New-York tribune., 1900-07-01
ASTRONOMICAL RELICS.
PRIMITIVE APPARATUS ONCE USED IN
CHINA.
AN OBSERVATORY AT PEKING SAID TO BE THREE
HUNDRED YEARS OLD.

AN OBSERVATORY AT PEKING SAID TO BE THREE
HUNDRED YEARS OLD.
The reappearances of the brighter stars at diff
ferent seasons of the year, their height above
the horizon, the angular distance between them
eclipses and the motions of the sun. moon and
planets were made the subject of careful study
in Asia and Egypt at least five thousand or six
thousand years ago, and perhaps at a still
earlier stage of human history Lockyer be-
lieves that many of the oldest temples in Egypt
were oriented with reference to the rising cf
certain stars. There is a ChaIdean work
astronomy that dates back TO $500 B. c., and it
is within the range of possibility that something
more ancient may yet be found in Babylonia
The earliest record now known of a solar eclipse
happens to be Chinese and is four thousand
years old.
In View of the well established antiquity of
astronomy and astrolOgy. the odd little Observa-
tory in the outskirts of Peking, which is said to
be three hundred years old, might seem to be
comparatively modern. And it is, in a strict
ly chronological sense. But all truly scientific
astronomical work began with the recognition,
three hundred or four hundred years ago, of the
fact that the earth is a sphere rotating on its
axis. ana that the heavens are stationary. More
over, vast proportion of the knowledge pos
s. ssed to-day regarding the stars has been
qured by means of the telescope, which was
not known three centuries ago. Indeed, so enor-
nous have been the advances made since the
time of Calico. and little progress was
achieved from the days of Ptolemy to those of
Copernicus. that the Chinese astronomer could
not have had a much better instrumental equip
ment in 1900 than the beginning of the
Christian A. any rate that of the aban-
doned Pelng observatory is exceedingly pTim-
tive and it would puzzle experts in stellar
science to say precisely what were its functions
As their records show the ancents attempted
little more than to note the height of various
conspicuous objects above the horizon. their
relative distance from each other and the time
of year when they were most conveniently stu
ated for observation. For these purposes they
needed only simple devices. One of their best
known pieces of apparatus "armillary
sphere" a combination of brass circles rotating
on an axis that was sufficiently inclined to aim
at the point about which the heavens seemed to
revolve. One might be disposed to take some of
the objects in the old Pekng observatory for
armiilary spheres. but they are lacking in GER
tain important features Hence if these instru-
ments intended to serve the purpose of an
armflIary sphere they must have done so made
quateIy They very rudimentary in charac-
ter 1t is not incredible that time and the
weather have not only rendered these old Chi
nese relics useless but have also deprived them
of some of their original features. good many
things might happen to objects left for centuries
in so exposed a situation. However, without
close scrutiny of the instruments made on the
spot it would be impossible to say with conil-
dence what changes and losses had occurred
Another device in the collection, looking like
an upright pump and its handle, may have been
used to measure the angular altitude of objects
in the northern skies. But whether this sur
mise be correct not, it is clear that the appa-
ratus itself long since ceased to be of any serT
vice. The Chinese are not a progressive people.
They probably cannot grasp either the technique
| or the ma thematics of the most advanced astro-
nomicaI practice of to-day. But they long ago
learned enough to see the uselessness OF the In
struments here described. which are interesting
only as curious relics of effete civilization