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A. M. W. DOWNING, M.A., D.SC, F.R.S., ON 



even in those early days. But there is no corroborative evidence 

 that would warrant us in drawing such a conclusion. And the 

 statement may plausibly be explained as meaning that the date 

 of the last new moon being known, the date of the next one 

 may be inferred with a considerable degree of confidence. The 

 time of new moon, found from the first visibility of the crescent, 

 must, however, have been subject to some uncertainty, especially 

 during periods of unsettled weather. It appears that, under 

 such circumstances, the Mohammedans, whose calendar is 

 wholly lunar, do not postpone the beginning of the month 

 beyond the third evening after the new moon is expected to 

 appear. It would be natural to suppose that the Jews had 

 some such regulation to guide them. But if they had, it does 

 not appear that any record of the fact has come down to us. 

 The month " Abib " (or " Nisan " as it was afterwards called), 

 the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, is of great 

 interest to us on account of its connection with the Passover, 

 and consequently with Easter. The concurrence of the month 

 with the commencement of spring was ensured by the ordinance 

 that a sheaf of barley was to be offered immediately after the 

 Passover, on the sixteenth day of the month. When, in any 

 year, it was found that the barley would not be ripe in time to 

 be offered in the month which would, by anticipation, have 

 been called Nisan, it was the practice to lengthen the current 

 year by the addition of an extra month. The new year would 

 then commence a month later than it would otherwise have 

 done, thus allowing time for the barley to ripen. In later times 

 the identity of the first month was fixed by its relation to the 

 time of the vernal equinox. It is supposed that the new moon 

 of Nisan was held to be that new moon that occurred nearest 

 to the day of the equinox. 



The practice of determining the time of new moon by 

 observation and announcement by means of messengers sent 

 out to surrounding places, appears to have been continued in 

 Palestine up to the time of the Dispersion of the Jews, con- 

 sequent on the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. It is 

 significant that in outlying districts it was customary even 

 before that event to observe two days for the celebration of the 

 full moons, as there would necessarily be some uncertainty as 

 to the actual day. And it seems necessary to conclude that 

 some special arrangements must have been made, in the case of 

 the large colonies of Jew T s that were settled abroad, e.g., in 

 Egypt, long before the Dispersion, to enable them to observe 

 their religious ceremonies at the proper time. But after the 



