among the Ancient Jews, 223 



Toulai airetz ol b'lemo, which in the English Bible are ren- 

 dered, " he hangeth the earth upon nothing/' literally, he 

 suspendeth the earth in a vacuum, the Hebrew word B'lemo, 

 meaning in English Space. In Genesis, chap, vii., verse 

 11, where the deluge, which, according to Jewish chrono- 

 logists, occurred Anno Mundi 1654, (the present year 

 (1854) being reckoned by them 5614 of the creation), is 

 described as covering the face of the earth, it is spoken of 

 as having begun on the seventh day of the second month. 



I shall only adduce one or two more instances, from the 

 numerous references made in the Bible to astronomical 

 facts, in proof of the antiquity of the science amongst the 

 Jewish people. 



The commemoration of the deliverance from Egjrpt (or 

 Mitzroyim, so termed in Hebrew from the name of its 

 founder, Mizraim, the son of Ham) , was ordered to be kept 

 in the first full moon after the vernal equinox, when the sun 

 had entered the Zodiacal sign Aries, on or from the first day 

 of the lunar month in which the occurrence took place, 

 (termed in Hebrew NeesanJ, from which the Jewish eccle- 

 siastical year began, and by which all their festivals were 

 regulated. 



• Before concluding I will give the Hebrew names of the 

 months, with the corresponding periods of their connection 

 with the Zodiacal signs, merely observing that the rules 

 for compiling the yearly calendar at present in use amongst 

 the Jews are chiefly from the direction of the learned 

 Maimonides, who flourished about the year 1150 of the 

 present era, and, following the system adopted by some 

 sages who preceded him, divided the hour into 1080 parts, 

 so as to facilitate their calculations of time, this number 

 being divisible without remainder by any of the units except 

 seven. 



