8o 



NA TURE 



[June 24, 1897 



of Man, and Mr. Bennie's discovery of two ancient lake- 

 bottoms near Edinburgh containing an arctic fauna and 

 flora. 



The Second Part of the .A.nnual Report is devoted to 

 the work of the Pateontological Department of the 

 •service, and contains a summary of the chief changes, 

 additions and rearrangements made during the year in 

 the palteontological galleries under the charge of Messrs. 

 Sharman and Newton. 



The general collections in the Museum form the sub- 

 ject of Part iii., wherein Mr. Rudler reports the principal 

 events in the history of the Museum during 1896. It is 

 satisfactory to observe that the collections continue to 

 attract thousands of visitors, and that not only the general 

 public, but schools, natural history societies, students' 

 clubs, and individual students avail themselves of the 

 admirable educational facilities afforded by the collections. 



From what has here been said, it will be seen that 

 the Annual Report of the Director-General of the Geo- 

 logical Survey is not a mere piece of dull statistics, but 

 is an interesting and important contribution to science. 

 It is a volume which will obviously be required in the 

 library of every geologist, for it is crowded with observ- 

 ations which he will find nowhere else. Its publication 

 as a separate work now places it within easy reach, and 

 we trust that its sale will encourage Sir Archibald Geikie 

 to continue the issue qf as full a record in future years 

 with perhaps, if the Stationery Office can be propitiated, 

 •diagrams illustrative of the more important facts de- 

 scribed. In the meantime he and his able staff are to be 

 congratulated on the appearance of so excellent a narra- 

 tive of strenuous and successful labour. 



STYLES OF THE CALENDAR. 

 A T the approach of the end of a century, this subject 

 ^^^ naturally comes to the front again ; but it has lately 

 been somewhat unexpectedly raised to special prominence 

 by the suggested probability of one at least of the 

 Oriental countries of Europe adopting the usage which, 

 ■on the initiative of Rome in 1582, all the western nations 

 gradually accepted, England (we say advisedly England 

 not Britain, because Scotland adopted it before the union 

 •even of the crowns) being the last in 1752. America 

 having been colonised by the western Europeans, and 

 the United States having been still British colonies at 

 the date last mentioned, the Gregorian style is universal 

 in that continent. But eastern Europe, including Russia 

 and all the nationalities of the Balkan peninsula, still 

 adheres to the old Julian style ; and this chiefly because 

 the Christians of these countries belong to the Greek or 

 Eastern Church, though it is difficult to see why this 

 should restrain them from falling in with a change which 

 has many conveniences, and would bring their dates 

 into uniformity with those of the Latin, Teutonic, and 

 Scandinavian nations — an object of increasing import- 

 ance, as intercommunication is constantly becoming 

 more frequent. 



It is understood that for some time past, as the nine- 

 teenth century is drawing to its close, the question of a 

 change has been discussed amongst the officials and 

 astronomers of Russia ; and that a plan was proposed to 

 introduce it not by one operation, but gradually. Prob- 

 ably few persons amongst the general public reflect how 

 essentially twofold the Gregorian alteration was ; the 

 object of making our calendar years correspond more 

 accurately during the centuries with the tropical years 

 of astronomers, so that the dates used should for all 

 future time correspond with the equinoxes and other 

 solar seasons, by no means implies the necessity of 

 cancelling a number of days from the calendar so that 

 these should correspond with what they were at some 

 definite epoch in the past. The reason for this latter 

 was purely ecclesiastical, the purpose being that, in 



NO. 1443, VOL. 56] 



celebrating Easter, the full moon following the vernal 

 equinox should be governed by one bearing the same date 

 as it did at the time of the Council of Nicaia, This 

 the Eastern Church appears to have thought of less 

 consequence than did the Western ; and, indeed, it 

 cannot be proved that on this point the Council did 

 more than decree, in opposition to the so-called Quarto- 

 decimans, that Easter Day should always be kept on a 

 Sunday. However that be, when it was noticed that the 

 vernal equinox (which in the time of Julius Ciesar fell on 

 the 25th of March, but in that of the Council a.d. 325, 

 on the 2 1st), the question was from time to time agitated 

 at Rome of effecting a change in the Julian reckoning. 

 In passing it may be mentioned that Cjesar and 

 Sosigenes the Alexandrian, who assisted him, were quite 

 aware that the true length of the year was somewhat 

 less than 365I days ; the important point of the alter- 

 ation of the calendar then carried out, was the abolition 

 of the former cumbrous system of the Romans by com- 

 bining a solar and lunar chronology with intercalary 

 months, which were constantly falling into confusion, 

 and the adoption of one wholly solar, the months being 

 made artificial divisions, and it being thought that (the 

 exact length of a year being not known) the regular 

 introduction of an additional day every fourth year 

 (making what we call a leap-year) would be quite 

 sufficient for all practical purposes. Pope Sixtus IV. 

 seriously took in hand the question of improving the 

 Julian system, and in consequence of the great reputation 

 of Regiomontanus (as he is commonly called from his 

 birth-place, though his real name was Miiller), who was 

 making observations with his friend Walther at an 

 observatory, the first ever made in Europe, erected by 

 the latter at Niirnberg, sent for him to Rome to assist 

 in this object, but, unfortunately, Miiller died shortly 

 after his arrival in 1476, which was about three years 

 after the birth of Copernicus. The scheme was there- 

 fore again delayed, and was finally executed under the 

 authority of Gregory XIII. in 1582. A century earlier 

 it would have been adopted throughout western Christen- 

 dom ; as it was, the Protestant countries were slow to 

 follow it, and some of the German States at first en- 

 deavoured to make some modifications by using a true 

 instead of a calendar full moon, which did not work 

 well in practice, because the moon is not necessarily full 

 on the same day in different localities. England adopted 

 the Gregorian style in its entirety (already, as we have 

 said, used in Scotland), chiefly at the instance of Lord 

 Chesterfield in 1752 : and long before the end of last 

 century the same rule was observed over western 

 Europe, no further alteration having been made since, 

 though it has often been noticed that even the Gregorian 

 year is not absolutely accurate. 



A definite proposal is now being made in one of the 

 smaller eastern States for the abandonment of the Julian 

 reckoning still observed by them, and the adoption 01 

 the Gregorian style. In the Times of the nth inst , 

 Signor Cesare Tondini de Quarenghi informs English 

 readers that he has drawn up a Bill at the request of the 

 Bulgarian Prime Minister, M. Stoiloff, to be shortly laid 

 before the Sobranye for the purpose of effecting this 

 change in Bulgaria ; and he also states that he has been 

 informed that Russia is desirous that this example should 

 be thus set before being carried out in that country. 

 How that may be, we are not in a position to know, but 

 it is surely desirable (though even astronomers are not 

 unanimous on the point) that the year should correspond 

 on the whole, and as far as practicable, with its true 

 length,whilstuniformity of usage throughout Christendom, 

 would undoubtedly be a gain of convenience. We would 

 fain hope that some international agreement might be 

 come to by which, after the dropping of a leap-year in 

 1900, its regular omission at the end of each period of 

 128 years should be arranged. This would be a more 



