THE ZODIAC.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5012, 4 February 1885, Page 3

THE ZODIAC.

{To the Editor of the Evening Star.] Six.— Astronomy is the most ancient, m ttw unquestionably the noblest, of the pfcytkaC science!; but its very antiquity tends to throw a considerable degree of obscurity about it. The first principles of astronomy may be traced back to a period of at least 17,000 years by a careful consideration of the native history of the Zodiac. This name has been given to the imaginary zone on the heavens that extends about 8 or 9. degress on each side of the eelipffo. Itisdifided into twelve" regions or signs, each of which is occupied by the sun durine a particular month of the year, and which retain the name of the constellations with which they where originally identical. The names of the signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Tirgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The Sun enters Aries at the spring equinox, and Libra it the autumnal equinox, while the first points of Cancer and Capricornus mark the summer and winter solstices respectively. In consequence of the precession of the equinoxes the constellations corresponding in name with the signs of the Zodiac, and originally co-incident with them, have moved along the ecliptic in the direction of the Sun's motion, so that the signs Aries conincides at present with the constellation Pisces. Astronomically the Zodiac is of no practical value ; itf chief interest is historical. Though the name is Greek in origin, being derived from Zodian, a diminutive of 2oon, an animal, and so employed because - «f the preponderance of animal figures *mong the signs, the real origin of this .division of the sun's apparent path in the Jieavens dates from a much earlier period itban that in which. the Greek School of .Astronomy flourished. On the ceilings of portions of the Ancients' Temples of JJeriderab and Esue in Egypt symbolic of the sign* is still to be ;«een, and evidence exists to show that *tuuug the Periiaiig, Hiudus, Chinese, and Japanese, a hjnacular division of the

Zodiac has long been used. More recently Kawlinson lias found in the lately dis covered library of Sardanapalus at Nineveh interesting notices concerning the Zodiac, including an epic poem upon the twelve-mculh adventures of Jzdubar, the hero of the scenes, which is simply a poetical account of the Zodiacal signs. The general similarity of the Zodiac as existing in the several nations of antiquity points to the strong probability, i c., that these Lave derived their knowledge from me original source, and that the present discrepancies are the result of subsequent departures from the first Zodiac forms. It is obvious that division of time has resulted from observation of planetary motion, and its natural, separations ore marked by the relation of the sun to the 6xed stars and planets. The different .appearances or position of the heavenly bodies have been poetically allegorised and personified, and all other pretensions to historical divine revelation, other than these, can be historically disproved. The equinoxes are subject to a slow but continn,ous westward motion, each having an angular annual motion of 51miris. lsrc, and therefore.tak:n« 25,302 years to make one complete revolution. Some very profound astronomers, in investigating the origin of the Zodiac and the constellations, have come to the conclusion that in ancient times Libra was the siga of the rernal equinox, and that the autumnal equinox was distinguished by the, sign ! Aries. Since the original arrangement of | the Zodiac, the Nodes hate been advanced j seven signs. Then, calculating 70 and a half years as a degree of progression, or .2115 years as a sign, and considering Aries in the 15th dearf c 1447 years 8.C., it will-be demonstrated that Libra's firsi degree coincided not later with the vernal equinox than 15,194 years 80., and to this must be added 1885 years since Christ, making a total of 17.079 yrars which hare passed since the Zodiac was known, and even then-leaving its origin lost in the obscurity of preceding eternity.—l am, &c, Cbepbhpa.