Antiquity 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



38 



bearing marks of having been gnawed by 

 beavers' teeth. Agassiz calculated the 

 growth of the bog as about a foot per cen- 

 tury, so that here we have tolerably accu- 

 rate evidence of an existing beaver-dam be- 

 ing somewhere about a thousand years old. 

 ROMANES Animal Intelligence, ch. 12, p. 

 384. (A., 1899.) 



191. ANTIQUITY OF ASTRONOMY 



The Most Ancient of the Sciences Primi- 

 tive Observations Egyptian Calendar 

 Chinese Calendar The Week Instituted 

 4,000 Years Ago Ancient Record of Solar 

 Eclipse. Astronomy is the most ancient of 

 the sciences. Even before the invention of 

 writing and the beginning of history men 

 examined the sky and laid the foundations 

 of a primeval almanac. The primitive ob- 

 servations have been lost in the revolutions 

 of nations; we possess, however, some 

 fairly good records, considering their an- 

 tiquity, among others those of the Egyp- 

 tians and Chinese made in the thirtieth 

 century before our era, stating that at the 

 vernal equinox the sun was situated in the 

 constellation Taurus, then the first sign of 

 the Zodiac; that of an eclipse of the sun 

 made in Egypt in the year 2720 B. C. ; that 

 of a conjunction of the planets in Capri- 

 corn, made by the Chinese astronomers in 

 the year 2449 B. C.; that of a star in the 

 constellation Hydra made in the year 2306 

 B. C. The Egyptian calendar was insti- 

 tuted about the year 2782 B. C., and the 

 Chinese calendar about the year 2637 B. C. 

 At least four thousand years have elapsed 

 since our week of seven days was formed in 

 the plains of Babylon, and for several thou- 

 sand years also each day has taken the name 

 of one of the moving stars known to the 

 ancients: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mer- 

 cury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. FLAM- 

 MARION Popular Astronomy, bk. i, ch. 1, p. 

 5. (A.) 



192. ANTIQUITY OF CHINESE HIS- 

 TORY IN DOUBT Chinese Invention of Com- 

 pass a Question. While the beginning of 

 Chinese history is placed by De Lacouperie 

 at the twenty-third century B. C., other 

 Chinese annalists regard it as impossible to 

 rely upon any records dating back more 

 than 800 years before our era. Legge fixes the 

 beginning of trustworthy chronology at 826 

 B. C., and Plath at 841 B. C. It is ap- 

 parent, therefore, that in dealing with the 

 legends and traditions which form the basis 

 for the assertion of knowledge of the mag- 

 net by the Chinese at very ancient epochs, 

 the doubt whether they properly belong to 

 mythology or to history is unavoidable. 

 PARK BENJAMIN Intellectual Rise in Elec- 

 tricity, ch. 3, p. 66. (J. W., 1898.) 



1 93. ANTIQUITY OF LIFE ON EARTH 



Not Eternal Geology Proves a Definite 

 Beginning (Gen. i, 1). The unstratified 

 rocks are the oldest. They contain 

 no traces of the remains of either 



animals or plants, and therefore furnish 

 evidence that there was a time when the 

 earth was not inhabited; for there are 

 hardly any animals so soft that none of 

 their parts could be preserved. The solid 

 parts of animals, when once deposited in 

 sand or mud and covered, are there pre- 

 served and treasured up for all future time 

 in the solid rock that is formed out of the 

 deposit. In exploring the strata of our 

 earth and examining their contents, geolo- 

 gists have become acquainted with the va- 

 rious animals and plants that have in- 

 habited our globe in the early periods; and 

 their number is so great that the conclusion 

 is inevitable that at all times, since the 

 stratified rocks have been forming, the 

 earth has teemed with inhabitants as va- 

 rious and diversified as they are now. 

 Within the limits of this State there are 

 beds of rock so full of remains of animals 

 and plants that the mass of strata consists 

 of almost nothing else. Indeed, along our 

 seashores we do not find such quantities of 

 dead shells as we find in some of the lime- 

 stone rocks in the western part of the State 

 of New York. And yet these rocks are 

 among the oldest of the stratified beds on 

 the surface of the earth. But below these 

 are found masses of rock in which no trace 

 of organic remains are found. AGASSIZ 

 Structure of Animal Life, lect. 4, p. 79. 

 (S., 1883.) 



194. ANTIQUITY OF MACHINES 



Bow-drill Used by Egyptians Indians Ob- 

 tain Fire by Same Means. The Dakotas 

 used a drill-bow for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing fire. This instrument is a small stiff bow, 

 the string of which forms a loop round the 

 upright stick, and thus, when the bow is 

 moved backwards and forwards, gives it a 

 rotatory movement. . . . The use of the 

 bow-drill is very ancient. Ulysses used one 

 to put out the eye of the unfortunate 

 Cyclops. I myself, he says, twirled it 

 round, while my companions pulled the 

 " thong," and it requires no great stretch 

 of the imagination to see the strap drill 

 working until " the very roots of the eye 

 hissed in the fire." The bow-drill was used 

 still earlier by the Egyptians even in 

 the fourth dynasty. AVEBURY Prehistoric 

 Times, ch. 14, "p. 500. (A., 1900.) 



195. ANTIQUITY OF MAN Change in 

 Estimate of Archeology, Geology, and 

 Culture Attest Remote Origin of the Hu- 

 man Race. It was until of late years com- 

 monly held among the educated classes that 

 man's first appearance on earth might be 

 treated on a historical basis as matter of 

 record. It is true that the schemes drawn 

 up by chronologists differed widely, as was 

 naturally the case, considering the variety 

 and inconsistency of their documentary 

 data. On the whole, the scheme of Arch- 

 bishop Usher, who computed that the earth 

 and man were created in 4004 B. C., was 

 the most popular. It is no longer neces- 



