The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-08
THE GszooRrAs CALEspAR.-The Gordon:

THE GSEGoRIAS CALESDAR.-1neo olooaS-
Vile Gazette says:
"The Dispatch is certairly mistaken N us
noc;t;nn "a to the 29th OF February l900,
about which it says the Gazette must revise
ito celebration. It admits that that o'enturlal
re,r il not bissextiie, which is not ulVlslble
hy 400 without remainder; that Is, that II
does not contaiR 10Th of February, or 36o
DAYS. The conclusion is plain, then. that
1910 is not hissextile year, nor can De un-
less 10Th day of February hclegslated ,1'e
II What rs not cannot be qegislated OIL q
existence"
That's inst, what we sai6. We quote from
our own article:
mTbe oyerplus being about eighteen
hours III a century, it would be seVenty-t"o
hours in four centuries, so that three olsseA-
tile years would have to be omitted IN lo o'
centuries. And as the rule requires tne zslh
of February to be omitted in those centu-
rial gears W hich arc not multlpies OIL 4oo Tue
year 1900 is evidently one that Inc 29!h OF
February is to- be 'legislated OUT Oh anu
moi sinto.'"
Evidently the Gazette and the Dispatch
AGREE. We inferred from the Gazette's lar
auage that it supposed that 1900 ought to be
bissextile year. We were misled by its
first article, in which it took issue with the
Rochester Chronicle. But the Gazette it.
self had evidently misunderstood the Chron.
icle, which last paper had said:
"Of its exact import we are not informed,
but we think of nothing else aimed at unless
it is to legisIate out of existence, twenty-five
years in advance, the ooh of February,
1900"
The Gazette said the Chronicle had made
blunder in the above sentence. We said
it had not. And we are sure that the Gazette
will coafess that it was itself that was in
error when it shall have again read the
Chronicles language. Plainly the Chronicle
said only that if one Of the usual bissextile
years was 10 be done away with before 1900
it would have to be "leqisloted out Of exist
ence." This is certainly true.
The Gazette says:
CA friend suggests to Us that the blsseN-
tile is the t,co sires in the three hundred and
sixty-six (6G) days Of leap year; which is
plausible"
Plausible? It seems to us to be absurd.
Read AndreDS:
"Bisertilis, e, adj. [bi.sextus.] Containing
an intercalary day.
OBJ Sertus Enormously written bis-sex-
:us] An intcrcalary day; so called
since the oath of February" which is equal
to the "VI. Cal. Mart, was doubled: b.
sextus est post amos quatuor unus dies
atjectus.'"
This is true to the letter to-day. But that
is net all. The Romans did not write "66 :"
as the Gaelic does, but as follows: LAFl.
The Gazette further says:
"Tbe photographers give what is 10 US an
arbitrary and unsatisfactory etymoiogy OF
bissextile; the s,rth day before the calends
of March taken t,rice. Why take that day
twice more than any other"
Because it was so ordered by the Roman
emperor, just as AUGUSTUS ordered that Au.
gust should have thirty.one days because
July $50 named for julius C.ssAR] had thirty.
one days.
We must not omit to add that Mr..
RoBERTs's resolution has for its object the
advancing Of the lat of January to the 2lst
day of December-the day upon which the
sun begins its northward journey-and the
consequent making of the seasons correspond
with the movements Of the sun.