[*] 



they were more or less full of astronomical allusions in 

 fact, that the principal study which engaged the atten- 

 tion of primitive man was the study of the starry 

 heavens. 



In my lecture on "The Evolution of the God Idea " 

 I have already pointed out how the earliest religious 

 conceptions arose from this study ; and in my " Popular 

 Faith Unveiled " I have endeavoured to show that, in 

 naming the constellations, the ancients adopted the 

 wise device of giving to groups of stars the names 

 of the particular earth productions or earth phe- 

 nomena that happened to take place at the time 

 when such star groups made their appearance in 

 the heavens. Now, it is a very remarkable fact 

 that in those ancient countries of which we have any 

 exact knowledge the heavenly bodies received very 

 similar and, in many instances, identical names, which is 

 just what we should expect if the above theory of the 

 naming be correct. Take the zodiac, for example, which 

 is the line of the apparent annual circuit of the sun, 

 and we find that in Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece it 

 was divided into twelve portions of 30 degrees each, the 

 whole circuit consisting of 360 degrees ; and the equiva- 

 lent signs bore a wonderful similarity to each other. In 

 the old Indian zodiac published in the " Philosophical 

 Transactions" of 1772 the signs are as follows, com- 

 mencing at the vernal equinoxial point : Ram, Bull, 

 Man with two shields, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, 

 Scorpion, Bow and Arrow, Monster with goat's head and 

 fish's hindquarters, Urn, Fish. In the Indian zodiac 

 published by Sir W. Jones they are as follows : Ram, 

 Bull, Youth and Damsel, Crab, Lion, Virgin in a boat, 

 holding an ear of rice-corn, Man holding the balances, 

 Scorpion, Centaur shooting with a bow and arrow, 

 Monster with antelope's head and fish's hindquarters, 

 Man carrying a water-pot on his shoulder, Two Fishes. 

 The ancient Persian zodiacal signs were : Lamb, Bull, 

 Twins, Crab, Lion, Ear of Corn, Balances, Scorpion, 

 Bow, Goat, Pitcher of Water, Two Fishes. In the zodiac 

 depicted on the ceiling of the Egyptian temple of Isis 

 at Dendera the following are the signs : Ram, Bull, 

 Twins, Beetle, Lion, Virgin holding an ear of corn, 



