To an observer on the earth the whole firmament, together with the sun, appears to revolve in a circle once in twenty‐four hours. But the time occupied by the stars in going round, differs from the time occupied by the sun. This difference amounts to about one‐twelfth part of the whole circle in each month, so that when the circle of the heavens is divided up into twelve parts, the sun appears to move each month through one of them. This path which the sun thus makes amongst the stars is called the _Ecliptic_.(18) Each of these twelve parts (consisting each of about 30 degrees) is distinguished, not by numbers or by letters, but by pictures and names, and this, as we have seen, from the very earliest times. They are preserved to the present day in our almanacs, and we are taught their order in the familiar rhymes:— “The RAM, the BULL, the heavenly TWINS, And next the CRAB, the LION shines, The VIRGIN and the SCALES; The SCORPION, ARCHER, and SEA‐GOAT, The MAN that carries the Water‐pot, And FISH with glittering scales.” These signs have always and everywhere been preserved in this order, and have begun with ARIES. They have been known amongst all nations, and in all ages, thus proving their common origin from one source. The figures themselves are perfectly arbitrary. There is nothing in the groups of stars to even suggest the figures. This is the first thing which is noticed by every one who looks at the constellations. Take for example the sign of VIRGO, and look at the stars. There is nothing whatever to suggest a human form; still less is there anything to show whether that form is a man or a woman. And so with all the others. The _picture_, therefore, is the original, and must have been drawn around or connected with certain stars, simply in order that it might be identified and associated with them; and that it might thus be remembered and handed down to posterity.