Page:The Elements of Astronomy.djvu/13


 * 1) The Science of Astronomy, literally, the Science which deals with the laws of stars or heavenly bodies, generally, is the most ancient of the Sciences—with its beginnings almost at the dawn of human consciousness. This indeed, would be a priori evident, for from the earliest ages, the beauty and the grandeur of sun-rise and sun-set and of the panorama that the night presents,—even to the least observant on-looker—must have excited men's wonder and a spirit of enquiry. The hymns of the Rigveda to the sun, the dawn and the sky, probably represent the earliest articulate attempt of the human race to recognise the imperative workings of law in the phenomena of the heavens,—as yet but dimly perceived. But while the supreme mystery behind these phenomena remained and still remains unsolved, they presented a regularity, a rhythm which could not fail to be perceived and carefully observed even by the earliest man. Moreover, since Science deals with measurement, Astronomical phenomena came almost automatically within its domain. One was almost implicitly impelled to follow the path, traced on the sky, by the sun, the moon and the stars, from day to day, one was perforce led to note the position of the horizon, where the earth and the sky appeared to