Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-02-23
HISTORY OF LEAP YEAR.
First Extra Day In February Added by
julius Caesar.

julius Caesar.
This being leap year, there Is pop
ular superstition that 1t was invented
somewhere in the dark ages for the
express purpose Of giving women
chance to propose. And as 1t takes
woman longer to make up her mind TO
thing than it does a man, that the
extra day in February was added to
give her that much extra time. And'
so far as the ordinary run of human
ity goes-except the man who has a
note to pay on March THAT expla-
nation covers all the difference that q
leap" year makes to the world, any
how.
But 1t Is interesting to trace back the
history Of this queer fact that one year
in four has an extra day-except when
It doesn't. 1t Is generally believed that
Pope Gregory XIII. had the fixing OF
this matter, and that leap year
goes back only to that time-which Is
a great mistake. Leap year dates
really to the time Of one Julius Cae-
sar, who, though he died young, was
a pretty smart man, who left his i'm
press on pretty much everything, In
cluding Great Britain. Give julius
Caesar credit, therefore, we proposing
maids, for permitting you the chance
and the extra day. Julius did other
things in the calendar, too-like leaV-
ing his name attached to the seventh
month, for instance-but they are
neither here nor. there now.
The history Of marking periods OF
time is coincident with man, so far as
can be reckoned. The first primitive
divisions were into day and night, and
light and darkness regulated them.
Some days were longer than others.
and some were short. but it figured out
that from one sunset to another was
"a hours-though they didn't have
hours then-and that was all that was
needed.
Then people wanted longer divisions
and they found that the moon was
fairly regular In its orbit around the
earth-though they didn't know that
it circled the globe in those days, but
thought the reverse was true-and they
measured their time by it, giving them
months Of 293 days. Then the sea-
sons came into the calendar, and Tor
a long time they were used to make
longer divisions. Still longer periods
were formed by groups OF THESE
months, which, figured about a Dozen
made one round Of the sun. And Tor
the nom calculating minds of those
times, these divisions did fairly we'll
Finally, however, it, was seen that
this rough way of reckoning didn't put
the seasons in the right place as the
years went on. For spring was where
summer ought to be, and when 1t was
time for autumn. winter was just COM
ing in. Something was wrong, and new
methods had to be applied. And thus
was born the leap" process.
The Jews and the Greeks the CIV
ilized peoples Of that time. had differ
ent ways of fixing things when they
got too far away. The Jews put In
leap month seven times in every nine
teen years; the Greeks three in every
eight. The Romans came along later
with a ten-year month, but, believing
in odd numbers, they 'Anally worked 1t
up to 355 days. To make 1t even they
added January and February and thus
got II months. But this didn't work
out right, either, and the pontiffs, who
ran the calendar, interlarded occasion
al odd periods Of time. fixing them
where they would do themselves the
most good, and their enemies the most
harm; keeping themselves in snap po-
sitions that much longer, and making
a debtors time to them that much
shorter. Which shows that graft Is
nothing new. And thus by the time
that Julius Caesar took charge OF the
whole mundane world, summer was
ambling along about the middle OF
October, and things were badly mix
ed generally.
Along with dividing Gaul into three
parts, slaughtering the barbarians, and
running for emperor, Caesar undertook
the job Of fixing a calendar He en-
ployed one Sosigenes, an Alexandrian
astronomer, and together they worked
out plan which, in the main, holds to-
day. He made what now Is reckoned
as 46 B. C. to consist Of 455 days.
which put matters right. and then, to
avoid further trouble, he ordained that
the year should have 365 days, and that
every fourth year should have 366-
for the solar year, 1t was ascertained,
has 1854 days-nearly. He didn't both
er about the II minutes and few Sec
onds short Of the 1854 days, leaving
them to posterity to worry over. And
that started leap year.
He also fixed the months days at 81
and 80, about as now, but ordained
that February should have %, except
in leap year, when it should have 2s.
Augustus shifted these matters about
a little, for he initiated Julius and
named a month for himself, too, and
to make 1t as good as Julius had, he
ordained that both July and August
should have 81 days. To square 1t
with the calendar, he fixed the rotation
of the 31-day months somewhat, which
accounts for both December and jan
uary having the same number.
But these same pontiffs, when they
put the calendar before the public,
fixed leap year every three instead
Of every four years. This gave them
one day extra in IL years-a smart