Essays on various subjects / by Cuthbert Collingwood.

  • Cuthbert Collingwood
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on various subjects / by Cuthbert Collingwood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    internal evidence to the same effect, It seems not to be doubted, says an old writer, that there has been some kind of observation of bodies celestial since there were men. And there were two conditions which es- pecially merit attention and consideration in this place, viz.—the beautiful climate of the country bordering on the Persian Gulf, and the occupation of its earliest inha- bitants. Among the ancients, we have the testimony of Herodotus (CHo. c. 193) to the singular fertility, and abundant cereal riches of Babylon ; and even at a more early period, it, or rather perhaps the country bordering it upon the north, had been alluded to in glowing terms by Rab-shakeh (2 Kings, xviii. 32). I have already re- ferred to the remark of Plato ; and every modern traveller is agreed as to the fertility of the soil, and the singular pu- rity of the atmosphere of those regions. Layard* speaks of the country between Nimrond and Khorsabad, as a rich plain, capable of a very high cultivation, though wanting in water—which was anciently supplied by a extensive artificial irrigation, for which there are great facilities. Many other authorities might be cited, but these are sufficient to show that this is precisely the spot which would attract a pastoral people, who could settle here, and rapidly advance in arts, science, and civilization; while the clear atmos]3here would not only give them facilities for astronomical observations, but invite them to such studies by the brilliant appearance of their nocturnal skies — en sorte que le spectacle des astres les devoit occuper, pour ainsi dire, malgiS eux.''\ If we next glance at the occupation of this infant period of society, we shall have further cause to pei'ceive by what means they were led to the prosecution of such ob- servations. In the history of the progress of civilization * Layard's Nineveh and Babylon (first journey, p. 130). \ Lalande's Astronomie. Paris, 1764. Tome i. p. 63.