The morning news., 1899-12-31
THE NEW CENTURY.
Some queer Calculations as to Time
and Units.

New York, Dec 29.-When do we enter
The twentieth century? In 1900 or 1901? The
dispute is not a new one. Similar questions
we're raised in 1799 in 1893, and even as far
hack as 1899. A learned German of two
centuries ago made this the subject of a
learned disquisition. which gave rise to
quite a literature, pro and contra. And in
1900 Paris witnessed a comedy with the
title: Mon dieu, en- quel steele vivons
nous?"
And vet. says Camille Flammarion, the
famous French astronomer, the answer to
the question is simple enough. Ten is the
sum of ten units, and the number ten is
one of them. There was no year in the
christian era The first year of this era
was the year l. Therefore the twentieth
century begins in the year 1901, and not in
1900.
The first year after the birth of Christ
Dassad without special notice. AS much
NAV be said about the second, third and
fourth. In fact, more tlan five centuries
had flown before the people realized that
they had entered a new era. For the Chris
tian era was established early in 5S2 A.
D.. by a Scythian monk, Dionysius, nick
named Exiguus, because he was small
of stature. Dionysius the Small assumed
that Christ was born on Dec. 20, 75S years
af er the supposed foundation of Rome; so
the 75ith anniversary of this more or less
mythical event became the first year OF
our era.
Later on it was found that the little
monk had made big mistake, and that
thanks to him. the Christian era had been
started not at the birth of Christ, but
four years and seven days later. This
is why the Authorized Version of the Cos
pels places the birth of Christ in the
year B. c.
The German scientist of 1899 mentions
this in mis- pamphlet, but the error
though acknowledged, is suffered to re-
main But such as 1t was, the era OF
Dionysius Exiguus had no year 0. Its
first year was counted as A. D. l, its
tenth at A. D. 10, and so on. And yet
the world at large has made up its mind
that it will enter the twentieth century IN
January, 1900.
No one doubts that 100 includes it's hum
dredth unit but strange to say, accord
ing to the ideas of individuals as well as
nations, the world entered a new century
on exchanging 1893 for 1900. Truly fig
ures are almost as illusive as facts.
The French astronomer is perfectly pos
| tive that on Dec. 81, 1900, exactly at mill
night, our nineteenth century will vanish
into eternity, to give place to the next
Exactly at midnight; these three words
suggest another puzzling problem: What
country will be the first to enter the twen-
tieth century? If we reckon the hours
moving eastward we find that when the
clocks strike midnight In Paris it will be
a. m. In Vienna; a. M in Suez and
Sebastopal; a. m. in Teheran; a. m. in
Iooolsk and Bokhara a. M in Colombo;
a. m. in Calcutta; a. m. in Singapore;
a. m. in Shanghai and Seoul; a. m.
IN Yeddo and full moon of Jan. /, 1900, in
the Chatham Islands
On the other hand if we make the
same Same reckoning moving westward we find
that precisely at the same time ii will be
Z p. m. in New York, D. m. In Chicago,
p. m. in San Francisco, p. m. in Alas
ka' p m in Honolulu, and finally exact
" noon of Dec. 81, 1900, in the Chatham
Islands.
To remedy this discrepancy, Camille
Flammarion suggests the world should
agree to lay down a line of demarcation
somewhere In the wastes of the Pacific
ocean, east of Kamchatka and west of
the Caroline Islands. If this suggestion
be accepted the Americans in the Phil
lpplnes, the Russians in Kamchatka, the
hngllsh in New Zealand and the French
IN New Caledonia will all enter the twen-
ueth century at about the same time.
Yet the savage inhabitants of Chatham
Island will be in advance of them all, as
they will have lived through twelve hours
ana TOUR minutes of the new century when
Paris prepares to greet it's arrival with
raised glasses of champagne. This, how
ever, is only justice; as, for the Chatham
lies, this new century is likely to be the
last. Since 1880 their numbers have
dwindled from 1.5o0 to about fifty, chiefly
owing to the fact that their neighbors,
the Maoris, esteemed them as a table
dencacy making 1t the rule that the Chat
hamite should collect wood for the fire at
which he was presently to be roasted.
Hapless Chathamitesi