The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-01 00:00:00

ctottlinibge abetter.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1876.

THE CHRONOLOGY OF TIME.

The passing away of one year, and the arrival
of another, are suggestive of thoughts other than
those which teach of homilies, and tell us of the
transitory nature of terrestrial things. It re-
minds us that the year, ._as—a—division of time,
and as a fixed quantity for the record of chrono-
logical events, is a period of calculation which,
according to appearances, lies as solid a basis ss
the foundations of the earth whoe history is set
down according to i's Hight. Those who Are
familiar with old Testament story have often
wondered, as they have studied its quaint and
graphic language, what kind of a world this
must have been then. Even during the memory
of many now living, changes have taken place
which amount to veritable revolutions, and they
can scarcely recognise the world as it is now with
that to which they were accusWmed in the days
of their youth. Yet amid all the:vicissitudes
which have marked the progress of nations,

stamped the character of kingi, attended the
shaping of the destiny of monarchies, and sur-
rounded the rise and fall of empires, there is
one arrangement which has not been disturbed
since it was made thousands of years ago. That
is "the year" itself. Founded substantially by
the Egyptians, it is as fresh to-day as when it
originated in the time of the Pharoahs. It is
continually found in the sacred writings. Cyrus,
we are told, besieged Babylon two years, and
only succeeded in capturing the vast city, which
contained within its walls provisions for twenty
years, by diverting the stream of the great river
Euphrates, and leading his army across its for-
mer bed, which had then become dry land. The
Jews, no less than the Romans and the Egyp-
tians, adopted this mode of reckoning their time.
Some of the nations of old varied, indeed, in the
period when their year commenced and ended,
but its length, for at least the past twenty cen-
turies, has been the same. Mankind, whether
living in the gorgeous East or in the distant
West, in the hardy North, or the genial climes
of the sunny South—differing widely in race,
language, and religion—opposed in ideas, aspira-
tions, and degrees of civilization, have followed
one universal scale in computation, and retained
not only the year itself but the very names of
the months bestowed upon them by the Roman
Emperors when the whole of the known civilized
'world was under their dominion.
At one time indeed, less tuan a single century
ago, an attempt was made to alter not the length
of the year itself; but the appellations of the
months into which it was divided. When the
revolutionary wave swept over France in 1792,
and the sorrows of afflicted ages were mercilessly
visited upon the monarchy and aristocracy of
that time, the leaders of the movement deter-
mined to abolish everything which had gathered
round it the venerable shadows of antiquity.
The old should pass away utterly, and all things
were to become new. Discarding alike relizion,
sentiment, and tradition, they took the calendar
in hand, and resolved to reckon no longer accord-
ing to the year of our Lord, but to begin the
history of the world again by calculating it from
the commencement of the first French Republic.
It is singular how such men, who ferocious mon-
sters as they were, undoubtedly possessed very
considerable ability, could have supposed for an
instant that freaks of this sort could be played
with sn institution eighteen centuries old, and
that mankind would recognize an esqmate of
time founded solely upon philesophical pH!) ci
pies. Yet the effort was made. The era of the
Republic began at midnight between the 21st
and 22nd September 1792, and this the new
rulers of France decreed should be called vint-
age month, and the year should be One. Then
came fog month, from the 22nd October to the
20th November. Sleet month was from the 21st
November to the 20th December. Snow month
lasted from the 21st December to the 19th
January. Rain month extended front the 20th
January to the 1811 of Fehruiry. Wind month
was from the 19th February to the 20th March.
Then came sprouts month, from the 21st March
to the 19th April. Flowers month ran from the
20th April to the 19th May. Pasture month
cow red the time between the 20th May and the
18th June. Harvest month succeeded—from
the 19th June to the 18th July. Hot month vas
from the 19th July to the 17th August. Lastly,
fruit month made up the time between the
of August and the 16th September. Such was
the precious calendar which these vain dreamers
sought to establish upon the ruins—or what they
meant to be the ruins—of the Gregorian system.
Anno Domini was to be stamped out, and when
the year 1800 dawned, it was not 1800 at all so
far as France was concerned, but simply Eight.
The Christian era was to be stamped out; the
history of eighteen centuries was to go for no-
thing; time was to be reckoned according to the
iconoclastic notions of Infidel levellers. But it
was not so to be. Napoleon swept away the re-
volutionary calendars as a cobweb, and restored
the old and familiar mode of calculation. By
that mode and by the names of those months
which have lasted so many ages wo reckon our
chronology to-day, and without, doubt men will
continue so to do so long as the wind blows upon
the land, the stars light up the firmament of
heaven, and the waters cover the seas.

THE THROAT AND VINDPIPE are especially liable to
nflammation, causing soreness and dryness, tickling
and irritation, inducing cough and affecting the voice.
For these ,ymptoms use glycerine in the form of jujubes
Glycerine in these agreeable confections, being in proxi-
mity to the glands at the moment they are excited by
the act of sucking, becomes actively healing. and is
boxes (by post Bor 15 stamps), in tins, is 6d, labelled.
JAMES EPPS it Co., Homreopathic Cheinist.i. 48,
Thri-iiilneedle St. and 170, Piccadilly, London.—Sold in
Stourbridge by A. P. Morris, Chemist, and J. H. Bland,
Cternist.

CURES OF ASTHMATIC COUGH AT THE AGE OF 85, BY
Da. Loc,‘mi's PuLmoritc WAFmrts.—" Wm. Taylor, the
Cape, Smethwick, aged 85. says he for many years sni-
t red from a husky, asthmatical cough. To get rest at
n:ght was almost out of the question, although he tried
fIO4OY thing, ; hut f r the last four lyears, since he com-
niel o••,1 tnking tint Wafers, he can insure a good night's
at ttc.—L Witin QS. It. hemist, 55, Spring-hill,
Th insttitly relies, asthma, cnsurnp-
cugn-, colds, gout, rheunnaism, and all nervous
pain.. 'lll4 taste pleasAutly. Sold by all Druggists at
La 11 and 5 94 per box.

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