THIS PASSAGE CAN BEST BE DESCRIBED AS AB. III ONLYA. DEFENSE OF A...

15. This passage can best be described as ab. III onlya. defense of a thesis that increased freedomc. I and II onlyleads to more vigorous commerce.d. I and III onlyb. reconciliation of opposing views of consti-e. I, II, and IIItutional development.c. contrast and comparison of vagaries ofprovincial law, preunification.d. review of similarities and contrasts amongpreunification provincial laws.e. polemic advocating the desirability of legalreciprocity among neighboring provinces.

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T H E G R E V E R B A L S E C T I O N

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The discovery that shows, beyond all others, that Hipparchus possessed one of the master-minds of all time was the detection of that remarkable celestial movement known as the pre-cession of the equinoxes. The inquiry that led to this discovery involved a most profoundinvestigation, especially when it is remembered that in the days of Hipparchus, the means of(5)observation of the heavenly bodies were only of the rudest description, and the availableobservations of earlier dates were extremely scanty. We can but look with astonishment onthe genius of the man who, in spite of such difficulties, was able to detect such a phenome-non as the precession, and to exhibit its actual magnitude. I shall endeavor to explain thenature of this singular celestial movement, for it may be said to offer the first instance in thehistory of science in which we find that combination of accurate observation with skillful(10)interpretation, of which, in the subsequent development of astronomy, we have so manysplendid examples.The word equinox implies the condition that the night is equal to the day. To a resident onthe equator, the night is no doubt equal to the day at all times in the year, but to one who lives(15)on any other part of the Earth, in either hemisphere, the night and the day are not generallyequal. There is, however, one occasion in spring, and another in autumn, on which the dayand the night are each twelve hours at all places on the Earth. When the night and day areequal in spring, the point which the sun occupies on the heavens is termed the vernal equi-nox. There is similarly another point in which the sun is situated at the time of the autumnalequinox. In any investigation of the celestial movements, the positions of these two equinoxes(20)on the heavens are of primary importance, and Hipparchus, with the instinct of genius, per-ceived their significance, and commenced to study them. It will be understood that we canalways define the position of a point on the sky with reference to the surrounding stars. Nodoubt we do not see the stars near the sun when the sun is shining, but they are there never-theless. The ingenuity of Hipparchus enabled him to determine the positions of each of the(25)two equinoxes relatively to the stars which lie in its immediate vicinity. After examination ofthe celestial places of these points at different periods, he was led to the conclusion that eachequinox was moving relatively to the stars, though that movement was so slow that 25,000years would necessarily elapse before a complete circuit of the heavens was accomplished.Hipparchus traced out this phenomenon, and established it on an impregnable basis, so that(30)all astronomers have ever since recognized the precession of the equinoxes as one of the fun-damental facts of astronomy. Not until nearly 2,000 years after Hipparchus had made thissplendid discovery was the explanation of its cause given by Newton.