27. The real object in this section is to find how many degrees of the equinoctial circle pass the meridian together with a given zodiacal sign. Without even turning the _rete_, it is clear that the sign Aries, for instance, extends through 28° of the equinoctial; for a line drawn from the centre, in fig. 2, through the end of Aries will (if the figure be correct) pass through the end of the 28th degree below the word _Oriens_. 28. To do this accurately requires a very carefully marked Astrolabe, on as large a scale as is convenient. It is done by observing where the ends of the given sign, estimated along the _outer_ rim of the zodiacal circle in fig. 2, cross the _horizon obliquus_ as the _rete_ is turned about. Thus, the beginning of Aries lies on the _horizon obliquus_, and as the _rete_ revolves to the right, the end of it, on the outer rim, will at last lie exactly on the same curved line. When this is the case, the _rete_ ought to have moved through an angle of about 14°, as explained in § 26. By far the best way is to tabulate the results once for all, as I have there done. It is readily seen, from fig. 2, that the signs from Aries to Virgo are _northern_, and from Libra to Pisces are _southern_ signs. The signs from Capricorn to Gemini are the _oblique_ signs, or as Chaucer calls them, 'tortuous,' and ascend in less than 2 hours; whilst the _direct_ signs, from Cancer to Sagittarius, take more than 2 hours to ascend; as shewn in the table on p. 209. The _eastern_ signs in fig. 2 are said to _obey to_ the corresponding _western_ ones. 29. Here _both_ sides of the Astrolabe are used, the 'rewle' being made to revolve at the _back_, and the 'label' in _front_, as usual. First, by the back of the instrument and the 'rewle,' take the sun's altitude. Turn the Astrolabe round, and set the sun's degree at the right altitude among the almicanteras, and then observe, by help of the label, how far the sun is from the meridian. Again turn the instrument round, and set the 'rewle' as far from the meridian as the label was. Then, holding the instrument as near the ground and as horizontal as possible, let the sun shine through the holes of the 'rewle,' and immediately after lay the Astrolabe down, without altering the azimuthal direction of the meridional line. It is clear that this line will then point southwards, and the other points of the compass will also be known. 30. This turns upon the definition of the phrase 'the wey of the sonne.' It does not mean the zodiacal circle, but the sun's apparent path on a given day of the year. The sun's altitude changes but little in one day, and is supposed here to remain the same throughout the time that he is, on that day, visible. Thus, if the sun's altitude be 61½°, the _way of the sun_ is a small circle, viz. the tropic of Cancer. If the planet be then on the zodiac, in the 1st degree of Capricorn, it is 47° S. from the way of the sun, and so on.