The dawn of astronomy : a study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians / by J. Norman Lockyer.

  • Lockyer, Norman, Sir, 1836-1920.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dawn of astronomy : a study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians / by J. Norman Lockyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    27/476 (page 5)
    Sun, towards the surface of tlie earth thou turnest thy face. Oh Sun, thou spreadest above the surface, like a mantle, the splendour of heaven. ' Let us consider for a moment wliat were the first conditions under wliicli the stars and the sun would be observed. There was no knowledge, but we can A^ery well understand tliat there was much awe, and fear, and wonder. Man then possessed no instruments, and the eyes and the minds of the early observers were absolutely untrained. Further, night to them seemed almost death—no man could work; for them there was no electric light, to say nothing of candles ; so that in the absence of the moon the night reigned like death over every land. There is no necessity for us to go far into this matter by try- ing to put ourselves into the places of these early peoples; we have only to look at the records : they speak very clearh^ for themselves. But the Vedas speak fully, while as yet information on this special point is relatively sparse from the other regions. It is wise, therefore, to begin with India, whence the first complete revelations of this kind came. Max Mtiller and others during recent years have brought before us an immense amount of most interesting information, of the highest importance for our present subject. They tell us that 1,500 years b.c. there was a ritual, a set of hymns called the Veda ( Veda meaning knowledge). These hymns Avere written in Sanskrit, which a few years ago Avas almost an unknoAvn language ; we knoAV ucjav that it turns out to be the nearest relation to our English tongue. The thoughts and feelings expressed in these early hynms contain the first roots and germs of that intellectual groAvth Avhicli connects our own generation Avitli tlie ancestors of the Aryan races— those very people Avho, as Ave noAv learn from the Vedas, at the rising and the setting of the sun, listened A\'itli