The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-29

year has not number but a name in the
Christian era-the annus mirabilis-the
year of our Lord. The next new year
reckoned then and still by Roman cal
endars began in January. 1t was the
second year of the new era of Christian
centuries. The first anniversary of
Christmas day fell in that year-A. d. l.
but the century of the calendar years, in
which Christ was born, ended eight days
after the ninety-ninth anniversary of His
birth-on Dec. 81, A. d. 80. If this is so,
and If we keep the 1S99th anniversary of
/ that day next week, why should we not
with the old histories and charts and
with the young Kaiser begin the new nun
| dred OF the years of grace" on Jan. l,
1900? ]. f. r."
j. +. r. must see after he reads his owa
letter that his mind has been muddled by
the birthday table. Christmas occurred,
as he said, in the year recognized as the
75Sd of the foundation Of Rome The fol-
lowing year. A. U. c., 1854. which. TO be
transformed into the first year of Christ
ianity without disturbing the existing cal
endar. was made to begin week after the
birth, that is,on Jan.1 of the year known as
A. D. !. century of calendar years of
| the Christian Era could not have ended
EIGHT days after the ninety-ninth ami
versary of Christ's birth, for the reason
| that on the ninety-niuth anniversary of
mans birth he is but SO years old. The
| first anniversary of a birthday marks the
termination of one year of age. A man
must see a hundred anniversaries before
! he becomes 100 years old
"A century, says Meyers Encyclopedia,
| lis 100 compIetedyears,a as the century after
Christs birth" We will reproduce what
is said In addition by this authority con-
| corning the conflict now upon US
THE question whether a new century be-
| gins with January, 1900 or 1901 has been
| discussed remarkably AhOut th6.s wear
| 100 it was so vigorous that medals were
| coined with the satirical inscription, Lis
| ten to a Miracle. In the year 1900 the
people didn't know how old they were!
The possibility of confusion comes from
| the question, Did our chronology begin
with the year or the year /? But chro-
nology makes the year / of the Christian
Era succeed the year before Christ with
| out interruption, without The year 0.
| Consequently, from the chronological
| standpoint, Jan. l. 1901, is the New Years
| Day of the new century"
We will quote now from the Century
Dictionary:
"The first century of the Christian Era
| began with the year A. D. /, and extended
! to the end of the year 100. The eighteenth
| century began with 1901 and ended with
| 1900 the year completing the hundred year
| period in each instance giving name to the
century,"
The Standard Dictionary is still more ex-
Dlicit:
in common usage the first century
means the year A. d. to 100 The nine
| tenth century A. D. 1901 90 1900 The CEN
fury begins with the beginning of the
| first day in its year, and does not end till
the close of the last day in its hundred
| years. This mode of reckoning is often
| confused with the common mode of stat
ing the age Of a person. A person born at
| the beginning of the Christian year would
he called l year old during his second
year-that is, during the course of the
| year e"
We have before us also a copy of the
Almanac de Gotha "for the year 1900, the
| last year of the century"
In La Petite Revue of Montreal we find
| in a discussion by the French astronomer,
| Camille Flammarion, the pertinent evil
| deuce of the French revolution:
''Whatever the date selected for the
Christian Era, there was no year 0. The
| first year of the first century was the year
! /. the tenth year 10, and the hundreth year
the year 10O When the Revolution Gre
ated a new calendar, it adopted the same
method, never imagined a year 0, and call
ed Its first year the year L.
Zero is but a mathematical idea. II can
not apply to things or measure them.
Opinions that the years of the calendar are
counted as we count miles by the cyclo-
meter or degrees Oh the thermometer, or
years in a mans age are all represented
by the statement put forward by Prof.
Myers, professor of ash onomy i'm the Uni
versity of Chicago, that the date always
indicates the number of years which have
elapsed" If that principle is true. why
does it not apply to centuries also? In the
calendar this century is numbered nine
teen BY Prof. Myers theory, century
nineteen or the nineteenth century is past.
1t must have ended with the beginning of
the year 1900, and the twentieth century
will be complete when 1900 begins.
Those who reckon that we are now in the
twentieth century are out of their bear
ings.