LT.-COL. G. MACK IN LAY ON BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY. 



161 



and that was the left hand side. There are three words in Arabic 

 for north. 



Then there is another point, and it is with reference to the laws 

 of the Jews contrary to the sun worship. We may see almost any 

 Polish Jew with his curls hanging down at the side of his face, and 

 the idea is that he was not to comb his head so as to make his face 

 represent the disc of the sun. And with reference to the moon and 

 moon worship, we have in Hebrew the word for the crossing line, 

 which means bright and shining and also to rejoice, and at the 

 present day we see, especially on the Continent, figures of the 

 Blessed Virgin and Child standing in the crescent of the moon, 

 and we can trace that back. AVe can look also at the Turkish sign 

 with the crescent and the star, and we know that they got it from 

 the Besantines, and we trace that back to the very oldest periods, 

 the Hebrew times, among the Hittites. We see how great an 

 influence the moon has exerted upon the religions of the world, and 

 its trace has comedown to us at the present day. 



I have very greatly enjoyed hearing the paper which Colonel 

 Mackinlay has read. 



The thanks of the meeting were accorded to the author for his 

 communication. 



Communications. 



Rev. John Tuckwell, M.R.A.S., writes : — 



Colonel Mackinlay has dealt with a very interesting subject. 

 It was of course impossible for him to exhaust it. I may therefore 

 be excused perhaps for making some little addition to it. I have 

 often been struck with the remarkable scientific precision of our 

 Lord's words recorded in Matt, xxiv and Luke xxi. Concerning 

 His second coming He says, " The sun shall be darkened and the 

 moon shall not give her light." This latter disaster would of course 

 follow from the former. But as the tides are produced by the 

 attraction of the sun and moon, astronomical disturbances affecting 

 these bodies would be sure to affect the ocean also. It is very 

 remarkable therefore to notice how He goes on to speak of " the 



