ANCIENT CHINESE ASTRONOMY. 79 



ing first, that at the commencement of this great period of 

 six hundred years there was no deep-sea sailing which 

 called for the use of the compass; and second, that toward 

 the end of it, although voyages were made wherein the 

 guidance of the magnetic needle would have been of great 

 utility, and although the traditions of the south-pointing 

 carts then became more numerous, still no similar records 

 have been encountered showing that ships were steered by 

 the lodestone's aid. 



Arguments in support of the presumed knowledge of 

 the Chinese regarding navigation are often based on their 

 alleged attainments in astronomy ; for they have undoubt- 

 edly studied the phenomena dealt with by that science, 

 since time immemorial. But their calculations of eclipses 

 have been found erroneous ; and the astronomer Cassini, 

 in examining an observation of one winter solstice very 

 celebrated in their annals, discovered therein an error of no 

 less than 487 years. They are rather astrologers than 

 astronomers, and their tribunal of mathematics, existing, 

 as it has, for centuries, has found its chief occupation in 

 indicating to the Government fortunate days for national 

 enterprises or ceremonials rather than in gathering the re- 

 sults of observation. In brief, their system of astronomy 

 is rigidity itself, and if its predictions fail they argue that 

 the fault is not in themselves, but in their stars, and settle 

 the matter by deferring further prophecy until after the 

 event. 



The student who attempts to glean from the early mis- 

 sionary writers on China any definite information as to the 

 real status of her people in fields of invention or discovery, 

 will find himself confronted by an abundance of exagger- 

 ated statements and contradictions innumerable. The 

 later Italian and French authors, who have endeavored to 

 reconcile these, fail to do so, and unite in regarding the 

 missionary reports as generally unreliable. Nor can fa- 

 vorable inferences be drawn from other achievements 

 ascribed to the Chinese. They invented a written char- 



