Precession of the equinoxes

“ That men living in the open air, who are regardful of the celestial phenomena, should not have noted the equinoxes, is not probable. They must have necessarily known the equinoxes by the observation of capes and mountains, which cast their shadows from points and describe angles so very diverse at the periods of the sun’s greatest recession, or return. Yet we know not that the time of such extreme withdrawal and return marked and completed the circle of the year. Their year was, in all the Algonquin tribes, a lunar year. ”

“ Equinoxes, the two annually recurring times at which the sun arrives at the Equinoctial Points (q. v.) , viz., 21st March and 22nd September, called respectively the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes in the northern hemisphere, but vice versa in the southern; at these times the sun is directly over the equator, and day and night is then of equal length over the whole globe.
Equites, The, a celebrated equestrian order in ancient Rome, supposed to have been instituted by Romulus ”

“ E × (Z- 1⁄2 sin. 2 Z) , will consequently be the total regress of the point E, in the time that the sun, by his apparent motion, describes the arch HE or Z; which, on the sun's arrival at the solstice, becomes barely = 1⁄2k × T/t × co-s. E × an arch of 90°∶ the quadruple whereof, or 1⁄2k × T/t × co-s. E × 360° (= 3t/4T × OA2-OP2/OA2 × co-s. E × 360°) is therefore the whole annual precession of the equinox caused by the sun. This, in numbers (taking OP/OA = 229/230 ) comes out 3/4 × 3661⁄4 × 2/2301⁄2 × 0.917176 × 360° = 21 ́ ́ 6 ́ ́ ́. ”

“ The actual equinox is defined by first taking the conception of a fictitious point called the Mean Equinox, which moves at a nearly uniform rate, slow varying, however, from century to century. The true equinox then moves around the mean equinox in a period equal to that of the moon’s nodes. ”

“ The equinoctial, which is a great circle traced in the starry heavens by the imaginary extension of the plane of the terrestrial equator, is intersected by the ecliptic, or apparent path of the sun, in two points diametrically opposite to one another, called the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The vernal equinox is the point through which the sun passes in going from the southern to the northern hemisphere ”

“ For when they are at the spring equinox they affect the new shoots of the arboreal crops, such as grapes and figs, and whatever matures with them; at the summer solstice, the gathering and storing of the crops, and in Egypt, peculiarly, the rising of the Nile; at the autumn solstice they concern the sowing, the hay crops, and such; and at the winter equinox the vegetables and the kinds of birds and fish most common at this season. Further, the equinoetial signs have significance for sacred rites and the worship of the gods; the solstitial signs, for changes in the air and in political customs ”

“ There are two equinoxes, but men pay more honour to the equinox in the sign of Capricorn than to that in the sign of Cancer.862 Surely the reason for this is evident. Since the sun begins to approach us immediately after the spring equinox,—for I need not say that then the days begin to lengthen,—this seemed the more agreeable season. For apart from the explanation which says that light accompanies the gods, we must believe that the uplifting rays863 of the sun are nearly akin to those who yearn to be set free from generation. ”

“ It is evident that the places of all the celestial bodies are affected by precession and nutation. Their longitudes estimated from the equinox are augmented by precession; but, as it affects all the bodies equally, it makes no change in their relative positions. ”

“ When at their equinoxes the other planets undergo a like experience, and indirectly, through the sun, we share in the resultant electrical excitement. Such is the theory, and on such foundations does it rest. Historical records and the reports of the weather bureaus furnish endless confirmations, for every storm finds an equinox to bear the responsibility. In order to include all actual phenomena, the duration of an equinoctial period is put at one-fourth the planet's year, so that each planet spends halt its time in creating disturbances throughout the solar system. ”

“ In common with most others, the Mosaic system of annual feasts groups itself readily around the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. In Lev. xxiii., where the list is most fully given, they seem to be arranged with a conscious reference to the sacred number seven (compare Numb. xxviii.) . Those belonging to the vernal equinox are three in number; a preparatory day, that of the Passover, leads up to the principal festival, that of unleavened bread, which again is followed by an after-feast, that of Pentecost (see Passover, Pentecost) . Those of the autumnal equinox are four ”

“ In general terms, once more, the quadrant from the spring equinox to the summer solstice makes the subjects well-favoured in complexion, stature, robustness, and eyes., and exceeding in the moist and warm. The quadrant from the summer solstice to the autumn equinox produces individuals with moderately good complexion and moderate height, robust, with large eyes and thick and curly hair, exceeding in the warm and dry. The quadrant from the autumn equinox to the winter solstice makes them sallow, spare, slender, sickly, with moderately curling hair and good eyes, exceeding in the dry and cold. ”

“ And the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through the point in the middle between those two Stars did then cut the Ecliptic in . 6°. 44': and by this reckoning the Equinox in the end of the year 1689 was gone back 36°. 44'. since the Argonautic Expedition: Supposing that the said Colure passed through the middle of the Constellation of Aries, according to the delineation of the Ancients. The Equinox goes back fifty seconds in one year, and one degree in seventy and two years, and by consequence 36°. ”