ページの画像
PDF
ePub

Sun's Semidiameter, Harizontal Parallax, and Latitude, and the Obliquity of the Ecliptic, for every 5th day, at noon at Greenwich.

September.

October.

D.

S. D. H.P. Lat. Ob. of Ecl. D.

S. D. H.P. Lat. Ob. of Ecl.

[blocks in formation]

315 53.713.51 0.03 S. 23 27 32.77 316 1.62.58 0.36 S.23 27 32.87

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Sun's and Moon's Longitude, and Moon's Latitude, at apparent noon

at Greenwich."

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

22

8 56 45 37 59

95 8 6

22

8 35 1

70 42 44 45 20

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

29

24 180 54 21 62 0 50 5 8 19 24 210 34 40

[ocr errors]

5 48 54 27 10 44 1 10 42 N. 29
6 47 53 41 28 27 0 7 18 S. 30

31

82 58 514 14 35

95 30 523 31 7

1 34 32308 22 23 2 36 0 2 34 25 21 37 26 1 30 59 3 34 20 35 19 140 18 43 N. 4 34 18 349 29 270 57 0 S. 5 34 17 004 7 52 11 14 6 34 18 19 7 503 18 16 7 34 21 34 24 24 12 12

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

23

9 34 49

Sun's Semidiameter, Horizontal Parallax, and Latitude, and the Obliquity of the Ecliptic, for every 5th day, at noon at Greenwich.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

216 9.648.65 0.52 S. 23 27 32.50 216 15.61 8.71 0.49 s. 23 27 32.02

[blocks in formation]

Sun's and Moon's Longitude, and Moon's Latitude, at apparent noon at

Greenwich.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

7 24 35 34

35 8 461 57 54 8 25 35 53 47 50 230 53 6 S. 9 26 36 13 60 12 590 12 35N. 10 27 36 36 72 21 261 16 21 11 28 37 0 84 20 152 15 46 12 29 37 26 96 13 203 8 35 13230 37 55 208 3 543 52 54 14 31 38 25 19 54 234 27 2 15 32 38 56 31 46 364 49 36 16 33 39 29 43 41 544 59 34 17 34 40 4 55 41 24 4 56 24 18 35 40 41 67 46 274 39 54 19 36 41 19 79 58 394 10 28 20 37 41 57 92 20 133 28 55 21 38 42 37 304 53 592 36 33 22 39 43 19 17 43 211 35 13 23 240 44 1 30 51 580 27 18N. 24 41 44 45 44 23 200 44 3 S. 25 42 45 30 358 19 591 54 55 26 43 46 16 012 42 383 0 40 27 44 47 3 27 29 173 56 7 28 45 47 51 42 34 314 36 19 29 46 48 40 57 49 334 57 25 30 47 49 31 73 3 284 57 23

6 53 54 57

5 28 3 45

43 51 430 57 19 S. 56 37 590 10 0 N.

69

2 411 14 59

11 8 27 3 0204 59 483 52 47

42 15 7

8 18

4

16 49 21 4 27 5

28 40 37 4 49 53

40 36

16 5 0 10

[blocks in formation]

7 54 55 56 8 55 56 56 81 9 56 57 58 93 10 57 59 11 58 0 12 260 1 9 13 61 2 14 14 62 3 20 15 63 4 27 16 64 5 34 17 65 6 42 89 18 66 7 50 302 19 67 8 59 14 52 20 68 10 8 27 50 280 27 33 N. 21 69 11 17 41 3 130 42 45 S. 22 270 12 26 354 32 421 52 15 23 71 13 36008 20 532 56 51 24 72 14 46 22 28 433 52 15 25 73 15 55 36 55 21 4 34 10 26 74 17 4 51 37 38 4 58 55 27 75 18 14 66 29 495 3 57 28 76 19 24 81 23 584 48 28 29 77 20 34 96 11 74 13 45 30 78 21 44 110 42 513 23 0 3179 22 54 24 52 36 2 20 42

Moon's Apogee and Perigee.

222,500 Perigee, 27th

91 35 2

Apogee, 14th day, Oh. M., dist. 252,500 ms.| Apogee, 11th day, 11h. M., dist. 252,100 ms Perigee, 29th

2

[blocks in formation]

PART II.

INFORMATION CONNECTED WITH THE CALENDAR, CELESTIAL CHANGES, AND ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA.

I. ALMANACS.

THE following account of the present state of Almanacs, compared with that of former times, is taken from the Companion to the British Almanac, for 1829, published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

The history of Almanacs, and even the etymology of the word Almanac, are involved in considerable obscurity. By some, the name is derived from the Arabic al manach, to count. Verstegan makes the word of German origin, Almonat; and says that our Saxon ancestors were in the practice of carving the annual courses of the moon upon a square piece of wood, which they called Almonaught — (al-moon-heed). Almanacs became generally used in Europe, within a short time after the invention of printing; and they were very early remarkable, as some are now in England, for the mixture of truth and falsehood which they contained. In 1579, their effects in France were found so mischievous, from the pretended prophecies which they published, that an edict was promulgated by Henry III., forbidding any predictions to be inserted in them, relating to civil affairs, whether those of the state or of private persons. No such law was ever enacted in England. It is singular that the earliest English Almanacs were printed in Holland, on small folio sheets; and these have occasionally been preserved, from having been pasted within the covers of old books. In the reign of James I. letters patent were granted to the two Universities and the Stationers' Company, for an exclusive right of printing Almanacs. These, in 1775, were declared to be illegal. During the civil wars of Charles I, and thence onward to our own times, English Almanacs became conspicuous for the unblushing boldness of their astrological predictions, and their determined perpetuation of popular errors. At the present day, none of the Almanacs of the continental states contain any misleading matters of this nature; and the Almanacs most similar to some of those extensively circulated amongst our intelligent fellow-countrymen,

are produced in Persia. A modern Persian Almanac is thus described in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana : — The first page contains a list of fortunate days for certain purposes; as, for example, to buy, to sell, to take medicine, to marry, to go a journey, &c. &c.; then follow predictions of events, as earthquakes, storms, political affairs, &c., after the manner of Moore's Almanac, except being apparently more concise.' This resemblance between the productions of a highly cultivated nation, and one which is remarkable for its general ignorance, is certainly no proof of our boasted emancipation from ancient prejudices.

Our popular superstitions with regard to the weather the lingering belief, in which some still indulge, of the doctrine of nativities—and the settled opinion in a few minds, that what are called malignant aspects of the stars, as well as comets and meteors, portend evils to mankind, were the most cherished convictions of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors; and it may not be entirely fanciful to consider the prevalence of such notions still among us, as shoots of the tree of ancient prognostication. Mr. Sharon Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, has an interesting passage upon this subject:

'Their prognostics, from the sun and moon, from thunder and from dreams, were so numerous, as to display and to perpetuate a most lamentable debility of mind. Every day of every month was catalogued as a propitious or unpropitious season for certain transactions. We have AngloSaxon treatises which contain rules for discovering the future fortune and disposition of a child, from the day of his nativity. One day was useful for all things; another, though good to tame animals, was baleful to sow seeds. One day was favorable to the commencement of business; another to let blood; and others wore a forbidding aspect to these and other things. On this day they were to buy, on a second to sell, on a third to hunt, on a fourth, to do nothing. If a child was born on such a day, it would live ; if on another, its life would be sickly; if on another, it would perish early. In a word, the most alarming fears, and the most extravagant hopes, were perpetually raised by these foolish superstitions, which tended to keep the mind in the dreary bondage of ignorance and absurdity, which prevented the growth of knowledge, by the incessant war of prejudice, and the slavish effects of the most imbecile apprehensions.'

Many of our English Almanacs have had no inconsiderable share in keeping alive errors like those of a thousand years ago errors which are equally opposed to the progress of knowledge, and to a pious confidence in the wisdom and goodness of an Almighty providence. It may be curious, and not uninstructive, to observe how very similar are the prejudices which still maintain a decrepit existence among us, to those of our forefathers; and how very little the general progress of education has done towards the destruction of evil publications which long habit has rendered

popular. We will take the Almanacs of 1678 (the year the Habeas Corpus Act was passed, in the reign of Charles II.) — of 1771 (the eleventh year of the reign of George III.). and those of 1829, which have just been

published.

6

:

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The most famous' Astrologer' of the seventeenth century was William Lilly: He began to print his Ephemeris in 1644, during the greatest heat of the civil wars. He uses many hard words and much Latin in his predictions; and constantly invokes the Divine assistance to deduce a judgment of things to come, from what he calls 'rational and experimental grounds of art.' The year 1677 had been distinguished by the appearance of a comet; and of course this is a fruitful subject with Lilly, whose business was to fill the minds of men with superstitious fears. He says, 'all comets signifie wars, terrors, and strange events in the world.' The venerable Bede, more than eight hundred years before him, had affirmed that comets portend change of kingdoms, or pestilence, or wars, or tempests, or droughts.' Lilly explains the prophetic character of these bodies very curiously the spirits, well knowing what accidents shall come to pass, do form a star or comet, and give it what figure or shape they please, and cause its motion through the air, that people might behold it, and thence draw a signification of its events.' What is called the murrain was very common in those days, when the diseases of cattle as well as men were imperfectly understood; and, therefore, a comet, or blazing star, appearing in the sign Taurus, ' portends,' according to this crafty astrologer, 'mortality to the greater sort of cattle, as horses, oxen, cows, &c.' But the comet has not only to answer for this mischief, but it also portends, 'prodigious shipwracks, damage in fisheries, monstrous floods, and destruction of fruit by caterpillars and other vermine,'-evils which the most superstitious of men have now pretty well agreed to refer to their natural causes. Comets, according to Lilly, also produce very hard and nipping weather, frosty, dark, cloudy, much snow and wind, strange or unusual hail and tempest.' This is absurd enough; but it is not more absurd than an assertion that Saturn, the planet which, with the exception of Uranus, is the most distant from the Sun, should produce storms and tempests in January 1829, by its influence on that luminary. The following passage occurs in the first page of Moore's Almanac, for 1829.

'Saturn a direful ray

From Cancer's lofty mount
Darts at the king of day,

And clouds on that account

Will sure pervade our wintry skies,

And storms and tempests soon shall rise.'

But this prophecy about the influence of Saturn upon the weather is by no means original. In Tanner's Ephemeris for 1678, we are told, in December,

« 前へ次へ »