Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-01-03

1900 1ONNAN NNN'ASS NOAAAoh w III BlO
pose to me in some leap year, and
that / will be compelled to accept,
and, instead Of getting a helpmate
for life, l will get a vixen who will
make my life hell upon earth"
"Then," said the scribe, you have
to dread leap year for two reasons.
The first you have stated. The sec
ond is on account of the depression to
business caused by leap year always
being Presidential year."
"There you are mistaken. Every
Presidential year is not a leap year.
If live till the year 1900, as 1 have
good prospects of doing,1 will see a
Presidential year which is not leap
year, and still year divisible by
four"
This set the reportet to studying.
He could not make out how it was.
His informant left him in the dark
and he finally consulted the authori-
ties, with the following result, taken
from Smiths Illustrated Astrono-
my:
at has been found by observations
that the earth revolves on its axis
1861 times nearly while it is making
one revolution of the sun, or while
the sun moves from either equinox to
the same equinox again, consequent
ly the solar year, upon which the
seasons depend, contains nearly 1851
days. 1t will be seen from this that
the difference between a year of 1865
days and the year measured by the
sun amounts to one day in every four
years so that in 100 years Of 365 days
the seasons would fall back one whole
month, and the season for May
would be in June, etc. In 720 years
the longest day would fall back
through the twelve months, and
would again correspond to their
present arrangement. 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
revolved upon its axis exactly 1851
times while it is revolving around
the sun, or during the solar year; but
the earth revOlves from one equinox
to the same again in 365 days, 5
hours, As minutes and 40 seconds,
which is II minutes II seconds less
than 1861 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 "a hours, 36 minutes, 6
seconds. The mode of reckoning
time by making every fourth year
leap year was adopted by the COun-
ell of Nice in the year of our Lord
1875, when the longest day in the year
happened June q and the vernal
equinox March 81. This mode of
reckoning was continued until 1852,
a period Of 1927 years, when it was
found that the longest day was on
June 10 and the vernal equinox on
March 10, the vernal equinox having
fallen back eleven days toward the
beginning of the year. TO restore
the equinoXes to the same days OF
the month in which they happened
in the 1875, eleven days were ordered
by the British Government and the
United States, then British Colonies,
to be stricken out of the month Of
September, 1852, by calling the Sd
the 18th, and it was ordered that
hereafter one leap year in 132 years,
or three leap years in 400 years,
should be omitted that is, that the
years 100, 1900 and 1900 which, by
the old style, would have been leap
years, should be common years of 36t
days. This method gives 81 lear
, years in every 400 years. Thus, 4O(
multiplied by 365 plus 81 days fol
the leap years, gives 146,O97 days
This divided 400 years makes 36t
days, 5 hours and 40 minutes, max
ing difference from the true solar
year of only 90 seconds year, ar
error which amounts to only one day
, in 1896 years. The even centuries are
leap years only when cutting off the
two ciphers, you can divide the othel
two figures by four without re
= mainder. Thus 300 is not divisablt
by four without remainder, cOnse
quently is not leap year"
Hasty-cup pudding: Beat fou
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