October 26, 191 1] 



NATURE 



557 



PROPOSED REFORM OF THE CALENDAR. 

 T N the issue of Nature for April 27 a concise 

 -*• account was given of the various proposals which 

 have recently been put forward for the reform of the 

 calendar. There is no reason to think that the subject 

 has gained any serious general attention in England, 

 if the fixing of Easter and the dependent festivals be 

 regarded as a distinct question. But it has received 

 a curtain recognition in the discussions of some public 

 bodies of an international character, such as the Con- 

 gress of Chambers of Commerce ; and the Swiss 

 Government has invited a conference for its formal 

 consideration. In order to bring a definite scheme 

 before the public a Calendar Reform Bill was pre- 

 sented to Parliament by Mr. Robert Pearce. The 

 main features of the Bill were briefly described in the 

 article quoted. The first day of the year is called New 

 Year Day, and is placed outside the reckoning of the 

 week and the month. In leap years a day called 

 Leap Day is intercalated between the end of June and 

 the beginning of July, and is equally excluded from 

 the week and the month. By this device there are left 

 364 days in every year, which are divided into four 

 equal quarters of 91 days. Each quarter is sub- 

 divided into three months containing respectively 

 30, 30, and 31 days. Since 364 is exactly divisible by 

 seven, the first of January always falls on the same 

 day of the week, and the result of making this day 

 Monday is to give 26 weekdays in every month, the 

 four longer months containing five Sundays. Every 

 calendar date corresponds to a particular day of the 

 week (e.g. Christmas Day always falls on a Monday), 

 and the calendar is fixed, no longer changing as at 

 present from year to year. 



No doubt such a system possesses slight advantages 

 from the point of view of simplicity over our present 

 calendar. Apart from the objections which must be 

 urged against any disturbance of conventions to which 

 we have grown accustomed on anything less than 

 adequate grounds, the great disadvantage attaches 

 to the scheme that it interrupts the continuity of the 

 weeks. The practical effect of this is seen where two 

 or more calendars are in use side by side. Thus in- 

 convenience must arise even now. from the Jewish 

 Sabbath falling on our Saturday. Under the pro- 

 visions of the Calendar Reform Bill the case would be 

 worse, for it would no longer hold a fixed place in the 

 Christian week. 



A second Bill has now been presented to Parliament, 

 this time by Sir Henry Dalziel. While differing from 

 Mr. Pearce's Bill, the new proposals contain nothing 

 of importance which will be novel to readers of our 

 previous article. For the Bill merely embodies the 

 suggestions made by Mr. John C. Robertson at the 

 fourth International Congress of Chambers of Com- 

 merce held in London in June, 1910. The differences 

 arise in the treatment of the four quarters of 91 days. 

 These are divided into three months containing 

 respectively 28, 28, and 35 days. Thus each month 

 contains an exact number of weeks, and is made to 

 begin with a Sunday. Incidentally it is necessary 

 to move Easter Sunday from April 14, as before 

 proposed, to April 15. Also Christmas Day will fall 

 automatically on a Wednesday instead of on a Mon- 

 day. The advantage of the whole scheme is to obtain 

 commensurability between the month and the week, 

 but it is an advantage dearly bought at the sacrifice 

 of even approximate equality between the months. 

 This necessitates special legal provision for payments 

 in the case of monthly contracts to be made propor- 

 tional to the length of the month concerned. More- 

 over, it requires legal definition for the duration of a 

 " month " from any given date. Thus we understand 

 that a month beginning on any day of the last week 

 NO. 2 191, VOL. 87] 



of a long month (containing 35 days) will close on 

 the last day of the following month. At least, this 

 is the interpretation which, after careful thought, we 

 have placed upon the following interesting example 

 of Parliamentary draughtsmanship : — 



" 8. In calculating monthly periods the following 

 rule shall apply : — In any period beginning in a long- 

 month and ending in a short month, the last day of 

 the short month shall be held to be the corresponding 

 day to any of the days in the last week of the long 

 month." 



If this interpretation be correct, a month may mean 

 any period from 28 to 35 days in length. Surely 

 the clause comes perilously near to a reductio ad 

 absurdum to the whole scheme. We can imagine the 

 following simple problem: — "A domestic servant is 

 engaged on March 32 at 22/. a year. What is the 

 amount of the first monthly payment, and when will 

 it fall due?" We are utterly at a loss to solve the 

 question, and suggest it for the consideration of the 

 framers of the Fixed Calendar Bill. 



The fundamental feature common to both the 

 Bills alluded to is the use of the dies non. Mr. Alex- 

 ander Philip, who was responsible for reviving the 

 idea of this fiction and advocating its practical con- 

 venience, appears to have become impressed with the 

 extent of the opposition likely to be encountered before 

 it can be adopted. Accordingly, in a paper before 

 the section of Economic Science and Statistics, read at 

 the recent meeting of the British Association, and in 

 a pamphlet with which we have been favoured, he 

 seems to have abandoned those who are seeking to 

 give legislative form to his ideas, and to advance a 

 totally different suggestion. This requires that 

 February shall gain two days, that July and October 

 shall each lose one day, and that the extra day in 

 leap-year shall be placed at the end of June. Then 

 in each quarter (now containing three calendar 

 months) a period of twelve weeks (always beginning 

 on a Sunday) can be found, two such successive 

 periods being separated by a week. The idea is that 

 public engagements can be more conveniently fixed by 

 reference to the proposed twelve-week period, while 

 the correspondence between this reckoning and the 

 ordinary calendar can be very simply exhibited by a 

 " perpetual adjustable " arrangement. But this prac- 

 tically means that we should have two calendars side 

 by side, and no further criticism seems to be neces- 

 sary. 



It is fairly evident that the group of people who are 

 bent on introducing a change in our present calendar 

 are not agreed as to the precise form which that 

 change should take. In the meantime it is probable 

 that public opinion in this country is not ripe for any 

 reform. It would welcome a fixed Easter, but it is 

 more than likely that any radical alteration of the 

 calendar would be resented. Since the reformers ad- 

 here to the yearly divisions of the Gregorian system, 

 no scientific question is involved at any point, and 

 the public convenience and public feeling- are alone 

 concerned with the issue. H. C. P. 



NOTES. 

 A somewhat tardy recognition of the service rendered 

 by Amedeo Avogadro to systematic chemistry was made by 

 the unveiling at Turin of a bronze monument to his 

 memory on September 24, erected, as the result of an inter- 

 national subscription, under the auspices of the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences of Turin. The King of Italy presided 

 at the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by 

 nearly all the more eminent Italian chemists and physicists, 

 as well as by a number of representatives of foreign 

 academies, including M. Haller, of the Paris Academy of 



