NOTES. - 229 



Opactli is the first sign of the days, as Capricorn is at 

 the head of the signs of the zodiac ? Whatever be the 

 variation in the order of the signs of the different 

 zodiacs, this analogy of position for the first of the 

 whole appears to be proved ; and I think I see in it a 

 confirmation of the origin of the Egyptian zodiac. 

 Whether the colure of the summer solstice has been 

 observed in the first degree of Capricorn or not, it is 

 now certain, that our zodiac, which is that of the 

 Romans and Greeks, and which was copied by them 

 from Egypt, belongs essentially to this last country, 

 and to it alone ; and that it cannot possibly be ex- 

 plained, but by making the summer solstice go back 

 as far as Capricorn. Now the rural year of the Egyp- 

 tians began at the summer solstice. We must not 

 then be surprised, that Capricorn should heretofore 

 have occupied the first place among the dodecatemo- 

 rions. If we knew at what epoch the year formerly 

 began in Tartary, Thibet, or Japan, we might deduce 

 something analogous from the position of Aquarius at 

 the head of the zodiac among these different nations. 

 In reality, the first sign is the Rat, which corresponds 

 to Aquarius. Mahara, the sea-monster of the zodiac 

 of the Hindoos, corresponding to Capricorn, holds in it 

 the second place, which still supposes Aquarius to be 

 the first. Thus the successive positions of the solstitial 

 colure in Aquarius, in Capricorn, and subsequently in 

 Virgo, Leo, and Cancer, would be indicated by the 

 most ancient and authentic monuments, namely, the 

 zodiacs of nations. But I do not insist on this idea, 

 which I am not yet permitted to support by its proofs ; 

 I shall only observe, that the placing Capricorn at the 

 head of the signs in Egypt and in Mexico affords an 

 additional analogy between the two countries. 



