1841.] Description of a Persicm Astrolabe. 769 



Astrology. — This is a subject which, I am aware, has but little in- 

 terests for us ; yet I should have but unsatisfactorily completed the work 

 I have undertaken, had I passed it over. Among the Mahometans of 

 India, too, so far as my information enables me to judge, Astrology is 

 but little respected ; some of the most intelligent of them, whom I have 

 met with, and questioned on the subject, evidently disliked the inquiry ; 

 and generally replied to the effect, that there is no power in the crea- 

 tion but that of the Deity, and that it is against the religion of a true 

 Mussulman to believe in other influences. It is however probable, that 

 extreme ignorance on subjects connected with science may have as 

 much to do with their disbelief, as rigid piety. What degree of import- 

 ance may be at present attached to it in Central Asia, I am not aware; 

 if, however I may judge from the care and finish which have been 

 bestowed on this part of the Astrolabe, and its completeness, it is con- 

 siderable; and I remember Major Pottinger stating, that the instrument 

 was chiefly used for Astrological purposes, by the person from whom he 

 obtained it. Towards the South West, it appears to have still its hold, 

 since Lamartine informs us,- in his Travels in Palestine, that on his 

 visit to the eccentric Lady Esther Stanhope, he thought he could detect 

 the secret of her surprising influence over the lawless tribes of the 

 desert, in her enthusiastic belief, and apparent skill, in the sciences of 

 Astrology and Palmistry. 



Among the Hindoos it is still implicitly believed in, and the neces- 

 sity which this imposes on those who profess it, of being acquainted 

 with the prominent facts of Astronomical science, has served to con- 

 tinue down to our times disjectce. membrce of their ancient system, 

 which otherwise, like the rest, would probably have been lost. I shall 

 now proceed to explain, what part the Astrological constants engraved 

 upon the Astrolabe, (Plate I. Fig. a.) bear in the casting of a Horoscope, 

 be it natal or annual. 



The interior of the rectangle, about the sides of which, as already 

 explained, are distributed the divisions of shadow, as also the four 

 interior demi-annuli of the lower limb are entirely devoted to Astro- 

 logical purposes. 



The rectangle contains the celestial Trigons, so called from their 

 positions in the ecliptic occupying the vertices of equilateral triangles, 

 together with the Planets which govern them by day, and those 



