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AN ASTRONOMICAL YEAR.
Tue duration of the astronomical year, as now de.
termiucd with great precision, consists of 305 days,
5 hours, 48 minutes, and 51 seconds. The real length
of the year is thus six hours greater than it was ac-
cording to the estimate of the old astronomers; so that,
if we reckoned by their calculation, on every fourth
year a day would be lost. Such a circumstance must,
in a comparatively short period, produce the most
awkward results: a man horn in spring would, be-
fore grey hairs covered his head, have to celebrate his
birthday at the end of winter; harvest would, after the
lapse of a few years, have its festival in mid-summer;
and the time would coins when summer and winter
would change names. It became therefore necessary,
in all countries where the astronomical year was used,
to correct the calendar at intervals, to prevent the in-
crease of an evil for which no provision was made.
Julies Caesar was probably the first man in authority who attempted a permanent correction of the
calendar, assisted by Sosigines, an Egyptian astronomer. Their device was, to add a day, every fourth
year, to February, and time principle adopted was so
excellent that it has been both retained and extended,
Tins correction of time was ordered to be made in all
where the Roman authority was acknowledged, and to secure a uniformity of dates, the sixth
day before time kalends of March was to be reckoned
twice, for which reason, time fourth year, now called
leap year, n-as by the Romans designated bisscxtile.
But this clever contrivance did not perfectly correct
the calendar, or cause time civil amid astronomical years
to remain long in permanent agreement. The addithion made every fourth year was eleven minutes
more tlmasm was required for the correction, and al-
this may seem a trifling error, yet spread over so
long a period, it sooms became a very marked quantity,
and in the course of centuries threatened to interfere
with some social and many ecclesiastical arm-angemncnts.
The Julian year, therefore, though an approximation
to the correct measurement of time, possessing thus an
dcmnent of error, could not permanently remain in usc,
unless a useans of absorbing the miscalculation it per-
pctnated could be discovered,
TIme necessities of the Roman church ultimately lcd
to time requisite improvement. The Council of Nice,
which assembled in time year 325 A. D,, ordered, among
other matters, that Easter should be celebrated on the
first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal
equinox. This was a guide to many other of the
festivals, so that any alteration in it caused a
muds greater confusion than at first sight appears.
it was well known that hi 325, when the commdll
suet, the 21st of March was the time of the vernal
equinox; but in the fifteenth century it fell on the
day of that month, a difference sufficiently
important to force upon the attention of the pope and
time conclave time necessity of correcting time calendar,
This enterprise was meditated many years before it
was accomplished; but it would probably have been
effected in the pontificate of Sextus Iv, iustead of
Gregory xin, if the preliminary calculations had not been interrupted by the sudden death of John Muller,
the astronomer selected to advise the pontffl, and prethoughts
pare for the contemplated change. This rare genius,
so well known as the founder of the printing-house at
Nuremberg, though it is as an astronomer that he
is most deserving honour, was summoned from his
useful labours to assist the pope in correcting the
calendar. He unwillingly obeyed the command, and
repaired to Rome, where he had at an early period of
life exhibited Ins great talents, to undertake the task;
but the year after his arrival, in the fortieth of his age,
he died, or, as some say, was murdered by the sons of
an eminent Greek scholar, whom he had mortified by
some severe criticisms. Sextus being thus deprived
of the assistance of the man best able to accomplish
his object, lost the honour of effecting his useful
design.
Pope Gregory XIII was a man of science, and we
have little cause to regret that the task of reform-
lug the calendar fell into his hands. To restore the
civll year to a correspondence with the astronomical,
lie ordered that the 5th of October, 1582, should be
called the 15th, for at that time ten days had been
lost, and the vernal equinox fell on the 11th of March
instead of the 21st. To prevent the intrusion of
the same errors in the measurement of time in future
ages, and to secure the recurrence of the festivals
at the same period of the year, lie further decreed
that “every year whose number is not divisible
by four, without a remainder, consists of three hundred and sixty-five days; every year which is so
divisible, but is not divisible by one hundred, of
three hundred and sixty six; every year divisible by
one hundred, but not by four hundred, of three hundred and sixty-five; and every year divisible by four
hundred consists of tin-ce hundred and sixty-six. A
snore perfect correspondence of the civil and astronomical years will probably never be obtained than by
the use of the rules enforced in this decree; for after
the lapse of four thousand two hundred and thirty-
seven years, the en-or will he less than a day. In theh’
preparation every source of disagreement n-as duly
estimated, and as far as possible corrected. The allow-
ance of an extra day every fourth year is, as already
explained, an excess; but this is not allowed to accumulate, for, at the commencement of every century,
n-lien it amounts to about three-fourths of a day, a dethough
dnction of one day is made. An error of a’ont six
honrs is thus left as the accumulation of one hundred
years, but this is not passed without correction; for
every year divisible by four hundred, which ought to
be a common year by the ordinary rule, is made to
consist of three hundred and sixty-six days.
Little opposition would probably have been made to
tIme introduction of these changes in any European
state, so generally was the necessity of a correction
admitted, had they not been enforced by the pope,
under an authoritative command for time immediate
and universal adoption of the reformed calendar. The
princes wimo acknowledged the sway of the bishop of
Rome gave an uncomplaining and apparently willing
compllanee, but in time protestant states the introduction of a very useful and important correction in the
measuresnent of timne was long delayed, from a recollection of the sourCe from which it came, and the impudent assumption of a command with which it was announced. At last the Gregorian calendar was imivertwelfth
sally adopted by the European states, hut hy protestant
communities always with a protest against the interference of the pope, and an entire rejection of his
authority. The new style was established in Great
Britain by act of Parliament, as might be expected
in a country so justly jealous of its civll and religious
privileges, in the year 1752.