PROPHETIC ALMANACS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 680, 3 December 1909, Page 8

PROPHETIC ALMANACS.

A HOARY FALLACY. i 'ASTEOLOGEES, PAST AND PBESENT, (Br J.Q X) 1 According to a well-known almanac, "or Prophobo Messenger and Weather Guido for 1009,",th0 echpso of the moon, which is in progress uhilo these lines are being written, is to bo accompanied by a threat of "underground troubles" in 3 degrees West Longitude "Saturn will bo on tho Loner Meridian at Madrid, warning tho authorities to bo prepared for discontent and trouble in the citj, especiallj as tho cclipso falls in tho ruling sign of Spam" '

/ Wondorful indeed is the growth of science, but hardly less wonderful is the survival of astrology; a-n":.' .•:• '■-' •■' ■• ■"•■■. .■;'':/■"- ■'■■. Down :on the harbour he great steamers, marvels of applied science. Up from the street f coines the roar of electrio trams'.:, Close at hand is the telephone.'..'And hpre' on my table the prophetic almanac babbles prognostications after tho: manner of its' predecessors of --a ago. ';••."••'■'■''; . : . ■: ' . . - ; ■■■'■■ Wo:have free education, universities, more daily 'papers- for our numbers than any other commumty ■ on • earth,' adult suffrage, free libraries- and -museums, .debating societies, popular-lectures,;and universal penny postage. jlnd notwithstanding all these moans or. signs ?r enlightenment, a great inany.New Zealanders wiir soon be buying astrological almanacs .for ..To''gpjvforithW.prkserlt,'io.further back/than Century, "during'the last hundred yearr--the quotation.'is from a'Dominion editonal of three' months .agp-"thore has been siich, a Smfivvellouskuccesaqn/of'discoveries that'/the present may without :boastfulness be called the golden age of science. It has seen the birth 'of '■■,th*VepO«h-m&kings theories,: of ■ vDarwin-. and Wallace,, the telegraph, the. telephone, l the Bohtgen" rays; the motor-car, the - airship,. and : the.-jitiliSatiion'iOf 'electricity in various: forms; it'-KaS: seen "great developments in .surgery and 'medicine';- v and-a'lea'dirig authority has gone -so far as'to' say; that;'if- we. cared •enough, 'all epidemic; 7 be/ abolished ■ in'fifty •years.' ■■■:*■? .- ; lhHhe ■ words -of .Prpfesspr.'. J,4rthiu-- ; sh'omsonii'' r we annihilate distance with; iout , ;.-d.eep' ■• dpvices.'iand:.make' the. ether,- carry .o'ur,signalk Wp .bring ? fhe. nipon 'so 'near-that "oiir'maps of :it,'are'be'tfc'thai'.thbso of Africa three, generations ago;';' ; We measnre the ■: dis-:tance?pf.-,the.r:stats; w,e/analyse -the'chemical■ composition- .p'f /the; sun''- , ;';.■l.'/. ■. '.■■■*-:■"■' ~ :■' ; : vßuti'thb-'asti-olpgers.are?just.where they-were ;iri:-the--early,.yeiirs of|the s last/century;" The ■remarks" oh- .'ihe:-,preseijt':'ec]ips.e,' '.quoted'. abpye, may '.bo compared; with,:Ahe following; from ;"Jphn .;PdrtridKe's.:Slerlinus ■Liberatus; : ;an ■■ •- '■ '''':■'.' ■ i:. "Ootpber, 1829; -.Thevlate. ..visible eclipso ■ .) :.of 'i ther : mopn, v -)Which ■ happened in. the'. lat-», : .' ,tqr ; part Pisces, ;may.be'i.con- . ■ sidcred'"to relate' 'to'- Portugal ■ and ; Spain, / ? : ',biStoliening"in'surre'ctions," troubles; arid 'dis-.', J ; -cords, amongst the' common 'people,: .withy/ ■.yimutini«3": amongst ■' the''soldiers, ■; etc.", :.-'j '■:, '~■ '■^For'-'this'quotation iS am indebted: to ; a>little work entitled' ,"The Companion?;to r the,' Al-' manac, -for f-the , year ,1829. Published Sunder the superinteridence of the Society : for. the Dif:fusion fof.Useful Knowledge." -. The\writef -has'set^"Meriirins"'Reside 'a passage' from "John ; Lord's .Alnjanao.and Pr'ognosticator/fpr.':'l67B,", ;in- qrdwr'te.he;^ys,-;"to'show-tho:little;!vana-:tion';in:.the cheat."\ '■"/ / .■-'■■., :./.vV,;-.-'- : -.;';■ --. ,'Thy.year..'.l67B was.nine.years before?Newion. published -a^'book'/which;:"remodelled;.astron:.' omy." : .. Here isV.anbther, 1678 - prediction—itf,is, :.f rom/:"Att'dre.ws , s' i • from \ the ;i Stars"—arid■:l-' have r placed • belpw- it a 'few-, lines ■ f roni;'<the. "Prophetic Messenger" for / ,/ . /

V; 'July. Sudden fears possess...some!.-.. i l ;■■ places' f ; ' ! Jupiter?' ; .turns'■ rotrograde, ..and■''.-; |!.V:!ifars iconics to conjunction with..Saturn-.at,;j. ..■.the': month's/cnd.^'-.Weighty-matters , under v, 1 'co^sideratipni'iii'jsomo:.parts -of,, Europe^ , :; ... . reports, from':bjsyond.".seayj'pThose.-;. ■,;pl(ipes' : '.lJn'dSr"?-Gelnihi"- 'agaih' . concerned.'.,'; i. : ..~lho!inftuence ;bf Saturn, and- Mars. they, aril V i L^pernaps.Vnofr,-sensible'; of, 'to. 'their, (dotriiV.v '•"• irient■-aridvdisturba.ncs.''.*.. : .. ■':: '. '~ -: ■ .;,'■ I-V v' - ■'■ ,' : . July, 1910.—"Mars, iri.^tho-seventh iniLeo."-'. is /bad- for: foreign, affairs,' and' warns' the.<>" : Government; .j!td ,; be on' their' guard .■ against:7 ''■■ :. ; .'a./dispute.' /There will bo' many■ deatlis ' . among, people" of'high'position; Colonial ' •' affairs''lvilf'be and .jdisputes:.': 'f-VBr&/:tp/y.]b'e , '.'fe^Md:.-.' i 'pßrlißinentiirJi'.oi[eirß''.'-i' ,1 :will!progress favourably,. , 'and: legislation. '['[ i ,'aff epting^'the''deathvdnties"is;likely , to'■ be.'.; ) ; doba^a?| i, Ciinfis' i in4he\:'tirelfth , 'j)oints. .to',': ;'imxich''^rime^/and : :is'Bad'!:f9r'nospitals' arid < ';• institutions; ' Ireland "still suffers from 'the:-, V influence of Saturn in., .-her ruling , sign/'\ T .';Mara eicited the French and! Italians; a ,'■ I '/warlike spirit.will., nations."' ..Whereupon the Diffuser! of Useful. Knowledge mignt surely write, :.if. he were living to-day," just : as -he wrote 80' years ago: "It oannot'failf to'be-.perceived that the tone of .these', predictions'is'not'in the. slightest •. de-: 'gree.' altered' ;by the' 'progress! of -knowledge." He. -further; illustrates his exposure'..of A the , .! almanacs by!'showing! that the-•Anglo-Saibns'i ■also had ! their ''prognostics" from the.sun and moon, froin thunder -and- from dreams." Some of. the remarks which .ho quotes: f rom" SharonTurner's "History-.!of ..tho- Anglo-Baions. " might bo applied, with very little alteration to certain! almanacs ; .for ,1910.i Then,.= as now,' "every- day:'-of ;tho, ; mpntli 'was as -a ..propitious ,or .unpropitiqus ■ seasori.-i'foi;" !ttansactions."'.There there. 'were Anglo-Saxon, treatises - .which' * (ion-! tain 'rules for! (discovering!, the future, fortune ;and disposition of'a child,;from. the,-day;of its.j nativity. ;,We, areVstill .-told.- that ; . one 'day'/is; useful.for all. things,' another, balbful ,to sow a third favourable, to business. On certain days-we' are to;buy (so the: almanacs, told our ancestors,a .thousand- years agb, "and tell us'now), pn .other days to sell, '•and' v on' others -to do, nothing..! v.- •• , . ■ ~,!■■:;: iFranqs Bacon, ,who. died .sixty, years before Newton .published , .the-. 'T'rincipia," 'observed concerning astrological and other predictions: "My,, : judgment' is that -they : ought all. r to'\be despised,, and! ought to'.servevbut for a winter, talk'-, by the • fireside." •. ■ A hundred ■: years later, '■ . Swift ponied !his ; matchless ■ irony .upon, the ' astrologer's,' vbut even'.: now ' they ; flourish,! and still,, as Bacon .'said, "Men maik .when ,they : . hit,: and never mark when they miss." The Knowlbdge-.. DifEuser, ■of .1829: : said: i" : We ■do ; not. suppose that many persons , seriously believe in these"' absurdities.' 1 The supposition is' difficult: to sustain, ■ for- the absurdities .are still' bought and paid , for. . It cannot be for the. fun of it'that people keep on purchasing 'Messenger."-. Considered aa a •jt)ke ; the'.; thing'is, altogether too-stale. •-A ..comic ■annual; would'cease ,to ,be comic, if' it ".published!;-the'*-.Banie'witticisms !in "■ every, issue for- ; 'a thousand "years.' Sir John Herscliel, writing in -the sixties, 1 noted ithat; some people wore' still .'guided'-by.' the weather predictions of .',"Tne>Fanner'B'. Almanac" (whjch' j ' i by, the way, , was falsely, ascribed, to Sir.William, Her-; schel),; but-he' : thougit they were'a'.disappear-' !ing.ifew.i;!They.'.';£ake,.apparently, a/long-time to.;disappear. ;'.■'Tho ; ..nature -Vof-..man.! .still• ■ Most writers; on astron-' nothing!,to < ; 6ay.! about" . prognost&tions... from,:' the : star3.:iThey,;lea.v« .it '• !to!historians,',' ,tq t V.'Bhow., "ow ' astrology ;in th« 'middlb ag;e3,;BtimuU>ted' the spirit (of inquiry, 'arid.'though;itself! largely a delusion; led men .'towards ■:scieni!e.'"' : ''. , Sqme'< of : .the.old!mystical astrologers,.'•.like,-Pai[acelsus,,w.ere;great', and wise Jmeii. ..The almanac makers afei differenti ;■..: Of ,:'course.' ,tho.'star-reading fallacy .has no-' 'thingjlike ■theVppwfir'.it■ once -had-'oyer-men's-'itiiiids."iWβ;speakv'of.-'a."disaster", without■• re'means " a , etar. : Whon.the'iHo'n. : E6derick MTKenzie assures the deputation from Ewlback Gully / that their''re-' quest for., : a ,bridge;-s?will I receive ■' consideration,"/it probably does not ■ occur to him- that "sidora" rs Latin;' for • "constellations."»; At anyrate, he consults, not'an astrologer, :; but a Departmental,; 9fficer. -'' And • yet > this • prognosticating publication;'which I bought on Lambton Quay, directs that--if. j I would gather thistles, broom, Jiprse radishes, leeks or onions, and havs failed;todo so at p.m. on November 30, I' had. potter wait unti\;7'p.m. on December 16 because they! are -'nierbs-under Mars.". The almanac certainly- contains much real l information, but the. compilers evidently think I shall like it the hette'r fpr.guessing at tho weather of-everyday-in the year; nnd telling me .'what may,;or may not'odcur whon Venus is "on the ousp v of/thojse^enth,"., The survival of the pro-' phefac almanac is: one of. the marvels- of this ago." ■■-.....!.. ■■• ■■■-.. -.. ' ■ . ;,";■ . • -.••• ■-. ■ .v ■The DOKnnoN. in; its last feuo quoted 'the' words of "Jolm Fisko that "in their- mental habits, in their, methods -of '■ inquiry,: and' in thb"dataat' ; their. !command,' tho men , of the presont .day who. have kept pace .with- : the scientific movement are separated ' from'tho' men whoso education ehdedin 1830 by animmeosurably wider gulf than ever before divided'one .progressive, generation of men from their.predecessors.".■"■'■ ■':.'■■ • -.. ,'■ '■ !: Sur%: the^ still' bejFeen' those wh,p;;kedE;,:abreast;'bf i ;'scierice 'arid those who aeuonsly.iead*,projneuc,:almnnac's..V"-''■-.'■:• '":!'-