The astronomy of the Chinese, like that of the Egyp tians and Chaldeans, has been traced back to a very re mote period of their history. So early as the year 2752 before Christ, Fohi, the first emperor of China, is said to have computed astronomical tables ; to have given the figures of the heavenly bodies ; and to have institu ted sacrifices at the time of the solstices. In the reign of Hoangti, A. C. 2697, the Pole Star was observed by Yuchi, who invented also a kind of, armillary sphere, and the cycle of sixty years was then established. The emperor himself is sail to have invented several instru ments for observing the stars, and fixing the cardinal points ; and posterity have ascribed to him the merit of founding a tribunal of mathematics, for the advancement of his favourite science. The study of astronomy seems, at this time, to have been held in such high estimation, that the sceptre of China was given to Chueni, on ac count of his knowledge of the heavenly bodies. This event happened in the year 2513 A. C.; and the new emperor displayed his love of the sciences, by compos ing an ephemeris of the motions of five planets, sug gested probably by the remarkable conjunction of these bodies, which he is said to have observed, and which ap pears from calculation, to have happened in 2449. The i earliest eclipse recorded in the Chinese annals, is sup posed to have occurred about the year 2167 before Christ; but the account of it is so obscure and imperfect, that astronomers have attempted in vain to submit it to cal culation. The other eclipse which they record happen ed in 776: It is founded on better authority than the for mer, but it does not appear whether it was calculated or observed. During the interval between 776 and 480, thirty-six eclipses have been recorded by Confucius, thirty-one of which have been verified by modern calcu lations. From the time of Fohi to the year 480 A. C., an interval of about 2500 years, the science of astrono my was held in the highest veneration by the Chinese; but the division of the empire into petty states, and the turbulent spirit of their princes, disturbed the peaceful reign of science, and checked the ardour or tion. The observations of the Chinese astronomers were discontinued, the tribunal or mathematics was destroyed, and the spirit of discovery seems to have perished with Confucius. The Emperor Tsin-chi-hoang quelled the dissensions which agitated the kingdom, and formed in to one great empire the various principalities into which it had been broken ; but this barbarous conqueror com mitted to the flames every work on astronomy and histo ry, and preserved only those which related to agriculture, medicine, and astrology. About the year 206 A. C., when his successor Lieon-pang ascended the throne, the mathematical tribunal was re-established, and orders were given to collect the few remains of ancient wisdom which ingenuity had concealed, or which chance had preserved from the ravages of Tsin-chi-hoang.
About a century before the Christian xra, the Chi nese had formed precepts for calculating eclipses, and the places of the planets : they employed Clepsydra for measuring the space occupied by the constellations; and they determined their meridian by bisecting the interval between the equality of shadows. Their gnomons, for measuring the altitude of the sun, continued, for 1500 years, at the size of eight feet, till Cocheon-king erect ed•a magnificent one of forty feet. They found out the Metonic cycle of nineteen years, with seven intercalary months, and likewise the cycle of Calippus of seventy six years. They reckoned the obliquity of the ecliptic
24° ; but as they divided a great circle ol the heavens into 3654°, it amounts only to 23° 39' of our division. About 164 years before Christ, the Chinese had deter mined the revolution of the moon with regard to her apogee and node, and the inequality of her motion ; but, what is still more remarkable, they had even construct ed a catalogue containing the places of 2500 stars. A Chinese of the name of Y-hang seems to have made great advances in astronomy about the year 721. Be sides correcting the method of computing eclipses, he computed tables of the sun, began the theory of Jupiter, formed a catalogue of stars, and constructed charts and celestial globes. He measured a degree of the meri dian, which he made 331 lys; and sent two companies of mathematicians to the north and south, in order to ascertain the figure of the earth. This able astronomer, however, had the mortification to fail in the calculation of two eclipses. They were announced with great for mality to the empire, and preparations were made for the ceremonious solemnities with which these phenome na were usually observed. The emperor and his sub jects watched in vain for the fulfilment of the predictions ; and Y-hang had the ingenuity to attribute their failure to some unexpected change in the motions of the stars. About the year 1280, astronomy was encouraged in Chi na and Persia, by the generous patronage of Koblav and Holaga, the sons of Zengis-khan. During their reigns appeared Cocheou-king, who was then considered as the reformer of astronomy. He was acquainted with sphe rical trigonometry, and discovered a method of calculat ing solar eclipses. With his gnomon of forty feet he observed the obliquity of the ecliptic ; and, in the nu merous observations which he made, he appears to have employed' several instruments, and, among these, a machine which has some resemblance to the microme ter, After the death of Koblay astronomy began to de cline ; and the attempts of the Prince Telling, at the end of the sixteenth century, to inspire his subjects with a taste for science, proved altogether fruitless. The European missionaries who travelled to China, carried along with them the religion and sciences of the West ; and since that time, the astronomy of China has been the astronomy of Europe.
In the study of the heavens, the Chinese seem to have satisfied themselves chiefly with a few practical results and calculations. Possessed of patience, but not of genius, they observed the heavens with unremit ting assiduity; but they never ventured to reason and to combine. The process of generalisation seems to have exceeded the reach of their faculties ; and notwithstand ing the genial temperature of their climate, the perpe tual serenity of their sky, and the liberal encourage ment held out by their emperors, the astronomy of the Chinese has never risen to the dignity of a science.
In turning our attention to the Indian astronomy, we enter upon a more interesting field of research. Here we are not left to the guidance of facts, contradictory and ill authenticated, or of deceitful observations, found ed merely on conjecture. The astronomical tables of the Indians are in our own hands, and with evidence al, most as irresistible as that which attends the principles of the science, we can trace the remoteness of their origin, and survey the advancement of the human mind in the earliest ages of the world.