New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-01
THE EASTER PROBLEM.

MOONS VAGARiES AND The fEhfLEAAiAIs We
THE CALENDAR.
The moon. which according to The TRIBUNE
ALMANAC was new on Saturday the 18th ult. at
16 minutes past p M, is the paschai moon ana as
such furnishes the occasion of much recent discus
sion. Easter controversies have disturbed the
world at intervals for than fifteen centuries
and q mere SYNOPSIS of them would easily I'LL TINS
newspaper They all admit, and indeed accept as
basis that the paschal moon determines the date Oh
yesterday. On the date OF Easter depend the
movable feasts of the Church. So far, the SUB
ject is as clear as MONDAY; one step beyond
and we must deal with the vagarles OF what
Juliet so properly calls the incOnstant moon"
All the civilized world got by the ears Mt the Coun-
ell of Ncea in 800 this and other matters; ana
what was done and determined then and there mas
been fruitful source of debate ever since Even
the very name Of the place has undergone sea
change, and most people, if taken suddenly wherein
encyclopedia was not at hand, would declare that
the Nicene creed was formulated at pleasant city
of Italy instead of forgotten town in Asia Minor.
What was certainly decided at Nicea-or Nice, if
one is not particular as to nice point-was that
Easter must be held on Sunday, and not on week
day. Very probably, still more than this was deter
mined but disputants ever since, referring to the
Councils decision, have ascrbed to it great deal
that there is no authentic record to justify.
The present Easter controversy, which has Deon
productive of many letters to newspapers In Eli
gland and few in this country, is chiefly based on
rule for ascertaining the date of yesterday that
has found place in many popular works OF reference
including some encyclopedias. This rule, 1t IS
therein Tally stated, was adopted at the Council
of "Nice.D and fixes yesterday as the first sunday
after .he full moon which happens on or next after
March 81; but if the full moon fall on Sunday,
l.,,tt
day. Tried by the above rule, the almanac this
year seems to be in error for it says that Easter
falls on April 10 and yet 1t also says that
the full moon is on April 8, shortly
before 3 p. m, and rs that is Saturday. the
rule would make April 0 Easter Sunday. 10 TINS
the first natural reply is that perhaps some other
meridian of longitude should be taken. Well, at
Greenwich Eng this full moon will appear at 80
minutes past p. m. on April g. Though the calcu-
latsn he made for point far to the east as Rome,
OF even at Jcrusalem-which in old maps was the
center of the word-sill will the full moon be found
arriving before Saturday midnight. Then comes an
other explanat ut the ecclesiastical day is dif-
ferynt from the Ill day. and hence the evening of
April is accounted by the Church as April o. This
is plausible but it does not happen to bt the fact.
The actual rule is not based upon the date OF the
full moon, though strange to say the mistake was
made of 30 stating it in an act of Parliament.
In some of the common books of reference the rule
is more accurately stated thus: yesterday is the
Sunday following that 18th day Of the calen-
| dar moon which happens upon or next after March
| q, except that when that 18th day is Sunday,
| then Easter falls on the following Sunday" The at
tempt to work out the date from this rule has, how
ever plunged correspondents in another set of diff
| culties The new moon at Greenwich dated from
March %, at IL minutes past p. IN. Fourteen
| DAYS added to this, again bring us TO Saturday
| April g. 1t does not materially help the matter TO
reckon the astronomical of the moon as the basis
of the ii DAYS for the 1ith day of the age of the
moon as laid down in the Nautical Almanac, still
| fails of reaching midnight on April 8. But at this
point an inquirer might be driven into utter dstrac-
ton if no should learn that these Ii days OF the
moon are inclusive; they must include the first day
of the new moon, March -, as one of them and
! hence the last of the Ii would come Oh FRIDAY,
| April 7.
On the other hand there is no lack Of people who
are quite contentcd TO accept the conclusions which
they derive from the tables in the Episcopal Prayer
| Book The method popularity adopted with these
tables is first to obtain the Dominica letter. which
iPfor 1876 "Bp To Feb. 30, and "A" for the rest
of the year. The golden number given by the table
H. for A. u from these data "a and 1Jl the Num-
Der OF Direction is found by the table to he 26.
This 20 is the number of days TO be added to March
81 the vernal equinox) and the date which the adj
dition gives, April Is, is Easter Sunday Perhaps
this ought to be satisfactory The London authority
in matters of science, Nature camo TO the rescue of
the almanac makers and pronounced their work in
giving April l6 rs the Easter date, correct. For
proof in "A subsequent number, Nature cited and
exemplied the elaborate rule for finding yesterday
which the German astronomer Gauss devised. But
al, haca1 itrlr nrrln N
figures or tables only set the question at issue one
step further back. The inquiry then remains Why
do not these results agree with the admitted rela-
ton of yesterday TO the paschal moonf
Upon looking o the question thus presented It
becomes apparent that the Prayer-Book tables, and
other arbitrary systems for finding yesterday.
based upon some schedule of dates for the
full moons which are not the true astronomical
dates but an average for certain peyiOds. This il IN
part the fact but il will not yet explain the dscrep
ancy. If tho times of an average or "mean" moon
be calculated il will be found, indeed that the new
moon of March, 1876 thus obtained does vary from
the astronomical new moon by few hours, but it
varies the wrong way for the present argument;
l. g., it gives an earlier hour on March %. Still II
is clear that an average or mean moon must
have in some way been made the basis
of tho calculation since the periods between actual
moons vary unequally, while the dates obtained for
them by calculating from Prayer-Book tables show
a regular sequence Let us accept the rule of " the
18th day of the calendar NOON" the first day of the
new moon to count as one OF the Ii. with the
proyiso that If the day thus found be Sunday then
the next Sunday is Easter; and proceed to count
backward. on the superstition that this 18th day
falls on or after Sunday, April Q. Manifestly the
new moon of the calendar must have fallen on
I'll. Suph n
be correct. 1t can be verified by the test
Of tho " enactp the figure for which is