Adams, Walter M.: The house of the hidden places: a clue to the creed of early Egypt from Egyptian sources (London, 1895)

142 The Mystery of the Heavens. [Ch.

" node " or point where the earth at Equinox
cuts the plane of the Equator, and conse-
quently the point of solstice (which is always
90° from that of Equinox), is not invariable,
but year after year falls a little short of
(or precedes) its previous position, so as to
shift round in a direction opposite to the
earth's revolution. And the rate at which
that precession takes place (about 50" per
annum) is such as to carry the node, or point
of crossing, round the entire orbit in about
twenty-six thousand years. Now attention
has been drawn by Dr. Brugsch, who has so
admirably illustrated the ancient kalendar, to
the circumstance that during the later dynas-
ties, a double series of months was employed,
wherein, for instance, " The First of Thoth,"
that is, the first day of the first month, is given
in the time of Thothmes III. (about B.C. 1600)
both on the day corresponding to our 20th of
July, and on the 27th of August, and similarly
with the rest; but he has not offered any