Note 39 — Chapter IX · THE INFLUENCE OF THE FIXED STARS

Salmon, in his “Horæ Mathematicæ, or Soul of Astrology” (printed by Dawks, 1679) divides each sign of the zodiac into six faces of five degrees each, “because that in every sign there are various stars of differing natures”; and he gives a particular description to each face, depending on its ascension or culmination. This seems an attempt to adapt Ptolemy’s signification of the several stars, composing the different signs, to some general rule or mode of judgment: but it does not merit the implicit assent of astrologers. It is understood that Salmon was not the inventor of this division of the signs into faces, but that it came originally from the Arabian schools.