Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/565

Rh names, and their years were counted from the accession of Yesdegerd I, 399; an epoch which is still employed by the Persians in some parts of India. Five thousand years ago, the heliacal rising of Sirius announced to the Egyptians an event of prime importance to them—the overflow of the Nile. They honored the watchful constellation that includes this star with the name of "The Dog," and worshiped it under the title of Anubis. Their year consisting of 365 days, they remarked that the phenomenon took place later, at the rate of a day every four years, so that after 1,461 years of 365 days (or 1,460 years of 365 days) the heliacal risings took place in the original order, after having successively occurred at very different days and hours. This period of 1,461 Egyptian years was called the Sothic period, or the period of the dog. After 25, the Egyptian year contained 365 days, or nearly the real value of the year. This was called the Alexandrian year. The Copts still employ it, but begin their reckoning from Martyr's day in the reign of Diocletian, August 29th, a. d. 284, while the Alexandrian era began with the battle of Actium, September 2d, 31. Three Egyptian years included 12 months of 30 days each followed by five epagomenous days; while the fourth or following year had a sixth epagomenous day.

The Roman year consisted of 304 days under Romulus, 355 under Numa, and 366 on the intercalation of the month Mercedonius. The irregularities of their calendar were so great that the pontifices were charged with the duty of regulating the number of days in the intercalated month. Unfortunately, some of the less scrupulous of these functionaries fell into a way of "doctoring" the year so as to make it longer when their friends, or shorter when their enemies, were in office! The corruption was carried out so recklessly that the feast of the Autumnalia was made to come in the spring, and the festival of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, was celebrated in the middle of the winter! Julius Cæsar put an end to this disorder by introducing the year of 365 days, and gave to the months such numbers of days as made the intercalation of the epagomens unnecessary. The 366th day of the fourth year was added to the month of February, which then had 29 days, and as this caused the sixth day of the kalends to be counted twice (bis sexto calendarum), the name of bissextile was given to this year. This reform took place in the year 708 of Rome (46 ), which year Julius Cæsar ordered to consist of 445 days, so as to make the civil year and the tropical year agree. Hence that year was called the year of confusion. Cæsar's calendar is the basis of the calendar which, further corrected by Pope Gregory XIII, is now in use among the Western nations.

The Mexican year was a peculiar form of the year of 365 days. It included 18 months of 20 days each, to which were added five supplementary days; and, after 52 years, 13 new days made up out of the neglected quarters of days.