THE FOOLISH DAUGHTER OF SCIENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 27

THE FOOLISH DAUGHTER OF SCIENCE

r; AstEology;- "a most ■' ancient and honourable superstition," "as; it has been called,; began with good intentions' femong the Chaldeans in an-attempt at so reading natural phenomena, as to enable■ythemyto foretell such occur'.•rerices_'.'as ■ eclipses, tides,'and, the return ;_to • certain positions of- the heavenly bodies (writes- B. y Dudley, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, in the "News Chronicle"). But it was afterwards degraded into a , pretence -.of ybeihg,; able to predict -'ft^^in^-he^iiii^c^-'^lridividualsyibr' Rations, jyudginl:';. from thie number of -almanacs- that.;lend" /themselves to this type of -'s-superStiliort,l and the large Sale attained' by, these when published, there are' i'till- many-"'people ■ who wish to be id&cebfod:3!-'AiA7:,- ' A'3-'-'-...-.. :"'(This Jfklse^creliei_ >',is*ba,_ed-y-upoh'ythe assumption that" from th%. positions or '"aspects"- of ..the stars at, the time of ia" person's ;:bi'rtrf his .fortune in life can.'-' be forecast. To be' born under theyplahet Saturn, for, example, 'is. to be born with! a tendency to morose thought'and feeling. And people who have this gloomy temper are still said tobbyey of the saturnihe type of mind; ■whereas those"whose birth took place when Venus prevailed are prone to dissipation.'/which may -result: in injured health. ■ •'•■••'■.■'.. y-y'A I

WHAT MARS PORTENDS.

3 Mars is productive of accident, disease, , and other 'forms of evil; and so only Arid herei as elsewhere, many remarkable coincidences can be found by- those.who look for them. Persons under, vthe.{influence of- Jupiter will b^rlch.and distinguished. Queen Vie-_ toriac.3S>: often;-Quoted -because ,;;;:,,a. "native" of the favouring planet; while; Gfeof f»e ( -IV ..is.',aJ conspicuous instance of, the"'Venus y*in4uencehy','. j; Someone 'i'ri'search of ."such coincid? «£fceSr; "juggli_ig"'With -the '.year 1933*

found it ominous of., disaster which never happened. Suppose it had happened. ?The year 1933, he pointed out, began with, Sunday ahd 'ended with Sunday; > There were accordingly 53 Sundays' in'.the'year. "V^hile„a'll'of the figures- •of 1933 are odd:'numbers, if added ; together an even number is obtained': There were 13 full moons in the year. The year "began with a moon, but a'few days old, its first quarter being on January 3. There were only 12 new moons in the year, yet, owing, to. the fact that there were 13 full moons, 1933 experienced the maximum of moonshine, j^nd so one might have'gone on for ever, world without endi amen. •,• ■ ' "■■ "'■■ y- ■'?

yWe, ought not to be severe on the old-, astrologers. . v 'They were ; often quite sincere, and should not be judged in the light of our modern scientific knowledge.- In an age of superstition, and in the .absence of correct information regarding natural phenomena, they were shut off from what has been called the "private interpretation of things," and were therefore liable to all manner of fanciful ways ot explaining what they saw...

: '^Moreover; astronomy owes a great debt to astrology, y The relation of the latter to the , former compares with thaiof the old alchemy to modern chemistry. It may be that only the desire" of gain would ever have induced men to conduct those painstaking researches of the alchejnists from which they learned how to analyse matter into ; its ielementary constituents, and recoriibine them into new forms; and similarly the belief that, a careful, study, of the celestial bodies would enable men to read their own, destiny led to a most earnest inquiry concerning the stars and their movements. Thus ihe cause-of astro--homy was advanced.