918 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 834 



The calendar I would suggest puts four 

 weeks of seven days each in eight months, and 

 five weeks of seven days in March, June, Sep- 

 tember and December. Every fifth year a 

 leap week is added to December, except that 

 the last leap week is omitted each forty years, 

 save the tenth; and each 20,000 years, save 

 the tenth — time periods being reckoned since 

 Christ. Thus there would be no leap week in 

 1960, 2040, 2080, etc., but there would be in 

 2000, 2400, 2800, etc., and again there would 

 be no leap week in 20,000, 40,000, 60,000, etc., 

 but there would be in 200,000, 400,000, 600,000, 

 etc. 



This provides for exactly the same number 

 of days in a four-hundred-year period as the 

 current calendar, and it makes a necessary 

 correction beyond the four-hundred-year 

 periods not provided for in the Gregorian 

 calendar, thus reducing the error in the aver- 

 age length of the year from 26 seconds to less 

 than 1 second. 



Even the present calendar must be corrected 

 daily for any exact measurements or compu- 

 tations; while, with the great meteorological 

 variations in seasons, the adjustment proposed 

 for the five- and forty-year periods could not 

 be detected in single-year weather records and 

 would be quite as acceptable as present ad- 

 justments for the four-year and century 

 periods. 



We are already accustomed to months with 

 the number of days varying from 28 to 31. 

 Indeed, probably half the people look to the 

 wall calendar to learn how many days the 

 month contains ; and to date a letter " Sep- 

 tember 35 " or even " December 42 " (once in 

 five years) would be systematic and simple in 

 comparison with " Gregorian Week T " or 

 "ISTew Year's Day, 1911," when that is to 

 designate not the first day, but the last day 

 of 1911. 



It is suggested that the calendar proposed 

 above be considered as becoming eilective on 

 Sunday, January 1, 1956; that it be called 

 Peace Calendar and its inauguration mark the 

 beginning of permanent peace among the civ- 

 ilized nations, time thereafter being desig- 



nated P.O., when necessary to distinguish 

 from O.S. or N.S. Cyril G. Hopkins 



Univeesitt op Illihois, 

 December 1, 1910 



''^ AMCEBA MELEAGRIDIS 



To THE Editor of Science: In a recent is- 

 sue of Science' Dr. Theobald Smith makes 

 certain comments on a recent published report" 

 by the undersigned, in which he dissents from 

 the position taken by us regarding the relation 

 of blackhead in turkeys to avian coccidiosis. 

 Little is to be gained by a controversial dis- 

 cussion which makes no mention of details, 

 and such will not be undertaken in this com- 

 munication, but there are one or two points in 

 Dr. Smith's communication which deserve 

 notice. 



The writers made observations which showed 

 the relation of coccidiosis to certain cases of 

 blackhead, and demonstrated what they be- 

 lieved to be the relation of Amoeba melear/ridis 

 to the coccidium described. The evidence for 

 the conclusions can not be repeated here; for 

 the details the reader is referred to the bul- 

 letin in question. It may be said, however, as 

 a result of further investigations by one of the 

 writers, that some confusion probably existed 

 between certain stages of the coccidium and 

 stages in the development of certain flagel- 

 lated organisms, but neither the earlier ob- 

 servations of the undersigned, nor any that 

 have been made more recently by one of the 

 writers, have given any warrant for assuming 

 the existence of Amosha meleagridis. The 

 reasons for not so considering the organisms 

 found in the diseased tissues qf turkeys af- 

 fected with blackhead are stated in full in the 

 report, and the only evidence which Dr. 

 Smith has brought forward as supporting a 

 contrary view, since the publication of his 

 first description in 1895, is given in a foot-note 

 to his recent communication (loc. cit., p. 512), 



' 1910, N. S., Vol. XXXII., No. 824, October 14, 

 pp. 509-512. 



^ " Blackhead in Turkeys : A Study in Avian 

 Coccidiosis," Bull. 141, Rnode Island Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, 1910. 



