This paper discusses astronomy or what we call astrology. First, most opinions are based on the worst aspects of astrology, namely the columns found in newspapers. Astronomers are also victims of this; for the tabloids misrepresent scientific astronomy in stories such as "Hubble sees Heaven", and we certainly hope that the public does not take this level of reporting as representing the real work of astronomers. There are many statements from leading astrologers that discredit tabloid astrology. Second, most of the debunkers have little or no knowledge of astrology, they just know that there are no known mechanisms that can account for a celestial influence of this type. The considerable development of astronomy in the 1600s gave further credence to mechanical model of the universe & made implausible the older anthropocentric ideas. However, Robert Boyle was a supporter of astrology who wrote that it could be a counterpart to an atheistic mechanical cosmos. Hunter closes his essay by noting that scientists had little influence at this time.
