The Dawn of Astronomy

When we inquire among which early peoples we are likely to find the first cultivation of astronomy, whatever the form it may have taken, we learn that it is generally agreed by arch ologists that the first civilisations which have so far been traced were those in the Nile Valley and in the adjacent countries in Western Asia. The information which we possess concerning these countries has been obtained from the remains of their cities, of their temples-even, in the case of Babylonia, of their observatories and of the records of their observations. Of history on papyrus we have relatively little. Not so early as these, but of an antiquity which is still undefined, are two other civilisations with which we became familiar before the treasure-houses of Egypt and Babylonia were open to our inquiries. These civilisations occupied the regions now called India and China. The circumstances of these two groups are vastly dissimilar so far as the actual sources of information are concerned; for in relation to China and India we have paper records, but, alas! no monuments of undoubtedly high antiquity.