368 



animal nevertheless is also in the Tartarian 

 zodiac : it corresponds to the signs of the Fishes 

 of the Greek sphere ; and, what is very remark- 

 able, in the planispheres of the temple of Ten- 

 tyra, a figure holding a hog in its hand is seen 

 twice near the same sign *. The monument 

 described by Bianchini is so much the more in- 

 teresting, as we recognize in no astronomical 

 work either Greek or Latin, not even in the 

 Saturnalia of Macrobius, written in the time of 

 Theodosius, the traces of this cycle of animals, 

 which the Monguls, and other Tartar hordes, 

 who ravaged Europe, undoubtedly used in their 

 chronology: and with which we have become 

 well acquainted only from our communications 

 with China and Japan. It seems strange, that 

 the eloquent historian of the academy, Fonte- 

 nelle, should not have remembered, that astro- 

 logical reveries are intimately connected with 

 the first notions of astronomy ; and that they 

 were of service in throwing light on the ancient 

 communications of nations with each other. 

 " The monument," says he, " in which Bian- 

 chini sought explanations, belongs to the history 

 of the folly of mankind, and the academy has 

 something better to do, than waste its time in 

 researches of this kind." 



In resuming what we have stated respecting 



* Denon, Voyage, PI. 130 and 132. 



