Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-12-27
REDUCED TEN DAYS.
ONE TIME OCTOBER WAS THE YEARS
SHORTEST MONTH.
It Contained Only Twenty-One Days In
1582-Heroic Remedy Applied by Pope
Gregory to Defects In the Julian Calen-
dar-It Undid the Snarls of Time.

ASoA4Cuy <AHpAlCu ~ AOHo
Gregory to Defects In the Julian Calen-
dar-It Undid the Snarls of Time.
Did you ever hear of tho famous short
month of October, which had only 21 days?
Some three centuries g in southern Eu-
rope men tried to correct LII error that had
been growing continually for more than Il
thousand years, II the result was that
they called the day after Oct. 4, 1882, Oct.
ID instead of Oct. 5. The roots of the er-
ror run back into the darkness Of prehis-
toric times, for at the dawn of history men
are found using three units for measures Of
time; two of these are dependent on the
SUMS apparent motion, the year Il the
day, or group of seven days; the other is
dependent on the moon. tho lunar month.
Now as these three units have no common
measure, we can see that it would be i'm
possible to fix anniversaries by combining
all of tho units. Yet this impossible thing
is what the European world has been try
ing to do for nearly 30 centuries.
We get our ideas and principles regard
ing the calendar from two sources, Roman
and Jewish. Every one knows that tho
names of the months are Latin, and in the
histories we read how the various Roman
"AN ttIS ullS VI VttNS
within the month, etc, to suit their pride
or political schemes, much as modern poll
tician hasten or postpone a convention, and
brought things into great confusion until
Julius Caesar decrecd that the coming year
should consist of 1865 days, and every
fourth year of 3G6. The extra day was to
be inserted between the oath and 25th of
February. In their way Of numbering the
days of tho month, which seems to us so
awkward, the 9th was seXto calendas or
the sixth day before the cnlcndas of March.
When the extra day was inserted. it WAS
called tho second sixth, or, in Latin, bis
seXto calcndns, whence our bissoxtile.
From Jewish sources we get other fe;s-
lures. Tho great Jewish festival of the
Passover was celebrated on the very day of
the first full moon after the spring euui-
noX. The early Christians, or many Of
them, took the same day, but this led to
charges of hcrcSy, to discussion, criticism,
and even contempt; so it was dccrecd
probably by Constantine the Great, in 1926
A. d., in connection with the council Of
NicIa, that the Christian festival Easter
should be observed on the Sunday follow
ing the Passover, and tho other movable
feasts OF the church We're made dependent
on this. So the element of Il fixed day of
the week was brought into the calcula-
tion in addition to the movemont of the
sun and moon.
In this year-325-the vernal equinox
fell on March 21, and, if CAESARS work in
establishing the Julian calendar had only
been correct, this event would have hap
pened III this date forever. But nature
seems to abhor simple ratios as she was
said to abhor a II Unfortunately
for simplicity the year is not exactly 1865
days & hours, but about II minutes ii Sec
ondS less. So the insertion of tho extra
day in four years was OVERRIDING the correc-
ton, as was known even in the dark oges,
but after the revival Of learning and the
establishment of obscrvatories, it was
commented on in the council of Trent.
and was worry much discussed by mathe-
maticians. And by the middle Of the six
teenth century the hundreds of small er-
rors had accumulated to ten days, so the
vernal equinox fell, not on the 21st, but
on the 18th of March.
This was the condition of things when,
in. 1879, Pope Gregory XIII was elected.
He realized the glory that it would be to
his reign if this confusing matter was set
tied, and SO set a company Of mathema-
tlclans to work out the problem, not only
of rectifying the old errors, but of proyid-
ing rules to prevent errors in the future.
The hardest part Of the work was to fix the
movable. church feasts without doing VIC
lence to the traditions. That a good deal
could be said about the work is evidenced
by the book of 800 pages written by Cla-
vius, one of the company. The result was
that in 1881 a papal bull was issued, de-
claring among other things that in 1889
the day following Oct. 4 should be called
Oct. 10, and that centuries should not be
leap years unless Invisible by 400.
Rulers and states that wero then Cathc-
Hc responded to the pope's request for &C
ceptance of the reform. In France the ten
days were dropped after Dec. g., 1889; in
Catholic Germany the change was made
in 1884, but the Protestant states DELAYED
until Feb. 10 March y, 1000. In Swift
zerland and Poland there was such resist
ance made that the troops were necessary
to suppress it. In Russia the change has
not yet been made, and as the Julian cal
endar called for leap years in 1900 and
1900, when the Gregorian did not, the
dates of the Russians re 10 days behind
those OF the rest of Europe.
The change was long delayed in Protes-
ant England, which would not willingly
accept an alleged reform due to a pope that
had encouraged the Armada. But the
need of the uniformity among %neighboring
states was too great, and in 1851 Lord
Chesterfield introduced into parliament a
bill for the reform of the calendar. Some
details of the law may be quoted from a
magazine of September, 1862: Sept. IA
This day the Gregorian style took place in
all Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
This day. had not this act passed, would
have been the Sd of September, but it was
now reckoned the 18th, II nominal days
being omitted. Every fourth year will be
a bissextile, or leap year, until 1900, which
will be a common year Of 1865 days, but
1904 will be a leap year. Easter and the
movable feasts thereon depending are to
be reckoned according to the new tables
prefixed to the act of parliament. All the
fixed feast days = * * are to be kept on the
same nomina day as heretofore. Payment
of rent notes, i = 3 the attainment Of ma
jority, or expiration of apprenticeship,
,hall not be accelerated hereby **4
If servants wages are usually paid at the
quarter days, II days wages may be de-
Quoted out Of the present quarter, and the
reckoning for the future go regularly on
Such were solne of the minute provisions
of the act. 1t will be readily believed that
----N 49, - = zoo 4r-r- III.