yis 
ing their time by. Or the civil is the tropical 
re_ar, considered as only consisting of a cer- 
tain number ot whole days ; the odd hours 
and minutes being set aside, to render the 
computation of time, in the common occa- 
sions of life, more easy. As the tropical year 
is 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, or almost 
365 days, 6 hours, which is 365 days and a 
quarter; therefore if the civil year ‘is made 
365 days, every fourth year it must be 366 
days, to keep nearly to the course of the sun. 
And hence the civil year is either common or 
bissextile.' The- 
Common civil year, is that consisting of 
365 days ; having seven months of thirty-one 
days each, four of thirty days, and one ot 
twenty-eight days ; as indicated by the fol- 
lowing well-known memorial verses : 
Thirty days hath September, 
April, June, and November ; 
• February twenty-eight alone. 
And all the rest have thirty-one. 
Bissextile or leap-year, consists of 366 
days, having one day extraordinary, called 
the intercalary, or bissextile day, which takes 
place every fourth year. This additional 
day to every fourth year, was first introdu- 
ced by Julius Ciesar ; who, to make the civil 
years keep pace with the tropical ones, con- 
trived that the six hours which the latter ex- 
ceeded the former, should make one day in 
four years, and be added be; ween the 24th 
and 23d of February, which was their sixth 
of the calends of March ; and as they then 
counted this day twice over, or had bis sexto 
calendas, hence the year itself came to be 
called bis sextus, and bissextile. 
Among us, however, the intercalary day 
is not introduced by counting the 23d of 
February twice over, but by adding a day at 
the end of that month, which therefore in that 
year contains 29 days. 
The civil or legal year, in England, for- 
merly commenced on the day of the annun- 
ciation, or 25th of March ; though the his- 
torical year began on the day of the Circum- 
cision, or 1st of January ; on which day the 
German and Italian year also begins. The 
part of the year between these two terms 
was usually expressed both ways ; as 1745-6, 
or 1741-. But by the act for altering the 
style, the civil year now commences with the 
1st «f January. 
Antient Roman year. This was the lunar 
year, which, as first settled by Romulus, con- 
tained only ten months, of unequal numbers 
of days, in the following order : viz. 
March 31, April 30, May 31, June 30, 
Quintilis 31, Sextilis 30, September 30, Oc- 
tober 31, November 30, December 30, in all 
304 days ; which came short of the true lunar 
year by 50 days, and of the solar by 61 days, 
lienee the beginning of Romulus’s year was 
vague, and unfixed to any precise season ; 
to remove which inconvenience, that prince 
ordered so many days to be added yearly as 
would make the state of the heavens corre- 
spond to the first month, without calling them 
by the name of any month. 
'Numa Pompilius corrected this irregular 
constitution of the year, composing two new 
months, January and February, of the 6ays 
that were used to be added to the former 
ye^r. Thus Numa's year consisted of twelve 
mouths, of different days, as follow ; viz. 
YEAR. 
January 29; February .28; March 31; 
April 29; May 431; June 29; 
Quintilis 31; Sextilis 29; September 29; 
October 31; November 29 ; December 29; 
in all 355 days ; therefore exceeding the quan- 
tity of a lunar civil year by one day; that of 
a lunar astronomical year by 15 hours, 11 
minutes, 22 seconds ; but falling short of the 
common solar year by 10 days; so that its 
beginning was still vague and unfixed. 
Numa, however, desiring to have it begin 
at the winter solstice, ordered 22 clays to 
be intercalated in February every 2d year, 
23 every 4th, 22 every 6th, and 23 every 8th 
year. 
But this rule failing to keep matters even, 
recourse was had to a new way of interca- 
lating ; and instead of 23 days every 8th 
year, only 15 were to be added. The care of 
the whole was committed to the ponlifex 
maximus ; who, however, neglecting the 
trust, let things run to great confusion. And 
thus the Roman year stood till Julius Cssar 
reformed it. 
Julian \ ear. This is in effect a solar year, 
commonly containing 365 days; though 
every 4th year, called bissextile, it contains 
366. The months of the Julian year, with 
the number of their days, stood thus : 
January 31; February 2S ; March 31; 
April 30; May 31; June 30; 
July 31; August 31; September 30; 
October 31 ; November 30; December 31. 
But every bissextile year had a day added in 
February, making it then to contain 29 days. 
The mean quantity therefore of the Julian 
year is 365-| days, or 365 days, 6 hours ; ex- 
ceeding the true solar year by somewhat 
more than It minutes; an excess which 
amounts to a whole day in almost 131 years. 
Hence the times of the equinoxes go back- 
ward, and fall earlier by one day in about 
130 or 131 years. And thus the Roman 
year stood, till it was farther corrected by 
pope Gregory. 
For settling this year, Julius Caesar brought 
over from Egypt, Sosigenes, a celebrated 
mathematician ; who, to supply the defect of 
67 days, which had been lost through the 
neglect of the priests, and to bring the begin- 
ning of the year to the winter solstice, made 
one year to consist of 15 months, or 445 
days ; on which account, that year used to 
be called annus confusionis, or the year of 
confusion. 
Gregorian Year. This is the Julian year 
corrected by this rule, viz. that instead of 
every secular or 100th year being a bissextile, 
as it would be in the former way, in the new 
way three of them are common years, and 
only the 4th is bissextile. 
The error of 11 minutes in the Julian year, 
by continual repetition, had accumulated to 
an error of 13 days from the time when Cx- 
sar made his correction ; by which means 
the equinoxes were greatly disturbed. In 
the year 1582, the equinoxes were fallen 
back 10 days, and the full moons four days, 
more backward than they were in the time 
oftheNicene council, which was in the year 
325 ; viz. the former from the 20th of March 
to the 10th, and the latter from the 5th to the 
1st of April. To remedy this increasing ir- 
regularity, pope Gregory the 13th, in. the 
year 1582, called together the chief astrono- 
mers of his time, and concerted this correc- 
tion, throwing out the 10 days abovemen- 
tioned. He exchanged the lunar cycle for 
that of the epacts, and made the 4th* of Oc- 
tober of that year to be the 15th; by that 
means restoring the vernal equinox to the 
21st of March. 1 " It was also provided, by 
the omission of three intercalary days in 400 
years, to make the civil year keep pace nearly 
with the solar year, for the time to come. 
In the year 1700, the error of 10 days was 
grown to 11 ; upon which, the protestant 
states of Germany, to prevent farther con- 
fusion, adopted the Gregorian correction. 
And tiie same was accepted also in England 
in the year 1752, when 1 1 days were thrown 
out after the 2d of September that year, by 
accounting the 3d to be the 14th day of the 
month; calling this the new style, and the 
former the old style. And the Gregorian, or 
new style, is now in like manner used in most 
countries of Europe. 
Yet this last correction is still not quite 
perfect; for as it has been shewn that in four 
centuries, the Julian year gains 3 days, 2 
hours, 40 minutes ; and as it is only the three 
days that are kept out of the Gregorian year, 
there is still an excess of 2 hours 40 minutes 
in four centuries, which amounts to a whole 
day in 36 centuries, or in 3600 years. See 
Calendar, &c. 
Egyptian Year, called also the year of Na- 
bonassar, on account of the epoc h of Nabo- 
nassar, is the solar year of 365 days, divided 
into 12 months, of 30 days eaci, beside 5 in- 
tercalary days, added at the end. The order 
and names of these months are as follow ; 
1 . Thoth ; 2. Paophi ; 3. Athyr ; 
4. Chojac; 5. I ybi ; 6. Meche-ir; 
7. Phamenoth; 8. Phannuthi; 9. Pachon; 
10. Pauni ; 11. Epiphi ; 12. Mesori. 
As the Egyptian year, by neglecting the 6 
hours, in every 4 years loses a whole dav of 
the Julian year, its beginning runs through 
e cry part of the Julian year in the space of 
i460 years; after which, they meet again ; 
for which reason it is called the erratic year. 
And because this return to the same day of 
the Julian year, is performed in the space 
of 1460 Julian years, this circle is called the 
Soshic period. 
i his year was applied by the Egyptians to 
civil uses, till Anthony and Cleopatra were 
defeated ; but the mathematicians and astro- 
nomers used it till the time of Ptolomy, who 
made use of it in his Almagest ; so that the 
knowledge of it is of great use in astronomy, 
for comparing the antient observations with 
the modern. 
The antient Egyptians, we art told by Dio- 
dorus Siculus, measured their years by the 
course of the moon. At first they were only 
one month, then 3, then 4, like that of the 
Arcadians; and then 6, like that of the peo- 
ple of Acarnania. Those authors add, that 
it is on this account that they reckon such a 
vast number of years from the beginning of 
the world ; and that in the history of their 
kings, we meet with some who lived 1QOO 
or 1200 years. By such means many ac- 
count for the great ages of the antient patri- 
archs; expounding the gradual decrease in 
their ages, by the successive increase of the 
number of months in their years. 
Upon the Egyptians being subdued by the 
Romans, they received tire Julian year, 
