SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. 99 



In the absence of a correct calendar, such as our almanacs now 

 furnish, the early cultivators of the soil very wisely determined 

 the recurrence of various seasons, by the aspect of the heavens. 

 It was, to them, a matter of no small importance, to know, with 

 unerring certainty, the time when first to break the soil, and plant. 

 This they could not do, judging from the simple change in the 

 climate, or temperature, due to the return of spring ; as various 

 causes, which we need not mention, render this indication liable 

 to great uncertainty. Hence, at a very early day, the apparent 

 path of the sun, in the heavens, was divided into twelve portions, 

 called signs ; and as these signs were mostly representatives of 

 living objects, it was called the - Zodiac, from a Greek word 

 meaning life. In a previous chapter, we have shown how this 

 division was accomplished by means of the water-clock. The 

 present division of the Zodiac was probably made by the Egyptians, 

 and they named the signs with particular reference to agriculture, 

 and the seasons at the time of their invention. From the 

 Egyptians it was undoubtedly borrowed by the Greeks, and from 

 them has been transmitted to us. As we have elsewhere shown, 

 these signs are reckoned from the point of vernal equinox, or first 

 point of Aries, eastward, completely around the ecliptic. Their 

 names are, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, 

 Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The sun 

 enters Aries, or the Ram, at the time of vernal equinox ; hence 

 this sign was represented under the form of a ram, to which 

 the character <p was placed, designed no doubt, at first, to repre- 

 sent a ram's horns. This was the beginning of spring. The 

 sun entered the next sign, Taurus, a Bull, a month afterwards ; 

 which was, therefore, appropriately represented by a bull, the 

 attention now being drawn to plowing and sowing. This sign 

 was once situated in the constellation Taurus, which numbers 

 among its stars the beautiful group called the Pleiades, or seven 

 stars, although now, on account of the precession of the equinoxes, 

 it is in the constellation Aries. Hesiod alludes to the heliacal 

 rising and cosmical setting of the seven stars : 



"When, Atlas born, the Pleiad stafls arise, 

 Before the sun, above the dawning skies, 

 'Tis time to reap ; and when they sink below 

 The morn illumined west, 'tis time to sow." 



