C H R O N 
Gr the civil Is the tropical year, confidered as only con¬ 
futing? of a certain number of whole days ; the odd hours 
and minutes being fet afide, to render the computation 
of time, in the common occafions of life, more eafy. As 
the tropical year is 365d. 5I1. 49 m. or almolt 363d. 6h. 
■which is 365 days and a quarter; therefore if the civil 
year be made 363 days, every fourth year it muft be 366 
days, to keep nearly to the courfe of the lun. And hence 
the civil year is either common, or biffextile. The coftvnon 
Avil year, is that confiding of 363 days; having feven 
months of thirty-one days each, four of thirty days, and 
one of twenty-eight days. Biffextile, or leap year, con- 
fdis of 366 days; having one day extraordinary, called 
the intercalary or biffextile day, and takes place every 
fourth year. This additional day to every fourth year; 
was firft introduced by Julius Crefar, who, to make the 
civil years keep pace with the tropical ones, contrived 
that the fix hours which the latter exceeded the former, 
ihould make one day in four years, and be added between 
the 24th and 23d of February, N which was their fixth of 
the calends of March; and as they then counted this day 
twice over, or had bis fexto calendas, hence the year itfelf 
came to be called bis fextus, and biffextile. However, 
among us, the intercalary day is not introduced by count¬ 
ing the 23d of February twice over, but by adding a day 
at the end of that month, which therefore in that year 
contains'twenty-nine days. 
The civil or legal year, in England, formerly com¬ 
menced on the day of the Annunciation, or 23th of 
March; though the historical year began on the day of 
the Circumcilion, or ill of January, on which day the 
German and Italian year alfo begins. The part of the 
year between tbefe two terms was then ufually expreffed 
both ways : as 1745-6, or 174-f. But by the act for al¬ 
tering the llile, the civil year now commences with the 
lit “of January. 
The ancient Roman year, was the lunar year, which, as 
frit fettled by Romulus, contained only ten months, of 
unequal numbers of days, in the following order, viz. 
March thirty-one, April thirty, May thirty-one, June 
thirty, Quintilis thirty-one, Sextilis thirty, September 
■thirty, Odtober thirty-one, November thirty, December 
thirty, in all 304 days; which came fhort of the true lu¬ 
nar year by fifty days, and of the folar by fixty-one days. 
Hence, the beginning of Romulus’s year was vague, and 
unfixed to any precife feafon ; to remove which inconve¬ 
nience, that prince ordered fo many days to be added 
yearly as would make the date of the heavens correfpond 
to the firft month, without calling them by the name of 
any month. Nitma Pompilius correftcd this irregular 
conftitution of the year, by compofing two new months, 
January and February, of the days that were ufed to be 
added to the former year. Thus Numa’s year confifted 
of twelve months, of different days, as follow, viz. Ja¬ 
nuary twenty-nine, February twenty-eight, March thir¬ 
ty-one, April twenty-nine, May thirty-one, June twen- 
ty-nine, Quintilis thirty-one, Sextilis twenty-nine, Sep¬ 
tember twenty-nine, October thirty-one, Noyeinber twen¬ 
ty-nine, December twenty-nine, in all 355 days; there¬ 
fore exceeding the quantity of a lunar civil year by one 
day; that of a lunar alfronomical year by 15I1. nm. 22 f. 
but falling fhort of the true folar year by ten days; fo 
that its beginning was ftill vague and unfixed. Numa, 
however, defiring to have it begin at the winter folftice, 
ordered twenty-two days to be intercalated in February 
every fecond year, twenty-three every fourth, twenty-two 
every fixth, and twenty-three every eighth, year. But 
this rule failing to keep time even, recourfe was had to 
a new way of intercalating; and inftead of twenty-three 
days every eighth year, only fifteen were to be added. 
The care of the whole was committed to the pontifex 
maximus ; who however, negledling the truft, let things 
run to great confufion. And. thus the Roman year ftood 
till Julius Ctefar reformed it; which fee under Calen¬ 
dar. And for the manner of reckoning the days of the 
o l o g y. 535 
Roman months, fee Calends, Nones, and Ides.— 
The Julian year is in effect a folar year, commonly con¬ 
taining 365 days ; though every fourth year, called biffex- 
tile, contains 366, The months of the Julian year, with 
the number of their days, ftood thus : January thirty-one, 
February twenty-eight, March thirty-one, April thirty. 
May thirty-one, June thirty, July thirty-one, Auguft thir¬ 
ty-one, September thirty, Odfober thirty-one, November 
thirty, December thirty-one. But every biffextile year had 
a day added in February, making it then to contain twenty- 
nine days. The mean quantity therefore of the Julian 
year is 365A days, or 363 d. 6h. exceeding the true folar 
year by fomewhat more than eleven minutes ; an excefs 
which amounts to a whole day in almoft 131 years. Hence 
the times of the equinoxes go backward, and fall earlier 
by one day in about 130 or 131 years. And thus the 
Roman year ftood, till it was farther corrected by pope 
Gregory. For fettling this year, Julius Csefar brought 
over from Egypt Sofigenes, a celebrated mathematician; 
who, to fupply the defe£l of fixty-leven days, which had 
been loft through the neglefit of the priefts, and to bring 
the beginning of the year to the winter folftice, made one 
year to confift of fifteen months, or 445 days ; on which 
account that year was ufed to be called annus confufwnis, 
the year of confufion. 
The Gregorian year is the Julian year corrected by this 
rule, viz. that inftead of every fecular or hundredth year 
being a biffextile, as it would be in the former way, 
in the new way three of them are common years, and 
only the fourth is biffextile. The error of eleven minutes 
in the Julian year, by continual repetition, had accumu¬ 
lated to an error of thirteen clays from the time when 
Caef'ar made his correction; by which means the equi¬ 
noxes were greatly difturbed. In the year 1382, the equi¬ 
noxes were fallen.back ten days, and the full moons four 
days, more backward than they were in the time of the 
Nicene council, which was in the yean 325; viz. the 
former from the 20th of March to the 1.0th, and the lat¬ 
ter from the 5th to the iff of April. To remedy, this in- 
creafing irregularity, pope Gregory XIII. in the year 
1582, called together the chief aftronomers of his time, 
and concerted this correftion, throwing out the ten days 
above-mentioned. He exchanged the lunar cycle for 
that of the epafts, and made the 4th of October of that 
year to be the 15th ; by that means reftoring the vernal 
equinox to the 21ft of March. It was alfo provided, by 
the omiffion of three intercalary days in/400 years, to 
make the civil year keep pace nearly with the folar year, 
for the time to come. See Calendar. 
In the year 1700, the error of ten days was grown to 
eleven; upon which, the proteftant ftates of Germany, fo 
prevent farther confufion, adopted the Gregorian correc¬ 
tion. And the fame was accepted alfo in England in the 
year 1752, when eleven days were thrown out alter the 
2d of September that yea!, by accounting the 3d to be 
the 14th day of the month ; calling this the ne<vj file, and 
the former the oldftile. And the Gregorian, or new ftile, 
is now in like manner ufed in moft countries of Europe. 
Yet this laft correftion is ftill not quite perfeft ; for as it 
has been fiiewn that in four centuries the Julian year 
gains 3 d. 2 h. 40 m. and as it is only the three days that 
are kept out of the Gregorian year, there is ftill an excels 
of 2h. 40 m. in four centuries, which amounts to a whole 
day in thirty-fix centuries, or in 3600 years. The year 
1800, which in its order would have been leap-year, was 
made a common year. 
The Egyptian year, called alfo the year of Nabonaffar, 
on account of the era of Nabonaffar, is the folar year of 
365 days, divided into twelve months, of thirty days 
each, befide five interctilary days, added at the end. The 
order and names of thefe months are as follow: 1. Thoth ; 
2. Paophi ; 3. Athyr; 4. Chojac ; 5. Tybi; 6. Mecheir; 
7. Phamenoth; 8. Pharmuthi; 9. Pachon ; 10. Pauni; 
11. Epiphi; 12. Mefori. As the Egyptian year, by ne- 
gle&ing the fix hours, in every four years lofes a whole 
1 day 
