Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-02-07
A sINeUEAB FACT.
A Presidential Year which van Not Re
Lean Year.


A Presidential Year which WA Not Re
Leap Year.
Nashville American.
One evening, a short time ago, as q re-
porter of the AmericaB found himself
with party of friends, the conversation
turned on the fact that this was leap
year. A middle-sged gentleman ia the
party remarked:
''Thank goodness, it is nearly over"
"Why2" inquired the man Of the pencil.
"Well, to make q long story short,
some years ago, in a leap year, q beauti-'
full, we'll educated and altogether lovely
young lady, asked me to marry her in q
Jest. / said yes as j had long enter
tanned q secret affection for her. She
meant every word she said, and insisted
that we should be married at Christmas.
consented and we were married. A
better wife man never had. But, alas
for my future prospects, she lived but
one short year and now sleeps IN Mount
OlIVet. Here is where my aversion TO
leap year comes IN. am afraid that
some designing woman win propose TO
me in some leap year, and that I VIII -
/ compelled to accept, and instead Of get
/ ting q helpmate for life, i viii get vixen
/ who viii make my life q hell upon earth"
''Then," said the scribe, you have 20
/ dread leap year for two reasons. The
/ first you have stated. The second is on
| account of the depression to business
! caused by leap year always being g
/ Presidential year"
"There you are mistaken. Every Presi-
/ Dental year is not leap year. If / live
i till the year 1900, as L have good pros
poets of doing 1 viii see a Presidential
! year which is not a leap year, and still
year Invisible by four"
This set the reporter to studying. he
could not make out how it was. His
/ inf Haft I1 in ia nd IA
! finally consulted the authorities, with
the following result, taken from Smiths
illustrated Astronomy"
cit has been found by observation
that the earth revolves on its axis 1861
times nearly while it is making one com
plete revolution around the sun, or
while the sun moves from either equinox
to the same equinox again, consequently
the solar year, upon which the seasons
depend, contains nearly 3654 days. it
will be seen from this that the difference
/ between a year Of 800 days and the year
] as measured by the sun amounts to one
day in every four years; so that IN 40
years Of 365 days the seasons Would fall
back one whole month, and the season
for May would be in June, etc. In 100
years the longest day would fall back
through the twelve months, and WOnld
again correspond to their present arrange
ment. In order to keep the seasons TO
the same months, and to make the solar
/ and civil year correspond, one day more
is included in February every fourth
year. This would always keep the solar
and civil year together If the earth re-
b vOlved upon its axes exactly 1851 times
while it is revolving around the sun, or
during the solar year; but the earth re-
wolves from equinox to the same again
in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 40
) seconds, which is II minutes IL seconds
less than 365} days; consequently, in
allowing one day in every four years is
; allowing A minutes, A seconds too
much, and in 1872 years it would amount
, to q hours, SO minutes, g seconds, The
mode of reckoning time by making
every fourth year q leap year was adopt
ed by the Council of Nice in the year Of
our Lord 325, when the longest day in
the year happened June q, and the YER
; nal equinox March q. This mode of
! reckoning was continued until 1852, 9
period Of ], 427 years, when 1t was found
that the longest day was on June 10 and
the Vernal equinox on March 10, the Ver-
nal equinox having fallen back eleven
days toward the beginning Of the year.
8 To restore the equinOXes to the same
! DAYS of the month in which they hap
pened in the year 325, eleven days were
ordered by the British Government and
. the United States, then British Colonies
Il 10 DO BLEAEAdA OLLD u Tic L44OAALA "a
4 TENDER, 1852 by calling the Sd the 18th,
and it was ordered that hereafter one
[, leap year IN 1872 years, or three leap years
in 400 years, should be omitted; that is
that the years 100, 1900 and 1900, which.
I by the old style, would have been leap
5 years, should be common years Of 865
I days This method gives 81 leap years
? in every 400 years. Thus, 400 multiplied
by 365, plus 81 days for the leap years
l gives l46.097 DAYS This divided by 40o
years makes 365 days, 5 hours and 48
minutes, making a distance from the
) true solar year of only % seconds a year.
an error which amounts TO only one day
I in 6, 1866 years. The even centuries are
/ leap years only when cutting of the two
/ ciphers you can divide the other two
p figures by four without a remainder
Thus 1900 is not diVisaDle by four With
8 remainder, consequently is not . leap
year"
Walter Raleigh's Long Home.