[3] 



Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with bow and 

 arrow, Monster with goat's head and fish's hindquarters, 

 Man pouring water from two water-pots, Two Fishes. In 

 Kircher's Egyptian zodiac thesignsare: Man with ram's 

 horns, Bull, Twins, Hermes with head of an Ibis, Lion, 

 Virgin holding an ear of corn, Man holding the 

 balances, Man with serpents for legs and having a ser- 

 pent twisted round his body, Centaur shooting with 

 bow and arrow, Monster with goat's head and fish's 

 hindquarters, Man with an urn from which water 

 was falling, Woman with fish's tail. Ancient Greek 

 zodiacs had the following signs : Ram, Bull, Twins, 

 Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur 

 shooting with bow and arrow, Goat with fish's 

 hindquarters, Canobus with his pitcher of water, Two 

 Fishes. The Romans followed the Greeks, and these 

 signs have since remained unchanged in all modern 

 zodiacs, being now known under the following names : 

 Aries, the ram ; Taurus, the bull ; Gemini, the twins ; 

 Cancer, the crab; Leo, the lion; Virgo, the virgin; 

 Libra, the balances ; Scorpio, the scorpion ; Sagittarius, 

 the centaur-archer ; Capricornus, the goat-fish ; Aquarius, 

 the water-bearer ; Pisces, the fishes. 



Each of these signs corresponds with, a particular 

 portion of the year, varying according to the slow move- 

 ment known as the precession of the equinbxes, by which 

 all the signs are moved forward very slight!^ year by year, 

 at the rate of one degree in 71 or 72 years, until, at the 

 end of about 2,152 years, a whole sign has moved forward 

 into the position previously occupied by the sign imme- 

 diately preceding it. This is caused by the failure of the 

 sun to reach the same point in the same time in his 

 apparent circuit each year; and thus it happens that, in 

 a period of rather less than 26,000 years, each sign will 

 have moved completely round the zodiacal band. Now, 

 by careful calculation it has been found that the vernal 

 equinoxial point coincided with the first degree of Aries 

 about 28,000 years ago, with the first degree of Libra 

 about 17,000 years ago, with the first degree of Taurus 

 B.C. 4,340, with that of Aries B.C. 2,188, and with that 

 of Pisces B.C. 36 ; so that, at the present time, the vernal 

 .equinoxial point is really occupied by the sign of the 



