CALENDAR. 



, %!!.in Chrfian, is ihat whfrcin the '''^•» "^ 

 • Iterm^iicd by the Icfcrd A, V>, C, D, t-. 



>■ O. bv .rrins of tlu- fol...- cycl. ; and the nov h'hI tnll ._, 



moun.. crp--c..ily th. pafcl.al f.,11 ..mon, wth tl.c f.all o* + 



Eiair, and the other moveable fcalh (K-pc"d"'g ihtreon, by 60749 



ma.is of £;<.ld<-a numbers rightly d.fpof.d through the ^^^^y 



CAt.tt»PA« 



tSi? week arc 

 Y. C, bv irrins 



+ 



JJ13 

 3.8' 



1441 



4067 



J4;^' 067' 98J 



+ 

 9447 



i288' 



1242/ 



ediiiK' article. See alfo CyCLF. 



Julian year. Sec the preco 

 and GMn NoMBER. 



CalEndA!1, Gregorian, is that ivhich, by incans of f pafts, 

 ri'htly difpofed through the feveral months, determi::es the 

 nov and full moons, and the time of Eafter, with the 

 moveable fcalls depending t+iercon, in the Gregorian year. 

 Tile Gregorian calendar, therefore, differs from the Julian, 

 both in the form of the year, and in that epafts are lubtli- 

 tuted in lieu of golden numbers ; for the ufe and difpohtion 

 whereof, fee Epact. 



Though the Gregorian, calendar be preferable to the Ju- 

 lian, y'^it is not without its defers (perhaps, as Tycho 

 Brahe and Cadini imagine, it is impoffible ever to bring the 

 thing to a perfcd juftncfs). For, tirft, the Gregorian in- 

 tercalation does not hinder but that the equinox fometimes 

 fuccceds the 2 ill of March, as far as the 2jd ; and fome- 

 times anticipates it, falling on the 19th ; and the full moon, 

 which falls on the 20th of March, is fometimes the pafchal ; 

 yet not fo accounted by the Gregorians. On the other 

 hand, the Gregorians account the full moon of the 2 2d of 

 Maxell the paichal ; which yet, falling before the equinox, 

 is not pafchal. In the firll cafe, therefore, Eafter is cele- 

 brated in an irregular month ; in the latter, there are two 

 Eallers in the fame ecclefnftical year. In like manner, the 

 cyclical computation being founded on mean full moons, 

 which yet may precede or follow the true ones by fome 

 hours, the pafchal full moon may fall on Saturday, which 

 is yet referred by the cycle to Sunday ; whence, in the firll 

 cafe, Ealler is celebrated eight days later than it fhould be ; 

 in the other, it is celebrated on the very day of the full 

 •moon, with the Jews and Qu^artodeciman heretics, contrary 

 to the decree of the council of Nice. Masftlin, Vieta, Sca- 

 Tiger, Calvifius, and other mathematicians, fliew other faults 

 in the Gregorian calendar, arifing from the negligence and 

 inadvertency of the authors. 



Clavius, to whom the conduft of this bufinefs was af- 



172S00 , . , , 1 • 1 , 



— ^ — ^— ; that IS, one dav ought to be intercalated 

 41851 ■ ^ 



in the fpace of 4 years, or rather 4 days in 17 years, or 8 

 days in 33 years, &c. If 41,851 days were intercalated in 

 172,800 years, there would be no error. The ligns + and 

 the _ indicate, that the number of intercalary days above 

 wliicli they aie placed is too great or too fmall. Every 

 fucceedlng number is more accurate than that which goes 

 before. As this method of interpolation is different from 

 that now in ufe, it is obvious that the Gregorian calendar 

 muft be correfted after a certain period of years. The cor- 

 rection, however, will be iuconfiderable for many ages, as it 

 will amount only to a day and a half, which is to be fup- 

 prtfled in the fpace of jodo years. 



Calendar, reformed, or correSed, is that which, fetting 

 afide all apparatus of golden numbers, epafts, and domini- 

 cal letters, retrenches 1 1 days from the calendar, and deter- 

 mines the equinox, with the pafchal full moon, and the 

 moveable fealls depending thereon, by aftronomical compu- 

 tation, according to the Rudolphine tables of Kepler, agree- 

 ably to the firll council of Nice. The perfon who projsfted 

 this plan was Erhard Weigel. 



Upon the death of Weigel in 1699, the projeft was fub- 

 mitted by the diet to the confideration of Sturmius, pro- 

 fefTor of mathematics at Altdorff; Hamberger, profefTor at 

 Jena; pnd Meyer, proftfTor at Ratifbon. In confequence 

 of their report, this calendar was introduced among the 

 proteftant ftates of Germany, in the year 1700, when 11 

 days were at once thrown out of the month of February ; 

 fo that in 1700, February had but 18 days; by this means 

 the correfted ftyle agrees with the Gregorian. This alte- 

 ration in the form of the year they admitted for a time, in 

 expeclation that the real quantity of the tropical year being 

 at length more accurately determined by obfcrvation, the 

 Romanills would agree with them on fome more convenient 

 intercalation. 



Calendar, Frenchox Republican. Soon after the govern- 

 ment was changed in France, it was decreed on the 2d of 



figned, after the death of Lilrjs, compofed in j6oj a large January 1792, that this vear (hould be denominated the 

 work m vindication of it, and fuccef^fully co;nbated its ad- f^^yrth of liberty on their' coins, and in their afts. A.fter 

 verfaries. Deftds, it is acknowledged, are to be found in ^j^g jj^ath of Louis XVI. in 1793, it was determined that 



this calendar; but the reformers deferve praife for what ~ . - _ . 



thev aftually did, in an undertaking which does not admit 

 of perfection. Dr. Playfair, in his " Syllem of Chrono- 

 logy," p. 19, obferves, that the method of intercalation ufcd 

 in the Gregorian calendar is not the molt accurate. Ninety- 

 feven days, or 100-3, ^'^ inferted in the fpace of four cen- 

 turies. This fiippofes the tropical year to confiil of 365'', 



5'', 49', 12". On this fnppofition, the interpolation would 



be exafl, and the error would fcarctly exceed one day in 



268, ceo years. But the reformers of the calendar made 



ufe of the Copcrnican year of ..;65', 5\ 49', 20''. Inftead, 



therefore, of inferting 97 days in 400 years, they ought to 



have added, at proper intervals, 41 days in 169 years, or 



90 days in 371 years, or 131 in 540 years, &c. 



Recent obfervations have determined the quantity of the 



tropical year to be l6^\ 5\ 48', 45!". Admitting this to 



be the true quantity of it, the intercalations ought to be 



made as follows ; 



this year (liould be called the firll of the republic, and this 

 fuggclled the idea of a republican calendar. Accordingly, 

 on the 1 2th of January, 1793, the deputy Romme, preii- 

 dent of the committee of public inllruAion under the con- 

 vention, applied to the Academy of Sciences for a comraif- 

 fion to deliberate on this fubjcft ; but M. de la Lande pro- 

 tefted againll the change of the calendar. He was obligedj 

 however, to acquiefcc, and to prepare a new calendar. 

 After the example of the Egyptians, he preferred 12 equal 

 months, with five intercalary days, and he adapted their 

 denominations to the climate of Paris, which Fabre d'Eg- 

 lantine exprefTed by the following terms, viz. Vendemiaire, 

 or vintage month ; Brumaire, or foggy month ; Frimmrr, 

 or fleety month ; Nivofe, or fnowy month ; PhrSioJe, or 

 rainy month ; Fenlofe, or windy month ; Germinal, or bud- 

 ding month ; Floreal, or flowery month ; Prairial, or mea- 

 dow month ; Meffidor, or harveft month ; Thermidor, or 

 hot month ; and Fruaidor, or fruit month. The firft month 

 begins September 23 ; the fecond, Odober 23 ; the third, 

 November 22 ; the fourth, December 23 ; the fifth, Ja- 

 nuary 21 ; the Cxth, February 20; the feventh, March 22; 



the 



