128 
ninth century their chronology was as complete, or perhaps en- 
tirely the same, as we find it at present.” 
“ The supposition has been hazarded, that as India can now 
indisputably assert her title to the invention of the numerical 
figures, which had once been attributed to an Arabian origin, she 
will hereafter be found to have formed the first zodiac, which is 
generally supposed to have proceeded from Egypt.” 
“ The facts stated in the second lecture tend to establish the 
following important conclusions: that the strongest presumption 
arises, both from the testimonies of ancient authors, as far as they 
can be collected, as well as from internal evidence, that the chro- 
nological system of the Brahmins has suffered a material change, 
and that their present scheme is of comparatively modern inven- 
tion; that, in earlier times, this system had some obvious and 
striking similarity to that of the Mosaical history; that even if the 
reality of the aera from which their present age commences, and 
which is now generally supposed to be founded on retrograde cal- 
culation, were established, this admission could not, in any degree, 
affect the truth of the sacred writings; and that the only pro- 
bable origin, which can be assigned to the invention of the primeval 
zodiac, expressly contradicts the unwarrantable assumption of an 
Egyptian sphere, formed at the immense distance of sixteen 
thousand years before the present time.” 
The author then naturally asks, to what cause it can be as- 
signed, that in all the historical documents which have hitherto 
been brought to light, they should ascend to nearly the same point 
of time, and then become enveloped in obscurity, and degenerate 
into fable? whence happens it, that these fables, in nations, the 
