6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



usual custom to dismiss the entire matter as belonging to the realm of 

 astrology or myth, especially as nothing is said regarding the system 

 employed. This would seem, however, to be a somewhat arbitrary pro- 

 cedure in view of what we know of their methods and results in other 

 problems. It is well known that by comparison of long series of 

 eclipses, these ancient people were able to predict their occurrence by 



Edmund ii.u.i.ey. 



means of the cycle of 6,585 and one third days, or 18 years 11 and one 

 third, or 10 and one third days, depending on whether the particular 

 cycle included four or five leap years. It appears also, from compara- 

 tively recent investigation, that the same methods were employed in the 

 planetary motions, and with success. Tt seems, then, a very natural 



