The New Student's Reference Work/Astrology

Astrol′ogy, the so-called science of predicting events by means of the positions of the heavenly bodies. It is one of the oldest of the sciences, being found among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hindus and other eastern nations at the very beginning of history. It made its way to the western nations of Europe, and reached its height of popularity in the 14th and 15th centuries, when chairs of astrology were established in some of the European universities. Bacon, Napier, Kepler and other scientists of their period believed to some extent in astrology, and Wallenstein, the great general of the Thirty Years’ War, believed in it implicitly. With the acceptance of the Copernican system and the growth of science, the belief in astrology has almost died out.