Note N. 151 — SECTION XII.

Note 151, p. 87. Let P ♈ A ♎, fig. 35, be the apparent orbit or path of the sun, the earth being in E. Its major axis, A P, is at present situate as in the figure, where the solar perigee P is between the solstice of winter and the equinox of spring. So that the time of the sun’s passage through the arc ♈ A ♎ is greater than the time he takes to go through the arc ♎ P ♈. The major axis A P coincided with ♎ ♈, the line of the equinoxes, 4000 years before the Christian era; at that time P was in the point ♈. In 6468 of the Christian era the perigee P will coincide with ♎. In 1234 A.D. the major axis was perpendicular to ♈ ♎, and then P was in the winter solstice.