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 The result so obtained would in general be more accurate than the Jewish calculation, from which it may differ a day, as fractions of a day do not enter alike in these computations. Such difference may also in part be accounted for by the fact that the assumed duration of the solar year is 6 min. 39 sec. in excess of the true astronomical value, which will cause the dates of commencement of future Jewish years, so calculated, to advance forward from the equinox a day in error in 216 years. The lunations are estimated with much greater precision.

The following table is extracted from Woolhouse’s Measures, Weights and Moneys of all Nations:— VII.—Hebrew Years.

Mahommedan Calendar.—The Mahommedan era, or era of the Hegira, used in Turkey, Persia, Arabia, &c., is dated from the first day of the month preceding the flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, i.e. Thursday the 15th of July 622, and it commenced on the day following. The years of the Hegira are purely lunar, and always consist of twelve lunar months, commencing with the approximate new moon, without any intercalation to keep them to the same season with respect to the sun, so that they retrograde through all the seasons in about 32 years. They are also partitioned into cycles of 30 years, 19 of which are common years of 354 days each, and the other 11 are intercalary years having an additional day appended to the last month. The mean length of the year is therefore 354 days, or 354 days 8 hours 48 min., which divided by 12 gives 29 days, or 29 days 12 hours 44 min., as the time of a mean lunation, and this differs from the astronomical mean lunation by only 2.8 seconds. This small error will only amount to a day in about 2400 years.

To find if a year is intercalary or common, divide it by 30; the quotient will be the number of completed cycles and the remainder will be the year of the current cycle; if this last be one of the numbers 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24, 26, 29, the year is intercalary and consists of 355 days; if it be any other number, the year is ordinary.

Or if Y denote the number of the Mahommedan year, and

the year is intercalary when R < 11.