where, after having fed on the remains of those who had suffered punishment, they had taken on their shape. The tenants of a place so sinister and so dreaded could not be removed without great danger. The learned themselves did not attempt to destroy so many absurdities, for in their works they sometimes represent mandrakes which resembled men and women, for there were some of both sexes. They possessed the same power as the enchanted philtres of Circe, to which Pliny and Dioscorides had given this name.

A charming little plant, all covered with hairs, which abounds on the slopes of Mount Ida, the dictamnus of Crete, was formerly considered the most marvelous vul

nerary that nature ever .presented to man. The gods themselves had revealed its omnipotence to him, and animals instinctively made use of it. It was with this dictamnus that Venus dressed the wounds of Æneas. Aristotle tells us that the goats scattered over the celebrated mountain, so soon as the hunter has pierced them with an arrow, seek out the plant and eat it in

order to make the arrow THE BIRD-TREE: FAC-SIMILE FROM MUNSTER'S drop out, and so to heal COSMOGRAPHY." the wound. Half a century ago, who would have dared to deny such a wonderful property, when at that time a noble work on Greece contained a long chapter on the virtues of the divine vulnerary, and when, in addition to this, the reader might see an engraving representing a goat pierced with arrows and browsing upon the salutary herb? In this way, unfortunately, did the authority of the learned retard and fetter the progress of truth.

However simple the cause of eclipses may be, now that it is knownand known causes are always so simple, that one asks why they were never known before-however easy this explanation appears, for a long time the human race was astonished at the passing absence of the sun's light during the day; for a long time it felt full of fear and disquietude

before this unexplained wonder. The light of day was rapidly diminished, and suddenly disappeared without the sky being darkened by any cloud. Darkness instead of light, stars shining in the sky, nature seeming surprised and astonished; the combination of these unusual events is more than sufficient to explain the momentary terror with which individuals, and indeed, whole nations, allowed themselves to be carried away in these solemn moments.

By reason of the moon's rapid motion, a total eclipse never lasts longer than five minutes; but this short period is sufficient to allow a thousand sentiments to succeed each other in the terrified mind. The disappearance of the light of the moon, sometimes caused great trouble to ignor

ant minds; with how much more

a reason would the disappearance of the orb of day cause disquietude' and fear!

History is full of the examples of fear caused by eclipses, and dangers caused through ignorance and superstition. Nicias had resolved to leave Sicily with his army; but, frightened by an eclipse of the moon, and wishing to delay several days, to assure himself if our satellite had lost nothing after this event, he missed the opportunity of retreat: his army was destroyed, he himself perished, and this misfortune commenced the ruin of Athens.

Often it has been seen that clever men have taken advantage of people's terror during eclipses, either of the sun or the moon, to gain their wishes. Christopher Columbus, reduced to sustaining his soldiers on the voluntary gifts of a savage and poor nation, and nearly losing this resource and perishing with hunger, gave out that he was about to deprive the world of the moon's light. The eclipse began, terror seized the Indians, and they returned, bringing to the feet of Columbus the accustomed tribute.

Drusus appeased a sedition in his army by predicting an eclipse of the moon; and, according to Livy, Tulpitius Gallus, in the war of Paulus Emilius against Perseus, used the same stratagem. Pericles, Agathocles,

king of Syracuse, and Dionysius, king of Sicily, nearly fell victims to the ignorance of their soldiers. Alexander, near Arbella, was obliged to use all his skill to calm the terror that an eclipse had cast over his troops. Thus it is that superior men, rather than sink under the circumstances which oppress them, exert their art to turn them to their profit.

How many fables were built on the idea that eclipses were the effect of Divine wrath, which avenged the iniquities of man by depriving him of light! Sometimes Diana sought Endymion in the mountains of Caria; sometimes the magicians of Thessaly caused the moon to fall on the herbs destined for enchantment.

Now it is a dragon which devours the sun, and whole nations seek to frighten it away by cries; or it is supposed that God holds the sun enclosed in a tube, and hides or shows us the light by means of a shutter. The progress of

science has proved the absurdity of these opinions and fears, since it is known to be possible to calculate by astronomical

ta

bles, and to predict a long time before

hand, the instant

CARVED MANDRAGORA ROOTS.

Science is the sure death of

when the wrath of heaven will burst forth. superstition.

Biot gives us very curious details on the rites which presided and which still preside over the observation of the eclipses in the Celestial Empire. The Emperor is considered to be the son of heaven; and with this title his government ought to present the picture of the immutable order which governs the celestial movements. When the two great luminaries-the sun and the moon-instead of following their own routes separately, cross each other's paths, the regularity of the order of the heavens appears to be upset; and the disturbance which is there manifested must have its likeness, as well as the cause, in the disorders of the government of the Emperor. An eclipse of the sun was then considered. as a warning given by Heaven to the Emperor to examine his faults and correct them. When this phenomenon was announced beforehand by the appointed astronomer, the emperors and grandees of this court prepared themselves by fasting, and dressing in the plainest garments.

On this appointed day the mandarins attended at the palace with bows and arrows. When the eclipse commenced, the Emperor himself beat on the drum of thunder to give the alarm; and at the same time the mandarins let fly their arrows towards the sky to aid the eclipsed body. Gaubil quotes these particulars from the ancient Book of Rites, and the principals are announced in the Tcheou-li. After this, the discontent that would be caused by an eclipse not taking place at the time predicted may be imagined; and likewise if one suddenly appeared without being predicted. In the first case, the whole ceremonial was found to have been uselessly prepared; and the desperate efforts which, in consequence of the want of preparation, were made in the second case, inevitably produced a disorderly scene compromising to the imperial majesty. Such errors, although so easily made, placed the poor astronomers in danger of losing their goods, their office, their honor, and sometimes their life.

Such a disgrace happened in the year 721 of our era: the Emperor Hiouen-Tsong sent for a bonze Chinese, called Y-Hang, renowned for his knowledge of astronomy. After having shown himself very learned, he had the misfortune to predict two eclipses of the sun, which were ordered to be observed throughout the whole Empire. But no one saw anywhere on the appointed days any trace of an eclipse, although the sky was almost everywhere serene. To clear himself he published a work, in which he pretended that his calculation was exact, but that heaven had changed its rules of movement-doubtless in consideration of the high virtues of the Emperor. Thanks to his reputation, otherwise deserved-perhaps, also, to his flattery-he was pardoned.

The same ideas on the importance and signification of the moon and sun which existed with the Chinese more than four thousand years ago, remain at the present day, and are still powerful, causing the same demands; but they have become less perilous for astronomers, as these phenomena are now predicted several years in advance, with a mathematical certainty, in the great ephemerides of Europe and America, which can easily be procured.