s to the adoration of images by both Christians and pagans.

"The Signs of the Zodiac, (says Godfrey Higgins in The Anacalypsis) with
the exception of the Scorpion, which was exchanged by Dan for the
Eagle, were carried by the different tribes of the Israelites on their
standards; and Taurus, Leo, Aquarius, and Scorpio or the Eagle--the
four signs of Reuben, Judah, Ephriam, and Dan--were placed at the four
corners, (the four cardinal points), of their encampment, evidently
in allusion to the cardinal points of the sphere, the equinoxes and
solstices, when the equinox was in Taurus. (See Parkhurst's Lexicon.)
These coincidences prove that this religious system had its origin
before the bull ceased to be an equinoctial sign, and prove also, that
the religion of Moses was originally the same in its secret mysteries as
that of the Heathen, or, if my reader likes it better, that the Heathen
secret mysteries were the same as those of Moses."

The Ecliptic, a great circle of the sphere, (shown on the preceding map
by two parallel lines), is supposed to be drawn through the middle of
the Zodiac, cutting the Equator at two points, (called the Equinoctial
points), at an angle with the equinoctial of 23 degrees 28 minutes, (the
sun's greatest declination), and is the path which the earth is supposed
to describe amidst the fixed stars in performing its annual circuit
around the sun. It is called the Ecliptic because the eclipses of the
sun and moon always occur under it.

The Signs are each the twelfth part of the Ecliptic or Zodiac, (30
degrees,) and are reckoned from the point of intersection of the
ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox. They are named respectively
Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces. These names are borrowed from
the constellations of the zodiac of the same denomination, which
corresponded when these divisions were originally made; but in
consequence of the precession, recession, or retrocession of the
equinoxes, (about 50 1/10" yearly, at the rate of about 72 years to a
degree, displacing an entire sign in about 2152 years, and making
an entire revolution of the equinoctial in about 25,868 years), the
positions of these constellations in the heavens no longer correspond
with the divisions of the ecliptic of the same name, but are in advance
of them. Thus, the constellation Aries is now in that part of the
ecliptic called Taurus, and the st