Myths and Marvels of Astronomy
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Transcriber's Note
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of corrections
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MYTHS AND MARVELS
OF ASTRONOMY
BY
RICHARD A. PROCTOR
AUTHOR OF
"ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH," "THE EXPANSE OF HEAVEN," "OUR PLACE
AMONG INFINITIES," "PLEASANT WAYS IN SCIENCE,"
ETC., ETC.
_NEW EDITION_
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY
1896
_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO
_At the Ballantyne Press_
PREFACE.
The chief charm of Astronomy, with many, does not reside in the wonders
revealed to us by the science, but in the lore and legends connected
with its history, the strange fancies with which in old times it has
been associated, the half-forgotten myths to which it has given birth.
In our own times also, Astronomy has had its myths and fancies, its wild
inventions, and startling paradoxes. My object in the present series of
papers has been to collect together the most interesting of these old
and new Astronomical myths, associating with them, in due proportion,
some of the chief marvels which recent Astronomy has revealed to us. To
the former class belong the subjects of the first four and the last five
essays of the present series, while the remaining essays belong to the
latter category.
Throughout I have endeavoured to avoid technical expressions on the one
hand, and ambiguous phraseology (sometimes resulting from the attempt
to avoid technicality) on the other. I have, in fact, sought to present
my subjects as I should wish to have matters outside the range of my
special branch of study presented for my own reading.
RICHARD A. PROCTOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. ASTROLOGY 1
II. THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID 53
III. THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS 78
IV. SWEDENBORG'S VISIONS OF OTHER WORLDS 106
V. OTHER WORLDS AND OTHER UNIVERSES 135
VI. SUNS IN FLAMES 160
VII. THE RINGS OF SATURN 191
VIII. COMETS AS PORTENTS 212
IX. THE LUNAR HOAX 242
X. ON SOME ASTRONOMICAL PARADOXES 268
XI. ON SOME ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS 299
XII. THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATION-FIGURES 332
MYTHS AND MARVELS
OF
ASTRONOMY
I.
_ASTROLOGY._
Signs and planets, in aspects sextile, quartile, trine, conjoined,
or opposite; houses of heaven, with their cusps, hours, and
minutes; Almuten, Almochoden, Anahibazon, Catahibazon; a thousand
terms of equal sound and significance.--_Guy Mannering._
... Come and see! trust thine own eyes.
A fearful sign stands in the house of life,
An enemy: a fiend lurks close behind
The radiance of thy planet--oh! be warned!--COLERIDGE.
Astrology possesses a real interest even in these days. It is true that
no importance attaches now even to the discussion of the considerations
which led to the rejection of judicial astrology. None but the most
ignorant, and therefore superstitious, believe at present in divination
of any sort or kind whatsoever. Divination by the stars holds no higher
position than palmistry, fortune-telling by cards, or the indications of
the future which foolish persons find in dreams, tea-dregs,
salt-spilling, and other absurdities. But there are two reasons which
render the history of astrology interesting. In the first place, faith
in stellar influences was once so widespread that astrological
terminology came to form a part of ordinary language, insomuch that it
is impossible rightly to understand many passages of ancient and
mediaeval literature, or rightly to apprehend the force of many allusions
and expressions, unless the significance of astrological teachings to
the men of those times be recognised. In the second place, it is
interesting to examine how the erroneous teachings of astrology were
gradually abandoned, to note the way in which various orders of mind
rejected these false doctrines or struggled to retain them, and to
perceive how, with a large proportion of even the most civilised races,
the superstitions of judicial astrology were long retained, or are
retained even to this very day. The world has still to see some
superstitions destroyed which are as widely received as astrology ever
was, and which will probably retain their influence over many minds long
after the reasoning portion of the community have rejected them.
Even so far back as the time of Eudoxus the pretensions of astrologers
were rejected, as Cicero informs us ('De Div.' ii. 42). And though the
Romans were strangely superstitious in such matters, Cicero reasons with
excellent judgment against the belief in astrology. Gassendi quotes the
argument drawn by Cicero against astrology, from the predictions of the
Chaldaeans that Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey would die 'in a full old age,
in their own houses, in peace and honour,' whose deaths, nevertheless,
were 'violent, immature, and tragical.' Cicero also used an argument
whose full force has only been recognised in modern times. 'What
contagion,' he asked, 'can reach us from the planets, whose distance is
almost infinite?' It is singular that Seneca, who was well acquainted
with the uniform character of the planetary motions, seems to have
entertained no doubt respecting their influence. Tacitus expresses some
doubts, but was on the whole inclined to believe in astrology.
'Certainly,' he says, 'the majority of mankind cannot be weaned from the
opinion that at the birth of each man his future destiny is fixed;
though some things may fall out differently from the predictions, by the
ignorance of those who profess the art; and thus the art is unjustly
blamed, confirmed as it is by noted examples in all ages.'[1]
Probably, the doubt suggested by the different fortunes and characters
of men born at the same time must have occurred to many before Cicero
dwelt upon it. Pliny, who followed Cicero in this, does not employ the
argument quite correctly, for he says that, 'in every hour, in every
part of the world, are born lords and slaves, kings and beggars.' But of
course, according to astrological principles, it would be necessary that
two persons, whose fortunes were to be alike, should be born, not only
in the same hour, but in the same place. The fortunes and character of
Jacob and Esau, however, should manifestly have been similar, which was
certainly not the case, if their history has been correctly handed down
to us. An astrologer of the time of Julius Caesar, named Publius Nigidius
Figulus, used a singular argument against such reasoning. When an
opponent urged the different fortunes of men born nearly at the same
instant, Nigidius asked him to make two contiguous marks on a potter's
wheel which was revolving rapidly. When the wheel was stopped, the two
marks were found to be far apart. Nigidius is said to have received the
name of Figulus (the potter), in remembrance of the story; but more
probably he was a potter by trade, and an astrologer only during those
leisure hours which he could devote to charlatanry. St. Augustine, who
relates the story (which I borrow from Whewell's 'History of the
Inductive Sciences'), says, justly, that the argument of Nigidius was as
fragile as the ware made on the potter's wheel.
The belief must have been all but universal in those days that at the
birth of any person who was to hold an important place in the world's
history the stars would either be ominously conjoined, or else some
blazing comet or new star would make its appearance. For we know that
some such object having appeared, or some unusual conjunction of planets
having occurred, near enough to the time of Christ's birth to be
associated in men's minds with that event, it came eventually to be
regarded as belonging to his horoscope, and as actually indicating to
the Wise Men of the East (Chaldaean astrologers, doubtless) the future
greatness of the child then born. It is certain that that is what the
story of the Star in the East means as it stands. Theologians differ as
to its interpretation in points of detail. Some think the phenomenon was
meteoric, others that a comet then made its appearance, others that a
new star shone out, and others that the account referred to a
conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, which occurred at about that
time. As a matter of detail it may be mentioned, that none of these
explanations in the slightest degree corresponds with the account, for
neither meteor, nor comet, nor new star, nor conjoined planets, would go
before travellers from the east, to show them their way to any place.
Yet the ancients sometimes regarded comets as guides. Whichever view we
accept, it is abundantly clear that an astrological significance was
attached by the narrator to the event. And not so very long ago, when
astrologers first began to see that their occupation was passing from
them, the Wise Men of the East were appealed to against the enemies of
astrology,[2]--very much as Moses was appealed to against Copernicus
and Galileo, and more recently to protect us against certain
relationships which Darwin, Wallace, and Huxley unkindly indicate for
the human race divine.
Although astronomers now reject altogether the doctrines of judicial
astrology, it is impossible for the true lover of that science to regard
astrology altogether with contempt. Astronomy, indeed, owes much more to
the notions of believers in astrology than is commonly supposed.
Astrology bears the same relation to modern astronomy that alchemy bears
to modern chemistry. As it is probable that nothing but the hope of
gain, literally in this case _auri sacra fames_, would have led to those
laborious researches of the alchemists which first taught men how to
analyse matter into its elementary constituents, and afterwards to
combine these constituents afresh into new forms, so the belief that, by
carefully studying the stars, men might acquire the power of predicting
future events, first directed attention to the movements of the
celestial bodies. Kepler's saying, that astrology, though a fool, was
the daughter of a wise mother,[3] does not by any means present truly
the relationship between astrology and astronomy. Rather we may say that
astrology and alchemy, though foolish mothers, gave birth to those wise
daughters, astronomy and chemistry. Even this way of speaking scarcely
does justice to the astrologers and alchemists of old times. Their views
appear foolish in the light of modern scientific knowledge, but they
were not foolish in relation to what was known when they were
entertained. Modern analysis goes far to demonstrate the immutability,
and, consequently, the non-transmutability of the metals, though it is
by no means so certain as many suppose that the present position of the
metals in the list of _elements_ is really correct. Certainly a chemist
of our day would be thought very unwise who should undertake a series of
researches with the object of discovering a mineral having such
qualities as the alchemists attributed to the philosopher's stone. But
when as yet the facts on which the science of chemistry is based were
unknown, there was nothing unreasonable in supposing that such a mineral
might exist, or the means of compounding it be discovered. Nay, many
arguments from analogy might be urged to show that the supposition was
altogether probable. In like manner, though the known facts of astronomy