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20 be illustrated in modern times by the eclipses of the sun which took place on July 18th, 1860, on July 29th, 1878, and on August 9th, 1896; but the first was visible in Southern Europe, the second in North America, and the third in Northern Europe and Asia.

18. To the Chaldaeans may be assigned also the doubtful honour of having been among the first to develop astrology, the false science which has professed to ascertain the influence of the stars on human affairs, to predict by celestial observations wars, famines, and pestilences, and to discover the fate of individuals from the positions of the stars at their birth. A belief in some form of astrology has always prevailed in oriental countries; it flourished at times among the Greeks and the Romans; it formed an important part of the thought of the Middle Ages, and is not even quite extinct among ourselves at the present day. It should, however, be remembered that if the history of astrology is a painful one, owing to the numerous illustrations which it affords of human credulity and knavery, the belief in it has undoubtedly been a powerful stimulus to genuine astronomical study (cf. chapter ., § 56, and chapter ., §§ 99, 100).