THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. 121 



intended to mark it by the place of the solstice ; but, in the last but 

 one of these periods, that which elapsed from 2782 years to 1322 before 

 Christ, the solstice has passed from thirty degrees forty-eight minutes 

 of the constellation of the Lion, to thirty degrees thirty-four minutes 

 of the Cancer ; at the middle of this period then it was at twenty- 

 three degrees thirty-four minutes of the Cancer ; the heliacal rising of 

 Sirius then occurred some days after the solstice. This, according 

 to Nouet, was indicated by the repetition of the Scarabseus. and by the 

 image of Sirius in the rays of the sun placed at the commencement of 

 the band on the right. According to this calculation, he concludes 

 that this temple is 2052 years before Christ, and that of Esne 4600 *, 



All these calculations, even admitting that the division marks the 

 solstice, must still be susceptible of many modifications ; and it appears 

 at first that their authors have supposed the constellations to be all like 

 the signs, of thirty degrees, and have not reflected that they must be 

 more, at least as they are now drawn, and as the Greeks have trans- 

 mitted them to us, that they may thus be equal amongst themselves. 

 In reality, the solstice which is now on this side of the first stars of the 

 constellation of the Twins could only have left the first stars of the 

 constellation of Cancer, 45 years after Christ. It only quitted the 

 constellation of the Lion 1260 years before the same era. 



My colleague, the celebrated and learned M. Delambre, has kindly 

 supplied me with the subjoined tables, which, with the remarks that 

 follow, elucidate what has been just remarked. 



Construction and Use of the Table, 



" The longitude of the stars for 1800 has been taken from 

 the Berlin Tables, as calculated by Lacaille, Bradley, or Flamstead. 



" The first and last of each constellation, and some of the most 

 brilliant intermediate stars, have been taken. The third column 

 indicates the year when the longitude of the star was ; that is the 

 year when the star was in the equinoctial colure of spring. The last 

 column marks the year when the star was in the solstitial colure, either 

 of winter or summer. 



" For the Ram, the Bull, and the Twins, the winter solstice has been 

 chosen ; for the other constellations the summer solstice has been 

 chosen, that the extreme might be avoided of going too remotely into 

 antiquity, or approaching too closely to modern times. Besides, it 

 will be easy to find the opposite solstice, by adding the semi-period of 

 12,960 years. The same ride applies for finding the time when a star 

 has been or will be at the autumnal equinox. 



" The sign — indicates the years before our era ; the sign X the year 

 of our era ; and the last line at the end of each sign under the name 

 of ' Duration,' gives the extent of the constellation in degrees, and the 



* See the Memoir of Nouet, in the New Researches on the Ancient History of 

 Volney, v. iii, p. 328 — 336. 



