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E. WALTER MAUNDER^ ESQ., E.R.A.S., ON 



since in practical life we cannot deal with fractions of a day, and 

 a month is not an exact multiple of a day, for its mean length is 

 equal to 29'5306 days, and a year is not an exact multiple either 

 of the day or of the month, for it is equal to 365' 2422 days, or 

 12-37 months. 



In western Europe at the present time no attempt is made to 

 divide our time by the natural month : we really reckon only by 

 years, counting 365 days to the year in most cases, and 366 

 days to the year in the remainder. We divide the year arbitrarily 

 into 12 portions, varying in length from 28 days to 31, and these 

 we call " months," because they appear to have been long ago 

 once regulated by the moon. 



The Mahommedans, on the other hand, use months only, and 

 their so-called years are merely an arrangement for reckoning 

 their months in dozens. 



We in western Europe begin our year with the first of January, 

 an arbitrary date, having no fixed relationship to any given phase 

 of the moon or direct connection with any specified position of 

 the sun. 



The Mosaic Calendar, on the other hand, was directly dependent 

 both on the natural year and on the natural month. The reckon- 

 ing employed was therefore strictly luni -solar ; in contrast with 

 the Mahommedan, which is purely lunar, and with the Christian 

 civil reckoning, which is purely solar. To bring this about would 

 seem to be a difficult problem, but the Mosaic Calendar solves it 

 in a way both simple and complete. 



The first reference to the Mosaic Calendar in the books of Moses 

 occurs in Exodus xii, which, as we have seen, lays it down that 

 the year is to begin with the month in which the Israehtes came 

 forth from Egypt : the month, that is, in which the original 

 Passover was held : — 



" This month shall be unto you the beginning of months : 

 it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Exodus 

 xii, 2.) 



In the instructions which were given later for the second and 

 all future celebrations of the Passover, it was enjoined that : — 



" Ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest 

 unto the priest : and he shall wave the sheaf before the 

 Lord, to be accepted for you : on the morrow after the 



