A short time ago, we remarked on the circumstances pointing to the twenty-third century before Christ as being a remarkable epoch in human history. It was then that astronomy had its first origin, and it was in or about this period that the pyramids of Ghizeh_ were erected, which have come down to the present day as.a memento of the advance made in human civilization.
The century must have been somewhat like the present mits ndvances, andit was followed by many ages of stagnation, Tndeed, nothing la more remarkable than the fact that, witl: carly observations before them, it woe "li. till twenty centuries afterwards the! Hipparcbus discovered the precession of the equi-noxas, an observation which may be said to have formed a now starting point in the science. We are apt to underrate the work which must have "been done by the early astronomers, and to sob at nought the inductions which led to the composition of the twelve signs of the zodiac; yet men must have observed long, and been in position to place a number of ob-"servations together, before this method of marking out the celestial sphere "could have presented itself. It is not at first sight apparent even to a per-gon of ordinary culture, how the year "came to be marked out by the position "of the sun amongst the stars. Sun and stars, it is evident, are never seen together 5 and it could only have been a process of reasoning that the path of the sun amidst the stellar orbs could "have been found out. At first the budding of trees, the calling of birds, or "the arrival and departare of migrants, "would have been the only means at the disposal of primitive man to mark the "return of the seasons. After some time he would have noticed that each of these was accompanied by the appartition of some star in some particular part of the heaven. In all probability the star which he saw just appearing above the eastern horizon, when first the departing twilight permitted him "to see the lower orbs of the sky, would be adopted as his true time measurer and by such methods he would be able "to form a rude almanac similar to that still existing amongst many half civil-"igéd races. The varying length of the day and night ab the different seasons would presently show him how rade wad the mensure; the spaces between the stars of the four' seasons when "goon inthe sky would, even to the eye unassisted by any instrament fit to measure angular distances, be so jrregdlar that the thoughtful mind would naturally seek some more definite measure. The second great light, the moon, which, like the sun, also traversed the heavens periodically, would naturally suggest itself. Now, there were two peculiarities about lunar motion which would at the very beginning present themselves. The first and most evident was that in about thirty days it passed through all its phases from full to new and back to full; but on its return to fall it did not occupy the same place as before amongst the stare, bat had passed a considerable distance onwards. Observations showed that something more than twenty-seven days was needed for its return to the same asterism from which it had started, and an attempt was evidently made to define its stages on the They refused to tally with any defi period, but still it was assumed that roughly twenty-eight days brought the moon nearly to its former position and as this number was divisible by four, and s0, as we shall see, could be made use of for determining the divisions of the seasons, a compromise seems to have been come to. Now, as the full moon is always opposite the san, the return of the full moon at the four seasons of the year to the neigh. bourhood of certain asterisms would as readily, or more readily, define the epoch than the observation of the rising star at sundown, and would, moreover, be soon found to be independent of latitude. Theseasons would thus come to be defined by the stars in opposition to the sun, and the full moon would be made the indicator as she stopped at the various mansions, Tt was apparently at this stage that the first great induction in astronomy was made. Although the stars were not blo by daylight, it was ensy to conceive that they were still in the sky, and that the sun must travel through them in the same way in which the moon traversed them at night. Although unseen, the path of the sun could, it was conceived, be calculated; and it was rightly judged that a more correct measure of time could then be obtained. To do 80 needed some instrament for angular measurement, and also some fixed spot to which to refer observations. Hence arose the first angular instruments, and also, of necessity, with them the first fixed observations. Both were unwieldy, and the mass of a pyramid seems sadly out of place when we look at the minutuie of a modern observatory. Two points for reference were needed, one in space and one in time. For the latter the vernal equinox was selected, when nature first commenced to burst forth and for the latter the position of the sun when he crossed the equator. This latter was found to' be in the present Pleiades, and this small asterism hence assamed that importance in astronomy and astrology Which its present appearance bardly justifies. It is curious to observe how this task has been wrought into mythology, and how many strnggles and changes of the solar heroes of antiquity may be referred to the violent change in the definition of the year. Were the Russians to adopt the calendar of the rest: of Europe and count their eighteenth of March: the first of April, we could understand how amongst some of the uncivilized tribes the change would be represented in terms similar to some of the old myths. There might have been a struggle, and twelve heroes have been slain, or twelve children have been destroyed before being born, or twelve knights have been lodged in prison, &., &e. One of the myths which, however, seems to refer clearest to the change in the direction of the year, is to be found in Indian mythology. Krishna, the Indian Hercules, was about to be born of Devaki; but the enemies of his house, afraid of the coming infant, imprison his mother, whose six previous children they had already slain, By divine interposition, however, the child is removed from Devaki to Rohini, like the. former a wife of Vasudeva; and of the new mother the child is born and ultimately overcomes all his foes. Now Rohini is the name of the Pleiades, and Devaki (the Shining) seems to refer to the bright stars in Bootes about Arcturus. by the light of what we learn of the progress of astronomy, we can understand the myth. The spring equinox was formerly marked by the stars in opposition to the sun, but the new astronomy changed this, and reckoned from those in conjunction. Hence the sun, which should have been born of Arcturus, was removed to the Pleiades, and that cluster was made to mark the beginning of the year; while slaying the six intermediate children Arcturus came to tell of Autumn instead of Spring. To similar experiences may be referred others of the myths once current and believed as solar history. We can now see that they were not false nor were they deliberate inventions. In fact, there are few myths without foundation; and though the foundation be often far to seek, there is in many cases the possibility of discovering it. We may then see how equally unreasonable are the two extremes; on the one hand to accept myth for history and try to enharmonize by cutting off what seemed supernatural, and on the other hand to reject as unworthy of notice tales which could not be literally true. Both have had their das, and both should teach us that, amidst fables, there may yet lie hidden important troths did we only know where to seek for the key.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.