XXIX 



and Damoiseau's Tables agreed with the eclipses in the Almagest, the 

 result, of course, was again a vicious conclusio in circulo. 



hs, soon as Zech's Prize Theses were issued, I came out with my re- 

 monstrances in "Gottingen Gelehrte Anzeiger," 1855, n. 125. (See my 

 " Berichtigungen der Geschichte," 1855, p. 99 ) In order to construct cor- 

 rect Lunar Tables, the question is not, how far Hansen's or similar Tables 

 harmonize with Ptolemy's and Petavius's eclipses ; but the principal and 

 previous duty is, to make out, by the help of the present historical and 

 astronomical resources, /« what years the Greek, Roman and Babylonian 

 eclipses really have taken f lace. Had the Tablonowskian Society longed, 

 before all, for a pamphlet deciding, according to the present chronological 

 auxiliaries, to what years all the classic and Babylonian eclipses are to be 

 referred, that learned corporation would have rendered an immortal ser- 

 vice to science. I am very sorry that Prof. Newcomb laid any stress upon 

 Zech's computations, restoring the old historic chaos of Ptolemy and 

 Petavius. 



Again, it is presumed that Airy's and Hind's computations of some clas- 

 sic eclipses confirm the present theory of the moon's motions, and, apart 

 from trifles, Hansen's Tables corresponding with the Almagest. This argu- 

 ment is astonishing indeed. For, according to the computed eclipse in 

 — 584, Cyrus was wonderfully born prior to his mother. (See these Trans- 

 actions iii. 516.) In case the eclipse of Xerxes was that in — 474, Feb. 16, 

 23h., the sun rose on that day very late, viz. after noon in Smyrna (id. p. 

 518). If the eclipse of Larissa happened in —556, then the Babylonian 

 captivity "of 70 full years" would have lasted 45 years only. In case the 

 eclipse of Agathocles was that in— 309, Aug. 15, then the Greeks called the 

 summer winter, and the winter summer. Surely this is treating the sound 

 common sense of mankind with contempt ! — I do not understand how 

 learned men, who obtained a classic education, and know what logic and 

 common sense are, could expect to succeed in constructing ancient history 

 a priori. Clio is a sacred virgin, descended from heavenly parents, and 

 it is a shameful act to abuse her for supporting fallacious theories. Who- 

 ever holds Hansen's Tables and the present theory of the moon's motions 

 to be true, is under necessity to adopt the aforesaid absurdities, and to 

 believe that the Greeks celebrated the Olympian games sometimes after 

 four, sometimes after three years ; that the Peloponnesian war lasted not 

 28 years, as the eye-witnesses Thucydides and Xenophon testify, but 27 

 years only ; that the total eclipses of Xerxes and Plutarch were fabrications ; 

 that the Annales Maximi and Livy omitted a whole year of Roman his- 

 tory ; that Cssar was not seven times, but six only. Dictator; that the 

 eclipse perceived at Rome and at Teos in Asia Minor soon after the found- 

 ing of Rome, was an imposition, and so forth. 



In one word, it is absolutely impracticable to bring the 19 eclipses in the 

 Almagest into harmony with the 100 Greek and Roman eclipses ; either 

 the former or the latter must be given up. Tertium nan datur. It can by 

 no means be demonstrated that Ptolemy's older eclipses were observed. 



