NA TURE 



[November 2, 189; 



ported by those of three other observers, two ol them being the 

 Government geologists, render more singular the statements of 

 Messrs. Officer and Spencer (Nature, June 29, p. 198) as to 

 their not finding any traces of glaciation in the country around 

 Lake St. Clair, which they explored for a month. Lake Dixon, 

 which Mr. Johnston describes as presenting all the evidences of 

 glaciation in their fullest development, appears to be less than 

 ten miles from the lower end of Lake St. Clair, according to the 

 best map I can refer to; while Lake Petrarch, which Mr. 

 Officer describes a'; seeing from the top of Mount Olympus, lies 

 between the two in the Cuvier valley, and is also mentioned 

 by Mr. Johnston as being within the highly-glaciaied region. It 

 IS quite possible that the lakes on the great plateau may be due 

 to da-r.ming up, owing to movements of the superficial gravels 

 and clays by the ice or «/zv' sheet ; but there are evidently an 

 abundance of small valley-lakes and tarns in the we>tern valleys 

 so surrounded by all the marks of extensive glaciation as to 

 render it almost certain that they are true ice-eroded rock 

 basins. It is much to be wished that a more detailed account 

 of this interesting district, with a good map showing all the 

 mountains, lakes, and valleys referred to, would be given us by 

 one of the local geologists, ALFiitD R. Wallace. 



The Supposed Glaciation of Brazil. 



Mr. Wallace observes in his letter on this subject, published 

 in Nature (vol. xlviii. p. 589), that "mo authoritative 

 disproof has yet been gi ven of the exceedingly strong and positive 

 statement of Agassiz and Hartt." 



I confess to my mind the matter had seemed disposed of by 

 the interesting discussion of the subject to be found in the 

 *' Notes of a Naturalist in South America " (1887), by the late 

 Mr. John Ball, F. R. S. This experienced and accurate observer 

 arrived at the conclusion from a study of the phenomena on the 

 spot, that they could be sufficiently accounted for by subaerial 

 denudation (see, in particular, pp. 313-8). 



In the following passage he rejects the agency of glacial 

 action as definitely as his habitual caution and modesty would 

 allow : — 



" I was unfortunately not acquainted at that time with the 

 observations made near Tijuca by Prof. Alexander Agassiz, 

 which appear to him to give evidence of glacial action in this part 

 of Brazil. It would be rash, especially for one who has not been 

 able to examine the deposits referred to, to controvert con- 

 clusions resting on such high authority ; but I may remark that 

 the evidence is confessedly very imperfect, and that the 

 characteristic striations, either on the live rock or on the trans- 

 ported blocks, which are commonly seen in the theatre of glacial 

 action, have not been observed. 1 lean to the opinion that the 

 deposits seen near Tijuca are of the same character as those 

 described by M. Liais' as frequent in Brazil. The crystalline 

 rocks are of very unequal hardness, and while some portions are 

 rapidly disintegrated, the harder part resist. The disintegrated 

 matter is washed away, and the result is to leave a pile of 

 blocks of unequal dimensions lying in a confused mass." 

 (P. 342.) VV. T. Thiselton-Dyer. 



Royal Gardens, Kew, October 23. 



The Nativity of Rama. 



I HAVE been much interested in the letter of " Kanhaiyalal," 

 which appears in your issue of August 31. I fully agree with 

 him in the view taken in regard to the verification of dates by 

 astronomical methods, and it really does seem somewhat 

 singular that the example of Sir William Jones, the pioneer of 

 Orientalism in Europe, should have been entirely neglected by 

 his learned colleagues and successors in this department of 

 research. From many considerati )ns ii must be obvious that 

 wherever mention of planetary ' 'yogams" or conjunctions, siderial 

 and lunar positions, &c., are given in the text of .ny classical 

 work, they are to be preferred to any arguments drawn merely 

 from literary style and other empirical data — ^o much relied 

 upon by Orientalists and scholars generally — when the question 

 is one of a calendaric date. 



I have endeavoured to work out the calculation of Rama's 

 birth figure. In Kamayana is the following slokam, or stanza, 

 referring to Raaaa's birth: — " Chaitre , tiavami/ce tilluiii 

 Nakshatre aditi daivatye seivochha sainsthcsjiu panchasu 



1 See his v.-Juable work, '■ Climat?, G^slogie, Faune et Ge'ographie 

 Botaaique de Breiil." 



Griheshii kjrkatc lagne." From this we learn that Rama was 

 born in the ninth day of the Moon's age, and that five planets 

 were in their exaltation signs, the rising sign {lagnani) beinq; 

 Cancer (of the Hindu Zodiac). The planets' places are given 

 in Section 18 of the English translation of Ramayatia, by 

 Manmatha Nath Dutt, M.A., in the following words :— 



"And then, when six seasons had rolled away after the com- 

 p'etion of the Sacrifice, in the twelfth month, on the ninth lunar" 

 day, under the influence of the Punarvasu asterism, when the Sun, 

 Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, an i Venus were at Aries, Capricorn,^ 

 Libra, Cancer, and Pisces, and when Jupiter had arisen with 

 the Moon at Cancer, Kaushalya gave birth to that lord of the 

 universe, bowed unto by all thev\orlds, Rama, &c." 



It may be well to state for the benefit of those not acquainted 

 with the Hindu zodiac, that an asterism includes 13° 20' of the 

 ecliptic circle, and consequently there are twenty-seven asterisms 

 in all. Of these, Punarvasu is the seventh. The zodiac com- 

 mences with the asterism Asiciiii, and the fixed star Revali is 

 the point from which enumeration of longitude begins. This 

 star is said to have been coincident with the equinoctial point 

 To in the year 3600 of the Kali Yuga, i.e. 498 A.D. 



The last conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the sign Libra 

 was in k.v. 4224, and the one previous in k.y. 1344 ; and 

 from this we must subtract three Signs to bring Jupiter into 

 Cancer (its exaltation). This equation referred to the "period" 

 of Jupiter, i.e. twelve years, gives three years to be subtracted. 

 The year k.y. 1 341, therefore, would see Saturn in Libra, 

 and Jupiter in Cancer as required. 



The Moon being nine days old at the birth of Rama, and its 

 motion in respect to the Sun being 12^ per day, its distance from 

 the place of conjunction must be taken as over 96^. But it is 

 stated in the Slokam that the Moon is in Punarvasu, and as this 

 asterism ends at 93° 20' from the star Revati, it is evident that 

 the conjunction of the luminaries took place in the twenty-sixth 

 degree of Minain or Pisces ; and that on the ninth day the 

 Moon was in the first degrees of Cancer (Hindu Kartaka) and 

 the Sun in the fifth degree of Aries (Hindu Mesham). 



To determine the date of this planetary epoch we must have 

 recourse to the Ayauamsha, the distance between the fixed star 

 Revati and the Vernal Equinox. The Hindus compute this to 

 be 54" per year, and in accordance therewith their month of 

 Mesham (Aries) begins on April ii. At the present time 

 Revati is behind the Equinox, but in K.Y. 1341 it was in front 

 of it, regarded by the order of the Signs. The calculation for 

 K.\'. 1341, according to Suryasiddhauta, is : — 



(3600- 1341) X 54" = 33° 53' 6". 



Referring this to the Equinox, it gives a point corresponding to 

 the twenty-seventh degree of Aquarius in otir zodiac, which 

 was the point at which the Hindu zodiac began in the year k.y. 

 1 341 ; and from this we must take 4° to bring us to the 26th of 

 Minam, wherein the Sun and Moon were conjoined at the birth 

 of Rama. The result is the twenty-third degree of Aquarius 

 in our zodiac. 



We have already obtained the year k.y. 1341 from the 

 positions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and we may now 

 apply this luni-solar position as a test. 



On February 11, 18S8, the Sun and Moon were conjoined 

 in the twenty-third degree of Aquarius. This date corresponds 

 to the beginning of the tenth month of the k.y. year 4989. 

 Applying the Metonic cycle, we find that a conjunction ot the 

 luminaries also took place in the twenty-third degree of Aqua- 

 rius (Hindu twenty sixth Minain) in K.Y. 1341, thus : — 



(4989-1341) -^ 19 = 192 exactly. I have not yet made refer- 

 ence to the position of Venus as given in the above Slokam, but 

 I think there is strong evidence of this being the correct epoch, 

 and I think it not unlikely that Venus had less than 30° west 

 longitude of the Sun, in which case it would be in the Hindu 

 sign Corresponding to our Pisces, i.e. Minam, as required by 

 the Slokam. 



This epoch corresponds to noon (local time) February 10, 

 1761 B.C., disregarding the change of Style ; and, if correct, 

 may be the time of the birth of Rama ; but on this point I 

 should not care to judge too hastily, for in view of the recur- 

 rence of these positions at some earlier or later date, we have no 

 evidence which should lead us to select one rather than another 

 epoch. 



One thing strikes me as sufficiently curious to record in 



1 This should be Cancer, not Cnpricorn, as is seen from the f.ict of the 

 Moon's rising with Jupiter. 



NO. 125 3, VOL. 49] 



