MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENT. I. THE CALENDAR. THE JULIAN AND THE GREGORIAN YEAR, OR OLD AND NEW STYLE; -TIME OF COMMENCING THE YEAR. [In the 1st volume of the American Almanac there is an article on the Calendar, to which the reader is referred for information on some topics which are not treated of here.] THE Julian Year, so named from Julius Cæsar, dates from B. C. 46, commencing on the 1st of January; and it consisted of 365 days and 6 hours; three years in four having 365 days, and the other (bissextile or leap year) 366 days. Modern chronologists have used the Julian year, it being a measure of time extremely simple and nearly correct; and to this standard they refer all the known events that have happened from the beginning of the world. The Julian year, however, is imperfect; for as the time in which the sun performs his annual revolution is not quite 365 days and 6 hours, but 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds; the civil year must, therefore, have exceeded the solar or astronomical year by 11 minutes, 14 seconds, which in the space of about 130 years, amounted to a whole day; nearly equivalent to the gain of 3 days in every interval of 400 years. The Gregorian Year, so named from Pope Gregory XIII., by whom it was introduced in 1582, is the Julian year corrected by this rule; that whereas, on the former footing, every hundredth year is bissextile, on the new footing every four-hundredth year only is bissextile; the others, viz. the first, second, and third hundredth years, being common years. Thus, by sinking 3 days in 400 years, being the error of about 1 day in 130; and consequently by making the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 to be common years, and the year 2000 bissextile or leap year, the error arising from the odd time is properly corrected. Sosigenes, a mathematician of Alexandria, in Egypt, who assisted Julius Cæsar in reforming the Calendar, had observed the vernal equinox on the 25th of March. At the Council of Nice, held in 325, it was fixed on the 21st of March; and from that time to the year 1582, when the next reformation was effected, the error which had been gradually accumulating, then amounted to about 10 days, so that the vernal equinox happened on the 11th of March, instead of the 21st, as it ought to have done, if the Julian account had agreed with the course of the sun. To correct the error, 10 days were taken from the month of October of the year 1582, and by this means the equinox was brought back to the 21st of March, as it had been settled by the Council of Nice. Pope Gregory ordered all the ecclesiastics under his jurisdiction to conform to the new mode of reckoning time, called New Style, and he exhorted the Christian princes to adopt it in their dominions. Accordingly it was introduced into all Catholic countries; but the Protestant States at that time refused it. In Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy, it was received on the same day as at Rome; in France, in December of the same year (when the 10th was reckoned the 20th of the month); and in the Catholic States of Germany, in 1583. In the Protestant States of Germany, the New Style was adopted in 1700; in Great Britain, in 1752; and in Denmark and Sweden, in 1753. Russia only, of all the Christian States of Europe, still retains the Old Style. The change from the Julian or Old Style to the Gregorian or New Style, was established in England by act of Parliament, passed in 1752; and was, at the same time, introduced into the English colonies in America. It was then enacted, that the year should commence on the 1st of January instead of the 25th of March; and that in the year 1752, the days should be numbered as usual until September 2, when the day following should be accounted the 14th of September, omitting 11 days. The Gregorian principle of dropping one day in every hundredth year, except the 4th hundredth, was also enacted. Nearly all the nations of the Christian world now commence their year on the 1st of January; but in England till the introduction of the New Style in 1752, the civil or legal year commenced on the day of the Annunciation, i. e. the 25th of March, though the historical year then began, as in most other European countries, on the day of Circumcision, i. e. the 1st of January. This difference caused great practical inconvenience, and January, February, and part of March, sometimes bore two dates, as we often find in old records, as 1711-12. This practice often leads to chronological mistakes; for instance, it is popularly said in England, “The Revolution of 1688,” that great event happening in February of the year 1688, according to the then mode of computation; but if the year were held to begin as it does now, on the 1st of January, it would be "The Revolution of 1689." This difference of time in commencing the year often causes embarrassment in America, as well as in England, with regard to dates. In the English American colonies the legal year, before 1752, commenced on the 25th of March, as it did in England. Washington, for instance, was born on the 11th of Febru ary, 1731, according to the mode of reckoning in use at the time; but on the 22d, 1732, according to the New Style. To prevent mistakes, both modes of dating are sometimes used, as February 12, 1731⁄2, or February 11-22, 1731-2. The English antiquary, Stowe, observes, that William the Conqueror having been crowned on the 1st of January, that henceforth became the first year for historians, &c.; though in all civil affairs, they retained the ancient manner of accounting, which began on the 25th of March. The Catholic Church, and also the Church of England, as to their solemn service, begin the year on the first Sunday in Advent, which is always that next to St. Andrew's day, or the 30th of November. The Jews, as most other nations of the East, had a civil year, which commenced with the new moon in September; and an ecclesiastical year, which commenced from the new moon in March. The French year, during the reigns of the Merovingian race, began on the 1st of March; under the Carlovingians, on Christmas-day, and under the Capetians, on Easter-day (varying from the 22d of March to the 25th of April); - but Charles IX. ordained, in 1564, that it should in future begin on the 1st of January. But during the Republic, established in 1792, the year was made to commence at the autumnal equinox, September 22. The Mahometans begin the year at the vernal equinox, or the minute when the sun enters Aries; the Chinese, and most of the nations of India with the first moon in March; the Bramins with the first moon in April. II. EXPECTATION of life, OR LAW OF MORTALITY. In the volume of the American Almanac for 1835, there are a series of Life-Annuity Tables, and Tables showing the Expectation of Life, &c., in the United States. We here insert some tables of similar character relating to England and Prussia. ENGLAND. The following table from McCulloch's "Statistical Account of the British Empire," is an abridged form from tables calculated by Mr. Finlaison, and shows a striking improvement in the value of life in England. The 1st division of the table gives the expectation of life, as deduced from the ages of the subscribers to the Million Tontine of 1695; the 2d, the expectation of life among the government annuitants, in the interval between 1785 and 1825; and the 3d, the expectation of life for the whole population, as deduced from the deaths and ages recorded in the parish registers from 1813 to 1830; distinguishing, in all cases, between male and female life. Those on whom the estimates of the first two divisions of the table are founded, being annuitants, and generally therefore in decidedly comfortable circumstances, must be regarded as picked lives; whereas the last embraces all sorts. Now it appears from this table, that the probable life of a male annuitant, 20 years of age, in 1695, was 29.34 years; while, in 1830, the probable life of a male of the same age, taken indiscriminately from the mass of the population, was 39.65 years; - exceeding that of the former by more than ten years! The improvement in female life has been equally great; but, for obvious reasons, it is not so great when we compare females taken from the mass of the people with female annuitants. This wonderful improvement must, no doubt, be ascribed to a variety of causes; partly to the drainage of bogs and marshes, by which agues and marsh fevers have been entirely banished from many districts; partly to improvements in the diet, dress, lodgings, and other accom modations of the mass of the people; partly to the greater prevalence of cleanliness; partly, and since 1800, chiefly, perhaps, to the discoveries in medical science, and the extirpation of the small-pox. 1. Statement of the Expectation of Life in England and Wales at every 5th Year of Age, deduced from the Ages of the Subscribers to the Million Tontine of 1695; the Annuitants from 1785 to 1825; and the Deaths in the Parish Registers from 1813 to 1830. Age. Million Tontine Annuitants. Parish Registers. 1813-1830. Expec- Differ- Expec- Expec- Differ Expec- Expec- Differ- Expectatation. ence. tation. tation. ence. tation. tation. ence. tion. Males. Fem. Males. Fem. Males. Fem. 2. An Account of the Ages of 3,938,496 Persons buried in England and Wales (of whom 1,996,195 Males, 1,942,301 Females) during 18 Years, 1813-1830; according to Mr. Finlaison. The census of the population of Prussia is taken every three years; and an accurate register of births and deaths has been kept since 1820, from which important facts have been deduced relating to the laws of population and mortality, and the expectation of life. The following statement exhibits the number of births and deaths in Prussia during 15 years, from 1820 to 1834 inclusive. 110 7 2 1 358 174 244 90 131 72 101 |