{"product_id":"2940015735444","title":"Myths and Marvels of Astronomy","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                   PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  I. ASTROLOGY                                        1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  II. THE RELIGION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID              53\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  III. THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS                   78\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  IV. SWEDENBORG'S VISIONS OF OTHER WORLDS          106\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  V. OTHER WORLDS AND OTHER UNIVERSES               135\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VI. SUNS IN FLAMES                                160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VII. THE RINGS OF SATURN                          191\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VIII. COMETS AS PORTENTS                          212\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  IX. THE LUNAR HOAX                                242\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  X. ON SOME ASTRONOMICAL PARADOXES                 268\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XI. ON SOME ASTRONOMICAL MYTHS                    299\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  XII. THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATION-FIGURES      332\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMYTHS AND MARVELS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOF\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eASTRONOMY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_ASTROLOGY._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     Signs and planets, in aspects sextile, quartile, trine, conjoined,\u003cbr\u003e     or opposite; houses of heaven, with their cusps, hours, and\u003cbr\u003e     minutes; Almuten, Almochoden, Anahibazon, Catahibazon; a thousand\u003cbr\u003e     terms of equal sound and significance.--_Guy Mannering._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ... Come and see! trust thine own eyes.\u003cbr\u003e  A fearful sign stands in the house of life,\u003cbr\u003e  An enemy: a fiend lurks close behind\u003cbr\u003e  The radiance of thy planet--oh! be warned!--COLERIDGE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAstrology possesses a real interest even in these days. It is true that\u003cbr\u003eno importance attaches now even to the discussion of the considerations\u003cbr\u003ewhich led to the rejection of judicial astrology. None but the most\u003cbr\u003eignorant, and therefore superstitious, believe at present in divination\u003cbr\u003eof any sort or kind whatsoever. Divination by the stars holds no higher\u003cbr\u003eposition than palmistry, fortune-telling by cards, or the indications of\u003cbr\u003ethe future which foolish persons find in dreams, tea-dregs,\u003cbr\u003esalt-spilling, and other absurdities. But there are two reasons which\u003cbr\u003erender the history of astrology interesting. In the first place, faith\u003cbr\u003ein stellar influences was once so widespread that astrological\u003cbr\u003eterminology came to form a part of ordinary language, insomuch that it\u003cbr\u003eis impossible rightly to understand many passages of ancient and\u003cbr\u003emediæval literature, or rightly to apprehend the force of many allusions\u003cbr\u003eand expressions, unless the significance of astrological teachings to\u003cbr\u003ethe men of those times be recognised. In the second place, it is\u003cbr\u003einteresting to examine how the erroneous teachings of astrology were\u003cbr\u003egradually abandoned, to note the way in which various orders of mind\u003cbr\u003erejected these false doctrines or struggled to retain them, and to\u003cbr\u003eperceive how, with a large proportion of even the most civilised races,\u003cbr\u003ethe superstitions of judicial astrology were long retained, or are\u003cbr\u003eretained even to this very day. The world has still to see some\u003cbr\u003esuperstitions destroyed which are as widely received as astrology ever\u003cbr\u003ewas, and which will probably retain their influence over many minds long\u003cbr\u003eafter the reasoning portion of the community have rejected them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven so far back as the time of Eudoxus the pretensions of astrologers\u003cbr\u003ewere rejected, as Cicero informs us ('De Div.' ii. 42). And though the\u003cbr\u003eRomans were strangely superstitious in such matters, Cicero reasons with\u003cbr\u003eexcellent judgment against the belief in astrology. Gassendi quotes the\u003cbr\u003eargument drawn by Cicero against astrology, from the predictions of the\u003cbr\u003eChaldæans that Cæsar, Crassus, and Pompey would die 'in a full old age,\u003cbr\u003ein their own houses, in peace and honour,' whose deaths, nevertheless,\u003cbr\u003ewere 'violent, immature, and tragical.' Cicero also used an argument\u003cbr\u003ewhose full force has only been recognised in modern times. 'What\u003cbr\u003econtagion,' he asked, 'can reach us from the planets, whose distance is\u003cbr\u003ealmost infinite?' It is singular that Seneca, who was well acquainted\u003cbr\u003ewith the uniform character of the planetary motions, seems to have\u003cbr\u003eentertained no doubt respecting their influence. Tacitus expresses some\u003cbr\u003edoubts, but was on the whole inclined to believe in astrology.\u003cbr\u003e'Certainly,' he says, 'the majority of mankind cannot be weaned from the\u003cbr\u003eopinion that at the birth of each man his future destiny is fixed;\u003cbr\u003ethough some things may fall out differently from the predictions, by the\u003cbr\u003eignorance of those who profess the art; and thus the art is unjustly\u003cbr\u003eblamed, confirmed as it is by noted examples in all ages.'[1]","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47146473226480,"sku":"2940015735444","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015735444","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}