The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-01-08


History of the Calendar and How the
One il Use Came to be Adopted.
Rock HILL, S. c., Dec. 31.-The
year 1896 is the last leap year we shall
have for eight years. Perhaps it will
be of interest to some of the readers of
The Register to know the reason of
this. attempt to give them in con-
densed form the principal events in
the development of our calendar.
1t must be remembered that even In
prehistoric times men were working
on it and, that it has not reached its
nearly perfect condition until quite
recently. Our present mode of reckon
ing time was introduced into England
in I752.
The natural divisions of time are the
day, the lunar month, and the year,
l. e., the time between two successive
vernal equinoxes. 1t will be seen at
once how difficult it would be to CO.
ordinate the month and the year when
we consider that the month has 90
days II hours A minutes and 3. 6S Sec
onds, and that the year has 365 days,
IS hours IS minutes and Is seconds.
This gives us 12,3 369 months in year.
Now if we take 12months we have the
year too short by nearly II days. The
effect of such a count would be to
m ke any date, for example New Year
back by about eleven days every year,
and, consequently, we would have,
after the lapse of a few years, the first
of January coming in midsummer.
The Mohammedans have just such a
calendar. Any date with them goes
through all the seasons IN about thirty
two years.
Previous to the time of julius Caesar,
the Romans used substantially the
same system as the Mohammedans
now use, the priesthood and magis'
trates adding days in an irregular
manner so as to keep the months in
the proper seasons.
Dates got into such hopeless confu-
sion that julius Cesar, with the help
of the astronomer, Sosigens, saw
there was no way out of the confusion
but to form a new calendar, and that
it was useless to try to make the
month divisor of the year This new
calendar, which was called the Julian,
made the year 365 I days. Three
years were given 365, while the fourth
was given 366 days. This extra day
was added by counting twice the sixth
day before the calends. or first, Of
March, hence the name bissextile for
leap year.
julius perpetuated his glory by call
ling the fifth month, as it was then,
July"
Augustus, his successor, not to be
outdone, stole day from February
and added it to the following month,
calling the month August. His month
had to be as long as Jusius's.
| TheJ Julian Calendar, as it is called,
was, By far, the best one that had
been used. Its fault is that it made
the year longer by about II ! min
utes than the equinoctial year, which
Igoverns the seasons. According tc
this mode of reckoning time, though
| the displacement Of the months IS re-
ferred to the seasons was very slow,
yet after a good many centuries it
became quite considerable. In 1852
the date of the yernal equinox had fall
en- back to the 11th of March, instead
| of coming on the 21st as it had twelve
centuries previous. This error would
have gone on increasing, and after
sufficient lapse of time we would have
had Christmas celebrated in summer
and the fourth of July in winter. Our
days would have advanced with ref
erence to the seasons in the same way
as the Mohammedan's back, except
our change would have been very
much slower. The difference between
| the equinoctial year and the one of the
Julian calendar in 400 years amounts
to days hours and 27 minutes.
Pope Gregory XIII, acting under
the advice ofthe astronomer Clavius,
decreed that the century years, instead
of being leap year, as under the old
system, should be only so when divisi-
bic by 400. Thus 1900 ard20O0 are
leap years, while 100, 1900 and 1900
are not. This adjusts the three days
of the time mentioned above, and
leaves a discrepancy or only hours
and 81 minutes for every 400 years.
According to this calendar it will take
some 900 years to throw the seasons
land days of the month out as much as
one day. Four thousand years from
now the vernal equinox, according to
this, the Gregorian calendar, will have
! fallen back from the 21st of March to
the Goth.
Moreover, Gregory, to have the sea-
sons fall as they had twelve centuries
before. ordered the day following Oe-
tober 4th, 1882, to be called the 18th
instead of the 5th, restoring the ten
days that had been lost Ali Catholic
countries adopted the Gregorian cal
eud.@-A once. bat England being Pro-
testaut aud Russia being Greek, did
not. With characteristic slowness In
adopting anything sc.elsn, England
changed the Jul:~u for the Gregorian
in 1852.
Byan Act of Parliament, the day fol-
lowing September I'd was to be called
Septenber l4tt. Instead of the 3rd.
At the same tine the year was to be-
giu with the ilst of January instead
of with the twenty-ffth of March, as
it previously hao rhe modified cal
endar is known, in English history
as the New S. .e, while tie old sys-
tenn is called the Old Style.
Although Parliament was very eau
tious to make the eleven days added
work no prejudice to debtors, yet the
change cause riot in various parts OF
England The people said they we're
being robbed OF eieveu days.
All the civilized countries now use
the Gregcriau calendar with the ex-
ception of Russia, which still uses
the Julian, and, as consequence, the
latter country is twelve days behind
the rest of the world
After 1900 there will be a difference
of thirteen davs between the calen-