The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-03-15
FACTS CHRONOLOGICAL.
Information Regarding The Civil, The
Almanac and the Solar Year.
The NEW and The OLD STYLES
Hsw the Aimanacs Are Kept In
Harmony with the Great Ciec X
OF sbe skies, the only Absolutely
Perfect Timepiece.

1t Is beautifully said by Charles Lamb
IN proportion as the years both lessen
and shorten, set more count upon their
periods, and would fain lay my ineffect-
ual finger upon the spoke OF the great
wheel" The great wheel is, of course.
the wheel Of time, another division Of
which passed into the wastes OF eternity
yesterday. 1t may be Of seasonable in.
terest to call attention to some matters Of
historical and present importance con
nected with. the marking or noting OF
time, the curiosities Of the calendar.
An accepted authority says: 1.-THE
practice Of dating events from the bu Id
ing of Rome may be regarded as the first
adoption Of the simple method OF reck.
oning from fixed period by single years,
and as forming, therefore, one Of the
great stages of chronology, and the
method Of dating events from the birth
OF Christ is said to have been first prac-
ticed about the year 527." Julius Cesar
rejected the ancient Roman calendar and
introduced the system now in use by us,
arranging the circuit Of the year accord.
ing to the coune Of the sun, adding day
leap year every fourth year, to Februar ,,
to keep the calendar, as nearly as it was
then thought necessary, identical with
the solar year. This method Of comput.
ing time remained unchanged until 1892,
when the legal year was discovered to
have fallen about ten days behind the
real year. Ten days between October 4
and Is were then dropped, and in order
to make the civil and solar year agree In
the future. il was ordained by Grefory
XIII. that every Tooth year thereafter
should be a leap year, excepting the
400Oth.
Under this arrangement the difference
between the civil or almanac year and
the solar year would be less than day
10 $500 years. This system was adopt
ed by many Of the European countries,
but 1t was not until seventy years later,
1852, that England, for herself and her
colonies, adopted the Gregorian calendar.
In that year eleven days were dropped,
between September and IA, giving that
month only nineteen days. To that time
the year In England and her American
colonies began on March %, and that was
the New Years day OF our forefathers o
quarter Of century before the Revolu-
ton.
The dropping Of the eleven days from
the I'd to the l4th OF September is re-
ferred to in the Pennsylvania Gazette in
1862, and the omission Of the days is
noticeable in the date lines OF that jour
nal. The incident attracted much atten-
ton, and ample notice OF the change was
given In advance In that journal, so that
old Philadelphia could adjust its affairs
and dates to what was called the New
Style" The older literature Of our coun-
try for some time gave the dates Of events
under both the old and new styles, indi-
eating each date by the initials 30 iamil-
lar to the readers Of old books, IN. S."
or 20. S."
The act Of parliament which we in.
herit, changing the calendar, ordained
that the years 1900, 1900, 2l00, 200, 1890,
or any hundredth year, except every
fourth hundredth, shall MT be deemed
leap years, but shall be considered COM
mon years Of S65 days only, and that the
years 1000. 24o0 and $500, and every
fourth bundredth, shall be considered
leap years, consisting OF 1856 DAYS. The
method Of arriving at the leap years is
perhaps more succinctly expressed thus:
Every year whose number is Invisible by
four is leap year except only when the
number ends with 90, in which case 1t lie
not leap year, except when the preceding
figures are divisible by four. By this
rule II may be understood why the year
1900 will not be a leap year, while the
year 1000 will be.
By such laws and regulations our alma
macs are kept in harmony, as nearly as
possible, with the great clock Of the skies,
the only perfect timepiece.