The new moon on March 4, A.D. 29, was at about 8.8 degrees angular distance from the setting sun, but in a somewhat more favourable direction for visibility than was the one seen recently. In March, A.D. 29, it was thus only a little more difficult to see the new moon than it was at Tonbridge, where the conditions due to latitude, direction of the moon with regard to the sun, and the altitude of the observer were less favourable. Would it be scientific to assert that no one could live beyond the age of 80, if it were found that no one out of 76 selected lives had attained that age? If just afterwards someone was found in an unhealthy place to be certainly (say) 85 years of age, could we not imagine that someone else in a more healthy place might even exceed that age a little? The simile is a fair one to make uncertainty of visibility and uncertainty of life may well be compared; in each case a very extended amount of data should be obtained before we venture to assert the impossibility of visibility or of life. With the present scanty data at our disposal it is therefore rash to assert that the new moon of March 4, A.D. 29, was not visible to the naked eye at Jerusalem; in other words, A.D. 29 cannot be considered an impossible year for the Crucifixion from an astronomical point of view. Much more can be said on this subject, but want of space prevents : so I shall finish as I began by asking you to accord a sincere vote of thanks to Dr. Downing for his instructive and interesting paper. Mr. JOSEPH GRAHAM proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the visitors, Dr. J. K. Fotheringham, Mr. R. Pearce, M.P., and Mr. H. P. Hollis, whose comments had added so much to the interest and value of the discussion. Also to the Rev. D. R. Fotheringham for his letter. Both votes were then put to the Meeting and were carried by acclamation. The Meeting adjourned at 6.10 p.m. 567TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING, HELD IN THE SMALL HALL, THE CENTRAL HALL, PROFESSOR D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, D.LITT., IN THE CHAIR. The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. The SECRETARY announced the election of the Rev. D. H. D. Wilkinson as an Associate of the Institute. The CHAIRMAN called upon the Secretary to read the paper for the Meeting on Astronomical Allusions in Sacred Books of the East," on behalf of the authoress, Mrs. Walter Maunder. ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS IN SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST. By Mrs. WALTER MAUNDER. I AM no Oriental scholar, and of the books with which I deal I can read no one in the language in which it was written. Nevertheless, within the narrow limits that I have set myself, this disability may even be a recommendation; for, since I accept the best translations available and cannot amend them, they will not be affected by any bias and preconceived notion on my part. Further, I leave on one side all issues, no matter what their interest and importance, which do not depend on astronomy or on considerations of time and place deduced from astronomy. The heavenly bodies were the same for our forefathers as they are for us; we can make the self-same simple first observations of the sun, moon and stars as they did; so far there is no difference between the astronomy of primitive times and that of to-day. But there is a great difference between our deductive powers and those of the first observers. The laws governing the relations between the earth and the heavenly bodies are far-reaching and precise, and we have gradually gained some knowledge of them; so that, astronomically, we can both postdict and predict these relations, and if we alter our time and place we can restate with very considerable accuracy the corresponding changes in the sky. But the ancients had not our experience and knowledge, and therefore had not our power of accurate astronomical computation. What they themselves had seen, that they could. describe; but they could not deduce what their ancestors should have seen in different circumstances of time and place. Unless then their ancestors had handed down positive records of their experiences, their descendants could not infer what those must have been. The first observations of astronomy were very simple, and were for the purpose of determining direction or of measuring time. They consisted in noting the positions of the sun, moon and stars with respect to each other, and especially with respect to the earth, that is to the horizon. The mean place of rising for the sun marks the east; its mean place of setting, the west the south is indicated by the direction in which it" culminates," that is reaches its greatest height; the north by the point in the heavens round which the circumpolar stars circle unceasingly. In time, the heavenly bodies measure off the day, the month, the year, and the succession of years-they furnish us with the calendar; but calendars may be devised to depend upon the sun alone, or upon the sun with the stars, or upon the sun with the moon. Calendars therefore differ in type, and even when of the same type, they may differ in detail. These differences constitute strong lines of demarcation between races and religions; indeed, the adoption of different calendars has brought about bitter schisms, even between men professing the same faith, or derived from the same stock. Therefore astronomy in this particular application to calendar-making frequently affords an all-important criterion as to the date, place, and circumstances of a document under examination. The literature with which I deal comes under two headsthe Persian sacred books, and the Jewish extra-canonical books near the time of the Christian era. I have read and studied practically the whole of the Persian writings that have been translated under the editorship of Max Müller in the series of "The Sacred Books of the East," and such of the Jewish "pseudepigraphical" books as have been translated into English. Of this great mass of literature, only a few books. have yielded any appreciable amount of material for my purpose. These are:-in the Persian, the first two Fargards of the Vendidad, and the Bundahis,* and for purposes of illustration or elucidation I have referred to later works, The Bahman Yast, Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad, or "The Opinions of the Spirit of Wisdom," and Manuskihar; in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha, IV Ezra, the Book of Jubilees and the Slavonic and Ethiopic Books of Enoch. Other books, both Jewish and Persian, do indeed yield a few slight astronomical references, but nothing of sufficient importance for my present purpose to warrant its inclusion within the narrow limits of this paper. THE VENDIDAD. The Vendidad, or the Anti-Demoniac Law, is part of the Avesta proper. It does not concern us here to discuss the date of it as a whole; its eminent editor, the late James Darmesteter, concludes that it has come down to us substantially from the Achæmeniant kings,-in round numbers its date may be put as about the 5th or 6th century B.C. The major part of it is concerned with ceremonial laws for the conduct of the faithful in the matters of their daily life or in their worship, sickness, cleansing, or death. Twenty out of its twenty-two Fargards or chapters may be likened indeed to a Mazdayasnian Leviticus, but in these there is little or no astronomical allusion, and they do not concern us here. But the first two Fargards might find * The VIIIth Yast, known as the Tir or Tistar Yast, is of peculiar astronomical interest, but I have discussed it elsewhere. See The Observatory, vol. xxxv, pp. 393 and 438, and vol. xxxvi, p. 136, “The Zoroastrian Star Champions." Also Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol. xxiii, p. 425, "The Four Star Champions of Iran." + It may be convenient to note here that Cyrus the Great took Babylon 538 B.C.; Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who, like Cyrus, was of the ACHEMENIAN race, acceded to the throne of Persia, 521 B.C. Alexander the Great overthrew Darius Codomannus, the last of the Achæmenian kings, 330 B.C. Alexander died 323 B.C., and one of his generals, Seleucus Nicator, founded the SELEUCID dynasty and established his authority over all the eastern conquests of Alexander, 312 B.C. During the reign of Antiochus II., the third of the Seleucid line, a Parthian prince Arsaces made himself independent, and was succeeded by his brother, Arsaces II., who about 248 B.C. founded the ASKANIAN or ARSACID monarchy of independent Parthia. The Parthian Empire increased in power until it had absorbed the whole of the ancient Persian Empire east of the Euphrates, and was strong enough to oppose successfully the power of Rome. About A.D. 225, the Persians threw off the Parthian yoke, and the second Persian Empire was founded under the SASSANIAN Dynasty. This last was overthrown by the Arabs at the battle of Nahavend in A.D. 639. their analogy rather in the early chapters of Genesis. Darmesteter says of them: "The first two chapters deal with mythical matter, without any direct connection with the general object of the Vendidad, and are remnants of an old epic and cosmogonic literature. Although there was no particular reason for placing them in the Vendidad, as soon as they were admitted into it, they were put at the beginning, because they referred to the first ages of the world." It is in these two chapters that we find certain astronomical data that, in my opinion, preclude the appropriateness of the word mythical" in connection with them. The first Fargard of the Vendidad gives a description of the sixteen good lands created by Ahura Mazda: for "(1) Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathustra, saying: (2) I have made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it: had I not made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Vaeyo.' The following is a list of these sixteen good lands: 1. Airyana Vaego, by the good river Daitya. 2. Sughdha. That is Sogdiana. 3. "Strong, holy Mauru." That is Merv. 4. "Beautiful Bakhdhi with high-lifted banners." That is Balkh. 5. Nisaya that lies between Mouru and Bakhdhi." Unidentified. 6. Haroyu. That is Herat. 7. "Vaekereta, of the evil shadows." Unidentified but possibly Kabul. 8. "Urva of the rich pastures." Unidentified. 9. "Khnenta in Vehrkana. Hyrcania. That is the river Gorgan in 10. "The beautiful Harahvaiti." That is Harut. 11. "Bright glorious Haetumant." That is Helmend. 12. "Ragha of the three Races." Raï or Rhaghes. 13. "Strong, holy Kakhra." Unidentified. 14. "The four-cornered Varena." Unidentified. 15. "The Seven Rivers." That is the Panjab. 16. "The land by the floods of the Rangha, where people live without a head." Unidentified, though the Commentary says Roman Mesopotamia. Darmesteter says: "Of these sixteen lands there are certainly nine which have really existed, and of which we know of the geographical position, as we |