ASTRONOMY, HISTORY or. Of all the sciences which have engaged the attention of mankind, none appears to have been cultivated so early as that of astronomy, which treats of the noblest and most interesting objects of con templation. dosephos informs us that Seth, the son of Adam, is said to have laid the foun dations of this science, and that his posterity, understanding from a prediction of Adam that there would be a general destruction of all things, once by the rage of fire and once by the violence and multitude of waters, made two pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, and engraved their inventions on each, that if the pillar of brick happened to be overthrown by the flood, that of stone might remain ; which latter pillar, Josephus adds, was to be seen in his day. He also ascribes to the antediluvi ans a knowledge of the astronomical cycle of 600 years, but upon what authority we are nut informed.
The account is, however, not improbable ; for historians generally agree in rassig,niog the origin of astronomy to the Chaldean soon after the deluge, when, for the purpose of mak ing their astrological predictions, to which they were much addicted, as also for that of advanc ing the science of astronomy, they devoted themselves to the study of the heavenly bodies. The Chaldeans were in fact a tribe of Babylo nians, who constituted the priests, Oldest.
phers, astronomers, astrologers, and soothsay ers of this people, whence a Chaldean and a soothsayer beeamesynonym ens terms. These Chaldean discovered the motions of the hea venly bodies ; and, from their supposed, influ ences on human affairs, pretended to predict what was to come. The planets they called their interpreters, ascribing to Saturn the high est rank ; the next in eminence was Sol, the sun ; then Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter. By the motions and aspects of all these they foretold storms of wind and of rain, or exces sive droughts, as also the appearance of comets, eclipses of the sun and moon, and other phe nomena. They also marked out thirty-six constellations, twelve of which they placed in the zodiac, assigning to each a month in the year, and thus dividing the zodiac into twelve signs, through which they taught that the several planets performed their revolutions. They appear not to have had much idea of the immense distance of some of the planets from the sun, but accounted for the time they took in performing their revolutions by the slow ness of their motions. They, however, held
that the moon completed her course the soon est of any, not because of her extraordinary, velocity, but because her orbit, as it would now be called, was less than that of any of the hea venly bodies. They taught that she shone with a light not her own, and that when eclips. ed she was immersed in the shadow of the earth. Of the eclipses.of the sun they appear to have had no just idea, nor could they fix the time ivlien they should happen. Their ideas' of the earth as a celestial body were also crude and imperfect.
Astronomy was cultivated in Egypt nearly about the same time as among the Chaldeans ; and, according to the opinions of some, the honour of the invention is due to them : but the most probable conclusion is, that as these, two nations were coeval, and both addicted to the arts and sciences, they cultivated astrono my at the same time. Tim Egyptians had at a very early period their college of priests, who were all accurate observers of the stars, and kept, as Diodorus observes, registers of their observations for an incredible number of years. It is said, that in the monument of Osyman dyes there was a an3 circle of 365 cubits in circumference anoi one cubit thick, divided in to 365 parts, answering to the days of the year, &c. The Egyptians discovered that the stars had an annual motion of 50" 45'"' in the year ; and Macrobius asserts that they made the revolve about the sun in the same order as we do. From Chaldea and Egypt astronomy passed into Plicenicia, where it was applied by that trading people to the pur poses of navigation. The Arabians also, one of the most ancient nations in the world, culti vated astronomy as far as was needful to an swer the ends of their pastoral life, by observ ing the stars, their position, and influence on the weather. In travelling through the desert, we are informed that, at a very' early period, they used to direct their course by the Great and Little Bear, as is done at sea to this day. They also gave names to the stars, mostly in allusion to their flocks and herds; and they were so nice in this matter, that no language I abounds with so many names of stars and as terisms as the Arabic.