osed paper, by opening the cover, however
ingeniously. For, if he opened it and looked at the paper, he would have
seen that it was blank, resealed the cover, and declared that the paper
enveloped therein bore no writing whatever; or if he had, by design or
accident, exposed the paper to light, the writing would have become
black; and he would have produced a copy of it as if it were the result
of his own Vidya; but in either case and the writing remaining, his
deception would have been clear, and it would have been patent to all
that he did open the envelope. But in the present case, the result
proved conclusively that the cover was not opened at all."

--P. Sreeneevas Row

The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac

The division of the Zodiac into different signs dates from immemorial
antiquity. It has acquired a world-wide celebrity and is to be found in
the astrological systems of several nations. The invention of the Zodiac
and its signs has been assigned to different nations by different
antiquarians. It is stated by some that, at first, there were only ten
signs, that one of these signs was subsequently split up into two
separate signs, and that a new sign was added to the number to render
the esoteric significance of the division more profound, and at the same
time to conceal it more perfectly from the uninitiated public. It is
very probable that the real philosophical conception of the division
owes its origin to some particular nation, and the names given to the
various signs might have been translated into the languages of other
nations. The principal object of this article, however, is not to
decide which nation had the honour of inventing the signs in question,
but to indicate to some extent the real philosophical meaning involved
therein, and the way to discover the rest of the meaning which yet
remains undisclosed. But from what is herein stated, an inference may
fairly be drawn that, like so many other philosophical myths and
allegories, the invention of the Zodiac and its signs owes its origin to
ancient India.

What then is its real origin, what is the philosophical conception which
the Zodiac and its signs are intended to represent? Do the various
signs merely indicate the shape or configuration of the different
constellations included in the divisions, or, are they simply masks
designed to veil some hidden meaning? The former supposition is
altogether untenable for two reasons, viz.:--

I