Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-10-21

The aaestions have been asked repeatedly
during the psz: week Why Sew York il
celebrating one dste a. the anniversary OF
the discovery Of Afneriea ly Columbus,
while Boston and the Columbian Exposition
are 70 observe another and a different one /;
and aiso what q the real difference IN the
asmter Of days between what Il known a.
oId and aeg s,yIe az pertaining TO the cal
endxr
/ Tbis difference il due TO conflict between
what is ksown BY astronomers "A t5e auiisn
and the Grezorisn calendars. Is u indeed
a fact Of history that Columbus discovered
America on the 18th day Of October, 1872,
but Il il also a fact that the full four hun
dresI years which have elapsed since thai
time will not have been fully rounded out
until tonight, Ocs. 81, iss2.--the true
| qusaro-csntenniaI secoriIng 70 astro-
| nomseal time. This apparent
lsonf;e, in dates il the legitimate
| result Of the ancient church calendar which
vas founded on tp0 wrong hsPotbeses
| first. that the year contained $40 IL days;
and second, that 235 lunar months would
exactly round out nineteen solar years
The ,ieviaticps from true cai-n-
.lar, resulting from such suPposi,ions were
! al first so slight as hardly TO he noticeable,
but a. centuries passed by. this mistake
became very Caring.
The Julian year contained 800 IA days
| and Uttered in excess by I | minutes, l3.so
seconds from the true solar year, which
consists Of 3es days, ) hours, u minutes,
! ~ ~ seconds, This in q few centuries
made the equinox fall back preceptibly
toward. the beginning of the year. In the
time of Jalius Caesar, 80 years b. CD the
equinox corresponded 20 March 20
but in the sixteenth century it had
refrigerated to March H. The cor
rection of this error was one of the purposes
sought by the reformation of the calendar
efected by Pope Gregory 18th. in l5s2
bieh was the result Of long study and con-
alteration. BY suppressing ten days he
restored the spring equinox to March 2 the
lay on which it fell at the time of the Coun-
I'll of Nice 4. y. 325.
Thi. new calendar was Immediately
adopted in all Roman Catholic countries, az
soon as il was promulgated by Gregory 18th
| but the Protestant states of Germany adj
] al Iuii gala
| year 100, while in England the new style
was not adopted till 1852, in which year
the Julian calendar or ''old styie" was
| abolished by act of Parliament This
act Of Parliament declared that "the Jay
| al ter the second day of September. l152
should be called September ~" When
Pope Gregory 18th, proclaimed the aItera-
tons in the calendar in 1852 it was only
| necessary to drop ten days from the calenT
/ lar hut at the time the change was deereed
/ by Parliament the year 1900 having
| interviewed which year was common one
| according to the Gregorian calendar, but
leap year in the Julian calendar it then
became necessary to drop eleven days from
the calendar. The old style of reckoning.
or by the Julian year, is still adhered to IN
all the countries where the re-
ligion of the Greek church is OBJ
served In the present century this
difference between the old and new style
makes it necessary to drop twelve days
from the calendar, As iiiue goes on it viii
he necessary for nations to again declare
days dropped from the calendar in order
that the spring equinox may fall on March
u.
Hence there can be no question as to the
propriety of celebrating the fourth centen-
NAL of Columbus discovery of the new
world on October u, as this date can
hardly be criticised from a purely historical
point of view founded on true Astronomical
time.