ent Motions of the planets 2 The first ive of these might be regarded BE unimportant variations of bhe same error, but it would seem bhat the ask is an independent determi nation, and one of later date than the others ; while, if all are independ. ent, that of the stry-Siddhanta has the appearanc ot being the most ancientSuch questions ab these, however, are not to be bot hasily decided Hor from single indicatious merely ; they demand bhe most thorough inves. igation of each different breatise, and the careful collection of all the evidence which can be brought to bear upon them Here lies Bentley's chief error. He relied solely upon his method of examining the elements, applying even that, as we have seen, only partially and unritically, and never allowing his seults to be controlled corrected by evidence of any other character. He had, in fact, no philo. logy, and he*was deficient in sout critica} judgment. He bhoroughly mis apprehended he character of the Hindu astronomical literature, thinking it to be, in the main, u 2mass of forgeries framed for the purpoBe of aeceiving the world respecting the antiquity of the Hindu people. Many of his most confident conclusions have already been overthrown by ev. dence of which not even he would ven bure to question the verity, and we Gre persuaded that but little of his work would s&and the test of thorough examination. 'The annexed table presents a comparison of the times of mean sidereal revolution of bhe planets assumed by the Eind astronomy, as represented by Awo of its principa text-books, with bhose adopted by the great Greek 38tronomer, and those which modern science he3 established. The latter aro, for the primary planets, from Le Vegrier; for the moon, from Nichol (Cyclopedia of the Physical Sciences, London: 1857. Those of Ptolemy are dcduced from the mean daily rates of motion in longitude given by him in the Syntaxis, allowing for the movement of the equinox according bo the false rate ndopted by him, of 88 yearly Comparative Table of the sidereal Rebolutio of the Planets. Planet. xury४-siddhanta. Siddhant inormali Ptolemy. Moderns h m h m h m है । Sut 8GB 6 12 38.6 B65 6 13 9.0 365 88 8 48.6 885 8 9 10.8 Mercury 87 23 18 22.8 827 28 16 41.53 87 28 16 42, 87 8 16 48.8 veu8, 24 16 45 56,2; 224 16 46 1.9| 284 16 31 58.8| 224 18 46 8.0 Mara. 685 25 58 23.56 686 28 67 1.5 686 23 81 ®6.1 | 686 23 3 41.4 Jupiter, 4,852 41 4444382 6 45 48. 7 4,932 18 8 0.5| 4,332 14 से 8.6 Sakurn 10,785 18 33 18.6|10,765 19 8 58.6|10,768 17 48 1,9 10,756 5 16 82.2 Moon ! sid. rev. 27 ? 48 12.8 97 7 43 12.1 27 7 4 19.1| 48 11.4 synod rev 29 12 44 2,8 29 42 44 ४.3 28 18 44 8.8 29 48 44 99 rev. of pais, 3,832 8 1 58.4 a,282 Y7 87 6.0 8,292 9 62 18.6| A,288 18 48 29.8) node 6,794 9 88 454 6,792 86 41.9 6,92 28 18 89.4 6,798 8 4 A5.6 -- - --
