El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-01

solar year. Such knowledge was aD-
solutely essential to the proper obser-
vations Of seed time and the necessary
outstanding of food supplies until the
ensuing harvest Without such knowl-
edge a large population would always
be in imminent danger Of famine and
2 nations crops in danger Of being
sown out of Season
1t is thought to have been the neces-
sity for ascertaining the true tropical
wear that was responsible 1Or inc
me Drlids of early England This
hill contains 100000 tons Of aruIl-
cialIy placed material, and is tne
largest mound in all Europe LlkeWlss,
it was this desire to keep track OF IAS
procession Of the eQulnOAes Mhlcn 4sI
TO the construction OF the works Wnlcn
now constitute the present runs u
Stonehenge- Sir Norman LOckyeIs q
the solar physics observatory OF Eng
land, some years ago made an sAten
sive investigation OF the runs -
StOnehenge. his CONCLUSION vas mat
they were once q great Druld1cd1 Cd
serYatOry. he found what Is 0elleVed
To have -been the date of the cOnStruc-
ton OF this observatory BY a very re-
fined ASTRONOMICAL caluculauon me
observatory was evidently so arranged
that upon the eighth day OF the year
the rays Of the sun would pass De
tween Two stones and throw q uSAt
upon a certain spot When SIT AoILlSn
made his examination ne found that the
sun was then about two Q1ameJeIs
away from the position IL mad been
at the time the observatory was con-
structed. He was able TO make a cal
culatiOn which would show the num-
Der OF years 1t would reuire for TINS
changed position Of the sun 10 come
about From this he aScerta1ned that
in the year 1850 3. c. the position
of the sun would have conceded with
the equipment Of the Drutctcal obser-
VatOry. There are many eFldenceS Lndt
the Druids Of early England and
France had fairly accurate system, -S 81
time reckoning. Although their clTll
years may not always have coinclqed
with the solar years, their knowledge
of the length Of the latter was such as
TO permit them to make the necessary
Calendar from Egyptians.
The. ancient Greeks derived their
calender from the Egyptians, with
whom they traded Their year was 354
days long and was divided into Y
lunar months, fixed on the actual
the month fell on the date OF the fun
moon Therefore some months had
% days, while others had 80. The
Greek year was four and a half days
short Of the solar year, so they in
terpOlated an intercalary month OF %
or 80 days every other year TO adjust
the civil to the solar year. This IN
| terpOlated month made the year about
I seven and a half days too long, 50 the
omitted to rectify the error. Instead Of
using our week or seven days, the
Q early GrecldUS SuDQlhlQeQ LuGlE
months into 10 day periods.
The early Grecian calendar was very
much like the present Hebrew calen-
OAR. The embOlismic year was the
I one In which the extra month was add
I ed from time 10 time. The Grecians
not only had a system Of reckoning
| years. which made them all different
lengths, but Its measurement OF the
day was different from that which We
use at the present time They d.
Tided every day and every night each
i i =
hours AS the length Of time between
sunrise and sunset and between sunset
and sunrise is variable, It naturally
I follows that the Greek hour was not
constant measure. When the days were
longest and the night shortest the
/ creek hour OF night was very much
variation continued practically through
out the entire year.
Chinese Efforts.
~, Inc Chlnese were early interested IN
! the calendar and records disclose the
Iact that their studies for ascertainfng
Ihe true length of the solar year were
fairly contempOraneous with those
which took place in other parts OF the
world About 260s B. G., the Chinese
tory to correct the calendar ah which
"ds then out OF harmony With the
seasons Some 200 years later two
great Chinese astronomers. Ho and
HI. were beheaded by royal edict be-
cause they failed TO predict an eclipse.
Ihls demonstrates that the Chinese had
or the solar. year. because II would
nave been impossible to have correctly
P5eolcted an eclipse without a knowl-
eQSe OF its length.
The Chinest observe the lunar month
ana shape their year so that their
! lunar time may be adjusted to har-
nome with solar time. In order to
nave their civil year approximately
IN harmony with the solar wear they
"a 9 one month to each 80, which keeps
~ rom Deing as radically out OF har-
mony with the solar year as il would
De II this fntercalary month were not
added; As it is, the Chinese New Year
may oegln on any date between the
Isl OF January and the end of Feb
Iuafy The Chinese celebrate their
G EsM ear by three days OF festivity.
UuIlng which work is suspended. debts
are paid, and insOlvents are declared
LIee from their obligations II they then
aver that they have no money with
which to meet them. The common
I1ulhsse year is $50 days long while
ne I'D iIhtercaIary year is 3S3 days lin
s5o1f - ne new chinese republic will
go Cue Gresorlan calendar. as was
uoHe several years ago by the Japan
80, w lLn This change nearly three
recl,oIis 81 9I Ihe people OF the world will
The MOhammedan Calendar.
80 ne holalnmedan calendar dates
from the first day of the month pre-
ceding the flight of NTohammed from,
mecca and Medina. The years OF the
iileslIa are purely lunar without any
IuLeIcalaUOn. Consequently the New
ear retrogrades through ali of the
seasons so that in 80 and a half years
o ne NO hammedan New Year has Oc-
Cured IN every one Of the four sea
sons. They have cycles OF 80 years.
~ 9L Jnem common and II intercalarv
Lhelr error IN harmonizinr their cal
enuar with the movements Of tie moon
amounts to one day in "a years. The
c.,oiisl lli1edan era Is now in its 45th
SSClS- me next Year Year will fall
On december II, 1912. and viii begin
the year 1881
It viii be seen from these brief de-
stSLiptlons OF the different systems OF
tiiIne reckoning Of the present and OF
me past that however much fn need
OF Improvement is the Gregorian cal /
Snuar, II IS much better and simpler
tian that of any other system A re-
VISION or our system of time reckon
ing would be vastly more difficuIr To-
cav than any Of the revisions OF the
PAST nave been. In the times when
calendars were revised heretofore. the
masses Of the people have been wholly
ignorant IN They had to depend upon
the educated few for their informa-
ton on all subjects the calendar not
excepted When revision took Mace
II affected only the few who were
educated.
Reform Now Difficult
A revision today would involve