TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES 



much the same as those of the astrologers three hun- 

 dred years ago, except that they lack the quaint form 

 of wording which is one of the features that lends 

 interest to the older documents. These pamphlets 

 need not be taken seriously, but they are interesting 

 as exemplifying how difficult it is, even in an age of 

 science, to entirely stamp out firmly established super- 

 stitions. Here are some of the arguments advanced 

 in defence of astrology, taken from a little brochure 

 entitled "Astrology Vindicated," published in 1898: 

 It will be found that a person born when the Sun is 

 in twenty degrees Scorpio has the left ear as his ex- 

 ceptional feature and the nose (Sagittarius) bent 

 towards the left ear. A person born when the Sun 

 is in any of the latter degrees of Taurus, say the 

 twenty -fifth degree, will have a small, sharp, weak 

 chin, curved up towards Gemini, the two vertical lines 

 on the upper lip." 4 The time was when science went 

 out of its way to prove that such statements were 

 untrue; but that time is past, and such writers are 

 usually classed among those energetic but misguided 

 persons who are unable to distinguish between logic 

 and sophistry. 



In England, from the time of Elizabeth to the reign 

 of William and Mary, judicial astrology was at its 

 height. After the great London fire, in 1666, a com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons publicly summoned 

 the famous astrologer, Lilly, to come before Parlia- 

 ment and report to them on his alleged prediction 

 of the calamity that had befallen the city. Lilly, 

 for some reason best known to himself, denied hav- 



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