582 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



REFORMING THE CALENDAR 



By OBERLIN SMITH 



* . 



YES, tempus fugit," remarked a philosophical gentleman of 

 African descent, as I sat in his barber's chair remarking that 

 my time was limited, " but," he went on to say, " we should not speak 

 of time flying, for we fly through time." This seems logical, and new, 

 but in whatever way we regard time we must certainly measure it ; and 

 we now measure it rather foolishly — not so foolishly, however, as by 

 many systems in the past. Reformers of all ages have struggled with 

 the question of how to divide three-hundred-and-sixty-five-and-about-a- 

 quarter into any convenient groups of units. A division into months 

 was doubtless suggested by the motions of the moon, but the twenty- 

 nine-and-a-f raction days forming her cycle were not commensurate with 

 the earth's yearly cycle and nothing but confusion could arise from 

 trying to use a lunar month for practical purposes. Certain attempts 

 in ancient days led to such inconvenient time-keeping as was shown in 

 the old Jewish year, which varied from 353 to 385 days, the months 

 approximating a lunar cycle and an extra one being inserted sometimes 

 each second, and sometimes each third, year. 



The ancient Egyptians used twelve 30-day months and five odd 

 days over, with no leap-year. This brought about the pleasing result 

 of having the calendar year begin at all possible times in the astronom- 

 ical year. Thus a complete cycle, to bring summer back again so that 

 it would occur in summer, was about 1,461 years in duration. As 

 nobody waited to see the end of it, not many people were greatly incon- 

 venienced. When the Julian year was established in 46 B.C. with 365 

 days, and an added day each four years, the seasons stayed where they 

 belonged much better, but they naturally had gotten somewhat awry by 

 1582 a.d., when the present Gregorian year was established. It would 

 seem that if Cassar and Pope Gregory XIII. (and also the Persians, in 

 the early middle ages) thought the calendar of enough importance to 

 be reformed by radical changes, we, in this day of rapid reforms, should 

 be willing to make the slight changes necessary to get rid of the illogical 

 and troublesome system now in use. 



Among the annoying inconveniences of our present calendar are the 

 changing of the dates in each year at which the respective seasons, 

 months and weeks begin, causing various holidays and other special 

 days to be movable as regards the day of the week and often to be post- 

 poned to a new date, upon the day following, when they happen to 



