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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[May, 



gradual decline of nations is mainly to be attributed to the same cause ; 

 for this cliange, bv its powerful influence, leaves places more or less 

 suitable for the lubitation of man and other animals. In the words of 

 thejustlv celebrated Dr. Charles Hutton, "amid all the revolutions of 

 the globe, the economy of nature has been unifurm, and her laws are 

 the only things that have resisted the general movement. The rivers 

 and the rocks, the seas and the continents, have been changed in all 

 tlieVr p;ir(s, but tlie laws which direct those changes, and the rules to 

 which thev are subject, have remained invariably the same " The 

 following facts and statements may tend to illustrate this theory. The 

 gr.iduil change of the fixed stars, especially that which is termed the 

 north pole star, (Ursa MiTior) with respect to tli' apparent north and 

 south, shows that the axis of the earth is continuallv cli-inging its posi- 

 tion ; this fact is not disputed, but the parallels of latitude on the sur- 

 face of the earth are supp )sed to remain fixed, which is bv this theory 

 controverted. In the "Boundehesch," a work containing the cosmogony 

 of the F;irses, and supposed to have been written by Zoroaster, it is 

 said that Orniusd formed the light between the heavens and the 

 earth; that he m ide the sun, moon, ami stars, and divided the latter 

 (probably those near the ecliptic,) into twelve consteilations. 

 Eich star in the zodiac is said to be seconded by C,4S0, 000 smaller 

 stars, and all these are represented as soldiers, ready to make war on 

 the enemies of nature. Ormusd, it is added, has also placed in the 

 four quartets of heaven, four sentinels to watch over the stars ; of 

 these Taschter guards the east : Sateris, the west ; Venand, the south ; 

 and Haftorang, the north. There is said to be, also, a great star 

 Meschgab, in the midst of heaven, for the purpose of giving further 

 protection to the south when the enemy comes in great numbers. 

 Now it is impossible to form an opinion what can be meant by this 

 enemy so mvsteriously announced ; but the designation of the stais 

 seems to correspond with the Host of Heaven, which is used in the 

 scriptures, and with the attendants or guards of the Supreme Deity, 

 which is the denomination applied by the Egyptians to some of the 

 constellations and planets; and it lias been attempted by modern as- 

 tronomers to prove that four of the principal fixed stars were really 

 situated in, or near, the four cardinal points of the horizon about the 

 year 2200 B.C., which is the period assigned to the first Chaldean ob- 

 servations. D'Alembert remarks that the longitude of Aldebaran, at 

 that epocli, was 11° 20', and its latitude 5° 30' south; and as Antares 

 differs from Aldebaran in longitude by six signs, and has 4=30' south 

 latitude, it follows that these stars were then very nearly in the points 

 of the vernal and autumn.d equinoxes ; consequently, one of them 

 would be seen to rise near the east about the time that the other was 

 setting a little to the north of the west. Now, it has been alleged 

 that Taschter signifies the genius presiding over rain, and we know 

 that the heliacal rising of Aldebaran was considered by the ancients 

 as an indication of approaching storms; hence it is, with some pro- 

 priety, inferred that this star and Antares were two of those alluded 

 to in'the Persian story. The other two stars are less certain. Me right 

 motion of the earlh's'azis vol feing recognised; D'Alembert supposes 

 they might be Fornalhunt and Regiilus, which were then nearly in the 

 plaiie of the solstitial culure, and the former would be visible in the 

 south at an altitude of about twelve degrees above the horizon of 

 Babvlon, while Antares and Aldebaran were respectively rising and 

 setting; but Regnlus must have been 34= below the northern point of 

 the horizon, supposing the axis not to change ; consequently, accord- 

 ing to this theory, Regulus would be visible at the same hour in that 

 latitude. If, therefore, continues D'Alembert, it was meant that the 

 four stars were at once seen in the situations just mentioned, we must 

 look for some other star having the same longitude as Regulus, but 

 I'.aving at least 34° of nurth latitude; — the * r in Ursa Major is so 

 situated, and it is possible that this might be the star in question. M. 

 Bailly observes, "that the notiim of the four stars quartering the 

 heavens seems to have extended to China, for in the History of the 

 Astronomy of the Celestial Empire, it is said that there are four 

 spirits which preside over the four seisons, meaning probably the 

 quadrants of llie Zodiac, and it is likely enough that this kind of ob- 

 servations would be made by any people among whom astronomy was 

 in its infancv." 



This general apparent change of all the fixed stars, in pointing out 

 the motion or change alluded to, is much baffled from the dissa- 

 tisfactory tln^ory of corrections, from the rise and fall of all places 

 in accordance vVitli the change of the excess before alluded to, and 

 from the very slow motion of this excess : another thing calculated to 

 lead the observer astray, is the fixed opinion that the latitudes of 

 places are never altered. It would appear that all astronomers and 

 philosophers of every description had made up their minds to changi^ 

 everything before they would allow the latitudes to change, although 

 such a ch.uige is shown to exist, whether the subject under considera- 

 tiun be astronomical, geological, or gei.graphical. 



The latitudes of ordinary places may difTer from time to time, in a 

 greater or lesser degree, from the inaccuracy of instruments, observa- 

 tions, or measurements ; but it ought to excite a suspicion to find the 

 latitudes of observatories changing, where oversights have no possible 

 chance to enter into such a simple problem as the determination of 

 the latitude. Now, it is a noted fact, that every astronomer in Europe 

 counts his observatory to be in a diflerent latitude from that of any of 

 his predecessors, if such have had a predecessor ; nven astronomers 

 called Royal, in enlightened England and France, {lifTer respecting the 

 latitudes of their respective observatories given by their several pre- 

 decessors, but their difierences are sure to be saddled upon any cause 

 except the true one — the actual change of the place with reference to 

 the poles. These f.icts are so well known, that it would be useless to 

 give a list of the latitudes in which the several observatories have 

 been said to stand. 



It would likewise be useless to state the different latitudes which 

 have been given to the same remarkable places on coasts and else- 

 where; these were changed without the slightest compunction, as 

 time could not be spared for them to undergo the like cookery which 

 the latitudes of observatories have undergone. 



Not only the change of the latitudes of objects and places show 

 this change in the earth's axis; but among many other observed facts, 

 we may here mention the foundation of all our old churches, which 

 were laid out due east and west, and due north and souih, have shifted 

 to comply with the right motion of the earth's axis, ami that too in 

 direct proportion to the dates of their standing. One of the most 

 remarkable instances of this kind that has f.dlen under our notice is 

 that presented by the position of the city of Philadelphia, in the 

 United States of America. The surveyors under the direction of 

 William Penn, the founder, laid out Market-street and Broad-street, 

 crossing each other at right angles, due east and west, and due north 

 and south; but now they point in difi'erent directions, accommodating 

 themselves to the universal law which is here for the first time shown 

 to exist. 



If we are to admit that the particular positions of the temples 

 at Denderah and Esneli, in Egypt, were really given by design, we 

 shall hardly be able to avoid concurring with Dr. Stukely in that part 

 of his hypothesis concerning the Druidical monuments at Stonelienge 

 and Abury, in Wiltshire, which relates to the direction of their longi- 

 tudinal axis. The former of these is well known to consist of a great 

 number of prismatic stones, placed on end in the peripheries of four 

 ellipses, whose major and minor axes are respectively in the same 

 right lines ; the entrance is supposed to have been at one extremity 

 of the major axis, and opposite to it, within the area, is a stone which 

 seems to have been used as an altar. The doctor's opinion is that 

 the founders of I be monument intended to place it in a direction 

 tending from nearly the south-west to the north-east, and to place the 

 entrance opposite the latter point of the horizon, in order that it 

 might receive the first rays of the rising sun on the day of the sum- 

 mer solstice ; it being, he observes, the custom of the ancienls to 

 celebrate their great festivals at that season. The principal part of 

 the work at Abury consists of one great range of stones, enclosing a 

 circular area, within which are two double circular ranges, respec- 

 livelv concentric with each other, but neither of them having its cen- 

 tre coincident with that of the former and containing circle. A line 

 joining the centres of the two double circU s is also supposed by Dr. 

 Stukelv to have been intended to coincide with that joining the north- 

 east and south-west points of the horizon; but he observes that in 

 I he temple at Stonehenge, the axis deviates S i>r 9 degrees southward 

 from the north-east points ; and in that at Abury, the line of the cen- 

 tre lies about 10 degrees northward from the same point. Now these 

 ditFerent deviations, which are by Dr. Stukely supposed to have re- 

 sulted from the employment of a mariner's compass to determine the 

 directions of the axis of the temples; the iieedle being subject to a 

 variation which is different in ditfereut ag.-s, and the priests of the 

 country being supposed to have considered, erroneously, that it coin- 

 cided in direction with the true meridian of the place. 



We conceive it unnece^sary to offer any argument to disprove the 

 latter opinion, that these monuments were oriented by means of a 

 mariner's compass, it being highly improbable that such an instru- 

 ment would be used for that purpose, when the heavens present so 

 many phenomena by which the end might be gained with much more 

 ease and accuracy. Among other objects which can be submitted to 

 actual measurement, may be mentioned sun-dials of long standing, 

 especially horizontal ones, as they partake of this motion in a two- 

 fold manner — that is, with respect to the elevation of the gnomon 

 and the gradual change of the horizontal pi. me. Many instances of 

 this kind are on record: — sun-dials excavated from the ruins of Pom- 

 peii and Herculaueum do not now tell the hour in the latitudes iu 



