The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-03-14
BOUT NICK OF l|lMllE
II Is NOT TIRE FAULT or The GIRLS
Julius Caesar. Made a Plan Gut a pope
Made Some improvements .s
. gsss Upon It. II.

5ffs Not one OF the least remarkable features
ofthe coming century year is that it leaves
those unhappy lnol:tals to whom some
thing llappeded on February % without
their anniversary for eight years, for The
year 1850 will not be a leap year, says the
Providence Visitor. ,.-..
Centuries are so long that men anti
y women forget that the regulation OF Our
calendar requires every hundredsh year
although Invisible by four--not to be a
leap year. It was all settled years ago,
when the final changes in the calendar
were made. and to understand that no
enmity against women was intended an
understanding of the methods OF reckon
ing the year is necessary. erss
The primeval system of reckoning time
was based on, the moons changes, as IS
shown in orr word months BY the
ruling of the moon. months were reckoned
with either twenty nine or thirty days.
Then the rotation of the seasons was made
10 serve as a standard. It soon appeared,
however, that the two systems did Tot
fully agree It was them that it was found
necessary to- invent some means OF IA
justment Ore of the earliest means de-
vissd was that in Use among the Egyp-,
tians BY their arran cement The year was
made up of the seasons. and included go
DAYS, with twelve months of thirty days
each In order'to fill out the lack arising
from this system OF months, five supple
mentary days were added at the end Of
The year. -
The Jews reckoned their years as COM
posed of twelve lunar months of twenty
nine and thirty days alternately, and the
discrepancy. which resulted was relieved
;,,4,o He
teenth month The Syrians, Macedon,aas
and kindred people generally followed the
Jewish method. In pursuing this reckon
ing seven years in a cycle of nineteen have.
this 1ltercalary month"; and the number
of days in any year varies from S53 TO
1885,.
The ancient Greeks made their year to
consist of twelve really lunar months. but
Scion in 594 made a law for the Athenians
that the months should comprise twenty
nine and thirty days, with the addition
of an intercalaay period occasionally. At
1erwartl three times in eight years a
month of thirty days was added, by which
means the average length of each year
was made to be 36414 days.
Ancient Rome had but ten months in
the year, but IN the time Of its kings the
lunar year was introduced. numbering SD5
days in the twelve months, an occasional
irtercalasy month being employed to
make the necessary additions. The lao-
man system Of computing time, however,
was beset with many difficulties, ana in
Vulnerable plumbers We're made in their
reckoning until chronology was hopeless
1y confused.
Julius Caesar, iii the var 46 B. c., de-
vised the calendar which bears his name.
In his system che year had 1865 days, save
every fourth which had 3sG, making the
average abort 1854. Exactly reckoned,
The year was made up Of 1865 days, 5
hours, ~ minutes and 50 seconds, or IL
minutes and 10 seconds less than 365A.
Caesar gave also the current number OF
days ito the month, and his calendar, as a
whole. was SO excellent and its errors were
so slight that it was generally adopted.
Until the year A. D. 1852 no change was
made in It, but by that time the eleven
minutes and ten seconds OF. error in each
year had grown to ten complete days, AS
a. result the time of Easter and all the
movable feasts of the Oh urch, which were
reclzoned from it, were thrown out of the
proper order. To remedy this Pope Greg
DRY VIII. assembled the astronomers Of
Europe III Rome, and as a result Of their
labors ut was slecreed by the pope that Oc~
tober 5, 1852. should be reckoned as Oc-
tober Is, 1852. To guard against re-
currence Of the trouble, Pope Gregory also
iiecreed that every hundredth year should
not be a leap year, save every four hum
dredth but that exception beginning only
at 1000 A. D. The excellence of the Greg
crian calendar is obvious. since brief
computation shows that the total discrep-
ancy would amount to no more than one
day in five thousand years, and this has
been provided for by further computa-
gions, so that the clock of time has been
regulated TO" all future generations.
Italy, Spain and Portugal rnhesitating-
~ adopted the new style; France made
the change in the same year in December
instead of October as did also the LOW
Countries. The Protestants in the fury of
Reformation refused to make any such
change, and persisted in refusing until
8 700, when the Llitherans of Germany and
Switzerland adopted the Gregorian sys-
TEN. BY that time the continuance Of the
Old error made it necessary to make, a
change Of eleven days instead Of ten
Scotland adopted the system in 1860. En-
gland refused to yield until 1852. When
the bill was first Introduced it failed. but
prejudice was not able to totally destroy
common sense, wherefore George H., in
1852, made the calendar of Great Britain
and Ireland to agree with the Gregorian.
Russia Greece. Roumania and like races
yet retain the old method, Us the result of
which. when one sends a letter to one Of
chose countries to some region where the
calendar has been corrected, it must be
,donbly dated, as for example. in this FASH
ION, there being twelve days difference
now: january 1-13,"s Or "June 20
July 2.
The Glory of Leo XIIPs Reign.
Crushed and Inundated az was the
Holy See at the end Of the reign of Plus
TX. Leo XIII. has restored to the papacy,
/ with the respect of government and peO-
r1les that prestige and influence which