The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1906-07-16
THE SNARIS OF TIME
pOpG oNgcoAy'8 CORRECTIONS o.
The JULIAN CALENDAR.
~ One rtss~ o~tes~v Wss ah~ S~sv's
ab~vs~sS MssIA--tt restats~A oaty
Twssty-~ss bays IL ins1-~remS"-
ties sAe Change Made t~ Eaxissa.

ties sAe chsas~ Made - Enss.sa.
Did yan ever bear Of The famous
short month OF October. which had
only twenty one dayse sone three cen.
furies age In southern Europe men
tried to eurrect an error that had heen
growing continually for mof- Than a
thousand wears and the result WAS
| that they called the day after Oct, 1.
| 1882, Oct n instead ~ Oct .
We get our ideas and principles re
Karsiing ti,e calendar from two sources
Roman ard Jewish Every one knows
that the names Of the months are
Latin, aud In tiir histories We read how
the various Roman rulers changed the
distribution OF days within the month,
etc. to suit their pride or political
schemes, much as modern politicians
hasten or postpone a convention. and
brought things into great confusion
until Julius Caesar decreed that the
coming year should consist of 36o days
and every fourth year OF 35d. The ex-
ira day was TO be inserted between the
cath and 25th of February In their
way OF numbering the days OF the
month. which seems to us so awkward.
the oath was sexto ealendas. or the
sixth day before the calend, of
March When the extra dag was in
serted It was called the second sixth.
or, In Latin, bissexto calendas, whence
our bissextile.
From Jewish sources we get other
features. The great Jewish festival OF
the passover was celebrated on the
very day OF the first full moon after
the spring equinox. The early Chris
tians, or many of them, took the same
| day, but this led to charges OF heresy,
| to discussion, criticism and even con
tempt; so 1t was decreed probably by
| Constantine the Great in 325 A. d.. In
| connection with the council OF Nicaea
that the Christian festival Easter
| should be observed on the Sunday fol.
lowing the passover. and the other
movable feasts OF the church were
| made dependent on this. SO the ele-
| ment of fixed day of the week was
brought into the calculation.
In this year-325-the vernal equinox
/ fell on March u, and, If Caesars work
| in establishing the Julian calendar had
| only been correct, this event would have
| happened on this date forever. But ma
ture seems TO abhor simple ratios as she
was said TO abhor a vacuum. Unfortu-
nately for simplicity the year is not ex-
actly 365 days hours but about II
minutes II seconds less. So the inser-
ton Of the extra day in four years was
OVERRIDING the correction, as was known
even in the dark ages, but after the re-
/ vival of learning and the establishment
| Of observatories it was commented on
| in the council of Trent and was very
! much discussed by mathemahcians
And by the middle Of the sixteenth cen
fury the hundreds of small errors hat
accumulated to ten days, so the verna
equinox fell not on the DIST. but OF
the 18th, OF March
Tbs was the condition of thing
when, in 1872, Pope Gregory MIL wa:
elected. He realized the glory that i
would be to his reign if this confusing
matter was settled and so set com
pany of mathematicians to work on
the problem. not only of rectifying tn
old errors but of providing rules t
prevent errors in the future. The hard
est part of the work was to fix III
2 movable church feasts without doin
violence to the traditions. That Il goo
, deal could he said about the work
evidenced by the book of 500 page
written 10y Clayius, one of the comps
ny. The result was that in 1881 p;
b pal bull was issued declaring anon
/ lowing oct. 4 should be called oct. |
- and that centuries should not he lea
years unless divisible 10y 400
Rulers aud states that were the
Catholic responded TO the pope's T
4 quest for acceptance of the reform.
e France the ten days were dropped af
: er Dec. o. 1852; in Catholic German
/ the change was made in l5Si but n
Z Protestant states delayed until Fc
, I 10 March II, 1900. In Switzerland an
Poland there was such resistance mac
that the troops were necessary to su
press a.
. The change was long delayed la Pro
/. estapt England. which would not wi
= lngly accept au alleged reform due
a pope that had encouraged the "a
mazda But she need Of the unlformi
!, among uciGhborins states was {,
great. and Boz 1851 Lord Chesterfield !
e froiue'd into parliament blll for a
reform of ihp calendar Some detail
Of The law may be quoted from mag
zine ~ September 1862. sept ~
This dag thr t;rceorian st' ir toub pla
in Hll Europe. Asia. Nfrn nBd Ams
F" in This day. had mot 'his act ga s~s'
"a would have teva ihe .al 20 Ssptemlt
; huf 10 was unw rrr koucd the 3 ith ole
"a CA nominal DAYS hrinz omitted Eve
q. fourth year wHi i-' hissestsle ar Ia.
yraf uatl lNa whleb viii is. .oi
faou GEAR IF a5 amys hos i~'t wlil
leap rear Easter snd fbs movaf
feasts fhrreuu depending arv to