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But whether these man- sions were the invention of the people of Turkistan, or of the Ara- bians, we have not the means to ascertain. The Arabians gene* rally use the Lunar year ; but they have also the astronomical solar tropical year, beginning at the vernal equinox, I believe, and therefore there would be no inconsistency in considering them the inventors, until we can discover the real country to which they originally belong. The Chinese themselves admit, in some of their books, that in the year A.D. 164, they received from the West a work containing a catalogue of 2500 stars ; but when this book is enquired after, they pretend that it is lost — a circumstance which at best looks very suspicious : that work might contain something that would^disclose some of the Chinese impositions, and there- fore, it may be presumed, is carefully kept out of sight. Some time after I had written the above remarks, and was just ready to send them to the press, a book fell into my hands (Kir- cher's Lingua Egyptiaca), containing the Egyptian Lunar Man- sions, which appear to be those we are in search of; for they make the equinoctisd colure to cut the star Spica Virginis, which could not be later than A. D. 284, the epoch to which I referred the formation of the Ai-abian and Chinese Lunar Mansions, as founded on that circumstance. Digitized by Google 238 APPENDIX. The following table of Lunar Mansionl, with their Egyplian names and explanations^ longitudes, &c. are taken from this work. * I. I %i ^1 - sa:i Of. --s 3:355 ill ill 111 £|^. on I ^ "fl r* rt 80 OS CQOCOQ 9 I fH el 04 1-4 1-191 04 fH fH ei| 04 fH i-^ 91 04 i-i •I Ill Hill ill i| :9 iill-ll • 5 'js o 2 5 49ie(^IOOfcODO)OfH0)eQ^iO©fcODaOpi4 Op-4eiieo^ud<OftaO 91 e^^ e^ 91 91 04 91 91 * By Altitudinis, vrhich is also the name in Arabic and Cliinese, is meant, tliat at the com- mencement of the year, at the vernal equinox at noon, the stUr Spica is on the meridian at midnight, and of coarse at its greatest altitude ; which points Ont the age of the mansions to be about 1539 years in A.I). 1823, They could not therefore be known to Ptolemy. Digitized by Google APPENDIX. 239 On lookiBg over this taUe, die first thing that strikes us, as different from any other we have seen, is, that it is divided into four portions or parts of 90^ each ; the first of which begins with Aries, or ^e vernal equinoctical point ; the second with Cancer, or the summer solstice ; the tiiird with libra, or the Autumnal equinox ; and the fourth with Capricorn, or the winter solstice. It also appears, that the extent o^T each Lunar Mansion is about 13^, and the Spica Virginis is placed in six signs from Aries, which makes tbe antiquity of ih,e table (now 1823) 1539 years. I have given Kircher's explanations of the Egyptian names of the mansions, in order that they might be compared with the explana- tions of the Arabic names of the same mansions, which I have taken from the commentary on Ulugfa Beigh's Table of the stars ; by which it will be seen that they are the same, or neariy so, throughout, and that consequently the Arabs must have borrowed from the Egyptians, and the Chinese from the Arabs ; at least I am rather inclined to think so. As the other parts of the Chinese astronomy afford no crite- rion for judging of their antiquity, and being in fact generally acknowledged to be modem, we shall now close the subject with the following tables of the Chinese consteUations, which I have taken from the Rev. Dr. R. Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, hoping that, as they are not generally known, they may be acceptable to those who take an interest in the study of astronomy. TABLE m. Alphabetical Arrangement of the Chinese ConsteUati&Kts and Stars, 1 Chang yuen k t and small stars, Leo. 2 „ sha 4^Corvus. 3 „ suh,* K V vW u (i> <l> Hydra. 4 „ chin. Cor Caroli. 5 „ jin, a Columba. 6 Chaou yaou, /J Bootes. 7 Chaou, X Hercules. m Capricorn. 8 Chay foo, p Z ^^ ^ smalt stars, Cygnus. . 9 „ ke, w 3324, L 3341, e 3358, Lupus. 10 „ sze, V Serpens. 11 Chih new, a Lyra. 12 Chin suh,* y e Cwvus. 13 „ chay, y Libra, f Lupus. Digitized by Google 240 APPENDIX. 14 Choo, 15 „ she. 16 Choo, 17 „ wang. 18 Chow, 19 „ ting, 20 Chung tae. Chuy suh yih,* 21 Chung shan. 22 E tseo. 23 Fa, 24 Fang suh,* 26 Fe yu, 26 Foo yue. 27 „ chih, 28 „ lop. 29 „ urh. 30 „ pih. 31 „ sing. 32 „ shay. 33 „ shwo. 34 Fun moo. 35 Hae shih, 36 „ shan, 37 Han, 38 Hang, 39 He chung. 40 Hea tae. 41 „ tsae. 42 Heenyuen, 43 Heu suh,* 44 „ leang. 45 Heuenko, 46 Hin chin. 47 Ho neaou, 48 „ keen. 49 „ chung. 50 „ koo. 51 Ho, 52 Hoo fun. 53 „ she. 54 „ kwa. 55 How kung, 56 How, 57 Huh, ^ Hwakae, a (ftxT y V Auriga, i, g, k, \// A and another. Centaur. X Draco. V Pegasus, a Ara © s. name. r B.C. 1200, 1228, between the horns of Taurus. /3 Serpens, s. n. 17 Capricornus. V 01 Coma Berenice. X fi Preceding hind foot of Ursa Major. X Orionis. -b { V Hercules' hand. Apus, Bird of Paradise. 1 V Orion, s. n. 1 4862 Capricornus. /3 ^ TT p -Scorpio. Piscis Volans. b 5333, 5345, 5362, 52, Stream of Aquarius, c y near r, Cetus. ( X Cassiopeia. Small stars near Aldebaran. y Hydrus. g small stars near Mizar, tail of Ursa Major. Cluster in hand of Perseus, y Telescopium. y ( ri TT T Aquarius. A Argo? X and small stars near Crux, and the foot of Centaur. ( Ophiucus' knee, s. n. 0 Capricorn. V 3039 fi 3030 ^ 3069 Centaur. K d Cygnus. V { following hind foot of Ursa Major. 6 Draco. Regulus, A 2232 y eX-q p vo ( k Leo. /3 Aquarius. K Aquarius. y Bootes. 2629 Coma Berenice, near £, Leo. Phcenix. y Hercules. (i Hercules. Altair fi y Aquila. Grus. 1 2470, near ^ Leo. ^ e K ri Canis Major, and ^ oi Argo. a /3 y a f Delphini. b 3162 Ursa Minor. a Ojphiucus Ras Alhaque. c K Ophiucus, k i Hercules, near ditto. 4 stars bet. Cassiop. and Camelop. uncertain. Digitized by Google APPENDIX. 241 59 HwaD chay, 60 Jib, 61 Jin uh, 62 Kaeuh, 63 „ yaog, 64 Kang che, 66 „ 8uh,* 66 Kang, 67 Kanghoy 68 Ke suh^* 69 „ wan, 70 Ke chin ) 70 tseang keun, y 71 Keaowpih, 72 Keen sing, 73 „ pe, 74 Keih, 75 Keo suh,* 76 Keue kew, 77 Keuen she> 78 Keannianmun, 79 Kungtsing, 80 Keun she, 81 Kewhiang^ 82 „ ho, 83 „ yew, 84 „chowchooyih 85 Kih sing, 86 Kmyu, 87 Kotaou, 88 Kooiow, 89 Kowching, 90 Kow, 91 „ kwo, 92 „ ling, 93 Kuh, 94 Kungtseo, 95 Kwan, 96 Kwan Soo, 97 Kwei suh,* 98 „ ff 99 Langwei, 100 Lang tseang, 101 Laoujin, 102 Le kung, 103 „ shih, 104 Leang, e i and two small stars near chin of Ophiucus. K Pegasus /i Cygnus, s. n. ic X Libnu efg Pegasus, near fore foot 0 Aquarius. ( Mizar Ursa Major. 4 small stars near Arcturus. 1 k\ fjL p Virgo. p 3947, Sagittarius. p ^ Bootes. First y 4053, ^ Sagittarius. IC Centaurus, (} Lupus. p near the Rump of Lupus. 6 Dorado. V ^o^B Sagittarius' head. V Scorpio. 6 Aquarius. Spica, f Virgo, k m Monoceros. V Perseus. X ^ Andromeda. c K X V Lepus' Ears. /3 Canis Major; p and small stars, Virgo. fjL Hercules' arm. fiwh £ridanus, and stars in Sceptrum^'Bran-^ denburg. A o d c { r &c. Eridanus. New star in Cassiopeia, e Dorado, probably the whole. V { o TT Cassiopeia.* y T Centaurus.^ ( Ursa Minor. ^ 4322, two X 4364, 4365 Sagittarius. u b a c Sagittarius. Two 01 Scorpio. u Capricomus. ravo. X fi X' ^^ <l> ta }p Cancer. Corona Borealis. d e ( ri fivw and Mirack, /3 Andromeda v ^ X'*' and two 4/ Pisces. X ^ ly 0 Cancer, a.b c d e f. Coma Berenice, p Do. Uanopus. X fif T V, and n o Pegasus. \ \f/ Taurus. Ophiucus, Yed. * I I Digitized by Google 242 APPENDIX.