The times., 1901-04-21
CELESTIAL SKY STUDENTS
China's Regard for the Original
Science of Astrology.

when the Stars Point Ont the Way
the Emperor is Expected TO Re
turn 10 PeISin-DeVotion TO the
Oldest Superstition in the World.
Students of the ancient science Of as
trology, if any still exist of a more intel
ligent class than that which sometimes
appears in the police courts for having
abused the credulity Of servant girls and
country pumpkins, will be pleased 10 see
that they can still count an Emperor
among the true believers. Reuter- tells Us
that the Emperor of China has ordered
his official astrologers to search for a
propitious day for the return Of the Court
TO Pe1in. No doubt it is possible that
even in China no very great Importance
is attached to this proceeding. We have
plenty of "survivals ourselves in our
court ceremOnials. as well as in the out
of our dress clothes. Perhaps the Chi
nese recourse to astrology may also be
only a ceremonial survival" or a con-
venient excuse for putting off that ia
nous return a little longer. But it is
none the less interesting TO remember
that the first definite mention OF astron-
omy in the world can be traced back 10
the predecessors of the Chinese astrol-
ogers who are now called into reqUisition.
We read that Hi and TIo were the royal
astronomers, or astrologers-in those days
the terms were synonymous-of a very
early Chinese Emperor 1t was their duty
to study the heavenly movements with
care and give timely warning of any un-
propitious arrangement of the planets,
which might if it arrived unexpectedly,
-aer,Iax tho throne with faar pF cbappa
and expose the land TO the anger of the
gods. Unfortunately Hi and Ho were
not so attentive to business as We are ac-
customed to find modern official astron-
omers.
Sir George Airy is said TO have been in
the habit of stirring up any member of
the Greenwich staff who missed an OBJ
servation by oversleeping himself, or
otherwise with a cutting little calculation.
The royal observatory, he would say,
was founded for observations Of the
moon. We get about 800 observations of
the moon during the year in ali, and the
observatory costs the nation 96,0oG a year.
Hence each observation of the moon is
worth go and by losing one last night
you have cost the nation &2O.' Hi and
Ilo were not kept up TO their work by
any such reflections They gave them
selves up to riotous living. and so failed
to predict an eclipse of the sun. The re-
ligious rites due in such a case We're not
performed. China was exposed to the
anger Of the gods, and the unfortunate
aStroiogerS were seized and put to death
with the usual accompanimentS Of boiling
oil and melted lead. Prof. Simon New
comb 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.
We have said that astronomy and as
trology were originally one. In fact, ii is
safe to say that astrology came first, and
astronomy was gradually developed out
OF its mlstS and mysteries. Most OF US |
now took at the stars with the very prac- /
teal feeling that they help our ships TO |
find their way across the trackless wastes |
OF ocean. Navigation still depends on the /
work done at Greenwich for its efficiency, |
and all the mechanical inventions that 4
have done so much to transform the sailor |
would be useless without the labors of /
the astronomer.
If we have any higher regard for the |
celestial phenomena, stars and planets, !
is involved in this utilitarian view, ii is /
connected with the dazzling wonders OF /
which the astronomer has to tell US. and /
his fairy tales concerning the origin of /
the universe and the nature of the sys- |
TENS in which other planets circle other 1
suns. But when man first raised his 1
81. 5ignified obedience to his creator or in |
dun amaZement that he no longer went /
on four feet-it was rather in the spirit |
preserved by the Chinese Emperor, alone
among pOtentates, that he regarded the 4
stars. Anthropologists have given US
many theories TO account for the undis-
puted fact that the stars and planets were,
in all parts Of the world, looked upon by
primitive man as the rulers Of his for
tune and arbiters of his fate. No doubt
the obvious control OF the sun over the
eeasons and the harvests-so important a
part Of early hfe-and that OF the moon
over the tides, were the first factors in
the worship that man soon learned to pay
TO the lights Of the heavens. After the act
ual identification of the heavenly bodies
with the gods. which found a very recent
avatar in the medieval theory that each /
planet was kept in its complicated orbit Of /
cycles and epicycles by an attepdant angel, |
came the later and more reasonable be-
lief that the movements OF the stars must
be signs Of the celestial will even if they
had not such actual influence on the af- |
fairs of men as the moon obviously had /
over the tides. Its natural origin could |