April 19, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



The table given here is good for any year. 

 Two months of 30 days are followed by one 

 month of 31 days, making 13 weeks in each 

 quarter. January, April, July and October 

 are exactly alike. The first day of these four 

 months is Monday — it is the same in every 

 year. The first day of February, May, August 

 and November is always Wednesday, and the 

 first day of March, June. September and 

 December is always Friday. 



Each quarter has exactly 91 days; the 

 monthless days (Year-Day and Leap-Day), be- 

 ing holidays, may be left out of account in 

 reckoning interest, rents, wages, etc. Birth- 

 days, wedding amiiversaries, holidays and 

 other notable dates fall on the same day of 

 the week every year. Election Day is always 

 November 7; Inauguration Day is always 

 Monday. A college or school which opens on 

 (say) the third Tuesday in September would 

 always open September 19. These are but a 

 few of the many ways iu which reckoning is 

 simplified. 



Any person of ordinary intelligence can 

 readily find the day of the week for any date 

 in any year according to this Calendar. In a 

 few minutes one can learn to associate Mon- 

 day, Wednesday and Friday with the proper 

 months, and the rest is easy. Even a school- 

 child could answer without difficulty such ques- 

 tions as were asked at the outset, though they 

 effectually baffle most of us under the present 

 system. The Gregorian Calendar has fourteen 



rather similar in 1884, but Monsieur Grosclaude 

 seems to have been given the first definite formula- 

 tion. (See Journal Suisse d'horlogerie, 1900, t4 

 pp. 378-9, and table on p. 356; also note in Sevue 

 scientifigue, 1900, 4's. IS, p. 766, where the present 

 writer first saw it.) Flammarion repeated his pro- 

 posal in 1901 (La Bevue. S7, pp. 233-246). Alex- 

 ander Philip proposed virtually the same plan in 

 1814. ("Reform of the Calendar," London: 

 Kegan Paul, pp. 127.) 



Several different schemes have also been sug- 

 gested; e. g., 13 months of 28 days each; and the 

 matter was once discussed by an international 

 commission. See also a number of communications 

 in ScrENCE, 1910, SS. The writer is unable to find 

 that the idea of g^rouping the year-days into 

 "year- weeks" has ever been suggested before. 



different yearlj- arrangements; each of these 

 involves a table of twelve months. The New 

 Era Calendar calls for only one table of three 

 monilts. If we consider the table of extra 

 days as doubling the complexity of our scheme, 

 the New Era Calendar is still twenty-five 

 times simpler than the Gregorian. 



Among the reconstructions which will un- 

 doubtedly follow the war, would it not be 

 worth while to adopt a common-sense Calendar? 

 Howard C. Warrex 



Princetox XTxiversitt 



CHEMICAL LITERATURE AND ITS USE 



BvNSEN says, there are two distinct classes 

 of men, those who work to enlarge the bound- 

 aries of knowledge, and those who apply that 

 knowledge to practical uses. If we agree with 

 a recent declaration that "chemistry is the 

 intelligence department of industry," the 

 modern chemist and particularly the chemical 

 engineer, who is called on to answer all ques- 

 tions for every industry as well as know his 

 own subject, needs to be aware of all possible 

 sources of information. 



Thus, a first-class chemist (including here 

 the chemical engineer) must know and be able 

 to use not books, only, but the periodical 

 literature, journals, publications of societies 

 and governments. He requires, then, a read- 

 ing knowledge of German, with French if 

 possible, and sufficient practise in English to 

 enable him to make, both orally and in writ- 

 ing, a concise, clear report of work accom- 

 plished or planned, this being in addition to 

 technical skill gained by training, and a liking 

 for his work. 



Specific training in this use of literature 

 becomes a real problem where there are a 

 number of students engaged individually in 

 more or less advanced stages of research work, 

 as seniors and graduate students. 



Such training is given to a certain extent 

 under various names, in a number of Ameri- 

 can technical schools and universities. Sen- 

 iors are directed to find first what has been 

 done on any problem assigned them. Even 

 sophomores realize that the class texts are not 

 the only books, while some join the American 



