DECEMBER 3, 1897. ] 
St. Peter’s at Rome so that the sun’s rays at 
the vernal equinox illuminate the high altar, 
ete., according to Professor Lockyer. The in- 
scriptions of some of the Egyptian temples 
prove, if proof is necessary, the intention of 
their builders. Speaking of a pair of obelisks 
at Karnak an inscription reads, ‘‘ They are seen 
an endless number of miles away ; it is a flood 
of shining splendor when the sun shines between 
the two ;’’ and again, ‘‘ The sun’s disc shines 
between them as when it rises from the horizon 
of heaven.’’ 
It is to be noticed that if the orientations of 
the builders were exact, and if the measures 
and directions determined at the present day 
are accurate, it isa mere matter of calculation 
to fix the astronomical date at which a temple 
was constructed, provided their original inten- 
tion is known to us. The dates of several of 
the solar temples can be assigned with consider- 
_ ableaccuracy inthis manner. If weshould find, 
as in fact we do find, says Professor Lockyer, 
that the builders of set purpose have slightly 
altered the direction of the axis of a temple 
during its construction, this will be a sign to in- 
dicate that the celestial body related to the tem- 
ple has changed its direction during the period, 
perhaps several centuries, of construction. It 
is upon facts of this kind that Lockyer bases his 
proof that some of the temples are related, not 
to the sun, but to stars. Thisis the key-note 
of the book. The change of direction of the 
axis is not to be explained by a change in the 
sun’s direction, but demands another interpre- 
tation. The situationsand arrangements of the 
principal stars were well known to the inhabi- 
tants of the Nile Valley. We have seen that 
many of the Egyptian temples are oriented to 
solar positions. There are many temples that 
cannot by any possibility be so oriented. They 
are built so that no ray of sunlight can pass 
along their axes at any period of the year. The 
question arises, are these temples oriented to 
stars? or, again, are they oriented at all? Are 
their directions assigned by chance? The topo- 
graphic conditions of the sites seem to show, 
in a number of cases, that their builders had a set 
purpose in facing them as they are faced. If 
the direction of their walls had no significance 
they would, it seems, have been differently 
SCIENCE. 
849 
placed. The latter half of the volume under 
review is devoted to these questions, namely: 
Were such temples oriented to a star? to what 
star ? and at what epoch were these monuments 
constructed ? 
Every detail of construction goes to show 
that this group of (stellar) temples was built to 
receive a horizontal ray of light along the axis 
just as the solar temples were. A striking fact 
in this connection is that the (stellar) temples 
frequently exhibit a change of direction of the 
principal axis, such as calculation shows would 
be necessary to allow for changes in the direc- 
tion of stellar beams every few centuries. A 
solar temple does not require such changes of 
axial direction. ‘‘ Once a solar temple, a solar 
temple for thousands of years; once a star 
temple, only that star temple for something 
like three hundred years.’’ If after some three 
centuries thé stellar light no longer penetrated 
the temple a change of direction of the axis 
would be required. It is just such changes of 
direction that have been found. 
The foregoing summary is believed to repre- 
sent with fairness the method adopted by Pro- 
fessor Lockyer, and to indicate, at least, his main 
conclusion, namely, that many of the Egyptian 
temples have stellar relations and were oriented 
so that the horizontal rays of Capella, Gamma 
Draconis, ete., etc., might fall along their axes 
at the time the buildings were constructed. 
The latter half of the book is given to a detailed 
proof of the stellar relations of the temples, 
and it deals not only with architectural measure- 
ments and astronomical computations, but with 
recondite questions of mythology, history and 
ethnology. To the writer of this review it 
seems that the chief merit of the book is to have 
called attention to a most important province 
of the history of the growth of astronomic 
notions (and thus of religious ideas) and to have 
set forth in plain and popular form the obvious 
method of research which must be resorted to. 
It seems that further research is called for. It 
may lead to certain and definite results. The 
present volume can hardly be said to have 
proved allits points. To judge it completely one 
should be historian, ethnologist and astrono- 
mer in one; but one need be no more than a 
