280 HINDOO ASTRONOMY. 



in a country must be reckoned from the time that men began 

 to reason from a recorded series of observations, and to de- 

 duce from them the laws of the celestial motions. In all 

 countries the origin of astronomy goes beyond record, and 

 is lost in the darkness of their early history : hence there is 

 a boundless field for ingenious conjecture ; and the astron- 

 omy of India has in this way afforded a topic for discussion 

 which has engaged the attention of the most eminent men 

 of the last half-century. 



The Indian astronomy has been the subject of an exten- 

 sive work by Bailly, well known as a victim in the atroci- 

 ties which accompanied the French Revolution, and his 

 views— ingenious, plausible, and seductive by his elo- 

 quence—were adopted by one of the most elegant writers 

 of this country, the late Professor Playfair, who gave them 

 still greater weight by his high reputation for science, can- 

 dour, sound judgment, and diligence in the investigation 

 of truth. It was the opinion of Bailly that the Indian as- 

 tronomy was of very great antiquity indeed, inasmuch as 

 he believed it to be founded on obsenations made 3102 

 years before the Christian era ; and he has endeavoured, 

 with great ingenuity, to establish his views by considera- 

 tions drawn from the discoveries in astronomy made in 

 modern times, with which he was intimately acquainted, 

 and which no man could turn to better account in support 

 of a favourite system. It would seem, however, that he 

 deceived himself in estimating the force of his an^uments, 

 and overlooked the strong objections to his hypothesis. 

 His contemporaries Laplace and Delambre, who were 

 also his friends, while they have professed the highest 

 respect for the learning and eloquence which he displayed 

 in his researches, have nevertheless declared their dis- 

 belief in his conclusions, and have proved them to be erro: 

 neous, by divesting his arguments of the specious but de- 

 ceptive dress in which they are arrayed, and showing that 

 some of the data which served as the basis of his system 

 had been incorrectly assumed. Even his advocate and 

 learned commentator. Professor Playfair, appears to have 

 had his confidence in the truth of Bailly's views at last 

 considerably shaken.* 



* See Edinburgh Review, vol. xxix. p. 161, 162. 



