ens were studied in very
early ages by several nations of the East. The Chaldeans, the Indians,
the Chinese and the Egyptians have all left evidence of the industry
and ingenuity with which their observations were conducted.

_Phenomena_, appearances.

_Ingenuity_, skilfulness.

What progress did they make in Astronomy?

They built observatories,--invented instruments for observing and
measuring with correctness,--separated the stars into different groups
or constellations, for the more easily finding any particular
star,--gave particular names to most of the moving stars or planets,
and noted the periods which each took to move through its apparent
path in the heavens; and in many other ways the ancients helped to lay
the foundations of that mass of astronomical knowledge which men of
later ages have brought to more maturity.

_Constellation_, a cluster of fixed stars; an assemblage of
stars.

_Observatory_, a place so built as to command a view of the
heavens.

Who first taught the true system of the Universe?

Pythagoras, one of the most distinguished philosophers of antiquity.
He is thought to have been a native of Samos, an island in the
Archipelago; he flourished about 500 years before Christ, in the time
of Tarquin, the last King of Rome. Pythagoras was the first among the
Europeans who taught that the Earth and Planets turn round the Sun,
which stands immovable in the centre;--that the diurnal motion of the
Sun and Fixed Stars is not real, but apparent,--arising from the
Earth's motion round its own axis, &c. After the time of Pythagoras,
Astronomy sunk into neglect.

_Philosopher_, one who studies philosophy.

_Philosophy_, all knowledge, whether natural or moral. The
term is derived from the Greek, _philos_, lover, and
_sophia_, wisdom.

By whom was it revived?

By the family of the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, who founded a school
of astronomy at Alexandria, which produced several eminent
astronomers, particularly one named Hipparchus. The Saracens, on their
conquest of Egypt, became possessed of the knowledge of Astronomy,
which they carried with them out of Africa into Spain; and thus, after
a long exile, it was introduced afresh into Europe.

Did not Astronomy from this time make great progress?

Yes; it made considerable advances, being cultivated by the greatest
geniuses, and patronized by the greatest princes. The system of the