WHY DOES 1924 “LEAP” ?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17350, 15 May 1924, Page 3

WHY DOES 1924 “LEAP” ?

MAKING THE SEASONS FIT. Why this present year should “ leap ” a. day at the end of February and possess 3G6 days, is a question that probably occurs to many of our readers (writes Stanilas de Rhodez in “ John o’ London’s Weekly”). The year is exactly determined by the earth’s circuit round the sun; its revolution on its own axis being a day. The course about the sun does not, however, coincide with the days. It needs 365 days and a fraction, with which it is impossible to terminate a year. The common year accordingly consists of 365 days, the neglected fractions going to make a day as the years pass on. NATURAL DIVISIONS. Nature divides Time by the year, the earth’s orbit about the sun; an almanac, by the month, the circuit of the moon; a calendar, by the day, the earth’s revolution on its axis, a diary. Tho Calendar is traced to Romulus, who, observing the seasons, divided the year into ten months, calculating that the sun ran his course in 304 days, altered by Numa Pompilius to 355 days. Both were wrong, and the length of the year not being definitely ascertained, great disorders ensued, the College of Pontiffs charged with the calendar lengthening or shortening the year for political purposes at their pleasure. JULIUS C/ESAR. On Caesar’s return after his victory at Thapsus, master of the Roman world, to Rome, 8.C.. 46, he found the year three months behind the real time. As Pontifex Maximus this concerned him. With the advice and assistance of Sosigenes, a celebrated mathematician and peripatetic philsopher of Alexandria, he reformed the calendar, conferring a real benefit on civilisation. To correct the error, Caesar instituted one year of fifteen months or 445 days, known as “ the year of Confusion,” to be followed by years adapted to the sun’s course, supposed to be 365£ days; three successive years of 365 days each, and every fourth year of 366, to comprehend the odd six hours, the sixth day before the Calends of March to be in that year counted twice over\ when the name Bis-sextile; or with us, from the year leaping forward a day— Leap Year. GREGORIAN CALENDAR. But an error remained, the real fraction was not 6 hours, but 5 hours 58 min. 49.75ec. In some 130 years the Julian exceeded the Solar year by a day. This was not rectified until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII., also Pontifex Maximus, took the ten days gained by that time, from October of the current year, and ordained that of the fourth years, those terminating a century of which the numbers denoting the hundreds are not divisible by four, should not be leap years; e. 1., 1900 was not, 2000 will be, thus reducing the error to one day in 5000 years. A similar, but more complicated system, had been already devised in Persia by the poet-astronomer, Omar Khayyam.