ZODIACAL MYTHOLOGY. 



To us of the nineteenth century, who have our national 

 institutions for the discovery and propagation of scien- 

 tific truths, thus being saved the trouble of investigating 

 for ourselves, having only to open a book to see when 

 the next eclipse of the sun will take place, or whether 

 the Easter holidays fall later, or earlier than usual, it 

 seems almost incredible that there once existed races of 

 men who devoted almost all their time to the study of 

 astronomy ; but such is nevertheless the fact ; and when 

 we consider the different conditions under which society 

 existed in very remote times from what we are now sub- 

 ject to, we shall at once see that it was not altogether a 

 pleasure, but in fact a stern necessity, that impelled the 

 people of those early times to make themselves tho- 

 roughly acquainted with the various natural phenomena 

 taking place around them day after day, month after 

 month, and year after year. In those days, when writing 

 was either altogether unknown or limited entirely to a 

 few, and when such things as almanacks and encyclo- 

 pedias were not the order of the day, people had to trust 

 to their own knowledge of the movements of the heavenly 

 bodies and the properties and uses of plants, etc., for 

 the successful carrying on of their daily pursuits, which 

 were then principally of an agricultural nature. Instead 

 of watches and clocks, the people had only the sun in 

 heaven to tell them the hours of the day ; instead of 

 monthly almanacks, they had the moon for their guide ; 

 and, instead of annual calendars to mark the commence- 

 ment of the seasons, they had only the stars above to 

 teach them the proper times to till their lands and sow 

 their grain. Consequently, it was absolutely necessary 

 that they should be well acquainted with all the move- 

 ments of the heavenly bodies ; and we need only glance 

 at the earliest records of the human race to find that 



