CHRONOLOGY. 



407 



Chronolo- ry day should be added to it, and that it should terminate 

 gy, Mathe- t }, e fast franciade; that the sextile, or leap year, should 

 take place every 4 years, and should mark the close of 

 each iranciade ; that the 1st, 2d, and 3d centurial years, 

 TJZ. 100, 200, and 300 of the republic, should be com- 

 mon, and that the 4th, viz. 4-00, should be sextile ; and 

 that this should be the case every 4 centuries till the 40th, 

 which should terminate with a common year. 



Table of 

 the time* 

 at which 

 different 



The following Table shews the various Times at which 

 different Nations have begun the Civil Year. 



nations be- NamC3 of the Nations- Time when the Year begin*. 



the 



year. 



Egyptians, 

 Chaldeans, . . 

 Persians, . . . 

 Syrians, . . . 

 Phenicians, . . 

 Carthaginians, 

 Jews, 



Greeks, 



Romans, .... 

 Scandinavians, 



Ancient and mo- 

 dern Chinese, 



English, . . 

 French, . . 



I 



Spaniard-, . 

 Portuguese, 

 Dutch, . . 

 Germani, . 

 Siamese, . . 

 Peruvians, . 

 Americans, 

 Mexicans, . 



Autumnal equinox. 

 Id. 

 Id. 

 Id. 

 Id. 

 Id. 



Id. for their civil year. 

 f Vernal equinox for their ecclesiastical 



\. y ear - 



Winter sol bt ice before the time of Melon. 

 Summer solstice after Meton. 

 Vernal equinox in the time of Romulus. 

 ("Winter solstice in the time of Numa 

 1^ Pompilius. 

 Winter solstice. 



With the first new moon which ap- 

 pears after the sun is in the 1st of 

 Aquarius. 

 Winter solstice. 



At St Martin's. This was used by 

 the Monks at a very early period. 

 "~On the 1st May under the 1st race 



of kings. 

 Winter solstice under the 2d race of 



kings. 

 Verna! equinox, under the Sd race of 



kings. 

 Winter solstice, by an ordonnance of 



Charles IX. 15fJ4. 



Autumnal equinox, since the esta- 

 blishment of the republican sera. 

 Winter solstice. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 

 Vernal equinox. 



Time when the Year begins. 



Chronolo. 



gy, Mathe. 



matical. 



Names of the Nations. 

 Venetians, Flo-~l 



rentines,Pisans, I ,, , 



and inhabitants > Vernal equinox. 



of Treves, . . J 



American Indians, First new moon of the vernal equinox. 

 Turks and Arabs, 16'th of July. 



1 New moon nearest to the winter sol- 

 Japan :se, j- 8tice> 



Araucanians, . . 22d December at the winter solstice. 

 SECT. IV. On Cycles. 



A cycle, derived from the Greek word xt/xA{, a circle, On eyelet, 

 is a circulating period of time, at the expiration of which 

 certain celestial phenomena return in the same order. 



The Metonic cycle, or the lunar cycle of Meton, is a 

 period of 19 solar years, or 6940 days, in which the 

 conjunctions, and oppositions, and other aspects of the 

 moon, are within an hour of being the same as they 

 were on the same days of the month nineteen years 

 before. This cycle was adopted on the 16th of July, 

 B.C. 433. As the scheme of the festivals was inscribed by 

 the Greeks on a marble pillar in letters of gold, the cur- 

 rent year of this cycle was called the Golden Number. The 

 Metonic cycle, though remarkably simple, is neverthelest 

 far from being exact. A period of 6940 days exceeds 19 

 solar years by 9^ hours, and 235 lunations by 7 hours, 

 and these deviations would, in the course of 4 cycles, or 

 76 years, amount to more than a day. In consequence 

 of this defect, Calippus, who lived about a century after 

 Meton, proposed a new cycle of 27,759 days, which is 

 nearly equal to 76 solar years and 9^0 lunations. This 

 cycle, which supposes the tropical year to be 365^ days, 

 anticipates the full moons only 5 h 53' in 76 years. 



In order to find the golden number, or the current 

 year of the lunar cycle, we must consider that the year 

 of our Saviour's birth, according to the vulgar .-era, was 

 the first year of the lunar cycle ; and, therefore, if we 

 add one to the year of Clirist, for which the golden 

 number is required, and divide the sum by 19, the quo- 

 tient will be the number of cycles which have elapsed 

 eince the birth of Christ, and the remainder will be the 

 golden number or the current year of the cycle. If 

 there is no remainder, the cycle is 19- 



The following Table shews the golden number for 

 4000 years after the Christian zra. By entering the 

 Table on the left hand with the even number of years in 

 the given year, and at the head of the Table with the 

 years less than 100, the golden number will be found at 

 the angle where the columns meet. Thus, if the gol- 

 den number is required for the year 1820, we look for 

 1 800 at the left side, and for 20 at the top, aj)d at the angle 

 we find 16, which it the golden number for that year. 



