1^ FORMS AND DIVISIONS OF TIME. 



That bright eternal beacon, by whose ray 

 The voyager of time should shape his heedful way. 



Bryant. 



Questions. — 1. What is said of the first division of the stars into 

 constellations ? 2. Why do not the constellations and signs of the 

 zodiac coincide ? 3. What is the present difference between them ? 

 4. At what rate does the change take place ? 5. Describe tne situa- 

 tion of the polar star. 



LESSON 56. <: 



Forms and Divisions of Time. \ 



As the form of the year is various among different na- -\ 

 tions, so is its beginning, llie Jews, like most other na- ; 

 tions of the East, had a civil year, which commenced with 

 the new moon in September; and an ecclesiastical year,  

 which commenced from the new moon in March. The \ 

 Persians besrin their year in the month answering to our 

 June ; the Chinese, and most of the inhabitants of India, ] 

 begin it with the first moon in March ; and the Greeks with :; 

 the new moon that follows the longest day. In England and \ 

 America, the civil or legal year formerly commenced on the ' 

 twenty-fifth of March, and the historical year on the first of * 

 January. But since the alteration of the style, which took '■- 

 place in 1752, the civil year in both countries has likewise | 

 begun on the first of January. I 



The principal division of the year is into parts called j 

 months, which are either astronomical or civil. An astrono- 

 mical or natural month is that which is measured exactly : 

 by the motion of the Earth or Moon, and is accordingly ] 

 either lunar or solar. A lunar month is the time the moon ] 

 takes to revolve round the earth, which she performs in \ 

 twenty-seven days, seven hours, and forty-three minutes. A ; 

 solar month is that space of time in which the earth runs 

 through one of the signs of the zodiac ; as the earth con- 1 

 stantly travels through the twelve signs in three hundred j 

 and sixty-five days five hours and forty-nine minutes, each 

 solar month is found by dividing this number by twelve, to  

 contain thirty days, ten hours, and twenty-nine minutes, j 



