UDomledge & Selentifle Neiiis 



A MOXrillA JolRNAL OV SCll'NClL 



Vol. I. No. i. 



[new SERIES.] FEBRUARY, 1904. 



r Entered at "i 

 LStalioners' Hall. J 



SixPKNCE. By Post, 7id. 



Introduction. 



As the announcement in the January number of 

 " Knowledge " will have led our readers to ex- 

 pect, certain new features appear in this the 

 first issue of the combined papers " Knowi.eugi; & 

 Illustrated Scientific News." These features, which 

 were characteristic of the younger of the two periodicals, 

 take the form of articles on Physics and .Vpplied Science ; 

 and if they prove acceptable to our readers, we propose 

 to add to them as time goes on other articles and notes 

 dealing with the progress of science in Chemistry and 

 Electricit}'. At the same time it is proposed to dis- 

 continue none of the features which have been distin';tive 

 of " Knowledge," and which during many years have 

 secured for it so large and influential a body of readers. 

 All the contributors whQse names were mentioned in the 

 forecast which was published last December of the forth- 

 coming volume of "Knowledge" have been retained, 

 and their articles will appear during the ensuing twelve 

 months. The Astronomical columns and their editorship 

 wll remain under the able direction which has controlled 

 them hitherto ; and the general articles and notes on 

 Botany, Zoology, and Natural History will remain un- 

 changed in general form and substance. The publication 

 of the columns on Chess alone, it is proposed, owing to 

 unavoidable circumstances, to postpone from this month 

 until next, when a new announcement will be made. In 

 concluding this brief notice of our intentions, we may ex- 

 press the hope that they are such as to meet with the 

 approval of our readers. 



Ancient Calendars a^nd 

 Constella^tions. 



By li. Walter Maunder, F.R.A.S. 



It is generally asserted that the months of the year, both 

 of the Accadian and Assyrian calendars, have an intimate 

 connection with the constellations of the Zodiac ; the 

 great epic of Gilgamesh has been claimed as a zodiacal 

 myth ; and other myths and legends are explained in the 

 same manner, or contain references which are apparently 

 constellational. But we are thus sometimes involved in 

 grave chronological difficulties, of which Assyriologists for 

 the most part have taken no notice. It is therefore a 



very real service to science which the Hon. Miss Emmeline 

 M. Plunket has rendered, '^ in that she has recognised one 

 of the most serious of these discrepancies, has called 

 attention to it, and has striven to remove it. 



The chief astrological work of Assyria is one in 70 

 tablets, drawn up for the library of King Sargon of 

 Agane. The date at first assigned to this monarch was 

 about 1700 B.C., for it was concluded that before this 

 date the month Nisan, the first month of the Assyrian 

 calendar, could not have corresponded with the position 

 of the spring equinox in the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries. 

 Later, however, a baked clay cylinder of Nabonidus, King 

 of Babylon, who reigned from 555 — 538 B.C., was dis- 

 covered, in which he described iiow he rebuilt the temple 

 of the sun god at Sippar, and in the course of the work 

 had found an inscription of Naram-Sin, the son of 

 Sargon 1., the original founder of the temple, " which for 

 3200 years had not been seen." From this tablet a little 

 simple arithmetic led to the conclusion that the date of 

 Sargon must ha\-e been about 3800 n.c. 



These two determinations of the date of Sargon differ, 

 it will be seen, by at least two thousand years ; that is to 

 say, by more than the entire length of the Christian era. 

 The second determination of course follows inevitably, if 

 we take the statement of Nabonidus at its face \alue. 

 The first determination is equally inevitable if certain 

 underlying assumptions are made. But both detentiina- 

 tions cannot be right ; a period of 2000 years cannot be 

 treated as a negligeable quantity. Assyriologists in 

 general stand by the date for Sargon of 3800 B.C. as " the 

 best determined date in ancient history." ^'et the obvious 

 consequence has not been recognised, or at least not been 

 practically admitted; namely, that the assumptions upon 

 which the date of 1700 e.g. were based must, some or all 

 of them, be incorrect. They still sometimes enter, ex- 

 plicitly or implicitly, into Assyriological papers without 

 the slightest hint being afforded that so grave a doubt 

 has been cast on their validity. 



The assumption with which Miss Plunket deals is the 

 one that the Accadian year originally began with the 

 sun's entry into the zodiacal constellation Aries at the 

 spring e(iuinox. For spring etjuinox she would substitute 

 winter solstice, and thus throw back the origin of the 

 Accadian Calendar by 6400 years, to some date prior to 

 the year 6600 b.c. 



This suggestion is the text of Miss I'luiiket's book, 

 which consists of eight papers communicated at different 

 times to the Society of Biblical .\rcha'olcgy, followed by 

 notes explaining the numerous illustrative plates. She 

 applies this principle to the explanation of the astronomy 

 and mythology of Assyria, Media, Egypt, India, and 

 China, displaying much research and not a little ingenuity 

 in some of her explanations. 



' " Ancient Calendars and Conslella lions.' 

 line M. Plunlset, (John Mtjrray.) 



By the Hon. limme- 



