Sosigenes, to devise a workable system. By his reform of 46 B.C. the lunar month was disregarded and the year divided into 6 months of 31 days, 5 of 30 days, and one, February, of 29 days, with an additional intercalary day every fourth year. A modification was made by his successor, the Emperor Augustus. When the month Sextilis was renamed in honour of himself he saw in his uncle's allocation of 31 days to July but only 30 to August a personal indignity and revised the list of the shorter months so that it became that of the memonic jingle which we learn in our childhood. The solar year does not, of course, consist precisely of the 365* days postulated by the Julian system. It is, in fact, shorter by eleven minutes and fourteen seconds. As the centuries passed the error became appreciable, and when, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII determined to restore the vernal equinox to its correct place in the civil calendar, it was necessary to suppress 10 days to make good the accumulated recession. He calculated, too, that the error in the Julian system amounted to 3 days in 400 years, and to remedy this ordained that in the future the century years should not be "leap years" unless they were multiples of 400. Thus the year 1900 was not a leap year. The year 2000 will be. The Gregorian system seemed as near accurate as maybe and was adopted in most of western Europe, though we in this country, with protestant and insular perversity, resisted the innovation until the lapse of a further 170 years had magnified the error by another day. The Gregorian calendar, workable though it was, still contained the seeds of error. By it the year is made to consist of 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds, which is 26 seconds too long. And that is a day in 3,323 years—a serious matter to astronomers, if not to most of us. The modern answer is simplicity itself. The year 4000 and its multiples will be an exception to an exception, and though conforming to the Gregorian rule of being multiples of 400 will yet not have the intercalary day. By this device "4" continues to be the magic figure of the calendar. Even so, the stars in their courses obstinately refuse to lend themselves to the petty notions of men, and there is still error; error amounting to one day in 20,000 years. But even the astronomers are prepared to leave that to posterity—perhaps on the argument that there may not be any. L.B,
C.C.F. NOTES It is becoming a regular feature to start the Summer Term C.C.F. Notes with a brief report on the Annual Victory Thanksgiving Service in York Minster. The representative detachment this year was commanded by Capt. Craven. It is unfortunate that more of the Unit could not attend this impressive service and parade, but space will not allow it. 45
