(    8i    )
 

CHAPTEE  LVI.

ON  THE   STATIONS   OF   THE  MOON.

The Hindus use the lunar stations exactly in the same on the
way as the zodiacal signs.    As the ecliptic is, by the sI^'Silunar
zodiacal signs, divided into twelve equal parts, so, by ^ ^ ^°"^'
the lunar stations, it is divided into twenty-seven equal
parts. Each station occupies 13^ degrees,or 800 minutes   ^
of the ecliptic.    The planets enter into them and leave
them again, and wander to and fro through their nor¬
thern and southern latitudes.   The astrologers attribute
to each station a special nature, the quality of foreboding
events, and other particular characteristic traits, in the
same way as they attribute them to the zodiacal signs.

The number 27 rests on the fact that the moon passes
through the whole ecliptic in 27^^ days, in which num¬
ber the fraction of |- may be disregarded. In a similar Lunar sta-
way, the Arabs determine their lunar stations as begin- 1X4?^*^°
ning with the moon's first becoming visible in the west
till her ceasing to be visible in the east. Herein they
use the following method:—

Add to the circumference the amount of the revolu¬
tion of the sun in a lunar month. Subtract from the
sum the march of the moon for the two days called
ctlmihdk (i.e. the 28th and 29th days of a lunation).
Divide the remainder by the march of the moon for one
day. The quotient is 27 and a little more than f, which
fraction must be counted as a whole day.

However, the Arabs are illiterate people, who can
neither write nor reckon. They only rely upon numbers
and eyesight. They have no other medium of research
than eyesight, and are not able to determine the lunar
stations without the fixed stars in them.    If the Hindus

VOL. II.                                                                         F