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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 824 



the end, and name it the month of Sol, while 

 the suggestion of Professor Eeininghaus is 

 that the extra month be divided into two 

 fortnights, one to follow after June and be 

 called the " summer half -month," and the 

 other to come at the end of the year and be 

 called the " winter half -month." Just why 

 this latter scheme should be, as Professor 

 Eeininghaus claims, more " practical " than 

 to keep the extra month intact, is difficult to 

 see. 



After studying the various schemes of- 

 fered, the following plan would seem the most 

 feasible : 



1. Adopt the arrangement of 7 days to the 

 week, 4 weeks (28 days) to each month, and 

 13 months plus 1 extra day (in leap years 2) 

 to the year. 



2. Place the extra month in the middle of 

 the year between June and July. It should 

 not be named Sol, because in the southern 

 hemisphere the month would come in the 

 dead of winter, and the name would be a mis- 

 nomer. No name borrowed from the old 

 French Revolutionary Calendar (e. g., Therm- 

 idor) would be applicable either, iox the same 

 reason. It might be better to name the new 

 month Rome or Roma, in tribute to the city 

 where both the Julian and the Gregorian 

 Calendars originated, or else give it a name 

 meaning " mid-year." The objection to 

 placing this extra month between December 

 and January is that there would be such a 

 gap between Christmas Day and New Tear's 

 Day, and Christmas would be thrown forward 

 entirely out of a winter month. 



3. Call the extra day New Tear's Day, and 

 do not apply to it the name of any week day. 

 The objections to having Christmas as the 

 extra day are that it does not come as the 

 initial or final day of the year, and many 

 persons, such as orthodox members of the 

 Jewish Church, might reasonably object to 

 such a unique distinction being given to 

 Christmas Day. Non-Christian nations would 

 probably object, too, and as any reform of the 

 calendar should be such as would be inter- 

 nationally acceptable, it would be well to fore- 

 stall all objections, if possible. 



4. Begin every month with Monday. The 

 same monthly calendar would then be re- 

 peated over and over throughout the year, and 

 every one would know by memory the days of 

 the week corresponding to the days of the 

 month. Wall calendars would be absolutely 

 unnecessary except in primary schools. 



5. Call the second extra day in leap years 

 " Leap Day," and let it follow New Tear's 

 Day. 



6. It is rather a fortunate coincidence that 

 according to this plan nearly all of our fixed 

 national and state holidays would come on 

 days other than Sunday: February 12, Feb- 

 ruary 22, March 4, April 19, July 4, October 

 12, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and 

 many others. 



Of course some rearrangement would be 

 necessary with some of them. There are 

 really three kinds of holidays or festivals to 

 be looked after: (a) movable feasts, such as 

 those of the church; (6) fixed dates, such as 

 Christmas, All Saints' day, etc., which shift 

 automatically with any change in the calen- 

 dar, and (c) celebrations of certain days, not 

 dates. For example, Washington was born on 

 February 11 (see the entry in his mother's 

 Bible at Mt. Vernon), but as this was the 

 same day in the old style calendar which we 

 now call February 22, we celebrate the latter 

 day. Perhaps some of the dates in class (c) 

 above mentioned would be shifted for the 

 same reason in a reformed calendar (Wash- 

 ington's birthday itself, for example), but the 

 dates belonging to classes (a) and (&) would 

 take care of themselves. 



7. This proposed calendar would, of course, 

 bring about the occurrence of the vernal 

 equinox several days later than March 21, but 

 it is unlikely that the old controversy over 

 this matter started at the Council of Nicaea 

 and settled in the sixteenth century would 

 again arise. 



8. Any possible confusion in changing 

 calendars would be avoided if at the same 

 time the method invented by Scaliger in 1582 

 for harmonizing all systems of chronology is 

 thoroughly explained to the people in general. 

 According to this system each day has a num- 



