December 8, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



803 



made under several heads, as, e. g., professors, 

 associate professors, assistant professors, resi- 

 dent lecturers (librarians and medical direc- 

 tors might be counted here), instructors, and 

 student assistants. 



But counting a person a full teacher merely 

 because he teaches the average number of 

 hours, gives no proper estimate of the strength 

 of the school. The salaries paid, if taken in 

 connection with the number of teachers, may 

 well furnish such an index. Thus if six 

 grades of instructors are tabulated as sug- 

 gested above, and in addition, the sum-total 

 of salaries paid for instruction is given, that 

 should suffice to give an equitable rating, as 

 well as to convey explicitly the information 

 desired. 



Charles Hart Handschin 



QUOTATIONS 



THE PROPOSED REFORM OF THE CALENDAE 



In the issue of Nature for April 27 a con- 

 cise 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 

 certain recognition in the discussions of some 

 public bodies of an international character, 

 such as the Congress of Chambers of Com- 

 merce; and the Swiss government has invited 

 a conference for its formal consideration. In 

 order to bring a definite scheme before the 

 public a Calendar Eeform Bill was presented 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 Tear Day, and is placed outside 

 the reckoning of the week and the month. In 

 leap years a day called Leap Day is inter- 

 calated between the end of June and the be- 

 ginning 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 subdivided 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 Mon- 

 day is to give 26 weekdays in every month, 

 the four longer months containing five Sun- 

 days. Every calendar date corresponds to a 

 particular day of the week (e. g., Christmas 

 Day always falls on a Monday), and the cal- 

 endar 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 sim- 

 plicity over our present calendar. Apart from 

 the objections which must be urged against 

 any disturbance of conventions to which 

 we have grown accustomed on anji;hing 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 inconvenience must 

 arise even now from the Jewish Sabbath fall- 

 ing on our Saturday. Under the provisions 

 of the Calendar Eeform 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 be- 

 fore proposed, to April 15. Also Christmas 

 Day will fall automatically on a Wednesday 

 instead of on a Monday. The advantage of 

 the whole scheme is to obtain commensura- 

 bility between the month and the week, but it 

 is an advantage dearly bought at the sacrifice 

 of even approximate equality between the 



