The Sunday globe., 1901-06-16
SKY PILOTS.
Not the Modern Preacher, but the
Ancient AStrOlOger.
EARLY CHINESE ASTROLOGERS
And Their Tragic Fate For Not Predicting An
EcIIpSe-An Instructive Chapter ON the
Ancient AslroogsrS, Their Rites, etC.
Greenwich Observatory and The Cost Of Each
Observation OF the Moon.

F''N'NH' 'N''~ bN'~' '''N'' '''NNNf WV
Greenwich Observatory and The Cost Of Each
Observation OF The Moon.
Students Of the ancient science Of
astrology if any still exist Of a more
intelligent class than that which some
/ times appears in the police courts for
/ having abused the credulity of SER
want girls and country pumpkins will
be pleased to see that they can still
count an emperor among the true be-
/ levers Reuter- tells us that the en-
perOr Of China has ordered his official
| astrologers to search for a propitious
. day for the return Of the court to Pc
kin. No doubt it is possible that even
in China no very great importance is
attached to this proceeding. We have
/ plenty Of "suryiyals' ourselves in our
/ court ceremonials, as we'll as in the
cut Of our dress clothes. Perhaps the
/ Chinese recourse to astrology may also
/ be only a ceremonial survival" or
/ convenient excuse for putting off that
/ famous return a little longer But it
is none the less interesting to remem-
/ Der that the first definite mention of
astronomy in the world can be traced
back to the predecessors Of the Chi
nese astrologers who are now called
into reQuisition We read that Hi and
/ Ho were the royal astronomers, or as
/ trOlogers-in those days the terms
were synOnymous-ot a very early Chi
nese emperor, IL was their duty to
study the heavenly movements with
care and give timely warning of any
unpropiti0us arrangement of the
planets, which might, if it arrived un-
eXpectedly, perpleX the throne with
fear of change and expose the land to
the anger Of the gods. Unfortunately
Iii and Ho we're not so attentive to bu-
siness as we are accustomed to find
modern official astronomers.
Sir George Airy is said to have been
in the habit of stirring up any mem
Der Of the Greenwich staff who missed
an observation by oveTsleeping him
self or otherwise, with a cutting little
calculation. The royal observatory" ="
he would say, was founded for OBJ
servatlons of the moon. We get about
300 observations of the moon during
the year in all, and the observatory
costs the nation $4,000 a year. Hence
each observation of the moon is werth
t2O, and by losing one last night you
have cost the nation t2O,' Hi and Ho
were not kept up to their work by
any such reflections. They gave them.
selves up 10 riOtous living, and so
failed to predict an eclipse Of the suH.
The religious rites due in such a case
were not performed. China was eX-
posed 10 the anger of the gods and
the unfortunate astrolOgeTs were seiZ-
ed and put 70 death-with the usual
accomplishments of boiling oil and
melted lead Prof. Simon Newcomb
says that the date of this affair has
been computed in the twenty-second
century before Christ, which makes IL
the earliest astronomical transactions
of which profane history has left us
, any record, says a London Mail writer
We have said that astronomy and as
trology were originally one. In fact
II is safe 10 say that astrOlOgy came
first, and astronomy was gradually de.
yeloped out Of its mists and mysteries
Most of us now look at the stars with
the very practical feeling that they
help our ships 10 find their way across
the trackless wastes Of ocean, NaW
cation still depends on the work done
at Greenwich for its efficiency, and all
the mechanical inventions that have
done so much TO transform the sailor
would be useless without the labors
of the astronomer.
II we have any higher regard for the
! celestial phenomena, stars and planets
E mete0rs and comets and so forth, thar
p is involved I'm this utilitarian view, II
v rs connected with the dazzling won
e ders Of which the astronomer has 4
D tell us, and his fairy tales concerning
the origin Of the universe and the ma
y ture Of the systems In which 'othe
Z planets circle other suns" But whel
man first raised his eyes to the heay
t. ens-Whether he did so i'm dignihe
y obedience 20 his Creator or in dul
k amazemeLt that he no longer went Of
Y four feet-it was rather in the spiri
preserved by the Christian emperor
a alone among potentates, that he r.
J. gardei the stars AnthrOpOlOgsts hav
d given MS many theories 10 account 70
De- the undisputed fact that the stars an
n planets were i'm all parts Of the world
IT looked upon by primitive man as tn
rulers of his fortune and arbiters o
d his fate No doubt the obvious contro
p Of the sun over the seasons and tn
y harvests-so important a part Of earl
IS life--and that Of the moon over tn
Il tides. were the first factors in the w0I
ship that man soon learned to pay 4
J. the lights Of the heavens.