Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-01-17
ouR oAnrNpAn or rImn.
why 1900 VIII Not be Called n Leap
Year in the Almanac.

Year in the Almanac.
Editor Gdsstte. Will you allow an
unpretentioue Delaware astronomer To
slightly correct and possibly render
more Ineligible to popular oomprehen.
sion, the reason why the year 1900 will
not be counted q leap year2
The explanation extracted from the
London STANDARD and published receptIv
in several papers, Is somewhat Of fault
and seems not to put things as clearly ss
might be.
The real solar, tropical year Is In length
1853 days, hours, IS minutes and al;
seconds as last reported, and lacks Ia sec.
onds Of the length stated in the STANDARD
but this is not much.
There is considerable of interesting
history extant of the efforts made to az
the year at certain number of whole
days, when 1t really, as thus appears, has
In it the fraction of day (nearly one
fourth), but IL would be too tedious 10
quote much of it here.
II is easy TO perceive that IL the years
Ind been all counted In the calendar to
be 1856 days long, when they are really
about 3654 the seasons would have fallen
behind in the almanac at the rate of one
day in about every four years, or about q
whole month in every lao years.
To prevent this and make sure that the
seasons should always continue to come
in theit appropriate months, ''ieap Year,
was invented by the celebrated mathema-
tician, Sosigenes of Alexandria, Egypt,
whom julius Cesar had called to his aid
in adjusting the calendar. They decided
to add one day 20 the month OF February
in every year thatwas evenly Invisible by
four, which Of course occurs once every
four years; TINS to make up the YEARLY
de1cit Of nearly one-fourth OF day.
THIS method Of keeping time being
established by Cesar, was hence named
tho Julinn Calendar and continued nm
altered for about 16 centuries, and IL
1854 days had been the exact length Of
the solar year, there never would have
occurred any need for further adjust
ment.
But 1851 days was too much by II min
utes and Id seconds, ray II 4 minutes per
year, aud therefore g leap-year every four
years produced an over correction of four
times III or rs minutes In the four years,
making whole day in about 1873 years.
Consequently, in the 16.h century, the
accumulation Of this oyer,correction had
become so considerable that the equinox
appeared about the 18th of March instead
of on the 21st, occasioning much derange-
nent in the notable fess. days, &C., OBJ
served by the Romish Church.
Friar Bacon, about A. ID. 1855, called
attention TO the cause Of this inevitable
arrangement of times and seasons, which
had also been noted by other scientific
men before him; but Pope Sixtus ". in
l474 was first 20 move towards making O
correction OF the calendar.
He called to Rome Reziomontanus, q
noted scholar of that period, presenting
him, in consideration of ths assistance
expected OF him, with tho bishoprio of
Ratisbon. But death INTERVIEWED, and 100
years more TRANSFERRED before Gregory
XIII. took up and accomplished what
several former pontifs and councils had
attempted in vain. He obtained the as
sistance Of q number OF mathematicians
and astronomers, taking 10 years to
examine their plans, and in A. d. 1925
accomplished what would seem in these
DAYS rather simple matter.
First. They shortened the year 1882
by taking 10 days from the mouth of DC.
tober, causing the difference between
/ what was then cailsd 'nl3 styltn aud
new Style And r5eriHg tia Sslenda-
I again 10 indicate the 2lls II .,lrHuJt M.
vernal equinox as it did at the Council Of
Nice "a. d. $3.50 and as it now continues
to do.
Next. To prevent getting wrong again,
by the accumulation Of that one day in
l28 years MS above explained, IL was de-
cided that the centurial years 1900, 1900,
| $500, 1900, &c, that would all have been
leap years according to the Julian cRlen-
dar, should all remain common years
except the one out Of every four that
would divide evenly by 400.
This change holds back the old Julian
note OF time three days every 400 years;
that is, one day out OF every 1888 1-3
years, which very nearly correets the
previous troublesome gain o. one day in
1923 years, just mentioned.
The adoption o. this centurial method
Of oounterscting the accumulation of the
odd minutes by which the solac wear ia
short Of 1861 days, constitutes the essen
tial feature wherein tho Gregorian oalen-
dar, now in use, varies from the Julian.
SO nsarly does it correct the tendency
towards all irregularities that it will rs
quite about 3 200 years mot 500 ns re.
ported) to again derange the calendar one
whole day. Even this very smsil remain
ing cause OF arrangement may bs coun
teracted to more perfect nicely when tue
tins comes on similar principles applied
to the millenial years, by making still
one leap-year less every third thousand
years. ]. G.. JACKSON.
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