William Tyler Olcott

“ There are many traditions that have emerged from the mists that shroud the distant past respecting the origin of the constellations, and the science of astronomy, and as that origin is antediluvian, the knowledge that we have of the subject must perforce be largely traditional in its character.
An early tradition affirms that the immediate descendants of Adam cultivated a knowledge of the stars, and that Seth and Enoch inscribed upon two pillars, one of brick, the other of stone, the names, meanings, secret virtues, and science of the stars, with the divisions of the zodiac. ”

“ From this universal attention to the stars, there sprang up the myriad fancies and peculiar notions, the products of imagination, that peopled the sky with animals and quaint figures, and gave rise to the constellated stellar groups that have come down to us, and figure on the modern charts of the heavens. ”

“ The Tannese Islanders divided the heavens into constellations with definite traditions to account for the canoes, ducks, and children that they see in the skies.
In the South Pacific islands dying men will announce their intention of becoming a star, and even mention the particular part of the heavens where they are to be looked for.
The Eskimos thought that some of the stars had been men and others different sorts of animals and fishes, which was also the mythical belief of the Greeks and Romans. ”

“ It has been remarked that among the constellation figures conspicuous by their absence are the following animals: the elephant, the camel, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, and the tiger, so it is reasonably safe to assume that neither India, Arabia, nor Egypt was the birthplace of the sphere. Greece, Italy, and Spain may be excluded on the ground that the lion figures as one of the constellations. We have left Asia Minor and Armenia, a region bounded by the Black, Mediterranean, Caspian, and Ægean seas, as the logical birthplace of the stellar figures. ”

“ The wonder and mystery the stars inspired, and their utility in daily life, soon led to their becoming objects of idolatry, and as their importance increased, astrology, that pseudo-science, Kepler's "foolish daughter of a wise mother," sprang into being, and for a time suppressed, discouraged, and hampered the legitimate and scientific study of the heavens. ”

“ There is a controversy as to whether Indian astronomy was derived from Greece or independent of it. In support of the latter theory, it is said that the Brahmins were too proud to borrow their science from the Greeks or Arabs, and also that it was improbable that two rival Hindu sects, the Brahmins and Buddhists, should have adopted the same innovations in their calendars and religious symbolism. Again, the Greeks held Indian astronomy in high esteem, while the Hindus only bestowed a moderate praise on the Grecian science. ”

“ Many of the authorities hold that the zodiac was planned while the spring equinox fell in the constellation Taurus. In support of this claim it may be said that, if this is the case, the sun was ascending all through the signs that face the east, and was descending all through the signs that face the west, a significant and logical arrangement which could hardly be accidental. ”

“ The Bushmen, or early inhabitants of Africa, regarded the more conspicuous stars as men, lions, tortoises, etc. They believed that the sun, moon, and stars were once mortals on earth, or even animals, or inorganic substances which happened to get translated to the skies. ”

“ Very early in the history of the world the stars must have served to record the passage of time, a service they have faithfully and accurately rendered mankind through all the ages to the present day. ”

“ Eudoxus, a native of Cnidus, who lived about the fourth century b.c., a contemporary of Plato, was the first Greek who described the constellations with approximate completeness. He is reported to have visited Egypt and to have there received astronomical instruction. He wrote The Enoption, or The Mirror, and The Phenomena or Appearances, both prose works and unfortunately not extant, but Aratos, the Alexandrine poet, versified the latter work about 270 b.c., and it has descended to our day. ”

“ It seems almost folly to endeavour to set the date of the invention of the constellations, for that period must approximate the age of the habitable world, and in all probability the stellar figures known to us were not designed at any one time, and lost their originality by the varying conditions that time has wrought in the past, for even in comparatively recent years there have been many attempts to alter them. ”

“ Such elementary knowledge of the heavenly bodies would presently lead to the establishment of certain facts relative to the stars, features concerning their apparent change in position, that if marked would render a service to the race. ”

“ It is needless to add that this nomenclature was not popular and failed of general adoption. ↑ Photography has played an important part in stellar catalogues of recent years, Kapteyn's chart made up from plates taken at Cape Town containing over 300,000 stars, and every year approximately 2000 plates of the heavens are taken by the astronomers in charge of the Harvard College Observatory Station at Arequipa, Peru. ”