is 10 2° 52′ 51′′, differing less than a degree from the determination of the Indians. The longitude of the Moon at the same epoch, by the Tirvalore tables, is 10s 6° 0', and the same computed from the tables of Mayer, and corrected by the Moon's acceleration, is 10s 6o 37'; a coincidence so remarkable, that one would think it could arise only from actual observation. Now, if the places of the Sun and Moon are computed from the tables of the Greek and Arabian astronomers, or from those of Ulugh Beigh, which were constructed at Samarcand in 1437, it will be found that the tables of Ptolemy give an error of 11° in the place of the Sun and Moon, while the tables of the Tartar prince produce an error of 1° 30′ in the place of the Sun, and of 6° in that of the Moon. These results give additional strength to the former argument, and completely prove that the Indian astronomy is not the offspring of Greece or Arabia, and that the epochs of the Tirvalore tables were not deduced from modern observations. Such is the reasoning of Mr. Brewster, which we have given chiefly in his own words; and he adds, arguments of a similar nature, and equally strong with the preceding, might be deduced from the obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of the solar year, the aphelion and mean motion of Jupiter, and the mean motion of Saturn and the equation of his centre, as contained in the Indian tables."

"

From the general view which we have now given of the astronomy of the antients, the mind is necessarily led to the conclusion which Bailly has drawn, that the rules and facts of the Egyptian, Chaldean, Indian, and Chinese astronomy are but the wrecks of a great system of astronomical science, which has been carried to a high degree of perfection in the early ages of the world. After those mighty revolutions in human affairs, in the course of which the principles of the science had been lost, the study of astronomy seems to have been revived about the

year 3102, when the loose materials which time had spared were carefully collected and diffused through the different kingdoms of Asia; hence the striking connection that subsists between the various systems which prevailed among eastern nations, and hence the numerous fragments of the science which have been transmitted to the present times. In examining these wrecks of the human mind, we every where find methods of calculation, without the principles on which they are founded; rules blindly followed without being understood; phenomena without their explanation; and elements carefully determined, while others, important and equally obvious, are altogether unknown. We cannot, therefore, regard these unconnected facts as the highest efforts of the Antients in the science of astronomy, or as results to which they have attained, without the light of theory, or without the aid of long continued observation. When the traveller contemplates the remains of antient cities, and examines the broken statues, the shafts and capitals, and pediments, which are dug from their ruins, does he consider these fragments as the highest efforts of the sculptor and the architect in the arts which they cultivated ? Does he not rather turn, in imagination, to the columns and statues which they composed, to the temples which they supported and adorned, and to the living beings that worshipped within their walls ?'

[To be continued.]

Astronomical Occurrences.

THE Sun enters Aries on the 20th of March, at 9 m. past 5 in the afternoon. Mercury is stationary on the 9th; and it is at its greatest elongation on the 25th. The Herschel is stationary on the 16th, and is in his quadrature on the 1st, at 10 o'clock in the evening.

TABLE

Of the Time of the Sun's Rising and Setting every

fifth Day.

m. 8.

Friday, March 1, to the time on the dial add 12 38

5

5

To obtain true time

by the clock.

The Moon enters her first quarter at 55 m. past 4 in the morning on the 7th of March; she is full at 47 m. past 9 in the evening of the 13th: she enters into her last quarter at 41 m. past 5 in the afternoon of the 22d; and she is at change, or New Moon, at 27 m. after 9 in the evening of the 28th.

TABLE

Of the Eclipses of Jupiter's first Satellite for March, that are visible in London and its Neighbourhood, viz.

THE IMMERSIONS TAKE PLACE ON THE

5th day, at 5 m. past 3 in the morning.

There are three eclipses visible of the second satellite, viz. at 7 m. past 11 in the evening of the 14th, 40 m. past 1 in the morning of the 22d, and 13 m. past 4 in the morning of the 29th.

The Naturalist's Diary.

The ravaged fields, waste, colourless, and bleak,
Retreating Winter leaves, with angry frown,
And, lingering on the distant snow-streaked hills,
Displays the motley remnants of his reign.

MARCH, though cold and windy, is generally conducive to health. The superabundant moisture of the earth is dried up, and the process of vegetation is gradually brought on; those trees which, in the last month, were budding, now begin to put forth their leaves. The latest springs are always the most favourable, because, as the young buds do not appear so soon, they are not liable to be cut off by chilling blasts. The general character of March is well described in the following lines:

ear.

In mantle of Proteus clad,

With aspect ferocious and wild;
Now pleasant, now sullen and sad,
Now froward, now placid and mild.

The melody of birds now gradually swells upon the The throstle (turdus musicus), second only to the nightingale in song, charms us with the sweetness and variety of its lays. Its head, back, and lesser coverts of the wings, are of a deep olive-brown; and the inner surface of the latter is yellow. The cheeks and throat are mottled with brown and white; the belly and breast are of a pale yellow colour, with large black spots. Throstles build their nests in some low bush or thicket externally, they are composed of earth, moss, and straw, but the inside is curiously plastered with clay. Here the female deposits five or six palebluish green eggs, marked with dusky spots. From the top of high trees, for the greater part of the year, it pours its song,

Varied as his plumes; and as his plumes

Blend beauteous, each with each, so run his notes
Smoothly, with many a happy rise and fall.

How prettily, upon his parded breast,

The vividly contrasted tints unite

To please the admiring eye! so, loud and soft,
And high and low, all in his notes combine,

In alternation sweet, to charm the ear.

Full earlier than the blackbird he begins
His vernal strain. Regardless of the frown
Which winter casts upon the vernal day,
Though snowy flakes melt in the primrose cup,
He, warbling on, awaits the sunny beam

That mild gleams down, and spreads o'er all the grove.

I

GRAHAME.

The linnet and the goldfinch join the general concert in this month. Goldfinches construct very neat and compact compartments, with moss, dried grass, and roots, which they line with wool, hair, the down of thistles, and other soft substances. The females lay five white eggs, marked with deep purple spots at the larger end: they feed their young with caterpillars and insects; but the old birds subsist on various kinds of seeds, especially those of the thistle, of which they are extremely fond.

Sometimes, suspended at the limber end

Of planetree spray, among the broad-leaved shoots,
The tiny hammock swings to every gale;
Sometimes in closest thickets 'tis concealed;
Sometimes in hedge luxuriant, where the brier,
The bramble, and the plumtree, branch,

Warp through the thorn, surmounted by the flowers
Of climbing vetch, and honeysuckle wild,
All undefaced by art's deforming hand.
But mark the pretty bird himself! how light

And quick his every motion, every note!

How beautiful his plumes! his red-ringed head;

His breast of brown: and see him stretch his wing,

A fairy fan of golden spokes it seems.

On the hawthorn spray

The linnet wakes her temp'rate lay;
She haunts no solitary shade,
She flutters o'er no sunshine mead;
No love-lorn griefs depress her song,
No raptures lift it loudly high,

But soft she trills amid th' aerial throng,
Smooth, simple strains of soberest harmony.

GRAHAME.

H

MASON.