Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/348

 {|align="center"
 * width=430 | The Tshis, Gãs, and probably the Siamese, have four weeks of seven days and three eighths
 * width=30 |29½
 * width=35 |days.
 * The Ahantas, and probably the Sofalese, have two weeks of ten days, and one week of nine days and a half
 * 29½
 * The modern European method is to count four weeks of seven days
 * 28
 * The Ibos and Congoese have seven weeks of four days
 * 28
 * The ancient Greeks had three weeks of ten days.
 * 30
 * The Yorubas have five weeks of five days, and one week of four days and a half
 * 29½
 * The Javanese, and probably the Aztecs, had six weeks of five days
 * 30
 * }
 * The ancient Greeks had three weeks of ten days.
 * 30
 * The Yorubas have five weeks of five days, and one week of four days and a half
 * 29½
 * The Javanese, and probably the Aztecs, had six weeks of five days
 * 30
 * }
 * The Javanese, and probably the Aztecs, had six weeks of five days
 * 30
 * }
 * 30
 * }
 * }
 * }

When we remember that the lunar month is of about twenty-nine days and a half duration, and that twenty-eight and thirty are the nearest numbers to twenty-nine and a half that will divide into an exact number of days, the conclusion is irresistibly forced upon us that with all the above peoples the week was designed to be a subdivision of the lunar month.

The subdivisions of the lunar month would appear generally to mark the phases of the moon. Naturally, the full moon would mark the termination of one subdivision and the commencement of another. Thus, with the Tshis and Gãs, the full moon marks the commencement of the third week of seven days and three eighths, and with the Yorubas the commencement of the fourth week of five days, in each case making the lapse of half a month. Where there is a ten-day week, the full moon is not coincident with the commencement of a week; but the week of ten days, and also that of five, is, like the practice of counting by scores, due to the fact that man has five fingers on each hand, all primitive peoples counting by fingers and toes, or hands and feet.

The Israelites had a week of seven days, and measured time by moons and nights: therefore, from the analogy of other peoples, we conclude that their week was originally a subdivision of a lunar month. When a new moon became visible a new month began, and like the rest of the world they reckoned their day of twenty-four hours from sunset to sunset. They had a lunar year of twelve months, and every two or three years an intercalary month was added to make it agree with solar time. The luni-solar year now used by the Jews was not introduced till 360

It is commonly supposed that the week of seven days was invented by the Chaldean astronomers from the seven planets, but though it is beyond question that the days of the week derive their names from the planets, yet it by no means follows that the seven-day period owes its existence to the fact that the astronomers of Chaldea were acquainted with seven celestial bodies which moved. There is, indeed, no connection between alleged cause and effect—no reason why, simply because they knew of