62 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



pears to have noted down at each successive hour the name 

 of the particular star which was then actually upon the me- 

 ridian. We do not know how he determined his meridian, 

 what instrument he used, or by what contrivance he limited 

 his observations, but he seems to have noted the passage of 

 stars over seven different vertical lines. If the star were 

 crossing the first line, beginning from the east, it was noted 

 down as being "on the left shoulder ;" if it were on the fourth 

 line, which represented the meridian, it was put down as "in 

 the middle;" if on the fifth line, it was observed as " on the 

 right," and so on. The epoch at which these observations 

 were made is calculated to have been within one century of 

 the year B.C. 1500. From this calendar Renouf restores ap- 

 proximately the Egyptian names of a number of stars well 

 known to us at the present time. Thus Alpha Orionis of 

 modern astronomy corresponds with the Egyptian constella- 

 tion known as the "Goose's Head;" the Pleiades were known 

 to the Egyptians as " Chu ;" Coma Berenices was called by 

 them "The many stars," and so on. Transactions of the 

 Society of Biblical Archceology, III., 400. 



