Evening star., 1920-02-07
blVENIS CALENDAR
TObE PERPETUAL
italian Priests System Func-
ti0ns "Year In and Year
! Out" Is Claim.
ny EDGAR ANSEI.L MOwRER.
(Csfrespeaaence ef The star AND the
Chicago Daily Hewa.)

Chicago Daily Newa.>
ROME, Italy. January 2S.--An Ital-
ian priest. Francesca Scatigna. has
accomplished a feat which no less an
authority than Herschel declared i'm
calendar which functions year in and
year out without mathematical Ia
bles or calculations.
II has been found that the days Of
the week In their revolution through
the months form twenty-eight-year
cycle. In twenty-eight years-that is
they have Sone through every possible
yermutation. Tho types of year are
seven. As there are but seven days
In the week. the months. considered in
relation to the day with which they
~ diagram. therefore, permitting the
rotation either of the days of the
month arranged calendar rwise in seven
groups. or Of the days Of the week,
give a calendar. which. when an
nuaily or bicnniaIly adjusted with ref
ercnce to a table. is adequate and
Derpetual.
Cites 100. Calendar.
This has long been known. In the
! md such a calendar, which. by
means of copious tables. wherein the
various years are classified under
seven catezories, a. 3. c. ID. l.. +. G.
any date listed, past or future. may be
idsntmcd in reference to the week.
So far SO good But these latters
are meaningless. Don ScatiSna makes
the leap from theory to practice
Those letters in the Ca1endario Tee
nteo Romano signify types of years
1no same result. but Ineligible to
al, can be obtained by knowing the
aAy wherewith each such year begins.
9even (tke days wherewith success
o1ye years may begin) times seven
lthe months classified under the sue
SSGDive days of the week wherewith
shey each beginl give US forty:nine.
tion consists OF q checkerboard of
fOrty-nine squares. The days of the
month are arranged in rotation (per-
1nutation) on a disk fastened at the
nsck Of the checkerboard and show
pose-a disk whereon each permuta-
tton ID co-ordinated with a day of
the week showing through q space
lever down. II su6ices to set the
disk. leaving visible in the lower
space tho day Of the week wherewith
the year begins. to have a calendar
good for one year. For the following
year advance the disk one day (say
from Sunday to Monday. With the
dat. coincide the numbers appearing
dred and nineteen began with We'd
nesday, the last day on the disk. On
January /. 1929, the disk must be
turned back to Thursday. the be-
ginning.
leap year? Are not these diagrams
thrown out of focus when February
xbsorbS ard extra day? BY no means.
On February % of q leap year one
need only advance the disk one day
g.
eject Of leap year is q leap forward
In that rotation of the days Of the
week. with which 3s5-day years must
commence.
seatigaa's MetAeA Explained.
xhus, to use Don Scatigna's calendar
for any year 1t sufaices to know the
day wherewith the year began and If
in leap year the day desired is Interior
to February 70. to advance the disk
ono day more.
hut how are we to know the day
whcrewith q given year begins? A
simple diagram sufices. About the
Identical checktrboard with the days
Of the week (here. but not neces-
furies from 0 to 10 and the years from
! TO 100. Julian or Gregorian. the
centuries all fall into line with this
tfiagram. When in October, 1882. Pope
Gregory. acting on the advice of the
N&id0TIdu dStF0uOuSI AcllO, QSC1AIeQ
the NTH day Of that month should be
counted the fifteenth, the order Of
weeks days remained unaltered. So it
suffices to remember that Sub Julio"
all years indicated by number di-
visible by four were leap years, to be
able to use the Scatigna calendar.
Hut forty centuries. though a long
time. are not eternity. Don Scatigna
claims to have invented a perpetual
calendar. mot in the vulgar sense
given to this expression by common
alm1nacs. good for a determined num-
calculations, permitting
MS to have before our eyes. aided by
tiny simple graphic means the en-
tire indefinite succession of time"
Simple As1foaenie Fact.
That the calendar makes good its
claim rests ON q simple astronomic
fact: Every 1000 years the diurnal
revolutions around the sun coincide
that II. come out even. Each normal
year contains 365 days 5 hours 48
minutes 1924 seconds. But 1000
Gregorian years. II the year 1000 be
considered normal and not leap
Thus every four years the astro-
nomical year. despite the extra day
counted in leap year. loses A minutes
1924 seconds. After ninety six years
(tWeuty flour leap yeaTs) the as
tronomic pear has lost II hours 81
minutes :S.9S seconds. But the hun
iYedth civil year is behind hours 20
minutes because 1t was not leap year.
The 400th civil year Counted as leap
year, is on this account hours and
- minutes ahead of the solar or as
tronomica1 year. Continuing to gain
at this rate. in exactly 1000 years
the civil year has twenty-four hours
advance on the sun, and this is recti-
fed by reckoning the 4.0o0th year
a normal. and not a leap year. So
for the years 5000. 10000. $4,000.
10000, and so forth. the future and
/ &c. 40o1 Be. s001 BIC. and so
forth, in the past.
A calendar good. therefore, for
1000 years suhices for eternity, since
each period Of 1000 years is but a
repetition of the past. TIL. Scatigna
calendar embraces the centuries and
can be read at a glance by children
BEFORE the pyramids Napoleon was
impressed by the presence of forty
centuries looking down upon him and
his army. From the Scatigna per-
petual calendar time itself. rnrolled
to infnity. looks out Of a pair of
diaGrams which may be carried in a
watch.
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