ITS EARLIEST STAGES. 135 



Julius Caesar, when he became dictator. By the 

 advice of Sosigenes, he adopted the mode of inter- 

 calation of one day in 4 years, which we still retain; 

 and in order to correct the derangement which had 

 already been produced, he added 90 days to a year 

 of the usual length, which thus became what was 

 called the year of confusion. The Julian Calen- 

 dar , thus reformed, came into use, January 1, 

 B. c. 45. 



Sect. 4. Attempts at the Fixation of the Month. 



THE circle of changes through which the moon 

 passes in about thirty days, is marked, in the 

 earliest stages of language, by a word which implies 

 the space of time which one such circle occupies ; 

 just as the circle of changes of the seasons is desig- 

 nated by the word year. The lunar changes are, 

 indeed, more obvious to the sense, and strike a 

 more careless person, than the annual ; the moon, 

 when the sun is absent, is almost the sole natural 

 object which attracts our notice ; and we look at 

 her with a far more tranquil and agreeable atten- 

 tion than we bestow on any other celestial object. 

 Her changes of form and place are definite and 

 striking to all eyes; they are uninterrupted, and 

 the duration of their cycle is so short as to require 

 no effort of memory to embrace it. Hence it ap- 

 pears to be more easy, and in earlier stages of 

 civilization more common, to count time by moons 

 than by years. 



