The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-01-11
The Year aud the Calendar.


--------
On the day after the 4th OF October,
ASS1, the people OF Italy, Spaiu and
Portugal wrote the date October 10.
Ten days had been dropped altogether.
Ihis was because OF tho adoption OF
what is known as the Grego1ian oalen-
Oar, because it was decreeu by q bull
issued by Pope Gregory XIII.
The early division Of time was very
irregular and inaccurate. The reckon
ing by months dld not bring out even
years, and it was only when astronomy
became something like an exact science.
that the actual length of the year was
known.
In tho time OF ancient Romo, thore
were but ton months al / the Roman
klugs fixed the length of tho year at
thi GO hundred and ffty-five days. When
thus 1nexact division caused trouble, all
extra month was inserted hero and there
TO restore the system to degree of
order.
We owe it to Julius Caesar that tho
year was ixod at three hundred and
slxty-fve days, with an additional day
once III four years. The fourth year in
which the day is added IL bissextile, or
as we Call it, leap year. The year of
365 Ii days is known as the Julian
year.
But evon this il not accurate. The
true solar year is 365 Ia days, 6 hours,
4S minutes and 1862 seconds long.
That is, it is IL minutes and 1898 sec
onds shorter than tho Jullanyear. Tho
Julian calendar was adopted forty.six
years before Chlist, so that in A. d. 1882,
more than sixteen centuries later, the
error had amounted to about ten DAYS.
1t was this error which the Gregorian
calendar corrected. But in making tho
correction it was necessary to guard
against similar accumulation of error.
That object was accomplished in this
way.
The error amounts to very nearly
eighteen hours Oh century. Accord
lngly it was dccreed that each year
whose number was divJsible by one hun
dred should not be leap year unless it
were dlvisiblo by four hundred.
Consequently tho year 1900 Will not
be leap year bat the year 2OU0 will be
ono. Three leap years are omitted every
four hundred years by this plan, and the
result is that tho average civil year diff
ference will amount to whole day IN
SOiIC1uhlso 1coS tllitu lOut lnbuSi(nu
years.
The new system was adopted gradu-
ally. BY tho Roman Catholic world it
was adopted almost Mt oncc-the last Of
tho Catholic countries making the
change III 1857. But it was not until
100 that Protestant Germany adoDted
1t; and in England and Amcrlca tho
Grcgorian calendar was not nsed until
1852.
Tho Greek church has never sano-
toned tho chaugc. In Russia to this
day the cid style is in use, and tho error,
which was only ten days IN 1882, is now
more than twelve days. The Russian
Christmas does not come uutil nearly a
fortnight after ull the rest OF the Christ
ial world has celebrated it.
1t is also Il curious fact Of which few
are probably awalc, that until one hun
dred and thirty Years ago, tho year be.
gan III England and this country, not
with tho first Of January, but on the
twenty-iifth OF March.
Before til It time, however, tho pruc-
tice had become common of indicating
that there was doubt to which year tho
days in tho first three months belonged.
Thus i'll the old Boston nGweDapars OF
the last century wc SEQ sucn dates as
this: February 4, 1923 4,"--irom which
anybody eau discover that the date, ac-
cording to the Gregorian Calendar, is
February Is (elcven days cotrrotlin),
1924.
Tho year is q varying quantity accord
ing 10 the standard by which it Is meas
nred. Oh course, it is the time within
which tho earth makes her passage
around the sun.
But if this timo be measured by the
period OF tho cartIl'5 rcturn To tho same
apparent place in tho heavens, as seen
from the sun, 1t is "siderc:I year :"
365 days, 6 hours, Q minutes 9,G sec
onds.
The time in winch tho cnrth makes
tho circuit from her perihclion, that is
tho point of hcr orbit where she Is near
| est TO the sun, around to the same point
again, is the "anomaiistic" year, 365
days, 6 hours, l3 minutes, IS. 6 seconds.
The 'troplcaP' year, however, is that
which astronomers have SO ccted as the
true solar year. 1t is the time included
between two "vcrnal equinoxes. This
vernal equinox Is that instant in the
spring OF the year when tho equator of
the earth, if extended, would pass
through tho center OF tho sun.
1t as also tho time when tho days and
nights, all over tho globe, are OF equal
length. Tho period between two vernal
cquinoxcs IS 365 days, 5 hours, 48 min
utes. 4S. 6 seconds.