among the Ancient Jews, 225 



Cotemporaiy with Rab Samuel was Rab Ada^ born in 

 Babylon in the 188th year of the common era, and who 

 wrote a century at least before the convocation of the Coun- 

 cil of Nice : his calculations are still in use by the Jews ; he 

 computed the solar year to consist of, — 



Days. Sotirs. Minutes, Seconds. 



365 5 55 251 f 



The lunar year from one con- 7 „n 19 44 3X 



junction to the other ) "^ ^ 



And the lunar cycle of nineteen 7 cqqq i g 33 31 



years ) ^ 



From this calculation in 353 C.^., about 170 years after- 

 wards, Eabbi Hillel formed the tables for the calendars now 

 in use amongst the Jews. The difference between the 

 Hebrew year according to Rabbi Ada, and the same number 

 according to the Gregorian system, in four centuries will be 

 about one and three quarters of a day, or exactly 1 day, 17 

 hours, 29 minutes, 35|-f seconds less. This will occur in the 

 je&x 2000 of the Christian Era, 5760 of the Jews, and 146 

 years from the present time, 



I have omitted to notice that the astronomer Rabbi Samuel 

 calculated the precise time of the commencement of the 

 T'koofmis about 243 years before the current era ; and it is 

 certain that a knowledge of the Heavens, as far as they could 

 be viewed without the telescope, was familiar to the learned 

 Jews at a remote period, references being made to each of the 

 Zodiacal constellations or signs in succession in the ritual 

 composed about the 10th or 11th century, a cOpy of which 

 I possess, and which is still in use in their places of worship 

 in various parts of the earth. 



At the commencement of the vernal and autumnal equi- 

 noxes, each month with the Hebrew name is mentioned 

 separately therein, with reference to the sign of the Zodiac 

 in which the sun is at the time, commencing with Tishri 



