life; and that as the sun and moon exerted such an obvious influence on the seasons and other human affairs, so probably did the other planets or the gods who presided over them. The names and order of the days of the week, which have remained so similar among such a number of ancient and modern nations, show how far these astrological notions must have progressed when they assumed their present form, for the order is a highly artificial one. Why do we divide time into weeks of seven days, and call the days Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and why are these names of special planets, or of the special gods associated with them, identical, and occur in the same order among so many different nations? For whether we say Thor's-day or Jove's-day, and call it "Thursday" or "Jeudi," the same god is meant, who is identified with the same planet, and so for the others. It is quite clear that the names of the seven days of the week were originally taken from the seven planets--i.e. from the seven celestial bodies which were observed by ancient astronomers to move, and, therefore, be presumably endowed with life, while the rest of the host of heaven remained stationary. These bodies are in order of apparent magnitude:-- 1. The Sun. 2. The Moon. 3. Jupiter. 4. Venus. 5. Mars. 6. Saturn. 7. Mercury And this is the natural order in which we might have expected to find them appropriated to the days of the week. But, obviously, this is not the principle on which the days have been named; for, to give a single instance, the nimble Mercury, the smallest of the visible planets, comes next before the majestic Jupiter, the ruler of the heavens and wielder of the thunderbolt. Let us try another principle, that of classifying the planets in importance, not by their size and splendour, but by the magnitude of their orbits and length of their revolutions. This will give the following order:-- 1. Saturn. 2. Jupiter. 3. Mars. 4. The Sun (_i.e._ really the earth). 5. Venus. 6. Mercury. 7. The Moon.