(b.) reckoning _forward_ brings us to 1879 A.D., when, by the Treaty of Berlin, Ottoman power received a blow from which it has never recovered, and which has prepared the way for its extinction. (3.) If we take _Solar years_, then— (a.) reckoning _backward_, we get to B.C. 624 (A.M. 3376), the beginning of the Babylonian kingdom, the “head of gold.” (b.) reckoning _forward_ we get to 1896‐7 A.D., which is yet future. These reckonings in their _beginnings_ and _endings_ form an _introversion_, or _Epanodos_, thus:— 587 B.C. ... 606 B.C. ... 624 B.C. ... dates increasing. 1860 A.D. ... 1879 A.D. ... 1896‐7 A.D. ... dates increasing. The _Solar_ reckonings are the more important dates; the _Lunar_ are next in significance; while _Zodiacal_ reckonings furnish us with dates which, to say the least, fit neatly into their places. 82 These dates are those furnished by the Monuments, as given by Dr. Budge, of the British Museum, in his _Babylonian Life and History_, R.T.S., 1885. They also agree with the dates dug up by Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1862, consisting of fragments of seven copies of the famous “Eponym Canon of Assyria,” by which the Assyrian chronology has been definitely settled. Before this, historians had to be content with inferences and conjectures. 83 In adjusting the A.M. and B.C. dates, the latter are always apparently one year in advance of the former, because B.C. 4000 was A.M. 1, and B.C. 3999 was A.M. 2. Hence A.M. 3376 is not B.C. 624, but it is B.C. 625. 84 Cyrus took Babylon, according to the Monuments, in the 17th year of Nabonidus, B.C. 539. 1 Maccabees i. begins the first of Alexander from the death of Darius Codomannus in A.M. 3672. This would slightly vary the above distribution of the years of separate duration. 85 In passing from B.C. dates to A.D. dates, _one year must always be deducted_, _e.g._, from B.C. 2 to A.D. 2 is only _three_ years, not four! Thus— From Jan. 1 B.C. 2 to Jan. 1 B.C. 1 is one year. From Jan. 1 B.C. 1 to Jan. 1 A.D. 1 is one year. From Jan. 1 A.D. 1 to Jan. 1 A.D. 2 is one year. These make only _three_ years. Hence, B.C. 31 to A.D. 636 is 666 years, not 667. 86 While the _premisses_ of the Historicist school are thus strengthened, their _conclusions_ are shown to be erroneous. 87 And cause sacrifice and oblation to cease (Dan. ix. 27). We know that is referred, by historicists, to the Messiah. But they are not entitled to so interpret this passage unless they take with it viii. 11, xi. 31, and xii. 11, where the same event is distinctly referred to, and is spoken, not of Christ, but of Antichrist. 88 See ARATOS, line 440.