J. W. French on a new Period in Chronology. 173 
Making the years Gregorian, and calling the initial year of 
the Christian Era, 0, J place the beginning of the Precession Period 
at 12,693 B.C 
Instantly we have by that arrangement, the advantages which 
have brought the Julian Period into favor. 
We can find the solar cycle, the golden number, the Roman 
Indiction (correctly as. we would from the J ulian Period) by 
the following simple rules: 
1, To express any year before or after Christ in the corres- 
pondent number in the Precession-Period: For any year ge 
Christ, deduct from 12,693, the figures of the year B. C.: 
any year after aay dd to the same number (12,698) the fig- 
ures of the yea 
Thus 752 B. ©. “a 58 historical reckoning) is 11,941 P. P. The 
present year 1870 A. D. is 1,870+12,6938=14, 563 P. P. (We 
use P, P! as abreviation for Precession-Period. 
2. To find the Golden Number, Solar Cyele, and Roman In- 
diction for any year before or after Christ: 1. Turn the year “a 
manac for this year, I find the answer correct. Tt ; 1ves the 
mang Number as 9, the Solar Cycle as 3, the Roman Indiction 
as 
The See war: has then in this particular, equal util- 
ity with the Jul 
The other aivisieats that of a fixed standard of time ex- 
tending back in past history, it possesses, and adds the great 
benefit of adequate length in bot eho. to ve 693 B. C., 
and on to 13,179 A. D.: the whole forming on e precession. 
And this precession is not like the Julian Period, an arbitrary 
straight line stretched over a small portion of duration. It is 
a definite circle marked on the face of the heavens. The pre- 
od 
point of ayer When the wholé Saas of the Toiise is 
swept, and the first degree of celestial longitude is again by 
Spica Virginis, the period is completed. 
Surely it is better to adopt such a period for our almanacs 
and histories than the inferior one called the Julia 
ut beyond the historical and chronological ae in the sub- 
divisions of the Precession-Period, are the advantages of that 
period as a unit for Astronomy and Geology. We want a unit 
