1013 



YEAR. 



YEW. 



1031 



are of the >ame name. 



less than 242 in 999. This last excess, 242 days in 999 years, is so 

 very correct, that it is most fortunate that Gregoi-y's advisers did not 

 know it, for they would in that case have adopted it and saddled our 

 world with a most troublesome omission of intercalations for the 

 benefit of posterity of 50,000 years hence. As it is, the excess of 1000 

 mean Gregorian years above as many of 365 days is 242'5 days : it 

 would have been nearer the truth had it been 242'242 days. Accord- 

 ingly 1000 mean Gregorian years are too long by about a quarter of a 

 day ; more correctly, 3600 years give an eiror of a day. Delambre 

 proposed that the Anni Domini 3600, 7200, 10,800, &c., should not be 

 leap years, which they are to be in the Gregorian calendar. If the 

 world should last till A.D. 3600, we hope the correction will be called by 

 Delambre 's name ; if his memory should then have perished, still 

 more will that of the present article, so that there is no use in pressing 

 the point. 



The European years have been made to begin at such different 

 periods, that the historical inquirer ia frequently puzzled. We have 

 mentioned those which relate to our country in PERIODS OF REVOLU- 

 TION'. The 25th of December, the 1st of January, the 1st of March, 

 the 25th of March, and Easter, have all been in use. 



In regard to the common year as it now stands, there are several 

 things which it will be useful to remember. We can hardly forbear 

 to quote the verges which are so constantly in use, but we will do 

 it from a version of 1596, in an arithmetical work : 



Thittie dales hath September, 

 Aprill, June, and November, 

 Februarie erght and twentie alone, 

 All the rest thirtie and one. 



The common year begins and ends on the same day of the week ; 

 leap-year ends on the next day. Thus 1843, not being leap-year, ends 

 i.:i Sunday, as it began; had it been leap-year, it would have ended 

 mi Monday. Many of those who call the year 52 weeks are hardly 

 aware that it is 52 weeks and a day, or when leap-year, two days. 



To find the day of the month without an almanac, it is very useful 

 to know the first day in each month which has the snmo name as the 

 first day of the year, as in the following list : 



lit of January, October, 



2nd of April, July, 



3rd of September, December, 



4th of June, 



5th of February, March, November, 



6th of August, 



7th of May, 



Thus in the year 1843 all the days just mentioned are Sundays, 

 the same as the first day of the year. If these days could be connected 

 by some decent doggerel, such as that already quoted, any one who 

 remembers them would only have to bear in mind the name in the 

 week of the Brut day of the current year, and would thus have a point 

 to start from in every month. 



Since the above recommendation wan given, such verses as were 

 a-ked for appeared in the ' Notes and Queries,' as follows : 



" The Brt of October, you'll Bnd if you try, 

 The second of April, a* well as July, 

 The third of September, which rhymes to De:ember, 

 The fourth day of June, and no other, rciur nibi r, 

 The fifth of the leap-month, of March and November, 

 The sixth day of Augmt, and seventh of May, 

 Show the first of the year in the name of the day. 

 But in leap-year, when leap-month has duiy been reckoned, 

 Thasc month dates will show, not the first, bat the second." 



The Mohammedan year is one of twelve lunar months, of 30 and 29 

 days alternately, the last month, however, having 30 days in intercalary 

 yean. To keep the months to the new moons, a cycle of thirty .years 

 is used, in which there are eleven intercalated years, being 



2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29, 



i.i tl- cycle. This makes a very good lunar cycle : it supposes 10,631 

 days to be an exact number of lunations, which it is within about a 

 .dth of a day, giving an error of a day in 2500 years. Of course 

 the Mohammedan year is vague, its beginning retrograding through 

 tin- different seasons of the solar year. The mode given in TURKISH 

 . v does Tery well to determine the commencement, except 

 that when the Christian year contains the commencements of two 

 Mohammedan years, the rule will only give one ; the other, however, 

 may easily be inferred. When the comparison of dates is to be very 

 close, no easy rule will be sufficient, and recourse must be had either 

 to the list in the ' Art de verifier lej Dates,' to the rule and supple- 

 mentary tables in the ' Companion to the Almanac ' for 1830, or to 

 a sufficient method in De Morgan's ' Book of Almanacs.' The year 1 

 ..f the Hegira begins from July 10, 622, and the year 1260 begins 

 January 10, 1844. But from and after the year A.D. 1583 (991 of the 

 Hegirai the ' Art de verifier les Dates ' gives two commencements for 

 every year (the second twelve days later than the first), which are, it 



rt-ry far back in the middle age ; if o, their year wa better than the 

 Gregorian. 



says, according to the old calendar and the new one : no mention is 

 made of this distinction, that we can find, iu the introduction to that 

 work, nor in other common sources. Our ' Nautical Almanac ' gives 

 the commencements according to the new calendar. 



The unwise attempt made by the French, during their first revolu- 

 tion, to alter the names and dispositions of the years and months, 

 might now be quietly consigned to oblivion, if it were not that many 

 excellent works bear the revolutionary dates upon their title pages, and 

 political occurrences are frequently referred to them during the short 

 period of their florescence. The year 1 of this period was made to 

 begin September 22, 1792 ; each period of four years, or Franciad, had 

 an Olympic or bissextile at its end. The three omitted leap-years of 

 the Gregorian correction were found by the same rule as before, rela- 

 tively to the years ending with 00 : and the 4000th year was not to be 

 leap-year. The year consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, with five 

 sacred days at the end, dedicated to Virtue, Genius, Labour, Opinion, 

 and Reward ; the bissextile day being appropriated every fourth 

 year to the renewal of the oath of liberty. For further detail see 

 KALEXDAR. 



YEAR-BOOKS. [REPORTS.] 



YEAST, or FERMENT, a substance which is deposited in an in- 

 soluble state during the fermentation of wine, beer, and vegetable 

 juices. This substance, as is well known, is employed to produce fer- 

 mentation iu saccharine solutions. According to Liebig, the insoluble 

 part of yeast does not cause fermentation, for he states that if it be 

 " carefully washed with water, care being taken that it is always covered 

 with water, the residue does not produce fermentation." Neither, 

 according to the same authority, does the soluble part of yeast excite 

 fermentation until it has been allowed to cool in contact with the air, 

 and to remain some time exposed to its action ; if in this state it be 

 introduced into a solution of sugar, it produces brisk fermentation. 



Yeast is a product of the decomposition of gluten, and when added 

 to a solution of pure sugar, it gradually disappears ; but when added 

 to vegetable juices which contain gluten as well as sugar, it is repro- 

 duced by the decomposition of the gluten, in the same way as it was 

 originally formed. According to Professor Graham, the action of yeast 

 and all other ferments is destroyed by the temperature at which water 

 boils, by alcohol, by acids, salts of mercury, sulphurous acid, chlorine, 

 iodine, bromine, by aromatic substances, volatile oils, and particularly 

 empyreumatic oils, smoke, and a decoction of coffee ; these bodies in 

 some cases combining with the ferments or effecting their decom- 

 position. 



Mr. Fownes gives the following as one mode of producing yeast 

 without the aid of a ferment. Wheaten flour and water are mixed to 

 the consistence of a paste, and slightly covered up in a warm place ; a 

 sour odour is produced, and carbonic acid gas given off, about the third 

 day ; by about the sixth day the odour becomes vinous rather than 

 sour ; and then the substance has practically become yeast, or a sub- 

 stitute for it. It may be either used at once, or laid by for future use. 

 In the latter case, it is made into small thin cakes, and dried in the 

 air ; when about to be used, the cakes are dissolved. This is nearly 

 equivalent to the ancient mode of making lemen. Mr. Cooley describes 

 a mode of making yeast with the aid of a ferment. About J Ib. bean- 

 Hour u boiled for half an hour in 6 quarts of water. The solution is 

 poured into a vessel; 3J Ibs. wheat-flour is added and stirred in ; when 

 cooled down to about 55 Fahr., 2 quarts of beer-yeast are added ; and 

 when the mixture has fermented for 24 hours, 7 Ibs. of barley-flour or 

 bean-flour is thrown in. The composition is kneaded into dough, made 

 iuto cakes, and kept iu'a dry place till wanted for use. 



This subject is further illustrated under BREAD; BREWING; FI:R- 



MK.NT. 



YELLOW. [CALICO-PRIXTINO ; DYEING.] 



YELLOW FEVER. [FEVEII, YELLOW.] 



YELLOW OCHRE. [COLOURING MATTERS.] 



YEW, Economical Uset of. Nearly every part of the yew tree is 

 applied to some useful purpose. Considered as timber, the wood is 

 hard, compact, of a fine and close grain, flexible, elastic, easy to split, 

 and little affected by atmospheric changes. It varies in tint from 

 orange-red to deep brown, with a hard white sap-wood. Both the real 

 wood and the sap-wood will take a very high polish. It has been found 

 that the wood, when cut into thin veneers before being seasoned, and 

 steeped some months in a pond, took a purple-violet colour. Yew 

 timber takes a long time to dry, but shrinks little during the drying ; 

 showing that the moisture contained, though npt large in quantity, 

 clings with great obstinacy among the fibres. The fineness of its grain 

 renders it well fitted for cabinet-making purposes, when used as, a veneer 

 and polished. The wood is converted by the turner into vases, boxes, 

 and numerous kinds of useful and ornamental articles. Beautifully 

 veined pieces are often obtained from the root and the knots of the 

 branches. Yew is one of the best of all kinds of timber for hydraulic 

 engineering, such as water-pipes, pumps, piles, &c., on account of its 

 power of resisting the action both of air and water. In France axle- 

 trees are often made of yew. The branches are useful for making 

 stakes and hoops ; and the young shoots for baskets and ties. Yew, in 

 its power of repelling or resisting vermin, has been recommended as a 

 good material for wooden bedsteads. Before the invention of gun- 

 powder the most important use of the yew was in making bows for the 

 archers. Roger Ascham, in his ' Toxophiles/ published in 1544, states 



