SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC.

99

In the absence of a correct calendar, such as our almanacs now furnish, the early cultivators of the soil very wisely determined the recurrence of various seasons, by the aspect of the heavens. It was, to them, a matter of no small importance, to know, with unerring certainty, the time when first to break the soil, and plant. This they could not do, judging from the simple change in the climate, or temperature, due to the return of spring; as various causes, which we need not mention, render this indication liable to great uncertainty. Hence, at a very early day, the apparent path of the sun, in the heavens, was divided into twelve portions, called signs; and as these signs were mostly representatives of living objects, it was called the Zodiac, from a Greek word meaning life. In a previous chapter, we have shown how this division was accomplished by means of the water-clock. The present division of the Zodiac was probably made by the Egyptians, and they named the signs with particular reference to agriculture, and the seasons at the time of their invention. From the Egyptians it was undoubtedly borrowed by the Greeks, and from them has been transmitted to us. As we have elsewhere shown, these signs are reckoned from the point of vernal equinox, or first point of Aries, eastward, completely around the ecliptic. Their names are, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. The sun enters Aries, or the Ram, at the time of vernal equinox; hence this sign was represented under the form of a ram, to which the character P was placed, designed no doubt, at first, to represent a ram's horns. This was the beginning of spring. The sun entered the next sign, Taurus, a Bull, a month afterwards; which was, therefore, appropriately represented by a bull, the attention now being drawn to plowing and sowing. This sign was once situated in the constellation Taurus, which numbers among its stars the beautiful group called the Pleiades, or seven stars, although now, on account of the precession of the equinoxes, it is in the constellation Aries. Hesiod alludes to the heliacal rising and cosmical setting of the seven stars :

"When, Atlas born, the Pleiad stars arise,
Before the sun, above the dawning skies,
'Tis time to reap; and when they sink below
The morn illumined west, 'tis time to sow."

And we find in Job an.allusion to the Pleiades, as harbingers of spring: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades," &c. [Job 38: 31]. The symbol of Taurus is 8, once intended for a bull's head and horns. The sign Gemini, or the Twins, which the sun enters two months after the commencement of spring, was denoted by the symbol II, intended to represent the twin sons of Leda; as this was the month when the flocks brought forth, this sign was adopted as the harbinger of a fruitful increase. The next sign is Cancer, the Crab, the sun enters this sign at the time of the summer solstice, or at midsummer. Previous to entering this sign, it had been rising, each day, higher and higher, until now, having reached its highest point, it begins to return; hence the sign, a crab, an animal fabled to run backwards as well as forwards, and its symbol, is intended to illustrate this. In the Zodiacs discovered at Dendera and Esne, alluded to in the last chapter, the place of this sign is occupied by a Scarabeus, or Beetle; but in the Hindoo Zodiac, which was probably borrowed from the Chaldeans, and is therefore older than the Egyptian, we find the figure of a crab, It will be understood that these divisions of the ecliptic, which heretofore we have marked as hours, see the figure, page 91, are the commencement and middle of the twelve signs, each sign comprehending two hours, O corresponding to the first point of Aries, II the first point of Taurus, &c. It will be noticed that the sun reaches the highest point of his orbit at VI, or the first point of Cancer, where the solstitial colure intersects the ecliptic.

The fifth sign is Leo, the Lion. The sun entered this sign about the time of the overflowing of the Nile, at which period, the lions, driven from the interior by the heat, hunted along its banks. This sign is figured in the Egyptian and Indian Zodiacs very near as we have it now. The symbol is , probably a corruption of an hieroglyphical character, intended for a crouching lion. The next month, the sun entered Virgo, the virgin. This was the harvest month, and hence was appropriately represented by a virgin with a sheaf of wheat. The Egyptians represented it under the figure of Isis; the symbol is . This is probably an hieroglyphical character. The next sign is Libra, the balance,

represented by a scale-beam. The sun enters this sign at the time of the autumnal equinox, when the days and nights become nearly equal all over the world, as we shall soon explain. Virgil alludes to this constellation:

"When poising Libra rest and labor weighs,
And parts with equal balance nights and days,
Goad, goad the steer, the barley seed enclose,
Till winter binds the ground in dead repose."

The next month, abounding with venemous reptiles, was characterized by the sign Scorpio, a scorpion, though in some of the old Zodiacs it is represented under the form of a snake, or an alligator; its symbol is . The next sign is represented, in all the Zodiacs, under the form of a hunter, or archer, as the sun enters this sign in November, the hunting month, and its symbol is an arrow 1. When the sun enters the next sign, about the latter part of December, it is mid-winter, and the time of the winter solstice, the sun being at the position marked XVIII, see the figure, page 91. It is represented under the form of a goat, for now the sun, having reached its lowest southern declination, begins to climb up in the heavens, like the goat climbing the mountain steeps; the symbol is . The next sign is represented by Aquarius, the water-pourer, perhaps in allusion to the rainy season, and the symbol,, is intended, no doubt, to represent the water, or waves. The last sign is Pisces, the fishes, represented by the symbol, and the constellation is usually figured in the heavens as two fishes tied by their tails, for the earth being now bound in winter's icy chains, subsistence is derived from the streams.

Such are the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and through one of these the sun passes each month, and thus their names, become to us, indicative of months, Aries corresponding with March, Taurus with April, &c. When the sun enters one sign the earth enters the opposite, as in the following diagram.

Thus, when the earth enters the sign Libra at C, at the time of the vernal equinox, the sun, S, appears to enter the opposite sign. Aries, at A, and when the earth arriving at D, enters the sign Capricornus, at the time of the summer solstice, the sun enters

the opposite sign, Cancer, at B. Hence, whatever sign the sun

may be in, the opposite sign will rise at sunset, being 180°, or half a circle, distant from the sun. If the orbit of the earth was a true circle, the progress of the sun through the signs would be performed with an equable motion; but this is not the case, as we have shown when speaking of the equation of time. Its orbit is elliptical, and its major axis lies in the direction of a line joining the beginning of August and January, nearly, so that the sun is actually nearer the earth in January than in August. We shall see, presently, why its rays, at that time, have less effect in warming the earth, in our northern climates than in summer. On account of the proximity of the earth, to the sun, in winter, and its consequent swifter motion; the sun will appear to move through the winter signs faster than through the summer signs, and will therefore accomplish the six winter signs quicker than the six summer signs. Hence, the winter is always, in any latitude north of the equator, shorter than the summer. This difference amounts, in the temperate zones, to almost eight days. At all places south of the equator it is summer, when it is winter in the northern hemisphere, as we shall now proceed to show, and hence the summer there is shorter than the winter, for the sun is

nearest those places in summer. And those signs, which are winter signs to us, who live in the northern hemisphere, are summer signs to the inhabitants of the southern. All varieties of seasons are thus, at all times, upon our globe. When one portion is covered with the white mantle of winter, another is producing beautiful flowers. At one place spring is commencing, at another the autumn, and around the equatorial regions of the earth perpetual summer reigns. Perhaps there is nothing that seems more strange to the traveler, than this variety of seasons from change of latitude. The names of the winter months, which so long have been associated with ideas of cold, and frost, and storm, seem strangely misplaced, when he beholds flowers blooming around him in December, and hears the songs of birds wafted on the light breeze. Christmas and New Years, which in our northern country, are wont to be associated with the cheerful blaze, the merry sleigh-ride, or the drifting snow, bring no such associations to the inhabitant of the southern hemisphere; there, mid-summer reigns, and the cool breezes, which blow over the Indian seas, laden with perfume, dispel the sultry heat. The cause by which all this variety is produced, is not the less interesting because it is simple, and because we see in it a guaranty that long as time shall last, or the present race inhabit the globe, so long the seed time and harvest must return with undeviating certainty.

We have mentioned formerly that the earth's orbit is an ellipse, and that the longer or major axis of the ellipse is called the line of the apsides. We might have shown that between the limits of an ellipse, viz: a perfect circle on the one hand and a straight line on the other, this orbit might vary, but still the periodic time of a revolution remain unchanged. But these are theoretical investigations upon which we cannot enter. We will, however, observe that the line of the apsides, or major axis of the earth's orbit, is its most important element, for when this is determined the periodic time of a revolution, and the mean distance from the sun are also determined. The orbit itself, under the influence of various forces, may change its ellipticity, expanding towards a circle on the one hand, or diminishing towards a straight line on the other, or the ellipse may swing round upon