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THE MOON :

recognize the fact that she traverses the stellar vaultso as to be seen night after night among differentstar-groups. To the recognition of this circumstancemust be ascribed the origin of astronomy properly socalled. Until the varying position of the moon amongthe stars had been noticed, men must certainly havefailed to notice the changes in the aspect of the stellarheavens night after night throughout the year. Inexamining the moon’s motions among the stars, theymust have been led to study the annual motion ofthe stellar sphere. Thence presently they must havelearned to distinguish between the fixed stars and theplanets. And gradually, as the study of the stars,the moon, and the planets continued, the fundamentalproblems of astronomy must have presented them-selves with increasing distinctness, to be for centuriesthe object of ingenious speculation, more or less basedon the actual results of observation.

It would be difficult to form just ideas respectingthe order in which the various facts respecting themoon and her motions were ascertained by ancientastronomers. Indeed, it seems probable that amongthe various nations to whom the origin of astronomyhas been attributed, the moon’s changes of appear-ance and position were studied independently, theorder of discovery not being necessarily alike in anytwo cases. We are free, therefore, in consideringthe knowledge of the ancients respecting the moon,to choose that arrangement of the various facts whichseems best suited to the requirements of the student.