Some years ago A friend got me the book The Progress of Astronomy and its Use for Geography and in Navigation, 1693 written by Domenico Cassini (1625-1712). It is written in french so I asked a French priest to write me an English version of it. This he did, thank God.
Some of it I would like to share with my fellow CIF followers as I believe such history is priceless.
Using the means given to him by King Louis XIV (1638-1715) Cassini sought this history up to his time through study of the oldest and rarest books on the subject he acquired from around the world.
Cassini writes: ‘There is no room for doubt that astronomy was invented at the beginning of the World. As there is nothing more noteworthy than the regularity of movement among these great luminous bodies that turn unceasingly around the Earth, it is natural to think that one of the first interests of men was to consider their course and observe their periods. But mere curiosity alone was not solely responsible for leading men to set themselves astronomical speculations, for it can be maintained that necessity as well obliged them. For should one not observe the seasons that vary by the movement of the Sun, it would be impossible to make a success of agriculture; were one to fail to note the suitable times for travel, one could establish no Business; should one not have determined once and for all the length of the month and the year, there could be neither order established between civil affairs, nor could days be marked out for religious purposes: hence as agricultural farming, commerce, politics and even religion cannot do without astronomy, it is obvious that men must have been obliged to study this science right from the World’s beginning. Both sacred and secular history confirms this truth. What the Holy Scriptures reveals about the years that the ancient Patriarchs lived up to is proof positive that the first men studied the movements of the stars. For had they not taken account of the exact number of days that last in the varying phases of the Moon which serve to conceal the months; and of the number of months during which the Sun little by little approaches the Zenith and afterwards distances itself from it, marking the changes by increase and diminution of the days, which allow one to establish the length of the year, they could not have noted the number of years each Patriarch had lived, nor the times of their birth and death, as precisely as Moses records it in Genesis. And there certainly was need in this first age of the world to observe the stars with a great deal of care, for by the circuмstances of the history of the great flooding which are also reported in Genesis, one can see that the year from the time of the Deluge was regulated following the movements of the Sun and Moon: which supposes a boundless number of observations. It is yet to be understood how all the application imaginable by the first men studying the sky could have gained them so much knowledge of the movements of the stars, unless their lives were longer than ours. By the living of such long lives gained for them great advances in astronomy. The Jєωιѕн historian Flavius Josephus (37-100AD) was of the opinion that so necessary was this science that one of the reasons why God granted the first men such a long-lasting life was to facilitate for them the knowledge of the movements of the stars.’
Cassini continues: ‘Nothing better helps to know the antiquity of astronomy than what Ptolemy (120AD) says of the observations of the skies by which Hipparchus (140BC) reformed this science two thousand years ago. Ptolemy reports that those who were already called astronomers in the days of Hipparchus had observed that the Moon not only moves unequally both by longitude as well as latitude but also that the extent of its inequality, since known as Apogee and Perigee, passes through all the background stars, and that its greatest latitude as well in the north regions as in the regions of the south is transported by the flight of time, by all the degrees of this same orbit, in such manner that at each revolution the Moon cuts across the Ecliptic in different degrees. That these astronomers, in order to discover the rules governing these inequalities, compared together many lunar eclipses by which means they sought to find the longest periods of time which being equal among themselves, each contained the same number of unequal months, that Hipparchus, to connect these long periods once found, had chosen from a great number of ancient observations those proper to his purposes; and that having compared them amongst themselves, he noticed that the Sun and the Moon starting from that same point in the sky, would meet 4267 times in 126007 days and one hour after the Moon had made 4612 revolutions with regard to the fixed stars, less seven degrees and one half, and that it made 4573 returns to the point of its apogee. That nevertheless after this period of 4573 revolutions, the eclipses do not come back to the original size, but only after 5458 months. This witness by Ptolemy shows of course that some of these observations of the skies used by Hipparchus were very old. For a very long interval of time is required and a great number of observations as well to be able to conclude that these very long periods observed together by Hipparchus were uniform; it is not difficult to see the need for many observations to control this uniformity when one thinks that of all the eclipses occurring from 2500 years ago to the present moment there are not two that would be out of conformity with the spaces of these long periods. An objection that could render suspect the antiquity of these observations used by Hipparchus, is that about 2200 years from the time this astronomer lived the Deluge happened, a flood said to have buried all monuments of arts and sciences. But one must not be surprised that the memory of the astronomic observations made during the first age of the world, could have lasted even after the Flood, since Josephus recalls that the descendants of Seth to preserve for posterity the memory of the observations of the skies that had been made, sculpted the main ones on two columns, one of stone, the other of brick; that the one of stone survived the Deluge, and that in his time one could see traces of it in Syria. It is therefore established that right from the first age of the world, men had already made great progress in the science of the movement of the stars. One could even say that they were more versed in this lore than they have been since the Flood, if it is true that the year used as a yardstick by the ancient Patriarchs was of the greatness of those composed by the great period of 600 years, as mentioned in the Antiquities of the Jews written by Josephus. We cannot find in the remaining monuments of all the other nations any vestige of this period of 600 years, one of the finest yet to be invented. For supposing the lunar month of 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3 seconds, one finds that 219146 days and a half make 7421 lunar months; and this same number of 219146 days and a half gives 600 solar years each consisting of 365 days, 5 hours, 51 minutes and 36 seconds. If this is the year in use before the Flood, as there appears to be every chance of being so, it must be admitted that the ancient Patriarchs knew already with great precision the movement of the stars; for this lunar month accords, for one second out, with that which has been determined by modern astronomers; and the solar year is more exact than that of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, who assigned the year 365 days, 5 hrs, 55 minutes and 12 seconds. [Today’s tropical year is said to be 365 days, 5 hours, 48 min., 51.6 seconds]. After the Deluge, mankind, having been dispersed throughout the world, the Kings of each people took great care to cultivate astronomy, as the historians of all nations attest. Uranus, King of the peoples that first inhabited the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, was considered to be of the race of the gods because he had a special knowledge of the skies. Zoroaster, King of the Bactrian, is only so well-known because he excelled in astronomy. The first Kings of China acquired for themselves an immortal glory for having made 4000 years ago, shortly after the Flood, many astronomical observations that the Chinese have conserved to this day. Finally, Prometheus, King of Scythia, son of ‘Jaspeth’, that many famous authors hold to have been the same as ‘Japheth’ one of the sons of Noah, taught his ignorant people the science of the stars; which gave rise among the poets to the saying that he had stolen fire from Heaven, and had brought statues to life. The peoples had such great veneration for these great men that studied astronomy that they rendered them divine honours and dedicated to them temples and altars. But whatever one may make of all these stories whose chronology is perhaps not always very exact, it is certain that soon after the Flood, the Chaldeans observed the skies with much care. Philo attests that Thare, who was born in Chaldea over a hundred years before the death of Noah, was very much given up to astronomy and that he taught it to his son Abraham. Josephus adds that Abraham came to the knowledge of the true God in contemplating the stars; and that having passed from Chaldea into Egypt; he brought the science of astronomy there. This science was held in such esteem at this time that only Kings or Priests made profession of it. Perhaps this is why Virgil, speaking of Dido and Aeneas, introduces Lopas who sings what Atlas, King of Mauritania, had taught of the eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon, and of the situation and movements of the stars. Astronomy being held in such esteem in Egypt, it is not surprising that it was taught to Moses who was raised as a Prince Royal of the care of the daughter of Pharaoh. Clement of Alexandria says that Moses made great progress in this science, and that he later taught it to the Jews. Thus astronomy having come from Chaldea into Egypt, passed from Egypt into Judea, and was in a short time carried into Phoenicia and into all the neighbouring countries.’
Cassini continues: ‘Up to that time, astronomers hadn’t yet attempted to apply their speculations for use of navigation. But as the Phoenicians were as entrepreneurial as they were hard-working, they began to use the observations of the skies to lead them on long-distance voyages. So successful was their profiting from the advantages of astronomy, that they were able to carry commerce into far distant lands, made themselves into masters of the seas, established colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and having entered the ocean, took hold of the Isle of Cadis and built there a very magnificent city. The reputation they had of excelling in navigation caused them to be called upon in various kingdoms to conduct the fleets of foreign princes. King Solomon gave them the control of the fleet that he sent via the Red Sea into Ophir; whence they brought back much gold [1 Kings 9:26-28] and a great store of the same goods that Europeans presently bring back from South Africa and the Indies. Nechao II, King of Egypt, also employed them to conduct his fleet, which made a much longer voyage according to Herodote: for he says that having followed the Red Sea coast it entered the ocean, crossed the Torrid Zone, toured Africa and came back to Egypt via the Mediterranean Sea.’--- Domenico Cassini: The Progress…
My comment: Astronomy then, became the science of Emperors and Kings; the first and most important developed natural science for mankind before and after the global deluge. Cassini goes on to tell us how astronomy allowed and assisted man to venture over the great landmasses from Spain to China while at the same time enabled them to voyage throughout the seas and great oceans of the Earth. He shows how maps of the world were created with astronomical help, and how this same art of measuring led Alexander the Great and his army deep into territories ‘that nature seems to have hidden away.’ But these discoveries were only the prelude to those of the New World. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), for example, on the basis of the knowledge he had of astronomy and the measurements determined by the astronomers of Al Mamon, and what he had learned in the books of Ptolemy, went straight west, taking care always to observe the position of the sun by day and of the fixed stars by night. This precaution kept him from straying, for those who have written his biography say that the observations of the sky made him see with his telescope a variant that was unknown to him, and also helped him to realign himself unto the night course throughout the year. Once trade and commerce resulted, nations gained great wealth and development. Astronomy, it seems, was power, and no wonder the men that excelled in it were revered and sometimes treated like gods. But there was yet a higher purpose to astronomy:
Cassini adds: ‘To what we have said on the usefulness of astronomy, one can add the advantages that have been drawn and continue to be drawn every day for the propagation of the Faith, because it is by the use and protection afforded by this science that those dedicated to preaching the Gospel to the Infidel, penetrate the furthest countries and live there not only in safety but even with full freedom to preach the truths of the faith, that they draw the admiration of peoples, and they work their way into familiarity with the powers that be, and they even win the favour of Sovereigns. Thus this science has opened up to missionaries the vast Empire of China, whose entry was forbidden by the laws of the land and for reasons of State to all foreigners, and it was used to obtain permission to build churches there and publicly to practice the true faith. This is why King Louis XIV wanted the missionaries who go to preach the Gospel to China, in the Kingdom of Siam, and in the other states of the East Indies, to be instructed in the ways the Academy makes observations, and that they take from it very ample memories of what they have to do and remember in their travels. The observations that these missionaries have already made in conjunction with the Académie des Sciences and which they have sent back to it, compared with those made at the same time at the observatory, have already communicated great lights; and it is not to be doubted that progress will continue to be made in these far-off countries, greatly to contribute to the progress of astronomy; and if the persons who work at this science in foreign lands set up contact with the Academy and send it their observations, there is reason to hope that shortly, not only astronomy, but also geography and the art of navigation will be raised to their highest perfection.’--- J. D. Cassini.
It is fitting here to separate astronomy from cosmology. Astronomy is a science that deals with facts; heavenly bodies we can see, chart and determine their movements in time. Cosmology, on the other hand, is described as ‘the science of the origin and development [evolution] of the universe.’ Cosmology is based on the Copernican principle that led to the Big Bang, a theory that brings together observational astronomy, speculative gravity and so-called absurd particle physics theory [the evolution of Big Bang dust into sun, planets, moons and stars]. A proper definition of cosmology states it is ‘a branch of secular metaphysics that deals with the nature of the universe,’ based on the assumption that it had a natural origin that evolved over billions of years of course. Cosmology then is little more than an ideology presented as a science.
‘Cosmology is the scientific study of the large-scale properties of the universe as a whole. It endeavours to use the scientific method to understand the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the entire Universe.’--- Google.
Tell that to Michio Kaku who, admitted ‘Nobody that I know of in my field of theoretical physics [cosmology] uses the “so called scientific method.’ A typical example of cosmology is their interpretation of exploding stars. After Adam and Eve sinned, St Paul said in Romans 8:22: ‘For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now,’ confirming the deterioration of cosmic bodies since then. Cosmology, on the other hand, when showing pictures of such star-explosions in the universe, often has the media saying that they are stars, not ending their time in existence, but as one newspaper put it as showing the ‘Birth of a New World, planets being formed 530 light years away,’ and ago.
Topic: The history of astronomy by Domenico Cassini. (Read 652 times)