The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-27
A HITCH IN THE CALENDAR CLOCKS.
They're Set tn Make 1000 u Leap Year
When II Isn't-Why II Isn't.

Iuty re Nft w hNOS
When 1t Isn't-Why II Isn't.
To THE EplroR or TUG sus-Sir; On Thursday
morning. tho Is. Of March, every ono who pos
sess,s an antonati, calendar clock WILL find h'
faithful timeplcca pointing t, the aetl OF FEBRUARY
by an in senious device every such CLOCK Is maIs
70 indicate the oxactnumbcr OF days In each month.
This IL effected ny means OF q rnnth wheo'' "h.'u
makes ono revolution a year. and has a too'h Tor
each month. the length OF the tooth Determining
the number Of days u be indi 'ated, Tho tooth to'
February is on a little four.toothed wheel which IL
pivoted on the edge OF the month wheel ihs
little wheel completes Its revolution on tho month
wheel every four years. Three OF its teeth make the
count for February ~ days and the fourth too'n
makes the count ~ days,
This year the twenty nine dav tooth Is cohtroihns
the count. But astronomers have pointed out tns'
three leap years should he changed to common years
in every four centuries. in order TO keep the
In It's present relation 20 the seasons anu thisis ono
OF the three years in which tho change mas oeoh
mado. Hence the discrepancy IN the huicau'n.
By setting the clocks twenty four hours ahead ai
can be made right. The ~clockmakors would doubt
less, have contiyed their mechanism 50 ~ to avoid
this discrepancy IL it occurred with such frequency
as to be worth while. but it never arises ottener than
ONE in q century. and will not arise again for Two
hundred years. :, BALCh
Srw YORK, Feb, I'd.
The disparity between the record Of our cal.
endarclocks this year and the legal calendarhas
at the bottom Of itacau which Tor huhurehsot
years and perhaps thousands alter man Deyan
e. compat; TIM by a%roiSraIy IiviolIns co pnclI5Ye
with the cycle OF the seasons and the positlon.
OF the sun. Perfect as our knowledge now isoi
the actual time OF the earth MARCH about tne
sun, and much as tho method o. keeping the
calendar has been tInkcrei, 1t ~ to-day
50 .mper'cc, that it requires the omission Of
the extra leap-ycar day every once in a while.
and. even then. the calendar dates will not tally
exactly with those of tho apparent solar move.
in numbers, between the time in which the
earth r%evolyes to make a day and the time 1t
The. exact time included IN. "a year, is 34o
days, 5 hours. ~ %ciinutes and ~ seconds, ths
day being "a honrs. Our calendar had IL
zion Numa, the second legendary King OF
Rome, first divided tho ycnr into twelve
into ten months, one remnant Of which. is still
to Lc found IN the names OF October. Novem.
Dor SGd DeeemSSr' y, hinder tns .rran Santbs
had respectively - days aud 80 days. This
mails iGL a ys2r 3; RI lays o1s more gay was Is
wa, recC. ai2cd eyon then that this was not
elual 10 ne solar year. an interealary
three DAYS Alternately. was added every second
i6Sicalenilr Between FAB, . and -, and F;eb.
llitl SttlllN hlNulS HUN luul liul' W huNt
hoon a special subject for such interferences,
This arrangement made each four years 100
days long. and the mean year to cover 366.2o
days,
As this was known to be about a day too
long, ii was ordered in. correction, that IN each
third period OF eight years. when the total
should be but three intercalary months
counted instead Of four, and that each OF
Had this arrangement been carefully fol-
lowed its errors would have been but small and
it would also have been possible to-day 70 trace
OF thot day, which eouli have furnished abso-
Lutte proof % settle such questions, for instance
the "i%T nsertI RT V Of the iE,sreaiary months month"; and
other calendar matters. were lief, to the will OF
the poqtils.land when Cesar came into power
SosIgenes he iiyed the length OF the year at
s sSoi dq RayS an? bS SSerSi sSs 'he ,bs sve n,ht i2sTi hay ynaE
fifth. seventh. ninth anil eleventh months
should have thirty-9ne days each and the
in som sn'G{yd Years saG sbo snSeP have re0t tWeniv wniee
days and in leap years thirty days;
This orderly arrangement was broken up by
named for him. should have as many days as
July. namei Tor ht. great predecessor And the
order to prevent three 3l-day months from
falling together. September and November
We're each REDUCED to 80 days and October and
Under Clesar's arrangement the year was
still l ] minutes and IA seconds longer than
the solar year. This would make an error of n
day in 12S years. Pope Gregory XIII. having
suppressed 10 days in the. calendar to correct
errors that had accumulated up to his time.
then ordered that, tnasmuch a. the error ofthe
calendar amounted TO about three days in 400
years. ia" extra leap-year day should be
omitted IN each century. year except such as
were nut pies Of 4oo s. 1870 Is not a Leap
lean wear. and after that the year 24OO.
This j. why the calendar clock Is wrong this
yetr. With this means Of correction the mean
calendar year is now a days g hours ~
minutes aud II seconds long or 26 seconds
longer than the solar year. This will amount
To an error Of a day IN 1923 years. Several
plans have been suggested for eliminating this
error, but as there does not seem to be much
hurry about II none has been adopted,