226 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



By proposals A, B and C there would always be five Saturdays iu 

 every third month, and, with the slight variation by method C, the 

 the other six week-days would be repeated a fifth time in pairs at the 

 end of each successive month, changing not only the week-day names 

 lor those dates heyond the 28th in every case, but unfortunately altering 

 the names of week-days for every date through all the second and third 

 months of each quarter of t' e year. That would leave no two consecu- 

 tive months alike, and perpetuate unceasing changes in names of dates 

 each successive month, similar to those which now confuse our minds. 



We have already proved that nearly all our almanac inconveniences 

 are caused by the needless changing of week-day names for monthly 

 dates, and as that is the supreme test which neither methods A, B, nor 

 C can pass, — the crowning advantage rests with method D, which per- 

 fectly meets the complete case of providing for the return of the week- 

 days in their ordinary course to the same fixed dates in every month. 



A glance down the table showing the Comparison of Methods 

 enables us to see how by all the first three methods A, B, and C, the 

 weeks are split between January and February, and between February 

 and March, causing the former part of a broken week to be counted in 

 January, and the latter part of February's last week to be computed 

 in March, whilst the other portions of both those broken weeks would 

 have to be accounted for in poor February, which has been so easy to 

 us all, and sets such an excellent and practical example in modesty 

 below its rivals in the February column, and, moreover, is decidedly 

 proved to be the best month we now have in yearly use, or thus far 

 experienced. 



Its 28 days are practically as near the original moon-month's length 

 of 29.53 days as are the 31 day months which A, B, and C unitedly 

 ask us to dethrone from regulating the length of the majorit)'- of our 

 months, when the logical sequence of Christians substituting the 7 days 

 week for the Pagan 7.38 days quarter moon in the time of Constantine 

 the Great (page 5) should be to proportionately reduce the months to 

 equal periods of four weeks. 



Having agreed that reform is both desirable and practicable, let 

 us strive to make sure that when we do change it shall be to the hest 

 method. 



Comparison of the Proposed Changes in Lengths of Months. 



As the extent of the changes in the length of months proposed by 

 A, B, and C are so nearly the same, we will consider their central one 

 B as representative in this question of the actual changes proposed from 

 the lengths of our present months, to compare with those suggested 

 byD. 



