Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-01

months OF such unequal
length? What authority Is behind
the notion that a year Is 1904 days
long, and is that the exact length!
The ancient Etruscans, who nFed III
italy and attained prominence be-
yond that of Rome. 500 or 1,ooO years
Be. measured a year by the lapse
Of time between the arrival Of the sun
in the same place in the considerations,
and they counted it az $50 Gays
hours and 40 minutes. But when
Julius Caesar reigned over Rome he
decreed that a year must be 3bo 70
days. which was II minutes longer
than the sun made it. That was in me
first century AID, and ever after that
the error of IL minutes kept accuInu.
lating to make the year too long, until
in the time of Pope Gregory in the
fifteenth century the error had become
II days.
Gregory undertook to correct the
dates Of Easter and New Year. but for
more than two centuries thereafter
there remained confusion. and dates
were recorded in both the old and new
systems. II days apart The year OF
IL months was not fixed by the Gre
| ator of all time. but by plundering
man, hence there Is no reason why
man should not seek to correct errors
Of the past.
Ancient Egyptians Measure.
The ancient Egyptians had a more
accurate measure than modcrn men
| have achieved. Moses. the prince son
Of Pharaoh's daughter, learned the
! Egyptian method, and by it he was
able to lead the Israelites out of
slavery and set them upon roads TO
| prosperous crops and animal produc-
ton by giving them true dates for
| soE.ng crops and breeding live stock.
That system became known to the
| Israelites as the Mosaic calendar. al
| though it was really the Egyptian.
| Later the 1sraelites were taken cap
| tive to Babylon. and as the years of
| captivity were long they forgot how 10
| reckon time by the secret Mosaic cal
| endar, and upon returning 10 Palestine
| they sought to reinstate the method
| in vain. In the meanwhile, even in
Egypt the old system was forgotten.
| for 1t had always been a secret OF the
priesthood. both in Egypt and Pales-
tine.
The Egyptian pyramids were so built
| as to form great sundials, and the cut.
of Of the years came when their shad-
ows fell upon the exact marks. To-
| day, in the basilica before the great
| st. Peters Church in Rome, an ODE
| lisk's shadow is similarly used as a
| yearly sundial, by which astronomers
may verify their dates and divisin rs
OF time. 1t has been proposed that rhe
525-foot Washington Monument might
be similarly utilized as a sundial il only
a circumference dial be marked out TO
interpret the shadow and show Its va.
ration according 10 the seasons.
The Egyptian calendar was ever a
| solar one. regardless OF the changes
of the moon. The moon goes through
| its changes IL times a year, but not
with precision concurrent with the
march of the sun. The Jewish Baby.
lonian calendar was so inaccurate
that trained priests. operating in diff.
ferent parts OF Palestine, were unable
to agree as to dates OF feasts or dates
when crops should be sown or live
stool. bred. Hence they had TO wal,
until proclamations came from the
high priest at Jerusalem in order "a
maintain uniformity OF dates.
Aztec Calendar.
At the time Of the Spanish conquest
OF Mexico the Aztecs were using 4
solar measurement OF the year, di
vided into IS months - 20 days each
plus five complementary days. added
10 make up the full solar year OF Sos
days. That was identical with the
practice OF the Egyptian calendar. we,
how had IL come from Egypt to Amer.
lear To adjust the fraction OF the day
over sos the Aztecs added approx
mately 1sis days TO their cycle Of 5.
years. just as we add one day TO lear
year every fourth year. The Aztec
calendar proved SO near accuracy that
4 AZ g..
an error annoLating 10 one day. So
civilization had 20 adjust its clocks by
the Aztec calendar.
| All these struggles for accuracy in
the measurement OF time prove how
in. portant exactne>s appeared through
out the ages. IL IS not a matter q!
curiosity nor one for puExling the
brains Of historians. Today the
monthly division OF the year IS y relic
OF the eSutistic pride OF two Caesars
Julius Caesar In attempting to revise
the Etruscan calendar decided 70 mag
Nifty his glory by calling the month o.
July after his own name. and. stealing
a day from February he added 4, &c
his month Tn make it the longes, al
the year. Along came Augustus Cas
sar. bound no, to be outions by Julius
SO he named the next month Angus,
and ordered that IL mus; oe !uSs as
long as July.
Freak Changes Made.
Other freak changes have been made
which throw utter irregularity in,c
the months. So some months have
two days more than four weeks. scp,s
three days more. and only one has
just four weeks. Even February,
with It's convenient four weeks does
not begin on tho Eyss day ~ q We K
hut must sometimes begin and eni IN
"A fraction or two fractions ~ 4 week
That Is what makes complications NJ
all kinds in pay rolls and in accounginS
the expenses and prv,si,> ~ business
concerns whose h'okS are kept by the
month, but whose wages are figured
by the week.
There have been many attempts to
corrcct the defects tccoSnisSd IN the
present fteakisA calendar, These lie,
fertS are summarized by George Hast,
man. the maker ~ kc<iskS, hat the
prNs'eSs ~ not found so simple As ''yc.s
press the eutsons We'll 10 the rest. !"
However. beginning to-day, the East.
man Kodak Co, will adopt its hS>ok,
Keeping entirely upon the new Cots,
worth calendar. and several ether
American business firms are seriously
considering doing the same. ThtS
gives GS a YEAR III the same kasth
as the present wear, hut divided into
thirteen months of exactly four weeks.
and every week higgins IN Sunday aa<.
ends Oh SATURDAY.,
Mr., Eastman in a recent Address to
the National Chamber NJ CNau,aerx,x,
said,
My interest In the inetss>,ieMev ~
our present calendar and the nee>t NJ
a more practical monshly measure "
DAYS originated In eur COMPANY,
| First, Monthly records ~ business
are not exact because months Ssiffer In
length and have ditreren, numeers NJ
WORKING days. when compared with
the preceding month and the cor
responding month af previous years
| Sereea, The number W NAY ttaSs