Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-01-02
To DE Editor Of NE DisDaich !:


| To he Editor Of ne D1sDntch:
Referring TO your answer TO the seconn
| communication Of J. II. NJ. which appears
| in your issue OF the 18th instant. in which
| Won say that your correspondent - IN error
| in surprising that Christmas was Affected
| by the change from the old-style calendar
| TO the new. / think careful considera-
ton of the matter will show that YOU are
possibly in error and that Christmas ~os
affected by the change. La oroer 10 uii-
, derstand the reasons for the suggestion
| offered a short statement OF the causes
| which brought. about the change OF the
| calendar and OF the change itself may not
be out of place.
The mean length of the civil year ac-
| cording 70 the calendar as reformed by
Julius C.nsar in the year A b. e., ana
| known as the Julian calendar, was 5b)8
| days. According TO this calendar the or.
| binary, or common year, consisted; as ~
| does now. of 365 days, and In every fourth
wear day was Intercalated. and the 6th OF
| the calends of March (or February 2fth)
was reckoned hrico The year of this IN
tercalation consisted of 1866 days and was
called bisse1iie. or leap-year. The mean
Julian year. according 70 this arrange,
| ment. consisted Of Se5 days. hours. and
differed IN excess by III minutes 1912 Sc
| conds from the true solar year, which
1
| 1905 seconds In consequence OF TINS
| difference the equinox fell back gradually
| towards the beginning Of the civil year.
\ In the time of Julius Caesar 1t correspond
| ed TO the 18th of March, and by the six
teenth century 1t had Tetroeraded 70 the
18th of that month. Ina. ID. $50 the Coun-
| ell Of Nice. for the purpose OF terminating
an unseemly contention respecting tue
proper time of celebrating the great
| feast of Easter, decreed that Easter
| should be celebrated on the Sunday
Immediately following the paschai or fuli
moon which happens TO TALL on or next ar
| ter the day of the vernal equinox. The
vernal equinox that year fell on the 2lst OF
March. BY the sixteenth century, as
stated. the vernal equinox had retrograded
| 10 the 18th of March, and IN order TO re-
store the equinox TO the date on which 1t
| fell in A. ID. 1876, Pope Gregory Kill, by
decree dated March !. 1882. annulled or
suppressed ten DAYS of the calendar, order
| ing the natural day. which would have
| been reekoned October b. 1882, to be
reckoned October 10. so that IN 1888 the
| day OF the vernal equinox was reckon
| ed March Dist, rs u had been 1853 years
| before. This displacement was caused,
| as indicated, by the excess of the length OF
| the solar year over the mean civil year
according TO the Julian style, and 20 pre-
| vent ITS recurrence the Gregorlan decree
| further ordained that three of the leap
years, which would be ieap-years accord
! ing TO the Julian method, should be re-
| duced to common years OF $50 days each.
| the three wears so reduced to common
wears being those which close the centuries
| aud are not divisible by 400. Thus !, 800 was
| TO be a leap.year but 100. 1900, and 1870
| were TO be common years, 1000 leap-year,
| 2lOO. 1900 and $500 TO be common years.
and so on. The length of the mean year as
| liked by this rule Is 365.2t25 days, or 100
days. 5 hours. 40 minutes, and IL seconds,
which exceeds the solar year by 1875
| seconds, "a difference which amounts 10 u
| day IN about 1925 years. IL viii be seen.
| therefore, that the rule prescribed by
| Pope Gregory is not exactly accurate, and
| perhapg the intercolations might be so
| made as 70 make the calendar year and
solar year correspond more closely, yet no
| other self-regulating method has been sug-
| gested which ~ at the same time as accu-
rate and a. convenient as the Gregorlan.
| The calendar thus prescribed IL known
| as the Gregorian calendar or the new
STYLE, the other being designated the Ju-
| lisn calendar OF the old style. 1t was re-
! ceiyed immediately or shortly after Its
PRONUNCIATION by all Roman Catholic coun-
| tries. and in them went into effect at
once. But whilst the scientific accuracy
| and great convenience were recognized.
| the Protestant States of Germany and the
| Kingdom of Denmark adhered to the Ju-
| liam calendar until 1900. and IN England
| the alteration of the style was sue
cessfully opposed by popular prejudice
| against everything emanating from Rome
until II was effected by statute "a George
| IT,. ch. %, which took effect IN 1852. Be
| tween 1892 and 1852 one day more was an
tcipated. as by the GregoriaL rule 100
| was common year, and when the new
I ii at,l. ~
sary to suppress eleven days. IL was
accordingly enacted by the English
| statute that the natural day next
! succeeding September 2, 1852, should
be reckoned the 1ith of Sep en-
| Der. 1852, emitting the eleven intermediate
| DAYS, and that the several natural DAYS
| succeeding the 18th day of september,
| reckoned as aforesaid. should be reckoned
| in numerical order according 10 the order
| and succession of days in the current
calendar This statute took effect in Eng
| land and in all the English colonies on the
| l4th day of September. 1852. \. -. and by
| virtue of its provisions the CregOrian
| calendar was then adopted by all Eng
! disappearing people. Russia, Greece. and
| the smaller States. such as Seryla, belong
| ing TO the Greek Church are now the
| only countries which adhere to the old
| STYLE and as 1909 was leap-year by the
| old STYLE there ~ now difference OF
| twelve DAYS between the Two styles Ii
| may be remarked that the national con-
| yention of France In 1898 decreed that the
| common or Christian era be abolished and
| that new era should commence from the
| foundation of the republic. The year was
| divided into twelve months of thirty DAYS
| each with five complementary days, and
every fourth year To have SIX such DAYS.
| Rv the command of Napoleon this sys-
| TEN was abolished and the use of the
| Gregorian calendar was resumed January
| l, 1906.
| 1t Will thus be seen that the effect of the
| adoption of the Gregorian calendar was
| TO omit from the calendar ten days IN 1892
| or eleven days in 1852 Che date of its
adoption by England. II could not, and
of course did not, undertake TO interfere
! with the number or order of tho natural
| DAYS George Washington was born on "a
| certain natural day which Is designated as
| the nth of February, 1882. If reckoned by
| the Julian calendar. and the 22d
of February if reckoned by the
| Gregorian, and the anniversary
natural day, which REQUIRED annually and
| continues TO recur annually thereafter, aud
| which Is the 18th by one style and the 22d
| by the other. II is not true, therefore, to
say that the change of style changed
Washingtons birthday. The change SIM
| ply called that the 22d. which, without the
change, would be the 18th. 1t is different.
| however. with Christmas. We celebrate
as Christmas the natural day designated by
the calendar as the 25th of December.
By the suppression of ten DAYS IN 1892,
making that natural day tho 18th, which
without such suppression would be the
| 9Th of October. all dates falling after the
| 18TH of October were necessarily antici-
pated ten days. and by consequence. the
25th of December came ten days before II
would have come had there been no such
suppression. When December 25th came,
according TO the calendar as changed,
Christmas was celebrated. and cele-
brated ten days in advance of the natural
day on which 1t would have been celebrated
had no change in the calendar been made.
And the same is true OF the change in Eng
land The effect Of the change IN 1852 was
TO anticipate by eleven days all the dates
aud feasts occurring after September 18TH,
and by consequence 70 cause the 25th of
December 10 arrive eleven days
before il would have arrived if the
Julian method had not been abandoned.
IL Is not ms purpose 10 inquire into the
question whether December 25th according