between 36° and 42° north latitude, so that the constellations did not originate in Egypt or Babylon. By computing where the centre of the vacant space coincided with the southern pole, we get the date 2800 b.c., which was probably the date when the ancient work of constellation making was completed.
It has been remarked that among the constellation figures conspicuous by their absence are the following animals: the elephant, the camel, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, and the tiger, so it is reasonably safe to assume that neither India, Arabia, nor Egypt was the birthplace of the sphere. Greece, Italy, and Spain may be excluded on the ground that the lion figures as one of the constellations. We have left Asia Minor and Armenia, a region bounded by the Black, Mediterranean, Caspian, and Ægean seas, as the logical birthplace of the stellar figures. The fact that we find a ship among the stars warrants us in believing that it is on the coast of this country, and not in its interior, that we should expect to find the land where the constellations were first known.
The division of the zodiac into twelve signs, the number of months in the year, is one of very great significance, for we infer from the fact that it was so arranged to assist in the observation of the position of the sun among the stars.
Many of the authorities hold that the zodiac was planned while the spring equinox fell in the constellation Taurus. In support of this claim it may be said that, if this is the case, the sun was ascending all through the signs that face the east, and was descending all through the signs that face the west, a significant and logical arrangement which could hardly be accidental.
The date of the zodiac is given as 3000 b.c., which agrees very well with the significant position of the four Royal Stars previously mentioned which marked the four cardinal points, and were thus especially prominent.
A close inspection of the stellar groups yields many points of interest, notably the fact that everywhere there
