804 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 



montlis. This necessitates special legal pro- 

 vision for payments in the ease of monthly 

 contracts to be made proportional to the length 

 of the month concerned. Moreover, 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 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 fol- 

 lowing rule shall apply: In any period begin- 

 ning 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 considera- 

 tion 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. Alexander Philip, who was responsible for 

 reviving the idea of this fiction and advocating 

 its practical convenience, appears to have be- 

 come impressed with the extent of the opposi- 

 tion 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 favored, 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 practically means that we should have 

 two calendars side by side, and no furthfer 

 criticism seems to be necessary. 



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 pre- 

 cise 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 re- 

 formers adhere to the yearly divisions of the 

 Gregorian system, no scientific question is in- 

 volved at any point, and the public conveni- 

 ence and public feeling are alone concerned 

 with the issue. — H. C. P. in Nature. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Methode der Ethnologie. By F. Graebnee. 

 Kulturgeschichtliche Bibliothek, Heraus- 

 gegeben von W. Foy. Serie I., Ethnolo- 

 gische Bibliothek, Vol. I., Heidelberg, Carl 

 Winter, 1911. 



Mr. Graebner is one of the serious and 

 broad-minded students who are not satisfied 

 with an accumulation of facts, but who are 

 carrying through their own investigations 

 according to a well-considered plan, and who 

 try to contribute to science in a certain well- 

 defined line of research and look for results 

 that have a definite bearing upon the whole 

 field of their inquiries. In the present book 

 Mr. Graebner gives us a statement of the 

 method that he is following and which will 

 interest all ethnologists. If, however, Mr. 

 Graebner calls his method the method of 

 ethnology, we can not agree with him. He 

 must not expect that all ethnologists will limit 

 the field of their researches in the way set forth 



