The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-02-29
LAST FOR EIGHT YEARS,



Thsre wM s1pe ~ Anp115er -l1ea>
Yssr Untn 1903.
Is ThaGsfeee DeAeeses tle Ladies . Hnke
Aavnntags ef ths Rressat OpQss-
tuaity - Rrspsse-A 1azo
0esurrsaos.
ThA leap year wAichensv b&Rinss sia,
Aowey~rx y . oertain exAept peculiar,
since another viii not occur for eight
years. Such an interval has occurred
twice before In the historyo Scotland,
and only once in 4Ae histery Of England,
and two centuries win elapse before it
occurs again. The last year Of the pres
ent century, 1900, will not be : leap year.
bnt 1000. the last year Of tie succeeding
century, will. The year 2l0o will again
bc common year, % that the next
period Of seven consecutive common
years will be between eooe and 21o4.
The rule by which this seemingly ar
hitsary interference withanestah3ishcd
order of things j. regulated 10 compara-
lively simple, but it, history il III many
respects both curious and interesting.
As everyone knows, the earth revolvcs
round its axis, and also travels round
tho sun, the one revolutioa causing the
slt4rnation- Of day and night, the other
that Of the seasons. From the earliest
times men have made use Of both these
series of changes as means Of reckon
ing time, and had there been simple
nuneHi(al relation between them. there
need never have been any trouble with
leap years aud such devices.
Unfortunately, however, this is not
at present the case. The number Of rev..
olutions which the earth makes when It
goes once round the sun, instead OF be-
ing q whole number. is numbrr and \
fraction; or, in. other words. the earth
goes round the sun in 365 days hours
and 4S minutes 46 seconds, or 365.2422
days. This was not. however, discov-
cred in = day. Various guesscs were
made at the proper length of the year,
and calendars were drawn up in ac-
cordance with them. But in the course
of time the error accumulated, with the
result that the seasons changed places,
and the vernal equinox, instead of re
manning at flxed place in the calendar,
moved backward or forward, according
AZ the approximation was in excess or
defect, and extra days had to be inter-
calated or. omitted to ret things right
By the time of Julius Caesar the Ro-
man year, which consisted Of ass days,
had worked loose by three months, 70
that the winter months had been car
ried back into autumn. In order to pre-
vent such confusion in future, with the
aid of Sosigenee, he fixed the length OF
the year at 365A days, or three years of
565 days, followed by one of 366. At the
same time. to bring back the equinox to
it's proper place. he inercalated 90 days
into the current year of 355 days, MAX
ing it AS days probably the longest
year on record. This was the Julian
calendar, and to it we owe to this day
the leap year which comes every fourth
year.
But the approximation on which the
calendar was based. though much more
accurate and convenient than any that
Lad preceded it, gave too Tonga year by
the difference between 365.25 and.
365.2422. the error amounting to day
in 12S years. In the course Of the CEN
turies, the equinox gradually reccdcd
toward the beginning of the year.
Caesar had fixed it on. March Is: by tho
time Of the council of Nice, and by 1882
it had receded to March IL. In order to
,nct<va <ha o,,,{,o~r - %D>> v><>cs<2c~n - -
cupied in 325, when the councilof Nice
bad drawn up regulations for the fixing
Of Easter, Pope Gregory. in 1882, d.
rected ten days to be suppressed, and AZ
the error was found to amount to three
days in 400 years, he laid down that IN
future the last year of every century
ahrould be an ordinary year, unless 1t is
divisible by 400, in which case it was to
be leap year. Thus 1900 will be an
ordinary year, but 5000 viii be . leap
year.
Pope Gregory's correction gives sn
average year Of 365.2425 days, or Is Sec
cnds longer than the true year. These
cdd seconds win amount TO \ whole year
IN 1923 years. and it has been proposed
to allow for this error by providing that
the year 4o0o, and all its rslltiplcs, shall
he common years. But this would be
redantic foresight, and it II unnecessary
to discsss thf>1uestion whether the
year 1000 ought or ought not 10 be .
leap year. In ages yet to come. when
the friction Of the tides has 20 retarded
the rotation Of the earth that 365 days
make year, leap years win be unneccs-
sary. But that 10 a still remoter con-
tingency. and in. the meantime Pope
Gregory's ca1enaaF - likely TO remain
In it, present form. ~ Edinburg Scota-
man.
Japanses Ladies' n Wsshingtoa.
The native ladies Of the japanese le-
cation in Washington are most polite
and friendly coterie, and hospitable to
= dnarr>o nth nunint and nenf1e man.