ASTRONOMICAL THEORIES. 25 



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CHAPTER II. 

 MIMC 



Astronomical Theories. 



" He sat and read. A book with silver clasps, 

 All gorgeous with illuminated lines 

 Of gold and crimson, lay upon a frame 

 Before him. ' Twas a volume of old time ; 

 And in it were fine mysteries of the stars, 

 Solved with a cunning wisdom." Willis. 



THE imperfect historical records of the nations of antiquity 

 prevent us from determining with certainty when, and with whom, 

 astronomical science had its origin. It is certain however, that it 

 was cultivated at a very early age by the Egyptians, the Chal- 

 deans, the Bramins of India, and the Chinese. In a fine 

 climate, and fertile country, inhabited by nomadic tribes, we can 

 well imagine the sublime spectacle of the heavens to have arrested 

 early attention. At a later period, when the motion of the sun 

 among the stars began to be noticed, and consequently the helical 

 rising and setting of certain stars, i. e., their rising or setting just 

 before or after the sun, became the signs of approach of certain 

 seasons, the stars were grouped into constellations, and fanciful 

 names given to them. Thus we find Hesiod alludes to the helical 

 rising of Arcturus, and Thales mentions the number of days 

 after the vernal equinox, when the Pleiades set just as the sun 

 arose, by means of which we are now enabled to tell the age in 

 which he lived, as will be explained hereafter. 



The constellations being located and named, and the sun's 

 apparent path determined in the heavens, astronomers began to 

 observe more carefully the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, 

 among the stars, and endeavored to frame a system of the world 

 which would explain all the apparently irregular motions. It was 



