158 CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



The planet Jupiter presents a system of worlds, which can be ren- 

 dered visible by any ordinary telescope. The satellites perform their 

 revolutions each in its own time ; and these revolutions are of course 

 invariable, like that of the Earth. When however we attempt to 

 measure these revolutions (for Ave can watch the instant when the 

 satellite dips into Jupiter's shadow), we get an irregularity; or in 

 plainer words, we make mistakes. When the Earth is in a certain 

 part of its orbit, Jupiter's satellites seem to complete their revolutions 

 in 8 m 13 - 3 S less than the average period; and when the Earth is in the 

 opposite portion of its orbit, in 8 m 133 s more than the average period. 

 In other words, the revolutions of Jupiter's satellites give the dif- 

 ference between "true" and "apparent" time: between "true" time, as 

 maintained in the System of Jupiter; and "apparent" time, when we 

 measure from the surface of the Earth. As the Theory stands, the 

 fault is in the light, which does not come fast enough : but the required 

 irregularity has been obtained above, without the aid of Jupiter and 

 his satellites, and by a process which has nothing to do with properties 

 of light. 



However singular it may appear, For months I did not think of 

 chronological verification : and after all, the first instance in confirma- 

 tion of Pliny's statement, came in a measure by chance : 



1. One day, on referring to the Old Egyptian Chronicle, I hap- 

 pened to remark the sum of the years in two consecutive lines : 



"EireiTa ijixi&eoi f3a.giks7z oxru gV») di%'. Kai fASr' uurovi ysvsa.} is Kuvuou xuxXou dvsypa(py](fav 

 h IVstfiv ufiy' ; 



" Then eight demigods, royal princes, year .... 217 

 And after these, 15 generations of the Cynic Cycle were re- 

 gistered in ........ . 443 Years." 



660 (= a phoenix). 



2. Inquiry being once awakened, other instances of conformity were 

 soon discovered : According to Bunsen, the Turin Papyrus (a docu- 

 ment in hieratic writing containing the name of no king more recent 

 than Ramses II.) has the following line ; 



" Kings up to Horus, 23,200 years." (1540 X 15 = 23,100). 



3. The "panegyries" of the Sacred Calendar (the rpiaxov<ra£rripi<5wv, or 



