven, he might cure the stomach-ache, met with the same +fate. + +Theodosius prohibited every kind of manifestation or usage connected +with pagan belief. Whoever should dare to immolate a victim, said his +law, or consult the entrails of the animals he had killed, should be +regarded as guilty of the crime of high treason. + +The fact of having recourse to a process of divination was sufficient +for an accusation against a man. + +Theodosius II. thought that the continuation of idolatrous practices had +drawn down the wrath of heaven, and brought upon them the recent +calamities that had afflicted his empire--the derangement of the seasons +and the sterility of the soil--and he thundered out terrible threats +when his faith and his anger united themselves into fanaticism. + +He wrote as follows to Florentius, prefect of the praetorium in 439, the +year that preceded his death:-- + +"Are we to suffer any longer from the seasons being upset by the effect +of the divine wrath, on account of the atrocious perfidy of the pagans, +which disturbs the equilibrium of nature? For what is the cause that now +the spring has no longer its ordinary beauty, that the autumn no longer +furnishes a harvest to the laborious workman and that the winter, by its +rigour, freezes the soil and renders it sterile?" + +Perhaps we are unduly amused with these ideas of Theodosius so long as +we retain the custom of asking the special intervention of Providence +for the presence or absence of rain! + +In the middle ages, when astrology took such a hold on the world, +several philosophers went so far as to consider the celestial vault as a +book, in which each star, having the value of one of the letters of the +alphabet, told in ineffaceable characters the destiny of every empire. +The book of _Unheard-of Curiosities_, by Gaffarel, gives us the +configuration of these celestial characters, and we find them also in +the writings of Cornelius Agrippa. The middle ages took their +astrological ideas from the Arabians and Jews. The Jews themselves at +this epoch borrowed their principles from such contaminated sources that +we are not able to trace in them the transmission of the ancient ideas. +To give an example, Simeon Ben-Jochai, to whom is attributed the famous +book called _Zohar_, had attained in their opinion such a prodigious +acquaintance with celestial mysteries as indicated by the stars, that he +could have read the divine law in the heavens before it had been +promulgated on the earth. During the whole of the middle ages, whenever +they wanted to clear up doubts about geography or astronomy, they always +had recourse to this Oriental science, as cultivated by the Jews and +Arabians. In the thirteenth century Alphonse X. was very importunate +with the Jews to make them assist him with their advice in his vast +astronomical and historical works. + +Nicholas Oresmus, when the most enlightened monarch in Europe was +supplying Du Guesclin with an astrologer to guide him in his strategical +operations, was physician to Charles V. of France, who was himself +devoted to astrology, and gave him the bishopric of Lisieux. He composed +the _Treatise of the Sphere_, of which we have already spoken. A few +years later, a learned man, the bishop Peter d'Ailly, actually dared to +take the horoscope of Jesus Christ, and proved by most certain rules +that the great event which inaugurated the new era was marked with very +notable signs in astrology. + +Mathias Corvin, King of Hungary, never undertook anything without first +consulting the astrologers. The Duke of Milan and Pope Paul also +governed themselves by their advice. King Louis XI., who so heartily +despised the rest of mankind, and had as much malice in him as he had +weakness, had a curious adventure with an astrologer. + +It was told him that an astrologer had had the hardihood to predict the +death of a woman of whom the king was very fond. He sent for the +wretched prophet, gave him a severe reprimand, and then asked him the +question, "You, who know everything, when will _you_ die?" The +astrologer, suspecting a trick, replied immediately, "Sire, three days +before your Majesty." Fear and superstition overcame the monarch's +resentment, and the king took particular care of the adroit impostor. + +It is well known how much Catherine de Medicis was under the influence +of the astrologers. She had one in her Hotel de Soissons in Paris, who +watched constantly at the top of a tower. This tower is still in +existence, by the Wool-Market, which was built in 1763 on the site of +the hotel. It is surmounted by a sphere and a solar dial, placed there +by the astronomer Pingre. + +One of the most celebrated of the astrologers who was under her +patronage was Nostradamus. He was a physician of Provence, and was born +at St. Reny in 1503. To medicine he joined astrology, and undertook to +predict future events. He was called to Paris by Catherine in 1556, and +attempted to write his oracles in poetry. His little book was much +sought after during the whole of the remainder of the sixteenth century, +and even in the beginning of the next. According to contemporary writers +many imitations were made of it. It was written in verses of four lines, +and was called _Quatrains Astronomiques_. As usual, the prophecies were +obscure enough to suit anything, and many believers have thought they +could trace in the various verses prophecies of known events, by duly +twisting and manipulating the sense. + +A very amusing prophecy, which happened to be too clear to leave room +for mistakes as to its meaning, and which turned out to be most +ludicrously wrong, was one contained in a little book published in 1572 +with this title:--_Prognostication touching the marriage of the very +honourable and beloved Henry, by the Grace of God King of Navarre, and +the very illustrious Princess Marguerite of France, calculated by Master +Bernard Abbatio, Doctor in Medicine, and Astrologer to the very +Christian King of France._ + +First he asked if the marriage would be happy, and says:--"Having in my +library made the figure of the heavens, I found that the lord of the +ascendant is joined to the lord of the seventh house, which is for the +woman of a trine aspect, from whence I have immediately concluded, +according to the opinion of Ptolemy, Haly, Zael, Messahala, and many +other sovereign astrologers, that they will love one another intensely +all their lives." In point of fact they always detested each other. +Again, "as to length of life, I have prepared another figure, and have +found that Jupiter and Venus are joined to the sun with fortification, +and that they will approach a hundred years;" after all Henri IV. died +before he was sixty. "Our good King of Navarre will have by his most +noble and virtuous Queen many children; since, after I had prepared +another figure of heaven, I found the ascendant and its lord, together +with the moon, all joined to the lord of the fifth house, called that of +children, which will be pretty numerous, on account of Jupiter and also +of Venus;" and yet they had no children! "Jupiter and Venus are found +domiciled on the aquatic signs, and since these two planets are found +concordant with the lord of the ascendant, all this proves that the +children will be upright and good, and that they will love their father +and mother, without doing them any injury, nor being the cause of their +destruction, as is seen in the fruit of the nut, which breaks, opens, +and destroys the stock from which it took its birth. The children will +live long, they will be good Christians, and with their father will make +themselves so benign and favourable towards those of our religion, that +at last they will be as beloved as any man of our period, and there will +be no more wars among the French, as there would have been but for the +present marriage. God grant us grace that so long as we are in this +transitory life we may see no other king but Charles IX., the present +King of France." And yet these words were written in the year of the +massacre of St. Bartholomew's day! and the marriage was broken off, and +Henri IV. married to Marie de Medici. So much for the astrological +predictions! + +The aspect in which astrology was looked upon by the better minds even +when it was flourishing may be illustrated by two quotations we may +make, from Shakespeare and Voltaire. + +Our immortal poet puts into the mouth of Edmund in _King Lear_:--"This +is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick in fortune +(often the surfeit of our own behaviour) we make guilty of our disasters +the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity; +fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treacherous, by +spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced +obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a +divine thrusting on. An admirable evasion of a libertine to lay his +goatish disposition to the charge of a star! My father married my mother +under the Dragon's tail; and my nativity was under _Ursa major_; so that +it follows I am rough lecherous. Tut, I should have been that I am, had +the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my birth." + +Voltaire writes thus:--"This error is ancient, and that is enough. The +Egyptians, the Chaldaeans, the Jews could predict, and therefore we can +predict now. If no more predictions are made it is not the fault of the +art. So said the alchemists of the philosopher's stone. If you do not +find to-day it is because you are not clever enough; but it is certain +that it is in the clavicle of Solomon, and on that certainty more than +two hundred families in Germany and France have been ruined. Do you +wonder either that so many men, otherwise much exalted above the vulgar, +such as princes or popes, who knew their interests so well, should be so +ridiculously seduced by this impertinence of astrology. They were very +proud and very ignorant. There were no stars but for them; the rest of +the universe was _canaille_, for whom the stars did not trouble +themselves. I have not the honour of being a prince. Nevertheless, the +celebrated Count of Boulainvilliers and an Italian, called Colonne, who +had great reputation in Paris, both predicted to me that I should +infallibly die at the age of thirty-two. I have had the malice already +to deceive them by thirty years, for which I humbly beg their pardon." + +The method by which these predictions were arrived at consisted in +making the different stars and planets responsible for different parts +of the body, different properties, and different events, and making up +stories from the association of ideas thus obtained, which of course +admitted of the greatest degree of latitude. The principles are +explained by Manilius in his great poem entitled _The Astronomicals_, +written two thousand years ago. + +According to him the sun presided over the head, the moon over the right +arm, Venus over the left, Jupiter over the stomach, Mars the parts +below, Mercury over the right leg, and Saturn over the left. + +Among the constellations, the Ram governed the head; the Bull the neck; +the Twins the arms and shoulders; the Crab the chest and the heart; the +Lion the stomach; the abdomen corresponded to the sign of the Virgin; +the reins to the Balance; then came the Scorpion; the Archer, governing +the thighs; the He-goat the knees; the Waterer the legs; and the Fishes +the feet. + +Albert the Great assigned to the stars the following influences:--Saturn +was thought to rule over life, changes, sciences, and buildings; +Jupiter over honour, wishes, riches, and cleanness; Mars over war, +prisons, marriages, and hatred; the sun over hope, happiness, gain, and +heritages; Venus over friendships and amours; Mercury over illness, +debts, commerce, and fear; the moon over wounds, dreams, and larcenies. + +Each of these stars also presides over particular days of the week, +particular colours, and particular metals. + +The sun governed the Sunday; the moon, Monday; Mars, Tuesday; Mercury, +Wednesday; Jupiter, Thursday; Venus, Friday; and Saturn, Saturday; which +is partially indicated by our own names of the week, but more +particularly in the French names, which are each and all derived from +these stars. + +The sun represented yellow; the moon, white; Venus, green; Mars, red; +Jupiter, blue; Saturn, black; Mercury, shaded colours. + +We have already indicated the metals that corresponded to each. + +The sun was reckoned to be beneficent and favourable; Saturn to be sad, +morose, and cold; Jupiter, temperate and benign; Mars, vehement; Venus, +benevolent and fertile; Mercury, inconstant; and the moon, melancholy. + +Among the constellations, the Ram, the Lion, and the Archer were hot, +dry and vehement. The Bull, the Virgin, and the He-goat were heavy, +cold, and dry; the Twins, the Balance, and the Waterer were light, +hot, and moist; the Crab, Scorpion, and the Fishes were moist, soft, and +cold. + +[Illustration: PLATE XV.--AN ASTROLOGER AT WORK.] + +In this way the heavens were made to be intimately connected with the +affairs of earth; and astrology was in equally intimate connection with +astronomy, of which it may in some sense be considered the mother. The +drawers of horoscopes were at one time as much in request as lawyers or +doctors. One Thurneisen, a famous astrologer and an extraordinary man, +who lived last century at the electoral court of Berlin, was at the same +time physician, chemist, drawer of horoscopes, almanack maker, printer, +and librarian. His astrological reputation was so widespread that +scarcely a birth took place in families of any rank in Germany, Poland, +Hungary, or even England without there being sent an immediate envoy to +him to announce the precise moment of birth. He received often three and +sometimes as many as ten messages a day, and he was at last so pressed +with business that he was obliged to take associates and agents. + +In the days of Kepler we know that astrology was more thought of than +astronomy, for though on behalf of the world he worked at the latter, +for his own daily bread he was in the employ of the former, making +almanacks and drawing horoscopes that he might live. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +TIME AND THE CALENDAR. + + +The opinions of thinkers on the nature of time have been very varied. +Some have considered time as an absolute reality, which is exactly +measured by hours, days, and years, and is as known and real as any +other object whose existence is known to us. Others maintain that time +is only a matter of sensation, or that it is an illusion, or a +hallucination of a lively brain. + +The definitions given of it by different great writers is as various. +Thus Kant calls it "one of the forms of sensibility." Schelling declares +it is "pure activity with the negation of all being." Leibnitz defines +it "the order of successions" as he defined space to be the order of +co-existences. Newton and Clarke make space and time two attributes of +the Deity. + +A study of the astronomical phenomena of the universe, and a +consideration of their teaching, give us authority for saying, that +neither space nor time are realities, but that the only things absolute +are eternity and infinity. + +In fact, we give the name of time to the succession of the terrestrial +events measured by the motion of the earth. If the earth were not to +move, we should have no means of measuring, and consequently no idea of +time as we have it now. So long as it was believed that the earth was at +rest, and that the sun and all the stars turned round us, this apparent +motion was then, as the real motion of the earth is now, the method of +generating time. In fact, the Fathers said that at the end of the world +the diurnal motion would cease, and there would be no more time. But let +us examine the fact a little further. + +Suppose for an instant that the earth was, as it was formerly believed +to be, an immense flat surface, which was illuminated by a sun which +remained always immovable at the zenith, or by an invariable diffused +light--such an earth being supposed to be alone by itself in the +universe and immovable. Now if there were a man created on that earth, +would there be such a thing as "time" for him? The light which illumines +him is immovable. No moving shadow, no gnomon, no sun-dial would be +possible. No day nor night, no morning nor evening, no year. Nothing +that could be divided into days, hours, minutes, and seconds. + +In such a case one would have to fall back upon some other terminating +events, which would indicate a lapse of time; such for instance as the +life of a man. This, however, would be no universal measure, for on one +planet the life might be a thousand years, and on another only a +hundred. + +Or we may look at it in another way. Suppose the earth were to turn +twice as fast about itself and about the sun, the persons who lived +sixty of such years would only have lived thirty of our present years, +but they would have seen sixty revolutions of the earth, and, rigorously +speaking, would have lived sixty years. If the earth turned ten times as +fast, sixty years would be reduced to ten, but they would still be sixty +of those years. We should live just as long; there would be four +seasons, 365 days, &c., only everything would be more rapid: but it +would be exactly the same thing for us, and the other apparently +celestial motions having a similar diminution, there would be no change +perceived by us. + +Again, consider the minute animals that are observable under the +microscope, which live but for five minutes. During that period, they +have time to be born and to grow. From embryos they become adult, marry, +so to speak, and have a numerous progeny, which they develop and send +into the world. Afterwards they die, and all this in a few minutes. The +impressions which, in spite of their minuteness, we are justified in +presuming them to possess, though rapid and fleeting, may be as profound +for them in proportion as ours are to us, and their measure of time +would be very different from ours. All is relative. In absolute value, +a life completed in a hundred years is not longer than one that is +finished in five minutes. + +It is the same for space. The earth has a diameter of 8,000 miles, and +we are five or six feet high. Now if, by any process, the earth should +diminish till it became as small as a marble, and if the different +elements of the world underwent a corresponding diminution, our +mountains might become as small as grains of sand, the ocean might be +but a drop, and we ourselves might be smaller than the microscopic +animals adverted to above. But for all that nothing would have changed +for us. We should still be our five or six feet high, and the earth +would remain exactly the same number of our miles. + +A value then that can be decreased and diminished at pleasure without +change is not a mathematical absolute value. In this sense then it may +be said that neither time nor space have any real existence. + +Or once again. Suppose that instead of our being on the globe, we were +placed in pure space. What time should we find there? No time. We might +remain ten years, twenty, a hundred, or a thousand years, but we should +never arrive at the next year! In fact each planet makes its own time +for its inhabitants, and where there is no planet or anything answering +to it there is no time. Jupiter makes for its inhabitants a year which +is equal to twelve years of ours, and a day of ten of our hours. Saturn +has a year equal to thirty of ours, and days of ten hours and a quarter. +In other solar systems there are two or three suns, so that it is +difficult to imagine what sort of time they can have. All this infinite +diversity of time takes place in eternity, the only thing that is real. +The whole history of the earth and its inhabitants takes place, not in +time, but in eternity. Before the existence of the earth and our solar +system, there was another time, measured by other motions, and having +relation to other beings. When the earth shall exist no longer, there +may be in the place we now occupy, another time again, for other beings. +But they are not realities. A hundred millions of centuries, and a +second, have the same real length in eternity. In the middle of space, +we could not tell the difference. Our finite minds are not capable of +grasping the infinite, and it is well to know that our only idea of time +is relative, having relation to the regular events that befall this +planet in its course, and not a thing which we can in any way compare +with that, which is so alarming to the ideas of some--eternity. + +We have then to deal with the particular form of time that our planet +makes for us, for our personal use. + +It turns about the sun. An entire circuit forms a period, which we can +use for a measure in our terrestrial affairs. We call it a year, or in +Latin _annus_, signifying a circle, whence our word _annual_. + +A second, shorter revolution, turns the earth upon itself, and brings +each meridian directly facing the sun, and then round again to the +opposite side. This period we call a _day_, from the Latin _dies_, which +in Italian becomes _giorne_, whence the French _jour_. In Sanscrit we +have the same word in _dyaus_. + +The length of time that it takes for the earth to arrive at the same +position with respect to the stars, which is called a sidereal year, +amounts to 365.2563744 days. But during this time, as we have seen, the +equinox is displaced among the stars. This secular retrogression brings +it each year a little to the east of its former position, so that the +sun arrives there about eleven minutes too soon. By taking this amount +from the sidereal we obtain the tropical year, which has reference to +the seasons and the calendar. Its length is 365.2422166 days, or 365 +days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 47.8 seconds. + +In what way was the primitive year regulated? was it a solar or a +sidereal year? + +There can be no doubt that when there was an absence of all civilisation +and a calendar of any sort was unknown, the year meant simply the +succession of seasons, and that no attempt would be made to reckon any +day as its commencement. And as soon as this was attempted a difficulty +would arise from there not being an exact number of days in the year. So +that when reckoned as the interval between certain positions of the sun +they would be of different lengths, which would introduce some +difficulty as to the commencement of the year. Be this the case, +however, or not, Mr. Haliburton's researches seem to show that the +earliest form of year was the sidereal one, and that it was regulated by +the Pleiades. + +In speaking of that constellation we have noticed that among the +islanders of the southern hemisphere and others there are two years in +one of ours, the first being called the Pleiades above and the second +the Pleiades below; and we have seen how the same new year's day has +been recognised in very many parts of the world and among the ancient +Egyptians and Hindoos. This year would begin in November, and from the +intimate relation of all the primitive calendars that have been +discovered to a particular day, taken as November 17 by the Egyptians, +it would appear probable that for a long time corrections were made both +by the Egyptians and others in order to keep the phenomenon of the +Pleiades just rising at sunset to one particular named day of their +year--showing that the year they used was a sidereal one. This can be +traced back as far as 1355 B.C. among the Egyptians, and to 1306 B.C. +among the Hindoos. There seem to have been in use also shorter periods +of three months, which, like the two-season year, appear to have been, +as they are now among the Japanese, regulated by the different positions +of the Pleiades. + +Among the Siamese of the present day, there are both forms of the year +existing, one sidereal, beginning in November, and regulated by the +fore-named constellation; and the other tropical, beginning in April. +Whether, however, the year be reckoned by the stars or by the sun, there +will always be a difficulty in arranging the length of the year, because +in each case there will be about a quarter of a day over. + +It seems, too, to have been found more convenient in early times to take +360 days as the length of the year, and to add an intercalary month now +and then, rather than 365 and add a day. + +Thus among the earliest Egyptians the year was of 360 days, which were +reckoned in the months, and five days were added each year, between the +commencement of one and the end of the other, and called unlucky days. +It was the belief of the Egyptians that these five days were the +birthdays of their principal gods; Osiris being born on the first, +Anieris (or Apollo) on the second, Typhon on the third, Isis on the +fourth, Nephys (or Aphrodite) on the fifth. These appear to have some +relation with similar unlucky days among the Greeks and Romans, and +other nations. + +The 360 days of the Egyptian year were represented at Acantho, near +Memphis, in a symbolical way, there being placed a perforated vessel, +which each day was filled with water by one of a company of 360 priests, +each priest having charge over one day in the year. A similar symbolism +was used at the tomb of Osiris, around which were placed 360 pitchers, +one of which each day was filled with milk. + +On the other hand, the 365 days were represented by the tomb of +Osymandyas, at Thebes, being surrounded by a circle of gold which was +one cubit broad and 365 cubits in circumference. On the side were +written the risings and settings of the stars, with the prognostications +derived from them by the Egyptian astrologers. It was destroyed, +however, by Cambyses when the Persians conquered Egypt. + +They divided their year according to Herodotus into twelve months, the +names of which have come down to us. + +Even with the 365 days, which their method of reckoning would +practically come to, they would still be a quarter of a day each year +short; so that in four years it would amount to a whole day, an error +which would amount to something perceptible even during the life of a +single man, by its bringing the commencement of the civil year out of +harmony with the seasons. In fact the first day of the year would +gradually go through all the seasons, and at the end of 1460 solar years +there would have been completed 1461 civil years, which would bring back +the day to its original position. This period represents a cycle of +years in which approximately the sun and the earth come to the same +relative position again, as regards the earth's rotation on its axis and +revolution round the sun. This cycle was noticed by Firmicius. Another +more accurate cycle of the same kind, noticed by Syncellus, is obtained +by multiplying 1461 by 25, making 36,525 years, which takes into account +the defect which the extra hours over 365 have from six. The Egyptians, +however, did not allow their year to get into so large an error, though +it was in error by their using sidereal time, regulating their year, and +intercalating days, first according to the risings of the Pleiades, and +after according to that of Sirius, the dog-star, which announced to them +the approaching overflowing of the Nile, a phenomenon of such great +value to Egypt that they celebrated it with annual fetes of the greatest +magnificence. + +Among the Babylonians, as we are informed by Mr. Sayce, the year was +divided into twelve lunar months and 360 days, an intercalary month +being added whenever a certain star, called the "star of stars," or Icu, +also called Dilgan, by the ancient Accadians, meaning the "messenger of +light," and what is now called Aldebaran, which was just in advance of +the sun when it crossed the vernal equinox, was not parallel with the +moon until the third of Nisan, that is, two days after the equinox. They +also added shorter months of a few days each when this system became +insufficient to keep their calendar correct. + +They divided their year into four quarters of three months each; the +spring quarter not commencing with the beginning of the year when the +sun entered the spring equinox, proving that the arrangement of seasons +was subsequent to the settling of the calendar. The names of their +months were given them from the corresponding signs of the zodiac; which +was the same as our own, though the zodiac began with Aries and the year +with Nisan. + +They too had cycles, but they arose from a very different cause; not +from errors of reckoning in the civil year or the revolution of the +earth, but from the variations of the weather. Every twelve solar years +they expected to have the same weather repeated. When we connect this +with their observations on the varying brightness of the sun, especially +at the commencement of the year on the first of Nisan, which they record +at one time as "bright yellow" and at another as "spotted," and remember +that modern researches have shown that weather is certainly in some way +dependent on the solar spots, which have a period _now_ of about eleven +years, we cannot help fancying that they were very near to making these +discoveries. + +The year of the ancient Persians consisted of 365 days. The extra +quarter of a day was not noticed for 120 years, at the end of which they +intercalated a month--in the first instance, at the end of the first +month, which was thus doubled. At the end of another 120 years they +inserted an intercalary month after the second month, and so on through +all their twelve months. So that after 1440 years the series began +again. This period they called the intercalary cycle. + +The calendar among the Greeks was more involved, but more useful. It +was _luni-solar_, that is to say, they regulated it at the same time by +the revolutions of the moon and the motion about the sun, in the +following manner:-- + +The year commenced with the new moon nearest to the 20th or 21st of +June, the time of the summer solstice; it was composed in general of +twelve months, each of which commenced on the day of the new moon, and +which had alternately twenty-nine and thirty days. + +This arrangement, conformable to the lunar year, only gave 354 days to +the civil year, and as this was too short by ten days, twenty-one hours, +this difference, by accumulation, produced nearly eighty-seven days at +the end of eight years, or three months of twenty-nine days each. To +bring the lunar years into accordance with the solstices, it was +necessary to add three intercalary months every eight years. + +The phases of the moon being thus brought into comparison with the +rotation of the earth, a cycle was discovered by Meton, now known as the +Metonic cycle, useful also in predicting eclipses, which comprised +nineteen years, during which time 235 lunations will have very nearly +occurred, and the full moons will return to the same dates. In fact, the +year and the lunation are to one another very nearly in the proportion +of 235 to 19. By observing for nineteen years the positions and phases +of the moon, they will be found to return again in the same order at the +same times, and they can therefore be predicted. This lunar cycle was +adopted in the year 433 B.C. to regulate the luni-solar calendar, and it +was engraved in letters of gold on the walls of the temple of Minerva, +from whence comes the name _golden number_, which is given to the number +that marks the place of the given year in this period of nineteen. + +Caliphus made a larger and more exact cycle by multiplying by four and +taking away one day. Thus he made of 27,759 days 76 Julian years, during +which there were 940 lunations. + +The Roman calendar was even more complicated than the Greek, and not so +good. Romulus is said to have given to his subjects a strange +arrangement that we can no longer understand. More of a warrior than a +philosopher, this founder of Rome made the year to consist of ten +months, some being of twenty days and others of fifty-five. These +unequal lengths were probably regulated by the agricultural works to be +done, and by the prevailing religious ideas. After the conclusion of +these days they began counting again in the same order; so that the year +had only 304 days. + +The first of these ten months was called _Mars_ after the name of the +god from whom Romulus pretended to have descended. The name of the +second, Aprilis, was derived from the word _aperire_, to open, because +it was at the time that the earth opened; or it may be, from Aphrodite, +one of the names of Venus, the supposed grandmother of AEneas. The third +month was consecrated to _Maia_, the mother of Mercury. The names of +the six others expressed simply their order--Quintilis, the fifth; +Sextilis, the sixth; September, the seventh; and so on. + +Numa added two months to the ten of Romulus; one took the name of +_Januarius_, from _Janus_: the name of the other was derived either from +the sacrifices (_februalia_), by which the faults committed during the +course of the past year were expiated, or from _Februo___, the god of +the dead, to which the last month was consecrated. The year then had 355 +days. + +These Roman months have become our own, and hence a special interest +attaches to the consideration of their origin, and the explanation of +the manner in which they have been modified and supplemented. Each of +them was divided into unequal parts, by the days which were known as the +calends, nones, and ides. The calends were invariably fixed to the first +day of each month; the nones came on the 5th or 7th, and the ides the +13th or 15th. + +The Romans, looking forward, as children do to festive days, to the fete +which came on these particular days, named each day by its distance from +the next that was following. Immediately after the calends of a month, +the dates were referred to the nones, each day being called seven, six, +five, and so on days before the nones; on the morrow of the nones they +counted to the ides; and so the days at the end of the month always bore +the name of the calends of the month following. + +To complete the confusion the 2nd day before the fete was called the +3rd, by counting the fete itself as the 1st, and so they added one +throughout to the number that _we_ should now say expressed our distance +from a certain date. + +Since there were thus ten days short in each year, it was soon found +necessary to add them on, so a supplementary month was created, which +was called Mercedonius. This month, by another anomaly, was placed +between the 23rd and 24th of February. Thus, after February 23rd, came +1st, 2nd, 3rd of Mercedonius; and then after the dates of this +supplementary month were gone through, the original month was taken up +again, and they went on with the 24th of February. + +And finally, to complete the medley, the priests who had the charge of +regulating this complex calendar, acquitted themselves as badly as they +could; by negligence or an arbitrary use of their power they lengthened +or shortened the year without any uniform rule. Often, indeed, they +consulted in this nothing but their own convenience, or the interests of +their friends. + +The disorder which this license had introduced into the calendar +proceeded so far that the months had changed from the seasons, those of +winter being advanced to the autumn, those of the autumn to the summer. +The fetes were celebrated in seasons different from those in which they +were instituted, so that of Ceres happened when the wheat was in the +blade, and that of Bacchus when the raisins were green. Julius Caesar, +therefore, determined to establish a solar year according to the known +period of revolution of the sun, that is 365 days and a quarter. He +ordained that each fourth year a day should be intercalated in the place +where the month Mercedonius used to be inserted, _i.e._ between the 23rd +and 24th of February. + +The 6th of the calends of March in ordinary years was the 24th of +February; it was called _sexto-kalendas_. When an extra day was put in +every fourth year before the 24th, this was a second 6th day, and was +therefore called _bissexto-kalendas_, whence we get the name bissextile, +applied to leap year. + +But it was necessary also to bring back the public fetes to the seasons +they ought to be held in: for this purpose Caesar was obliged to insert +in the current year, 46 B.C. (or 708 A.U.C.), two intercalary months +beside the month Mercedonius. There was, therefore, a year of fifteen +months divided into 445 days, and this was called the year of confusion. + +Caesar gave the strictest injunctions to Sosigenes, a celebrated +Alexandrian astronomer whom he brought to Rome for this purpose; and on +the same principles Flavius was ordered to compose a new calendar, in +which all the Roman fetes were entered--following, however, the old +method of reckoning the days from the calends, nones, and ides. +Antonius, after the death of Caesar, changed the name of Quintilis, in +which Julius Caesar was born, into the name _Julius_, whence we derive +our name July. The name of _Augustus_ was given to the month _Sextilis_, +because the Emperor Augustus obtained his greatest victories during that +month. + +Tiberius, Nero, and other imperial monsters attempted to give their +names to the other months. But the people had too much independence and +sense of justice to accord them such a flattery. + +The remaining months we have as they were named in the days of Numa +Pompilius. + +[Illustration: FIG. 57.--THE ROMAN CALENDAR.] + +A cubical block of white marble has been found at Pompeii which +illustrates this very well. + +Each of the four sides is divided into three columns, and on each column +is the information about the month. Each month is surmounted by the sign +of the zodiac through which the sun is passing. Beneath the name of the +month is inscribed the number of days it contains; the date of the +nones, the number of the hours of the day, and of the night; the place +of the sun, the divinity under whose protection the month is placed, the +agricultural works that are to be done in it, the civil and +ecclesiastical ceremonies that are to be performed. These inscriptions +are to be seen under the month January to the left of the woodcut. + +The reform thus introduced by Julius Caesar is commonly known as the +_Julian reform_. The first year in which this calendar was followed was +44 B.C. + +The Julian calendar was in use, without any modification, for a great +number of years; nevertheless, the mean value which had been assigned to +the civil year being a little different to that of the tropical, a +noticeable change at length resulted in the dates in which, each year, +the seasons commenced; so that if no remedy had been introduced, the +same season would be displaced little by little each year, so as to +commence successively in different months. + +The Council of Nice, which was held in the year 325 of the Christian +era, adopted a fixed rule to determine the time at which Easter falls. +This rule was based on the supposed fact that the spring equinox +happened every year on the 21st of March, as it did at the time of the +meeting of the Council. This would indeed be the case if the mean value +of the civil year of the Julian calendar was exactly equal to the +tropical year. But while the first is 365.25 days, the second is +365.242264 days; so that the tropical year is too small by 11 minutes +and 8 seconds. It follows hence that after the lapse of four Julian +years the vernal equinox, instead of happening exactly at the same time +as it did four years before, will happen 44 minutes 32 seconds too soon; +and will gain as much in each succeeding four years. So that at the end +of a certain number of years, after the year 325, the equinox will +happen on the 20th of March, afterwards on the 19th, and so on. This +continual advance notified by the astronomers, determined Pope Gregory +XIII. to introduce a new reform into the calendar. + +It was in the year 1582 that the _Gregorian reform_ was put into +operation. At that epoch the vernal equinox happened on the 11th instead +of the 21st of March. To get rid of this advance of ten days that the +equinox had made and to bring it back to the original date, Pope Gregory +decided that the day after the 4th of October, 1582, should be called +the 15th instead of the 5th. This change only did away with the +inconvenience at the time attaching to the Julian calendar; it was +necessary to make also some modification in the rule which served to +determine the lengths of the civil years, in order to avoid the same +error for the future. + +So the Pope determined that in each 400 years there should be only 97 +bissextile years, instead of 100, as there used to be in the Julian +calendar. This made three days taken off the 400 years, and in +consequence the mean value of the civil year is reduced to 365.2425 +days, which is not far from the true tropical year. The Gregorian year +thus obtained is still too great by .000226 of a day; the date of the +vernal equinox will still then advance in virtue of this excess, but it +is easy to see that the Gregorian reform will suffice for a great number +of centuries. + +The method in which it is carried out is as follows:--In the Julian +calendar each year that divided by four when expressed in its usual way, +by A.D., was a leap year, and therefore each year that completed a +century was such, as 1300, 1400 and so on--but in the Gregorian reform, +all these century numbers are to be reckoned common years, unless the +number without the two cyphers divides by four; thus 1,900 will be a +common year and 2,000 a leap year. It is easy to see that this will +leave out three leap years in every 400 years. + +The Gregorian calendar was immediately adopted in France and Germany, +and a little later in England. Now it is in operation in all the +Christian countries of Europe, except Russia, where the Julian calendar +is still followed. It follows that Russian dates do not agree with ours. +In 1582, the difference was ten days, and this difference remained the +same till the end of the seventeenth century, when the year 1700 was +bissextile in the Julian, but not in the Gregorian calendar, so the +difference increased to eleven days, and now in the same way is twelve +days. + +Next to the year, comes the day as the most natural division of time in +connection with the earth, though it admits of less difference in its +arrangements, as we cannot be mistaken as to its length. It is the +natural standard too of our division of time into shorter intervals such +as hours, minutes, and seconds. By the word _day_ we mean of course the +interval during which the earth makes a complete revolution round +itself, while _daytime_ may be used to express the portion of it during +which our portion of the earth is towards the sun. The Greeks to avoid +ambiguity used the word _nyctemere_, meaning night and day. + +No ancient nation is known that did not divide the day into twenty-four +hours, when they divided it at all into such small parts, which seems to +show that such a division was comparatively a late institution, and was +derived from the invention of a single nation. It would necessarily +depend on the possibility of reckoning shorter periods of time than the +natural one of the day. In the earliest ages, and even afterwards, the +position of the sun in the heavens by day, and the position of the +constellations by night, gave approximately the time. Instead of asking +What "o'clock" is it? the Greeks would say, "What star is passing?" The +next method of determining time depended on the uniform motion of water +from a cistern. It was invented by the Egyptians, and was called a +clepsydra, and was in use among the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the +Romans. The more accurate measurement of time by means of clocks was not +introduced till about 140 B.C., when Trimalcion had one in his dining +chamber. The use of them, however, had been so lost that in 760 A.D. +they were considered quite novelties. The clocks, of course, have to be +regulated by the sun, an operation which has been the employment of +astronomers, among other things, for centuries. Each locality had its +own time according to the moment when the sun passed the meridian of the +place, a moment which was determined by observation. + +Before the introduction of the hour, the day and night appear to have +been divided into watches. Among the Babylonians the night was reckoned +from what we call 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., and divided into three watches of +four hours each--called the "evening," "middle," and "morning" watch. +These were later superseded by the more accurate hour, or rather "double +hour" or _casbri_, each of which was divided into sixty minutes and +sixty seconds, and the change taking place not earlier than 2,000 B.C. +Whether the Babylonians (or Accadians) were the inventors of the hour it +is difficult to say, though they almost certainly were of other +divisions of time. It is remarkable that in the ancient Jewish +Scriptures we find no mention of any such division until the date at +which the prophecy of Daniel was written, that is, until the Jews had +come in contact with the Babylonians. + +Some nations have counted the twenty-four hours consecutively from one +to twenty-four as astronomers do now, but others and the majority have +divided the whole period into two of twelve hours each. + +The time of the commencement of the day has varied much with the +different nations. + +The Jews, the ancient Athenians, the Chinese, and several other peoples, +more or less of the past, have commenced the day with the setting of the +sun, a custom which perhaps originated with the determination of the +commencement of the year, and therefore of the day, by the observation +of some stars that were seen at sunset, a custom continued in our memory +by the well-known words, "the evening and the morning were the first +day." + +The Italians, till recently, counted the hours in a single series, +between two settings of the sun. The only gain in such a method would be +to sailors, that they might know how many hours they had before night +overtook them; the sun always setting at twenty-four o'clock; if the +watch marked nineteen or twenty, it would mean they had five or four +hours to see by--but such a gain would be very small against the +necessity of setting their watches differently every morning, and the +inconvenience of never having fixed hours for meals. + +Among the Babylonians, Syrians, Persians, the modern Greeks, and +inhabitants of the Balearic Isles, &c., the day commenced with the +rising of the sun. Nevertheless, among all the astronomical phenomena +that may be submitted to observation, none is so liable to uncertainty +as the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies, owing among other +things to the effects of refraction. + +Among the ancient Arabians, followed in this by the author of the +_Almagesta_, and by Ptolemy, the day commenced at noon. Modern +astronomers adopt this usage. The moment of changing the date is then +always marked by a phenomenon easy to observe. + +Lastly, that we may see how every variety possible is sure to be chosen +when anything is left to the free choice of men, we know that with the +Egyptians, Hipparchus, the ancient Romans, and all the European nations +at present, the day begins at midnight. Copernicus among the astronomers +of our era followed this usage. We may remark that the commencement of +the astronomical day commences twelve hours _after_ the civil day. + +Of the various periods composed of several days, the week of seven days +is the most widely spread--and of considerable antiquity. Yet it is not +the universal method of dividing months. Among the Egyptians the month +was divided into periods of ten days each; and we find no sign of the +seven days--the several days of the whole month having a god assigned to +each. Among the Hindoos no trace has been found by Max Mueller in their +ancient Vedic literature of any such division, but the month is divided +into two according to the moon; the _clear_ half from the new to the +full moon, the _obscure_ half from the full to the new, and a similar +division has been found among the Aztecs. The Chinese divide the month +like the Egyptians. Among the Babylonians two methods of dividing the +month existed, and both of them from the earliest times. The first +method was to separate it into two halves of fifteen days each, and each +of these periods into three shorter ones of five days, making six per +month. The other method is the week of seven days. The days of the week +with them, as they are with many nations now, were named after the sun +and moon and the five planets, and the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th +days of each month--days separated by seven days each omitting the +19th--were termed "days of rest," on which certain works were forbidden +to be done. From this it is plain that we have here all the elements of +our modern week. We find it, as is well known, in the earliest of Hebrew +writings, but without the mark which gives reason for the number seven, +that is the names of the seven heavenly bodies. It would seem most +probable, then, that we must look to the Accadians as the originators of +our modern week, from whom the Hebrews may have--and, if so, at a very +early period--borrowed the idea. + +It is known that the week was not employed in the ancient calendars of +the Romans, into which it was afterwards introduced through the medium +of the biblical traditions, and became a legal usage under the first +Christian Emperors. From thence it has been propagated together with +the Julian calendar amongst all the populations that have been subjected +to the Roman power. We find the period of seven days employed in the +astronomical treatises of Hindoo writers, but not before the fifth +century. + +Dion Cassius, in the third century, represents the week as universally +spread in his times, and considers it a recent invention which he +attributes to the Egyptians; meaning thereby, doubtless, the astrologers +of the Alexandrian school, at that time very eager to spread the +abstract speculations of Plato and Pythagoras. + +If the names of the days of the week were derived from the planets, the +sun and moon, as is easy to see, it is not so clear how they came to +have their present order. The original order in which they were supposed +to be placed in the various heavens that supported them according to +their distance from the earth was thus:--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, +Venus, Mercury, the Moon. One supposition is that each hour of the day +was sacred to one of these, and that each day was named from the god +that presided over the first hours. Now, as seven goes three times into +twenty-four, and leaves three over, it is plain that if Saturn began the +first hour of Saturday, the next day would begin with the planet three +further on in the series, which would bring us to the Sun for Sunday, +three more would bring us next day to the Moon for Monday, and so to +Mars for Tuesday, to Mercury for Wednesday, to Jupiter for Thursday, to +Venus for Friday, and so round again to Saturn for Saturday. + +The same method is illustrated by putting the symbols in order round the +circumference of a circle, and joining them by lines to the one most +opposite, following always in the same order as in the following figure. +We arrive in this way at the order of the days of the week. + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.] + +All the nations who have adopted the week have not kept to the same +names for them, but have varied them according to taste. Thus Sunday was +changed by the Christian Church to the "Lord's Day," a name it still +partially retains among ourselves, but which is the regular name among +several continental nations, including the corrupted _Dimanche_ of the +French. The four middle days have also been very largely changed, as +they have been among ourselves and most northern nations to commemorate +the names of the great Scandinavian gods Tuesco, Woden, Thor, and Friga. +This change was no doubt due to the old mythology of the Druids being +amalgamated with the new method of collecting the days into weeks. + +We give below a general table of the names of the days of the week in +several different languages. + + +------------+-----------+------------+------------+------------------+ + | ENGLISH. | FRENCH. | ITALIAN. | SPANISH. | PORTUGUESE. | + +------------+-----------+------------+------------+------------------+ + | Sunday. | Dimanche. | Domenica. | Domingo. | Domingo. | + | Monday. | Lundi. | Lunedi. | Luneo. | Secunda feira. | + | Tuesday. | Mardi. | Marteti. | Martes. | Terca feira. | + | Wednesday. | Mercredi | Mercoledi. | Miercoles. | Quarta feira. | + | Thursday. | Jeudi. | Giovedi. | Jueves. | Quinta feira. | + | Friday. | Vendredi. | Venerdi. | Viernes. | Sexta feira. | + | Saturday. | Samedi. | Sabbato. | Sabado. | Sabbado. | + +------------+-----------+------------+------------+------------------+ + +------------+--------------+-------------+---------------+-----------+ + | GERMAN. | ANGLO-SAXON. | ANCIENT | ANCIENT | DUTCH. | + | | | FRISIAN. | NORTHMEN. | | + +------------+--------------+-------------+---------------+-----------+ + | Sonntag. | Sonnan daeg. | Sonna dei. | Sunnu dagr. | Zondag. | + | Montag. | Monan daeg. | Mona dei. | Mana dagr. | Maandag. | + | Dienstag. | Tives daeg. | Tys dei. | Tyrs dagr. | Dingsdag. | + | Mitwoch. | Vodenes daeg. | Werns dei. | Odins dagr. | Woensdag. | + | Donnerstag.| Thunores daeg.| Thunres dei.| Thors dagr. | Donderdag.| + | Freitag. | Frige daeg. | Frigen dei. | Fria dagr. | Vrijdag. | + | Samstag. | Soeternes | Sater dei. | Laugar dagr | Zaturdag. | + | | daeg. | | (washing day)| | + +------------+--------------+-------------+---------------+-----------+ + +The cycle which must be completed with the present calendar to bring the +same day of the year to the same day of the week, is twenty-eight years, +since there is one day over every ordinary year, and two every leap +year; which will make an overlapping of days which, except at the +centuries, will go through all the changes in twenty-eight times, which +forms what is called the solar cycle. + +There is but one more point that will be interesting about the calendar, +namely, the date from which we reckon our years. + +Among the Jews it was from the creation of the world, as recorded in +their sacred books--but no one can determine when that was with +sufficient accuracy to make it represent anything but an agreement of +the present day. Different interpreters do not come within a thousand +years of one another for its supposed date; although some of them have +determined it very accurately to their own satisfaction--one going so +far as to say that creation finished at nine o'clock one Sunday morning! +In other cases the date has been reckoned from national events--as in +the Olympiads, the foundation of Rome, &c. The word we now use, AERA, +points to a particular date from which to reckon, since it is composed +of the initials of the words AB EXORDIO REGNI AUGUSTI "from the +commencement of the reign of Augustus." At the present day the point of +departure, both forwards and backwards, is the year of the birth of +Jesus Christ--a date which is itself controverted, and the use of which +did not exist among the first Christians. They exhibited great +indifference, for many centuries, as to the year in which Jesus Christ +entered the world. It was a monk who lived in obscurity at Rome, about +the year 580, who was a native of so unknown a country that he has been +called a Scythian, and whose name was Denys, surnamed _Exiguus_, or the +Little, who first attempted to discover by chronological calculations +the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. + +The era of Denys the Little was not adopted by his contemporaries. Two +centuries afterwards, the Venerable Bede exhorted Christians to make use +of it--and it only came into general use about the year 800. + +Among those who adopted the Christian era, some made the year commence +with March, which was the first month of the year of Romulus; others in +January, which commences the year of Numa; others commenced on Christmas +Day; and others on Lady Day, March 25. Another form of nominal year was +that which commenced with Easter Day, in which case, the festival being +a movable one, some years were shorter than others, and in some years +there might be two 2nd, 3rd, &c., of April, if Easter fell in one year +on the 2nd, and next year a few days later. + +The 1st of January was made to begin the year in Germany in 1500. An +edict of Charles IX. prescribes the same in France in 1563. But it was +not till 1752 that the change was made in England by Lord Chesterfield's +Act. The year 1751, as the year that had preceded it, began on March +25th, and it should have lasted till the next Lady Day; but according to +the Act, the months of January, February, and part of March were to be +reckoned as part of the year 1752. By this means the unthinking seemed +to have grown old suddenly by three months, and popular clamour was +raised against the promoter of the Bill, and cries raised of "Give us +our three months." Such have been the various changes that our calendar +has undergone to bring it to its present state. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE END OF THE WORLD. + + +Perhaps the most anxious question that has been asked of the astronomer +is when the world is to come to an end. It is a question which, of +course, he has no power to answer with truth; but it is also one that +has often been answered in good faith. It has perhaps been somewhat +natural to ask such a question of an astronomer, partly because his +science naturally deals with the structure of the universe, which might +give some light as to its future, and partly because of his connection +with astrology, whose province it was supposed to be to open the destiny +of all things. Yet the question has been answered by others than by +astronomers, on grounds connected with their faith. In the early ages of +the Church, the belief in the rapid approach of the end of the world was +universally spread amongst Christians. The Apocalypse of St. John and +the Acts of the Apostles seemed to announce its coming before that +generation passed away. Afterwards, it was expected at the year 1000; +and though these beliefs did not rest in any way on astronomical +grounds, yet to that science was recourse had for encouragement or +discouragement of the idea. The middle ages, fall of simple faith and +superstitious credulity, were filled with fear of this terrible +catastrophe. + +As the year 1000 approached, the warnings became frequent and very +pressing. Thus, for example, Bernard of Thuringia, about 960, began to +announce publicly that the world was about to end, declaring that he had +had a particular revelation of the fact. He took for his text the +enigmatical words of the Apocalypse: "At the end of one thousand years, +Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and shall seduce the people that +are in the four quarters of the earth. The book of life shall be open, +and the sea shall give up her dead." He fixed the day when the +Annunciation of the Virgin should coincide with Good Friday as the end +of all things. This happened in 992, but nothing extraordinary happened. + +During the tenth century the royal proclamations opened by this +characteristic phrase: _Whereas the end of the world is approaching_.... + +In 1186 the astrologers frightened Europe by announcing a conjunction of +all the planets. Rigord, a writer of that period, says in his _Life of +Philip Augustus_: "The astrologers of the East, Jews, Saracens, and even +Christians, sent letters all over the world, in which they predicted, +with perfect assurance, that in the month of September there would be +great tempests, earthquakes, mortality among men, seditions and +discords, revolutions in kingdoms, and the destruction of all things. +But," he adds, "the event very soon belied their predictions." + +Some years after, in 1198, another alarm of the end of the world was +raised, but this time it was not dependent on celestial phenomena. It +was said that Antichrist was born in Babylon, and therefore all the +human race would be destroyed. + +It would be a curious list to make of all the years in which it was said +that Antichrist was born; they might be counted by hundreds, to say +nothing of the future. + +At the commencement of the fourteenth century, the alchemist Arnault of +Villeneuve announced the end of the world for 1335. In his treatise _De +Sigillis_ he applies the influence of the stars to alchemy, and expounds +the mystical formula by which demons are to be conjured. + +St. Vincent Ferrier, a famous Spanish preacher, gave to the world as +many years' duration as there were verses in the Psalms--about 2537. + +The sixteenth century produced a very plentiful crop of predictions of +the final catastrophe. Simon Goulart, for example, gave the world an +appalling account of terrible sights seen in Assyria--where a mountain +opened and showed a scroll with letters of Greek--"The end of the world +is coming." This was in 1532; but after that year had passed in safety, +Leovitius, a famous astrologer, predicted it again for 1584. Louis +Gayon reports that the fright at this time was great. The churches could +not hold those who sought a refuge in them, and a great number made +their wills, without reflecting that there was no use in it if the whole +world was to finish. + +One of the most famous mathematicians of Europe, named Stoffler, who +flourished in the 16th century, and who worked for a long time at the +reform of the calendar proposed by the Council of Constance, predicted a +universal deluge for 1524. This deluge was to happen in the month of +February, because Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars were then together in the +sign of the Fishes. Everyone in Europe, Asia, and Africa, to whom these +tidings came, was in a state of consternation. They expected a deluge, +in spite of the rainbow. Many contemporary authors report that the +inhabitants of the maritime provinces of Germany sold their lands for a +mere trifle to those who had more money and less credulity. Each built +himself a boat like an ark. A doctor of Toulouse, named Auriol, made a +very large ark for himself, his family, and his friends, and the same +precautions were taken by a great many people in Italy. At last the +month of February came, and not a drop of rain fell. Never was a drier +month or a more puzzled set of astrologers. Nevertheless they were not +discouraged nor neglected for all that, and Stoffler himself, associated +with the celebrated Regiomontanus, predicted once more that the end of +the world would come in 1588, or at least that there would be frightful +events which would overturn the earth. + +This new prediction was a new deception; nothing extraordinary occurred +in 1588. The year 1572, however, witnessed a strange phenomenon, capable +of justifying all their fears. An unknown star came suddenly into view +in the constellation of Cassiopeia, so brilliant that it was visible +even in full daylight, and the astrologers calculated that it was the +star of the Magi which had returned, and that it announced the second +coming of Jesus Christ. + +The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were filled with new +predictions of great variety. + +Even our own century has not been without such. A religious work, +published in 1826, by the Count Sallmard Montfort, demonstrated +perfectly that the world had no more than ten years to exist. "The +world," he said, "is old, and its time of ending is near, and I believe +that the epoch of that terrible event is not far off. Jacob, the chief +of the twelve tribes of Israel, and consequently of the ancient Church, +was born in 2168 of the world, _i.e._, 1836 B.C. The ancient Church, +which was the figure of the new, lasted 1836 years. Hence the new one +will only last till 1836 A.D." + +Similar prophecies by persons of various nations have in like manner +been made, without being fulfilled. Indeed, we have had our own +prophets; but they have proved themselves incredulous of their own +predictions, by taking leases that should _commence_ in the year of the +world's destruction. + +But we have one in store for us yet. In 1840, Pierre Louis of Paris +calculated that the end would be in 1900, and he calculated in this +way:--The Apocalypse says the Gentiles shall occupy the holy city for +forty-two months. The holy city was taken by Omar in 636. Forty-two +months of years is 1260, which brings the return of the Jews to 1896, +which will precede by a few years the final catastrophe. Daniel also +announces the arrival of Antichrist 2,300 days after the establishment +of Artaxerxes on the throne of Persia, 400 B.C., which again brings us +to 1900. + +Some again have put it at 2000 A.D., which will make 6,000 years, as +they think, from the creation; these are the days of work; then comes +the 1,000 years of millennial sabbath. + +We are led far away by these vain speculations from the wholesome study +of astronomy; they are useful only in showing how by a little latitude +that science may wind itself into all the questions that in any way +affect the earth. + +Indeed, since the world began, the world will doubtless end, and +astronomers are still asked how could it be brought about? + +Certainly it is not an impossible event, and there are only too many +ways in which it has been imagined it might occur. + +The question is one that stands on a very different footing from that it +occupied before the days of Galileo and Copernicus. _Then_ the earth was +believed to be the centre of the universe, and all the heavens and stars +created for it. _Then_ the commencement of the world was the +commencement of the universe, its destruction would be the destruction +of all. _Now_, thanks to the revolution in feeling that has been +accomplished by the progress of astronomy, we have learned our own +insignificance, and that amongst the infinite number of stars, each +supporting their own system of inhabited planets, our earth occupies an +infinitesimally small portion, and the destruction of it would make no +difference whatever--still less its becoming uninhabitable. It is an +event which must have happened and be happening to other worlds, without +affecting the infinite life of the universe in any marked degree. + +Nevertheless, for ourselves, the question remains as interesting as if +we were the all in all, but must be approached in a different manner. + +Numerous hypotheses have been put forth on the question but they may +mostly be dismissed as vain. + +Buffon calculated that it had taken 74,832 years for the earth to cool +down to its present temperature, and that it will take 93,291 years +more before it would be too cold for men to live upon it. But Sir +William Thomson has shown that the internal heat of the earth, supposed +to be due to its cooling from fusion, cannot have seriously modified +climate for a long series of years, and that life depends essentially on +the heat of the sun. + +Another hypothesis, the most ancient of all, is that which supposes the +earth will be destroyed by fire. It comes down from Zoroaster and the +Jews; and on the improbable supposition of the thin crust of the earth +over a molten mass, this is thought possible. However, as the tendency +in the past has been all the other way, namely, to make the effect of +the inner heat of the earth less marked on the surface, we have no +reason to expect a reversal. + +A third theory would make the earth die more gradually and more surely. +It is known that by the wearing down of the surface by the rains and +rivers, there is a tendency to reduce mountains and all high parts of +the earth to a uniform level, a tendency which is only counteracted by +some elevating force within the earth. If these elevating forces be +supposed to be due to the internal heat--a hypothesis which cannot be +proved--then with the cooling of the earth the elevating forces would +cease, and, finally, the whole of the continent would be brought beneath +the sea and terrestrial life perish. + +Another interesting but groundless hypothesis is that of Adhemar on the +periodicity of deluges. This theory depends on the fact of the unequal +length of the seasons in the two hemispheres. Our autumn and our winter +last 179 days. In the southern hemisphere they last 186 days. These +seven days, or 168 hours, of difference, increase each year the coldness +of the pole. During 10,500 years the ice accumulates at one pole and +melts at the other, thereby displacing the earth's centre of gravity. +Now a time will arrive when, after the maximum of elevation of +temperature on one side, a catastrophe will happen, which will bring +back the centre of gravity to the centre of figure, and cause an immense +deluge. The deluge of the north pole was 4,200 years ago, therefore the +next will be 6,300 hence. It is very obvious to ask on this--_Why_ +should there be a _catastrophe_? and why should not the centre of +gravity return _gradually_ as it was gradually displaced? + +Another theory has been that it would perish by a comet. That it will +not be by the shock we have already seen from the light weight of the +comet and from experience; but it has been suggested that the gas may +combine with the air, and an explosion take place that would destroy us +all; but is not that also contradicted by experience? + +Another idea is that we shall finally fall into the sun by the +resistance of the ether to our motion. Encke's comet loses in +thirty-three years a thousandth part of its velocity. It appears then +that we should have to wait millions of centuries before we came too +near the sun. + +In reality, however, we are simply dependent on our sun, and our destiny +depends upon that. + +In the first place, in its voyage through space it might encounter or +come within the range of some dark body we at present know nothing of, +and the attraction might put out of harmony all our solar system with +calamitous results. Or since we are aware that the sun is a radiating +body giving out its heat on all sides, and therefore growing colder, it +may one day happen that it will be too cold to sustain life on the +earth. It is, we know, a variable star, and stars have been seen to +disappear, or even to have a catastrophe happen to them, as the kindling +of enormous quantities of gas. A catastrophe in the sun will be our own +end. + +Fontenelle has amusingly described in verse the result of the sun +growing cold, which may be thus Englished:-- + + "Of this, though, I haven't a doubt, + One day when there isn't much light, + The poor little sun will go out + And bid us politely--good-night. + Look out from the stars up on high, + Some other to help you to see; + I can't shine any longer, not I, + Since shining don't benefit me. + + "Then down on our poor habitation + What numberless evils will fall, + When the heavens demand liquidation, + Why all will go smash, and then all + Society come to an end. + Soon out of the sleepy affair + His way will each traveller wend, + No testament leaving, nor heir." + +The cooling of the sun must, however, take place very gradually, as no +cooling has been perceived during the existence of man; and the growth +of plants in the earliest geological ages, and the life of animals, +prove that for so long a time it has been within the limits within which +life has been possible--and we may look forward to as long in the +future. + +It is not of course the time when the sun will become a dark ball, +surrounded by illuminated planets, that we must reckon as the end of the +earth. Life would have ceased long before that stage--no man will +witness the death of the sun. + +[Illustration: PLATE XVI.--THE END OF THE WORLD.] + +The diminution of the sun's heat would have for its natural effect the +enlargement of the glacial zones! the sea and the land in those parts of +the earth would cease to support life, which would gradually be drawn +closer to the equatorial belt. Man, who by his nature and his +intelligence is best fitted to withstand cold climates, would remain +among the last of the inhabitants, reduced to the most miserable +nourishment. Drawn together round the equator, the last of the sons of +earth would wage a last combat with death, and exactly as the shades +approached, would the human genius, fortified by all the acquirements of +ages past--give out its brightest light, and attempt in vain to throw +off the fatal cover that was destined to engulf him. At last, the earth, +fading, dry, and sterile, would become an immense cemetery. And it would +be the same with the other planets. The sun, already become red, would +at last become black, and the planetary system would be an assemblage of +black balls revolving round a larger black ball. + +Of course this is all imaginary, and cannot affect ourselves, but the +very idea of it is melancholy, and enough to justify the words of +Campbell:-- + + "For this hath science searched on weary wing + By shore and sea--each mute and living thing, + Or round the cope her living chariot driven + And wheeled in triumph through the signs of heaven. + Oh, star-eyed science, hast thou wandered there + To waft us home the message of despair?" + +In reality, as we know nothing of the origin, so we know nothing of the +end of the world; and where so much has been accomplished, there are +obviously infinite possibilities enough to satisfy the hopes of every +one. + +While some stars may be fading, others may be rising into their place, +and man need not be identified with one earth alone, but may rest +content in the idea that the life universal is eternal. + + +THE END. + + + + +LONDON: P. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break. + +3. The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version +these letters have been replaced with transliterations, for example, +[Greek: a] represents first Greek letter alpha. + +3. The original text includes certain symbols for planets and zodiac +signs. For this text version these symbols are replaced by text name +of the corresponding symbol. For example, [symbol: sun] replaces the +symbolic representation of sun. + +4. In this text version, fractions are represented using hyphen and +forward slash. For example, 3-1/2 stands for three and a half. + +5. Certain words use oe ligature in the original. + +6. Obvious errors in punctuation and a few misprints have been silently +corrected. + +7. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +hyphenation and ligature usage have been retained. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Astronomical Myths, by John F. Blake + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS *** + +***** This file should be named 36495.txt or 36495.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/9/36495/ + +Produced by Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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