CHAPTER XTV 



THE NAMES OF THE PLANETS 



I PROPOSE in this chapter to discuss some points which 

 seem specially interesting with respect to the names of 

 the celestial bodies. The study of the heavens in bygone 

 days possessed an importance of a wholly different kind 

 from that which we now attribute to it. It was not 

 then supposed that among the stars there could be worlds 

 comparable in importance with our globe. In the belief 

 of the ancients our earth was the central body of the 

 universe. The sun, moon, and stars were merely regarded 

 as objects placed in the heavens for the purpose of minis- 

 tering to human wants. The relations of the sun and 

 moon to the inhabitants of the earth were, of course, 

 obvious, but the other bodies also had their terrestrial 

 influences which were to be discovered by occult science. 

 Accordingly a system of astrology was created for the 

 purpose of interpreting the movement of the stars. 



It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say that we now only 

 regard these notions of the old astrologers as curiosities. 

 We remember that our earth occupies but an insignificant 



