526 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



stream in that direction to render possible a closer approach to the Pole. 

 Another graduate of the ancient system in Canton offered the fol- 

 lowing as an explanation of why he thought it was hotter in Peking 

 than in Canton : 



" At Peking the earth is thicker than at Canton, and so a person liv- 

 ing on top of the earth is nearer the sun at Peking than at Canton and 

 hence gets more heat, and we know that the earth is thicker at Peking 

 than at Canton because in Peking you have to dig many tens of feet to 

 get water, whereas in Canton you can readily strike water at ten to 

 twenty feet." 



4. Astronomy — Astrology. — The precise attainments of the ancient 

 Chinese in astronomy are not easily understood from the scanty records. 

 To the burning of all native scientific books, except those on agri- 

 culture, medicine and astrology, by imperial order in 221 B.C., the 

 Chinese attribute the loss of a mass of astronomical learning. Wylie 

 furnishes a list of 925 solar and 574 lunar eclipses, extracted from 

 Chinese works, observed between 2150 b.c and a.d. 1785. The 

 earliest known record of an eclipse occurs, though imperfectly, in the 

 ancient " Shu-King," or " Book of History." Retrospective calculation 

 shows that it may have occurred as early as the autumn of 2158 B.C. 

 Simple methods for predicting solar eclipses seem to have been in use 

 in China before 2000 B.C., but this eclipse of 2158 B.C. is said to have 

 appeared unexpectedly and to have so disturbed the emperor that he at 

 once executed the two court astronomers for failing to predict it ! 



In the Chinese canonical books thirty-eight solar eclipses are men- 

 tioned, eighteen of which agree with modern lists, but the others seem 

 in error in either month or year, though the day is- always correct. 

 This suggests that the records are reliable and that the non-agreement 

 is probably due to an imperfect knowledge of the ancient calendar, 

 particularly with reference to intercalation and the beginning of the 

 year, which are probably irregular. Intercalations were probably intro- 

 duced by Yao about 2637 B.C., but it is hardly likely that they have 

 continued without variation to this day. Romish missionaries rectified 

 the calendar about 1700 and have aided in its preparation until recently. 

 A cycle of sixty years was adopted in very early times, but there is no 

 record of when or why this number was selected. The Chinese year 

 is lunar, but its commencement is regulated by the sun. New Year 

 falls on the first new moon after the sun enters Aquarius, which makes 

 it come not before January 21 nor after February 19. 



Comets, whose brilliancy enabled them to be seen, have been care- 

 fully noted by the Chinese, because their course among the stars is 

 thought to determine their influence as portents. A list of 373 comets 

 mentioned in Chinese records has been published, extending from 611 



