726 Reviews. [Oct., 



attractions in causing deviations from the simple elliptical orbits of 

 the planets had long been recognized, but it was imagined that such 

 disturbances must necessarily be of short duration only. Ultimately 

 it was proved by La Place that the discrepancy, instead of militating 

 against Newton's theory, served to establish it upon a firmer basis. 

 The inequality was shown to result from the mean motions of the two 

 planets being nearly commensurable, five times Saturn's being nearly 

 equal to twice Jupiter's. The whole question is discussed with 

 admirable clearness in one of the most interesting chapters in Mr. 

 Proctor's book. 



In the note on Chaldsean astronomy much curious information is 

 given. The Chaldaeans were probably among the earliest, if not the 

 earliest, of astronomers. An old tradition, preserved by Berosus, states 

 that Abraham taught the Egyptians astronomy and mathematics. But 

 that they were acquainted with the true system of the universe does 

 not seem so probable. In his effort to prove that they were, the 

 author strives to dissociate them from the Greeks, who, it is certain, 

 were not. He considers it clear that little connection exists between 

 the mythology of the two people ; yet the likeness is strong enough 

 to show that one was probably influenced by, if not derived from, 

 the other. The practice of colouring their statues and temples, for 

 example, was common to the two. And if the Greeks did not derive 

 their astronomical system from the Assyrians or Chaldaeans, whence 

 did they get it ? While if they did, it seems improbable that they 

 should have had a false system, while the people who taught them 

 held the true one. That the Greeks derived their system from a 

 people who dwelt far south of Athens seems as clear as that the Indian 

 system was obtained from a country north of Benares, for Aratus, in 

 his description of the constellation of the Altar, says that it is seen 

 above the horizon for the same length of time as Arcturus is below it. 

 But the constellation is not wholly visible from a latitude higher than 

 30°, a latitude far south of Athens, and agreeing with that of Persepo- 

 lis and the country near the head of the Persian Gulf. With regard 

 to the connection between the mythologies of Greece and Assyria, a 

 connection which the author denies, we are tempted to quote the fol- 

 lowing very extraordinary prophecy by Niebuhr, which was uttered 

 many years ago and reported to Mr. Layard by one who, as a pupil, 

 heard it : — " There is a want in Grecian art which neither I nor any 

 man now alive can supply. There is not enough in Egypt to account 

 for the peculiar art and peculiar mythology which we find in Greece. 

 That they did not originate it I am convinced, though neither I nor 

 any man now alive can say who were the originators. But the time 

 will come when on the borders of the Tigris and Euphrates those 

 who come after me will live to see the origin of Grecian art and 

 Grecian Mythology." 



We cannot leave without expressing the strongest commendation 

 of the beautiful engravings with which Mr. Proctor's book is illus- 

 trated. They are models of illustrative art. At the end is a concise 

 but clear explanation of the astronomical terms used throughout the 

 work, which will be found very useful to the general reader. 



