St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-02-28
A PECULIAR LEAP YEAR.

The leap year which now begins is,
however, to a certain extent peculiar,
since another will mot occur for eight
years. Such an interval has occurred
twice before in the history OF Scotland.
and only once in the history Of England,
and two centuries will elapse before it
occurs again. The last year Of the pres.
ent century, 1900, will not be a leap wear,
but 20OO, the last year OF the succeeding
century, will. The year POO will again
be a common year, so that the next
period Of seven consecutive common
years will be between 2096 and 21O4.
The rule by which this seemingly arbi-
trary interference with an established
order of things is regulated is compare
lively simple, but its history is in many
respects both curious and interesting.
As every one knows, the earth revolves
round its axis, and also travels round the
sun, the one revolution causing the alter
nation of day and night, the other that
of the seasons. From the earliest times
men have made use Of both these series
oil changes as a means Of reckoning time,
and had there been a simple numerical
relation between them there need never
have been any trouble with leap years
and such devices.
Unfortunately, however, this is not at
present the case. The number of revo-
Tut ons which the earth makes when it
goes once round the sun, instead OF being
a whole number, is a number and a frac-
ton; or, i'll other words, the earth goes
round the sun in 365 days, FIVE hours,
forty eight minutes and iorty-six seconds,
or 365.2422 days. This was not, how
ever, discovered in a day. Various
guesses were made at the proper length
OF the year, and calendars were drawn
up in accordance with them. But in the
curse of time the error accumulated,
with the result that seasons changed
places, and the vernal equinox, instead
of remaining at a fixed place in the cal
endar, moved backward or forward, &C.
cording as the approximation was in ex-
cess or defect, and extra days had to be
intercalated or omitted to set things
right.
BY the time OF Julius Caesar the Roman
year, which consisted of 355 DAYS, had
worked loose by three months, so that
the winter months had been carried back
into autumn. In order to prevent such
confusion in future, with the aid of
Sosigenes, he fixed the length OF the year
at 1854 days, Or three years of 365
days, followed by one of 366. At the
same time, to bring back the equinox to
its proper place, he intercalated ninety
days into the current year of 355 DAYS,
making it 445 days-prnbabIy the long.
est year on record. This was the Iu'ian
calendar, and to it we w 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 had preceded it gave too long a
year by the difference between 365. 25
and 365. 2422, the error amounting to a
day IN 12S years. In the course of the
centuries the equinox gradually receded
the beginning of the year. Caesar
had fixed it on March %; by the time of
the council of Nice, held in 1926, it fell on
The 21st of March, and by 1882 it had
to March II. In ordert o restore
he equinox to the position it occupied in
325, when the council of Nice had drawn
up regulations for the fixing of Easter,
Gregory, in 1852, directed ten DAYS
o be suppressed, and as the error was
to amount to three days in 400 /
ears, he laid down that in future the
asst year OF every century should be an
ordinary year, unless it is divisible bv
LOO, in which case it was to be a lean
ear. Thus 1900 will be an ordinary
ear, but 2o00 will be a leap year.
Pope Gregory's correction gives an
year of 365. 2425, or twentv.six
econds longer than the true year. These
I'D seconds will amount to a whole wear
n 1928 years, and it has been proposed
o allow for this error by providing that
he year 1000 and all its multiples shall
re common years. But this would be
'edantic foresight, and it is unnecessary
o discuss the question whether the year
900 ought or ought not to be a leap
In ages vet to come, when the
-iction of the tide has so retarded the
of the earth that 365 days make
year, leap years will be unnecessary.
Tut that is a still remoter contingency.
nd in the meantime Pope Gregory's cal.
ndar is likely to remain in it's present =
'rm.- Edinburgh Scotsman.
VERMONT'S INDIAN NAMES. /
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