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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
 
 
JImerican ffttfiqttarian ^txtititi 
 
 NOTES ON THE CALENDAR 
 AND THE ALMANAC 
 
 BY 
 GEORGE EMERY LITTLEFIELD 
 
 Reprinted from the Procebdings of the American Antiquarian Society 
 FOR April, 1914. 
 
 WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 
 
 1914 
 
THE DAVIS PRESS 
 
 WoHCESTEK, Massachusetts 
 

 NOTES ON THE CALENDAR AND THE 
 ALMANAC. 
 
 BY GEORGE EMERY LITTLEFIELD. 
 
 In answering the question, why do the officers of pub- 
 he hbraries and bibUophiles so highly esteem and strive 
 to make collections of old calendars and almanacs, it 
 may be said that the calendar was coeval with and had 
 a great influence upon civilization. Indeed, the slow 
 but gradual formation of what we know as a calendar is 
 an excellent illustration of the progress of civilization. 
 At first it was a very crude scheme for recording the 
 passing of time, deduced from irregular observations 
 of the rising and setting of a few fixed stars, by a people 
 who had but recently emerged from barbarism. The 
 resultant table was of very little value and required 
 constant revision and correction. It was only by long 
 and patient study and observation, by gaining knowledge 
 from repeated failures, that finally was produced the 
 accurate and scientific register, which today bears the 
 name of calendar. 
 
 Furthermore, the material and shape of the tablet 
 upon which the calendar was engraved or printed, was 
 a constant temptation to artists to decorate it with pen- 
 cil or brush, which caused it to become a valuable me- 
 dium for inculcating in the minds of the people, ideas 
 of the sublime and beautiful, and never more so than 
 at the present time. 
 
 As regards the almanac, it also is of ancient memory, 
 as we have positive evidence of its existence more than 
 twelve hundred years before the Christian era. To its 
 compilation scienjtists, philosophers, theologians, poets 
 
 MS'rnSm 
 
4 
 
 and artists, have eagerly contributed and it has dissem- 
 inated valuable information among millions of people, 
 who without it would have remained in ignorance. Even 
 at the present day a bunch of almanacs may be found in 
 many a farmer's kitchen, suspended from a peg or nail 
 in the wall near the fireplace. At the beginning of a 
 year the new almanac is sure to be secured and is re- 
 ligiously preserved by being sewn to its predecessors, 
 and not infrequently this bunch of almanacs constitutes 
 the family library. 
 
 It is to emphasize these and other reasons for the pres- 
 ervation of calendars and almanacs, and to give a com- 
 pendious history of them that these notes have been 
 prepared. 
 
 Of calendars, or orderly lists of persons, things, and 
 events, there are many kinds: for instance, a calendar 
 of state papers; a calendar of bills presented in a legis- 
 lative assembly; a calendar of causes arranged for trial 
 in court. The Calendar which we are to consider is 
 defined by Webster as "an orderly arrangement of the 
 divisions of time, adapted to the purposes of civil life, 
 as years, months, weeks, and days ; a register of the year 
 with its divisions." It refers to time in general and to 
 the tables which have been invented to register its prog- 
 ress. It may refer to a single year, or it may refer to 
 the general scheme adopted by astronomers by which 
 tune may be measured without reference to any par- 
 ticular year. It is a general table of the days and months 
 of a period of time called a year from which may be de- 
 duced the days and months of any particular year. It 
 is a scheme for the division of time, and changes in this 
 scheme can be made only by those appointed by the 
 government for tliat purpose. Thus we have the Egyp- 
 tian, Chinese, Jewish, Roman, Gregorian and Aztec 
 calendars, the names of which sufficiently indicate their 
 character and denote that they are national modes of 
 registering the course of time by the season's progress. 
 
 On the contrary the almanac practically is limited to 
 one year or that portion of time which is comprehended 
 
in the annual revolution of the earth around the sun, 
 and relates to the affairs of men. It is defined by Web- 
 ster as '*a book or table containing a calendar of days, 
 weeks, and months, to which astronomical data and 
 various statistics are often added, such as the times of 
 the rising and setting of the sun and moon, changes of 
 the moon, eclipses, hours of full tide, stated festivals 
 of Churches, terms of court, etc." Anyone who so 
 desires can frame an almanac by simply adding to the 
 calendar of the year such other tables as he chooses and 
 whatever information he wishes to promulgate. This 
 privilege has been exercised from very early times to 
 the present day, although on account of abuses it has 
 been found necessary in some countries to regulate it 
 by pubhc statutes. Although in making up his almanac 
 the compiler has a very free hand yet he never attempts 
 to change the calendar. 
 
 It is evident therefore that there is a distinction be- 
 tween the terms calendar and almanac, and many so- 
 called calendars and almanacs are wrongly named. 
 The line of demarcation however is not clearly defined, 
 nor can any hard and fast rule be laid down by which 
 one can be distinguished from the other. Mr. John 
 Brady in his "Clavis Calendaria" says, *'We may with 
 propriety use calendar or almanac for any particular 
 year, but, as allusive to time in general, calendar can 
 alone be properly applied. The calendar denotes the 
 settled and national mode of registering the course of 
 time by the sun's progress; an almanac is a subsidiary 
 manual formed out of that mstrument. " 
 
 Much has been written and many theories advanced 
 as to the origin and the earliest usage of the terms cal- 
 endar and almanac. The origin of the term calendar 
 seems to be pretty firmly established, but almanac still 
 poses in the dictionaries as of "origin unknown." As 
 the objects which they represent were in use centuries 
 before these terms were attached to them, no great 
 harm can follow, if, until proof to the contrary is of- 
 fered, we allow the conclusions of those who claim that 
 
6 
 
 the term calendar is of Roman origin, and that the des- 
 ignation almanac is derived from the Arabic article al, 
 the; and the Hebrew verb, manach,to count. 
 
 The calendar is in no manner dependent upon the 
 almanac. It can stand alone and in many cases is more 
 to be desired when alone than when accompanied by 
 statistical or other tables. The calendar for the single 
 year is familiar to us in the large cards or posters which 
 we receive annually from banking and insurance offices 
 and commercial houses, as reminders that our patronage 
 would be welcomed. They contain simply the days and 
 months of the year and are handsomely and artistically 
 decorated in order that we may be induced to hang them 
 on the walls of our offices and houses as ornaments and 
 thus advertise the giver for at least one year. A writer 
 in the Boston Herald, December 8, 1913, says: ''The 
 time of the year is near at hand when you will expect 
 to drop into your dealer's and receive, free of charge, 
 a calendar to replace the old 1913 one now hanging upon 
 your room wall or over your desk. As a matter of fact 
 you will probably receive between now and the first of 
 January several of these indispensables and the fact 
 that a small advertisement is imprinted upon each of 
 them in no way prejudices you against them. For cal- 
 endars and advertisements are considered as inseparable 
 by most of us. Few people, however, realize the extent 
 of the industry which this first-of-the-year calendar 
 demand has created. The magnitude of the business is 
 impressively suggested by the fact, that not long ago a 
 convention of concerns manufacturing calendars and 
 and allied advertising novelties was held, at which were 
 represented firms whose combined capital exceeded 
 $10,500,000, and whose annual volume of business goes 
 well over the thirty-million-dollar mark. Yet all the 
 calendar manufacturers are not included in this asso- 
 ciation by any means, and the total output of day-mark- 
 ers is estimated at close to fifty milUon dollars. " 
 
 Although the great feature of the almanac was and is 
 the calendar yet the main object of including it was to 
 
attract popular attention, for without it the almanac 
 would vary but little from, nor be more to be desired 
 than many other manuals of general information. 
 
 Generally speaking, almanacs were not given away, 
 but were exposed for sale just the same as any other 
 book. An early printed almanac, that of Regiomenta- 
 nus, 1476, was quarto in size, contained twelve leaves, 
 and sold for ten crowns in gold. It gave the calendar, 
 the eclipses for the year and the places of the planets. 
 An excellent example of the almanac of the present day 
 is "The World Almanac and Encyclopaedia," published 
 by the New York World, a newspaper which has a daily 
 circulation of over 700,000 copies. This almanac con- 
 tains over 600 solidly printed pages of important and 
 interesting information on a great variety of subjects, 
 pohtical, religious, commercial, social, and others too 
 numerous to mention. Many of these subjects are 
 carefully tabulated and the almanac more than justifies 
 its second title, for it is indeed an encyclopaedia, or a 
 comprehensive summary of knowledge. 
 
 Primitive man, wandering over the plains of Assyria 
 and Mesopotamia needed neither a calendar nor an 
 almanac. The passing of the year, a long unit of time 
 of which he had no conception, had no significance for 
 him : months followed months in regular succession with- 
 out exciting any interest in him; the day, which was the 
 only unit of time within his comprehension, was spent 
 in hunting and fishing; while the night was devoted to 
 sleep. The temperature of the country in which he 
 lived was warm and comfortable and not subject to 
 great climatic changes. The woods and streams boun- 
 tifully supplied all of his needs. His wants were few, 
 he led a simple life; he was a barbarian. 
 
 When, however, after centuries of roving he finally 
 selected a favorable situation, ceased from wandering, 
 maintained a fixed habitation, and lived upon herds 
 and flocks of domesticated animals, the conditions were 
 changed. His mind awoke to the fact that there were 
 many things in this world of which he had never dreamed, 
 
8 
 
 and that new responsibilities had been thrust upon him. 
 In order to preserve his own life and the lives of his 
 flocks and herds he must provide the means of subsis- 
 tence, and in order to ward off the attacks of marauding 
 neighbors he was obliged to prepare means of defence. 
 Barbarism disappeared; civilization began; the age of 
 progress was commencing. 
 
 To procure the means of subsistence man was com- 
 pelled to till the soil which gave rise to the science of 
 agriculture, or the art of preparing the ground, planting 
 the seeds, harvesting the crops, and the rearing and 
 management of live stock. In all ages and among all 
 nations man has paid great attention to agriculture and 
 no science has risen to a higher degree of perfection. 
 In his "Remarks on Agriculture" Daniel Webster says 
 ''When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers 
 therefore are the founders of human civilization." 
 
 Man soon discovered that there were laws regulating 
 the planting of seeds which if neglected caused a failure 
 of crops. By experience he learned that the sun caused 
 changes in the cUmate and these changes having con- 
 smned a certain portion of time were immediately re- 
 peated. He found that he must plant in one of these 
 changes and harvest in another, and that seed-time and 
 harvest were not interchangeable. His unit of time, 
 therefore, was lengthened from a day to the time which 
 included one complete series of these changes or seasons, 
 which we call a year. To determine this new unit of 
 time, or the length of the year, must have taken cen- 
 turies of observations of the sun, as the seasons evidently 
 were caused by the position of the sun in the heavens. 
 Man, however, did not jump immediately from the day 
 to the year. His mind was not competent to grasp so 
 long a time-unit as a year. There must be an interme- 
 diate period. Even when wandering he needed some 
 standard to measure the progress of time. Naturally 
 his first unit of time would be the time between sunrise 
 and sunset. But the varying length of this unit would 
 make it an uncertain standard until by experience he 
 
9 
 
 learned to include in this unit the period of darkness 
 and to divide the time between one sunrise and its suc- 
 cessor into twenty-four equal parts. Naturally his 
 attention would be attracted by the changes in the 
 appearances of the moon. After having passed through 
 a series of changes it was observed that the series was 
 immediately repeated. The time occupied in passing 
 through one series of changes would suggest to him a 
 larger unit of time, or what we call a month, although 
 it is doubtful if man in his wandering condition ever 
 used as a measurement of time any unit larger than a 
 day. When, however, he had begun to till the soil he 
 observed that in one complete series of seasons, or a 
 year, there were several repetitions of the changes of 
 the moon, or months. It was therefore through the 
 month that he was able to comprehend the year. The 
 moon, however, did not cause the seasons, and man 
 learned that the length of the year could be ascertained 
 only by observation of the sun. How man determined 
 the true length of the solar year, or the space of time oc- 
 cupied by the earth in making the entire revolution of its 
 orbit is the crux of philosophers. Many centuries must 
 have passed, and many generations of men must have 
 succeeded each other before this knowledge was acquired. 
 Layard in "Nineveh and its Remains" says, "The 
 origin of the Chaldaean theology has ever been a favor- 
 ite theme of the poet and philosopher. The Assyrian 
 plains, uninterrupted by a single eminence, and rarely 
 shadowed by a passing cloud, were looked upon as a fit 
 place for the birth of a system which recognized the 
 heavenly bodies as types of the supreme power and 
 invested them with supernatural influences. The won- 
 derful regularity of their periodical moments, their 
 splendor, and even their effects upon the physical world 
 must have been apparent to the Chaldaean shepherd 
 long before they became the study of the philosopher 
 and the priest. Whilst he watched his sheep by night, 
 he marked the stars as they rose above the horizon, and 
 learned to distinguish one from another, and to invest 
 
10 
 
 the most remarkable groups with distinct forms. If the 
 attributes of the Deity were to be typified, if the hrndted 
 intellect of man required palpable symbols to convey 
 ideas which he could not understand in the abstract, 
 more appropriate objects could not have been chosen 
 than those bright luminaries whose motions and influ- 
 ences were enveloped in mystery, although they them- 
 selves were constantly present. The transition from 
 this adoration to a national system of astronomy is 
 natural; and it is not surprising that the Chaldaeans, 
 being the first to invest the heavenly bodies with sacred 
 properties, should have been also the first to cultivate 
 the sublimest sciences. The periodical movements of 
 the heavenly bodies were ascertained by constant ob- 
 servations, originating probably in religious duties; their 
 causes were investigated and in process of time their 
 motions were calculated and predicted. At a very early 
 period the Assyrian priests were able to fix the dates 
 of events by celestial phenomena, and to connect the 
 public records with them. When Alexander entered 
 Babylon, 330 B. C, he is said to have been presented 
 with the Archives of the empire, verified by astronomical 
 calculations which extended over a period of many cen- 
 turies, and Callisthenes was able to send to his relation 
 and teacher Aristotle, the celestial observations of 1900 
 years. " This statement, however, is too general and does 
 not explain how early man was enabled to solve the prob- 
 lem which was so important to him by the movements 
 of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 In a book published in 1905 entitled The Rational 
 Almanac, Mr. Moses B. Cotsworth of York, England, 
 claims that the problem was solved by means of the 
 Pyramids and that ''the real object of these stupendous 
 erections was to determine the seasons and exact length 
 of the year by their regular graded and recurring shad- 
 ows. That those massive towering works whether 
 called Vertical Stones, Sun-stones, Monoliths, Obehsks, 
 or Pyramids, and whether in Egypt, Arabia, Mexico, 
 France, Great Britain, or elsewhere, were to be used to 
 
11 
 
 solve the Seasons, that greatest problem of early man 
 the knowledge of which could be applied to ensure re- 
 liable crops for yearly food." He visited many of these 
 monuments in Egypt, Arabia and Great Britain and 
 with the aid of theodolite, transit, and camera, made 
 many observations and investigations which proved con- 
 clusively to him that his theory was correct. Accounts 
 of his observations, results of his investigations, and 
 many of his calculations are recorded in his almanac, 
 the reading of which is recommended to anyone interested 
 in the subject. 
 
 In the summation Mr. Cotsworth says, ''The Observ- 
 ant priests and rulers of the Egyptians, who realized 
 that famines were largely caused by ignorant people 
 sowing in wrong seasons, had a most difficult problem to 
 solve because their numerous people lived in narrow 
 strips of cultivated land, extending over 1,000 miles 
 southward which could not be widened beyond the desert 
 hills boundmg the valley of the Nile. As this territory 
 involved ranges of climate about equal to those between 
 Canada and Mexico, not only did the kind of crops vary 
 but also the times of the year at which the soils must be 
 prepared and crops sown. Therefore it was an impera- 
 tive necessity that they should have almanacs throughout 
 Egypt to know exactly what agricultural work required 
 doing at precise times as we do now. Some tried years 
 of twelve lunar months (354 days) which in three years 
 removed their almanac times over a month, causing 
 wTong sowing times. Then the geometric year of 360 
 days to a yearly cycle was used by some, who conse- 
 quently within six years drifted their time more than a 
 month out of gear with seasons and got worse as time 
 went on. . . . Yet, as population increased in that 
 easy living country, the growing need for food called 
 forth intense necessity for increasing the yearly food 
 crops by repeated sowings and greater varieties which 
 the priests and rulers knew could only be maintained 
 by truer almanac records, and as all the people worshipped 
 the sun, the priestly observers were able to induce the 
 
12 
 
 people to co-operate with them in raising that wonderful 
 series of pyramids which my long series of experiments 
 has convinced me were successively built for the great 
 purpose of finding out the length of the year, after the 
 priests had by experience realized that their mighty 
 object could best be obtained by studying the sun's 
 meridian shadows cast from the highest pointed erec- 
 tions they could best build as pyramids. The stupen- 
 dous height to which they carried their pyramids is 
 easily explained by their enormously perplexing difficulty 
 in settling the true length of the year, which could only 
 be differentiated by comparing the equinoxial noon 
 shadows, cast from the great heights to which their 
 pyramids were so sacrificingly raised for this most ade- 
 quate of objects men ever had in view, the permanent 
 assurance of their individual and national life. 
 
 "After the year's length was found out by the study of 
 the Great Pyramids' shadows, the Egyptian rulers by 
 counting days and forming a calendar could so arrange 
 their agricultural sowings with such accuracy that full 
 and regular crops could be relied upon, not only to sup- 
 ply all internal requirements, but also to enable their 
 country to become the granary for surrounding nations, 
 whose wealth could be thus attracted to Egypt when, 
 as we know from the earliest records, neighboring nations 
 could know that Hhere was corn in Egypt' — a phrase 
 which has lived through about forty centuries and still 
 indicates the place of plenty. 
 
 *'The designers, erectors, or keepers of these pyramids 
 in Egypt, Mexico, and elsewhere, are known to have 
 constructed, amended and reformed the calendar from 
 time to time, for which great benefits they have been 
 revered by subsequent generations .... The Great 
 Pyramid of Egypt, the last built and the most perfect, 
 is so constructed that it 'consumes its own shadow' 
 at mid-day of the Vernal Equinox, or March 25th, when 
 the oldest complete style of year began. 
 
 "Surely we cannot but admit that such a glorious result 
 as the birth of the calendar for the welfare of the Egyp- 
 
13 
 
 tian people and the furtherance of civilization was well 
 worth all the vast efforts and stupendous labors expended 
 in building even the vast series of Egyptian pyramids 
 to bring forth the knowledge of the true year, which is 
 the greatest permanent and most practically valuable 
 factor ever made known to humanity." 
 
 Having by observations of the sun and the pyramidal 
 shadows ascertained the true length of the year it was 
 possible to calculate the movements of the other heaven- 
 ly bodies, especially by observations in the night of the 
 various planets and stars, and the crude astronomy of 
 the preceding ages became a science. This method of 
 studying the heavens was so superior to the pyramidal 
 method that it was adopted altogether. The pyramid 
 became obsolete and the object for which they had 
 been built was forgotten, and they became tombs for 
 kings. 
 
 Mr. Cotsworth's theory seems to be a reasonable 
 solution of the question how the length of the solar year 
 was ascertained. Allowing that his theory is correct, 
 as the Great Pyramid is supposed to have been built 
 3,000 years before the Christian era, our calendar is 
 nearly 5,000 years old. 
 
 Mr. Cotsworth says, ''The development of Egyptian 
 Zodiacs and Almanacs was mostly rigidly kept secret 
 through many generations but ultimately they were 
 sculptured on the tombs of the kings, showing the su- 
 preme importance that the Egyptians attached to im- 
 proving their almanacs during thousands of years." 
 
 He concludes as follows, "All the foregoing consider- 
 ations impress us with the fact that the highest powers 
 and greatest efforts of early men were employed towards 
 developing our almanac or calendar for practical use 
 in life and that since then the leaders of men have ever 
 prized and built upon that foundation stone of true 
 knowledge." 
 
 The discovery of the true length of the year by obser- 
 vations of the shadows cast by the pyramids became the 
 basis for deducing the laws which govern the movements 
 
14 
 
 of the stars and laid the foundation of astronomy as 
 we now understand it. 
 
 Astronomy has been called the first and most sublime 
 of all the sciences and the Chaldaeans and the Egyp- 
 tians appear to have been among the earUeSt nations to 
 cultivate this science. By it they were able to materi- 
 ally improve their condition and to make their nations 
 superior to the other nations of antiquity. In early 
 days the Egyptians appear to have taken the lead in 
 philosophical pursuits, and it was to Egypt that the 
 Greeks were indebted for their lessons in science. The 
 Greeks, however, showed their genius by developing 
 the knowledge they had acquired from the Egyptians 
 and carrying it to a higher degree of perfection. Among 
 their great astronomers were Thales (640 B. C.), Pyth- 
 agoras (500 B. C), Meton (432 B. C.), Eudoxus (370 
 B. C.), Hipparchus (160-125 B. C.), and Ptolemy (130- 
 160 A. D.), the founder of the Ptolemaic system, so- 
 called because Ptolemy is the sole existing authority 
 on the subject of ancient astronomy. This system, 
 which is set forth in his work on astronomy known as 
 the ''Almagest," places the earth immovable in the 
 centre of the universe and makes the entire heavens 
 revolve around it in the course of twenty-four hours. 
 It was universally accepted as the true theory of the 
 universe and the ''Almagest" was the standard text- 
 book on astronomy until the time of Copernicus. In 
 1542 Nicolas Copernicus, a German astronomer, pub- 
 lished "De Revolutionibus Orbium" in which he ad- 
 vanced the theory that the sun is the immovable centre 
 of the universe, around which all the planets revolve in 
 concentric orbits. Mercury and Venus within the earth's 
 orbit and all the other planets without. This system, 
 now known as the Copernican system, is considered to 
 be unquestionably the true system of the universe. 
 Although Copernicus based his system upon the "Kos- 
 mos" of Pythagoras yet he has the credit, after the lapse 
 of centuries, of drawing the attention of philosophers 
 to it and of having increased the probabihty of its truth 
 by his calculations and arguments. 
 
15 
 
 Notwithstanding the great advance in the science of 
 astronomy, especially during the last century, the 
 Ancient Egyptians had attained a high degree of pro- 
 ficiency in it. Previous to 1500 B. C. they knew that 
 the length of the solar year was 3653^ days. Although 
 they divided the year into twelve lunar months, yet 
 they knew how to intercalate the necessary number of 
 days in order to prevent a disturbance of the seasons, 
 and also to provide for the odd fraction by introducing 
 an extra day at the proper time. They divided their 
 year into three seasons of four months each, viz., spring, 
 or flowering season, summer or harvest season, and the 
 inundation. They used weeks of seven days, and days 
 and nights of twelve hours each, from very early times. 
 Each month had its name and was supposed to be under 
 the influence of a god, and each day was dedicated to a 
 patron saint. They knew the theory of the obliquity 
 of the ecliptic, of the Zodiac, that broad belt in the 
 heavens containing the twelve signs through which the 
 sun passes in his annual course, of the borrowed light of 
 the moon, of the revolution of the earth on its axis, of 
 eclipses, and comets. They used the clepsydra as a 
 clock, the gnomon for determining the solstices, and a 
 hemispherical dial for ascertaining the position of the 
 sun. 
 
 The reputation of the Egyptians spread abroad and 
 attracted the attention of the philosophers of other 
 nations who visited Egypt for the express purpose of 
 being taught by the Egyptian priests. Thales and 
 Pythagoras both acknowledged their indebtedness to 
 the Egyptian priests for instruction in several of the 
 sciences. The Greeks taught the Romans, who in turn 
 carried the knowledge all over Western Europe, and 
 from them it has descended to us. 
 
 As agriculture was the basis of civilization the necessity 
 of a method of computing time to aid in keeping pace 
 with the passing of the seasons, to know when to plant 
 in order to be sure of a harvest, in other words the need 
 of a calendar was imperative not only to the Egyptians, 
 
16 
 
 but also to all other civilized nations. Basing their 
 investigations upon the lunar and solar systems all have 
 arrived at the same result, namely, a method of comput- 
 ing time by means of the day, the month, and the year. 
 Wherever we go, whether to Egypt, Assyria, Greece, 
 Italy, Mexico, we find time computed by the same gen- 
 eral system. 
 
 There was, however, a difference as to the time when 
 the year began, as to the number of months in a year, 
 and as to the length of the days. Thus, although the 
 general plan was practically the same, the different 
 arrangement of its many parts gave rise to varied com- 
 putations and great comphcations. 
 
 In order to preserve a proper recurrence of the seasons 
 use was made of various cycles, which had been invented 
 by astronomers and mathematicians, such as the Egyp- 
 tian Sothiac Cycle of 1460 years; the Persian Cycle of 
 120 years; the Chinese Cycle of 60 years; the Aztec 
 Cycle of 52 years; and the Grecian Metonic Cycle of 19 
 years. It is on account of these and other cycles that 
 we have so many calendars, and curiously enough we 
 find by a study of the Mexican Calendar Stone that the 
 Aztec Calendar was as perfect as any other. 
 
 The seasons are dependent on the progressive and 
 periodical changes of the sun's place in declination. 
 The declination is maximum at the Tropics and zero 
 at the Equinoxes. Hence the tropical or equinoctial 
 year is the interval between two successive arrivals of 
 the sun at the same tropic or same point on the equator. 
 The mean length is 365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 46 s. 
 
 As shown, this length was approximately ascertained 
 by the ancient Egyptians by measuring from day to day 
 at noon the shadow of a vertical gnomon or pyramid 
 erected for the purpose on a horizontal plane. The 
 shadow is necessarily minimum on the day of the summer 
 solstice, and the interval between two such minima is 
 the number of entire days in the solar year. A calendar 
 year of 365 days would, however, go backward in refer- 
 ence to the tropical year about twenty-five days in a 
 
17 
 
 century, and the fact, if not the amount, would soon 
 become perceptible and therefore six hours and a frac- 
 tion must be added to the length of the calendar year, or 
 one day in four years, to prevent the displacement. 
 
 Although the Greeks are supposed to have learned 
 their Astronomy from the Egyptians, the Egyptian 
 priests evidently retained the secret of the solar year, 
 for from the time of Solon, who was born about 638 B. C. 
 and was an archon in 594 B. C, the Greek year consisted 
 of twelve lunar months, or 354 days, the seasons being 
 adjusted by adding three months in the course of eight 
 years. It was not until the time of Eudoxus who flour- 
 ished about 366 B. C., and who spent thirteen years of 
 his Ufe in study with the Egyptian priests, that the solar 
 year was adopted by the Greeks. 
 
 In their calculations the Greeks considered the move- 
 ments both of the sun and the moon, but the phases of 
 the moon were more easily observed and the Greek 
 calendar was based upon them. In attempting to com- 
 bine the courses of the sun and moon the Greeks found 
 themselves involved in great difficulties. In early times 
 it was believed that the course of the moon, or a lunation, 
 was exactly thirty days and that twelve of these luna- 
 tions took place in one revolution of the sun. It was 
 found out, however, that the first new moon of the second 
 year arose six days too early and the solar year had five 
 days more before completion. 
 
 They then removed six days from the lunar year by 
 making the months thirty and twenty-nine days alter- 
 nately, and as the lunar year was now eleven days 
 shorter than the solar year they intercalated twenty-two 
 days at the end of every other year. At the end of four 
 years they found that the lunar year was shorter than 
 the solar year by one day, owing to the excess of six 
 hours over 365 days in a solar year, and this excess had 
 not been provided for in the intercalatory period. In 
 order to remedy this shortage a new method of reckon- 
 ing was introduced by which the intercalation was made 
 at the end of four years instead of two, and consisted of 
 
18 
 
 forty-five days, the first three years of this four-year 
 cycle containing 354 days and the fourth year 399 days. 
 
 Iphitus, King of EHs, is said to have selected this 
 intercalatory period of forty-five days, about 884 B. C, 
 as the proper time during which to hold the Olympic 
 games, from which time they were regularly held. The 
 interval of four years between each celebration was 
 called an Olympiad, and it is from this that arose the 
 method of computing time by Olympiads, or cycles of 
 four years, although it was not until the victory of 
 Coroebus in the foot-race 776 B. C. that they were em- 
 ployed as a chronological era. 
 
 In the course of time it was found that this four-year 
 cycle was not correct and other experiments were tried 
 in order to find some method by which errors might be 
 removed, but without success until Meton, an Athenian 
 astronomer, discovered that in the space of 19 solar 
 years there were 235 revolutions of the moon, and that 
 all the difference there was between one and the other 
 was not more than one hour and a half at the end of 
 19 years, after which the moon found itself to have 
 preceded only by that little time of one hour and a half 
 the place where it found itself before with the sun. 
 
 Meton proposed cycles of 19 years, or 6940 days, 
 distributed into months, so that they corresponded to 
 the changes of the moon throughout the whole period. 
 This method of computation, first adopted by the 
 Athenians in 432 B. C, was so enthusiastically received 
 that it was ordered to be written with large golden 
 letters on a tablet and set up in the market-place at 
 Athens. It was called the year of Meton and the cal- 
 endar based upon it was published at Athens in the fourth 
 year of the 86th Olympiad and began with the 16th 
 of July, 432 B. C. It is also known as the Lunar Cycle 
 and that number, from 1 to 19 inclusive, showing what 
 year of this cycle any given year may be is called the 
 Golden Number to this day. 
 
 The months of thirty days were known as the full 
 months and those of twenty-nine days as the hollow 
 
19 
 
 months. The first of the month, known as vov/Ar^vm, 
 new moon, was not the day of the conjunction but the 
 day on the evening of which the new moon first appeared. 
 The full moon occurred on the middle of the month and 
 that day, the fifteenth, was called SLx6fxr]VL<: or the div- 
 ider of the month. 
 
 The Attic year began with the summer solstice and 
 each month was divided into three decades. The first 
 decade, from the first day to the tenth inclusive, was 
 fir]v io-Ta^£vo5, beginning of the month, and, with the 
 exception of the first day, the days were regularly 
 counted as the second, third, etc., up to and including 
 the tenth (SeVa), commencement days. The second 
 decade, from the tenth to and including the twen- 
 tieth, was fj.r]v fj.€(TC)v, middle of the month and the 
 days were counted regularly irpCjTr), SeuVepa, eVt Sexa 
 first, second, etc., after the tenth, or /xco-oVtos, middle 
 days, the twentieth being called, eiKas. The third de- 
 cade, from the twentieth to the thirtieth was /x^v <^^tVwv 
 waning of the month, and they were counted regularly 
 either onwards as irpCiTrj, Sevrepa, i-m etKaSt first, second, etc., 
 after the twentieth, or backwards as Sckcitt^, ^^tVovros, etc., 
 tenth, ninth, etc., waning days. 
 
 Central and Southern Italy were settled by colonies 
 from Greece long before the foundation of Rome, and 
 naturally the manners and customs of the home country 
 were continued in the new. Romulus, who was of Alban 
 descent, and who, according to tradition, founded Rome 
 about 753 B. C. is said to have formed the original Ro- 
 man calendar. This Roman year, like the year of the 
 Albans, is said to have consisted of ten months, four of 
 the months having 31 days and six 30. The four longer 
 months, Martins, Mains, Quintilis, and October were 
 called full months. The six shorter months, Aprilis, 
 Junius, Sextilis, September, November, and December, 
 were called hollow months. Martins was the first month, 
 the year beginning with the vernal equinox. The year 
 is supposed to have been the lunar year and the months 
 to have coincided with the lunar period, but the 304 
 
20 
 
 days in this year fall greatly short of the solar year, and 
 how that difference was made up no real explanation is 
 given, but apparently left to conjectinre. Macrobius 
 says the proper number of days required to complete 
 the year were added, but these days did not receive any 
 name as a month. Servius speaks of the intercalated 
 period as consisting of two months which at first had no 
 name but were eventually called Janus and Februus. 
 Little more seems to have been handed down with regard 
 to the earliest year of the Romans. 
 
 Numa Pompilius, the immediate successor of Romu- 
 lus, is credited with instituting a year of twelve months, 
 or 355 days, although the moon in twelve lunations 
 appeared to complete but 354 days, the excess of one day 
 being variously accounted for. To the Romulian year 
 he added fifty-one days, but as these days were not suffi- 
 cient to constitute two months he took a day from each 
 of the hollow months which, added to the 51, made 57 
 days, out of which two months were formed, January 
 with 29 and February with 28 days. The year, still 
 beginning with March, consisted of twelve lunar months, 
 four of which contained 31 days, seven 29, and one 28 
 days. All contained an odd number of days save Feb- 
 ruary which alone was hollow, and hence deemed more 
 unlucky than the rest. 
 
 At the end of two years, the year of Numa would have 
 been about 22 days in arrear of the solar period and ac- 
 cordingly Numa is credited with inserting an intercalary 
 month of 22 or 23 days in alternate years, at or near the 
 end of February, to bring the civil year into agreement 
 with the return of the seasons and to which was given 
 the name of Mercidonius. 
 
 Although credited to Numa it is not really known when 
 the year of 355 days, with its intercalary month Merci- 
 donius every alternate year, was instituted, but it is 
 probable it came from the Greeks who in 432 B. C. 
 adopted the Metonic Cycle. Having made his changes, 
 Numa placed the care of the calendar in the hands of 
 the Pontifical College and whatever changes were made 
 were made by it. 
 
21 
 
 The calendar, as reformed by Numa and the priests, 
 remained in force until aj^ain reformed by Julius Caesar 
 in the year 40 B. C. Through the negligence of the 
 Pontifical College 67 days had been lost which Caesar 
 intercalated between November and December. As 
 this year happened to be the year to which 23 days were 
 to be added according to the regular schedule, the num- 
 ber of days in this year was 445, which caused it to be 
 known as the year of confusion. Caesar employed 
 Sosogines, an Egyptian astronomer, to make calcula- 
 tions of the annual course of the sun which was found 
 to consist of 365 days and about six hours. A new cal- 
 endar was formed and established by public edict, in 
 which the first and every alternate month contained 
 31 days, and the remaining months 30 days, excepting 
 February which contained 29 days, or 365 days for the 
 year. Also the name of the month, ''Quintilis, " was 
 changed to Julius and the calendar was known as the 
 Julian calendar. In order that the six extra hours of 
 each year should be provided for, Caesar directed that 
 one day should be intercalated every fourth year making 
 such year to consist of 366 days. This day was intro- 
 duced between the 23rd and the 24th of February, which 
 was called the sixth before the Calends of March, or the 
 23rd of February reckoned twice over by accounting 
 these two days as one, whence the year which contained 
 this day became known as bissextile, or twice six, which 
 name it retains, although erroneously, to the present 
 time. 
 
 Notwithstanding the carefulness of Caesar, the pontiffs 
 made so great an error that Augustus Caesar, the nephew 
 and successor of Caesar was obliged to reform the cal- 
 endar again, concerning which Macrobius says, ^'The 
 priests gave occasion to a new error by their intercala- 
 tions. For whereas they ought to have intercalated 
 that day which is made up out of the four times six hours, 
 at the latter end of each fourth year and the beginning 
 of the fifth, they made the intercalation at the beginning 
 of each fourth year. This erroneous intercalation 
 
22 
 
 was continued for thirty-six years together, in which 
 space of time twelve days were intercalated instead of 
 nine. This mistake was likewise corrected by Augustus, 
 who ordered, that the following years should not be 
 intercalated; so that these three days, which by the over- 
 hastiness of the priests, were overreckoned, might be 
 swallowed up in this interval. Afterwards, he ordered, 
 pursuant to Caesar's intention, that at the beginning 
 of each fifth year one day should be intercalated, and 
 that this order should, for an everlasting remembrance, 
 be cut in brass. " 
 
 Augustus also caused the name of the month, Sextilis, 
 to be changed to Augustus, and in order that the number 
 of days in this month should be equal to the number of 
 days in Julius he deprived February of one of its days 
 and added it to Augustus. In the calendar as reformed 
 by Augustus, therefore, Februarius contains 28 days, 
 Aprilis, Junius, September and November contain 30 
 days each, and the remaining months 31, and an extra 
 day was intercalated according to the edict above. The 
 Romans abolished in Asia, Egypt and all other countries 
 under their sway the old method of reckoning by lunar 
 years and compelled the adoption of the Julian calendar 
 which was the generally recognized calendar for nearly 
 sixteen centuries, when certain errors having been found 
 the calendar was once more reformed. John Brady, 
 in the Clavis Calendaria, described the change as fol- 
 lows: "Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, finding that, by 
 the introduction of the Bissextile days, a difference had 
 arisen of ten days between the calendar and actual time, 
 owing to the odd minutes and seconds which the Bissex- 
 tile year occasioned the calendar to exceed the true period 
 of the sun's progress; and being desirous of celebrating 
 Easter according to the original institution he, by the 
 advice of Clavius and Ciaconius, caused those ten days 
 to be abated in the year 1582, by having the 11th of 
 March called the 21st, thereby making March to consist 
 of 21 days only: and, in order to prevent the seasons of 
 the year from retrograding as they had done before, 
 
23 
 
 he ordained that three intercalary days should be omitted 
 in every 400 years, by reckoning all those centurial years 
 whose date consisted of entire hundreds not divisible 
 by 4, or into hundreds without remainder, such as 1700, 
 1800, 1900, 2100, etc., to be only common years, and 
 not Bissextile years, as they would otherwise have been. 
 This correction was called the Gregorian or new style, 
 in opposition to the Julian or old style; and has been 
 adopted by almost every Christian nation, though it 
 was not admitted into Great Britain until the year 1752 
 when the 10 days expunged by Gregory, and another 
 day, which since his time had accrued, were taken out 
 of the British calendar, and the 3rd of September reck- 
 oned the 14th, whereby that month consisted of only 
 19 days. The Gregorian style was immediately acceded 
 to by all those parts of Europe which were under Papal 
 authority, but the Protestants adhered to the Julian 
 style with obstinate pertinacity, and the Protestants of 
 Germany have the credit of having first rectified such 
 inconsistency, by throwing 11 days out of their calendar 
 m 1700; the Russian stills adhere to the Julian style and 
 should they now adopt the Gregorian style, which they 
 have decided to do, they will be obliged to drop 13 days 
 from their calendar. 
 
 "As by this last regulation, the register of time has 
 been brought so close to the actual solar year as not to 
 amount to a day in about 5000 years, there is every reason 
 to conclude that not any further improvements are 
 hereafter likely to be attempted; and it is greatly to be 
 hoped, that, without a reasonable prospect of material 
 improvement, the venerable structure, with all its pro- 
 gressive advances towards perfection, may be left as 
 it now stands." 
 
 The epoch of the reformed Julian calendar as reckoned 
 by chronologists is January 1, 45 B. C. The birth of 
 Jesus Christ is assumed for chronological purposes to 
 have occurred on the 25th of December in the 45th 
 year of the Julian era, and as by the Julian calendar 
 January 1st was made the beginning of the year, the first 
 
24 
 
 calendar year of the Christian era commenced seven days 
 after the event which it nominally dates, or on January 
 1st of the 46th Julian year. The first century of the 
 Christian era terminated therefore December 31st, 100, 
 and the nineteenth century December 31st, 1900. 
 
 The various nations have differed widely as to the 
 place among the seasons of the beginning of the year. 
 The Roman year before the time of Julius Caesar began 
 at the vernal equinox. The Greek year before the time 
 of Meton began at the winter solstice; afterwards at the 
 summer solstice. The Egyptian, Persian, and Jewish 
 year began at the autumnal equinox. In England the 
 year began on the 25th of March previous to the adop- 
 tion of the Gregorian calendar which took place in 1752. 
 The same usage prevailed in the British American col- 
 onies from Nova Scotia to Georgia and was abandoned 
 at the same time. 
 
 As the power of the Roman Empire extended over 
 nearly the whole of the then known world, the Julian 
 Calendar, or at least that part of it which related to the 
 political distribution of time, was in force in all parts of 
 the empire. The Greeks substituted a solar for a lunar 
 year and ceased from intercalating forty-five days in 
 each Olympiad. The Egyptians were obliged to make 
 their first day of the year, Thot, a fixed day rather than 
 dependent upon the rising of a star, and the Jews aban- 
 doned their intercalation of one month in 120 years. 
 In regard to religion, festivals, games, etc., no change 
 was made and each nation followed its ancient customs. 
 For instance, the Jews continued the ancient observance 
 of the Law of Moses without change of the Sabbath, 
 feasts or ceremonies, and the Pascha was observed on 
 the fifteenth of March. 
 
 The first Christians adopted the Julian Calendar as 
 regards the distribution of time, but celebrated their 
 religious festivals very nearly on the same days as the 
 Jews, although their reasons for observing these days 
 were different from those of the Jews. They removed 
 the eight Nundinal letters from the Calendar and sub- 
 
25 
 
 stituted the seven Dominical letters in order to mark 
 Sunday, the first day of the week, as the day of rest, 
 rather than Saturday, the seventh day, which was ob- 
 served by the Jews. 
 
 The first Christians were of the Jewish nation and 
 celebrated Pascha not on account of the Exodus from 
 Egypt, but because on that day they partook of the 
 Last Supper with Christ. Later when people of other 
 nations had adopted Christianity, there were two opin- 
 ions in regard to the Pascha of Christ, one from life to 
 death on the day of the crucifixion, and the other from 
 death to life on the day of the resurrection. The Eastern 
 Christians adopted the first opinion and celebrated it 
 with the Jews on the fourteenth day of the moon of the 
 first month, or the fifteenth of March, the day at that 
 time beginning with midday. The Western Christians 
 adopted the second opinion and celebrated it on the 
 same day if it fell on Sunday, and if not, on the Sunday 
 following. It was not until the middle of the second 
 century of the Christian Era that both parties agreed to 
 observe as Pascha the Sunday which fell on the fifteenth 
 of March or immediately after. In the course of time 
 the opinion arose that it was un-Christian to observe 
 so important a festival on the same day with the Jews, 
 and at the Council of Nice which was held in 325 A. D. 
 it was decreed that the feast of Pascha, known to us as 
 Easter, should be the first Sunday after the fourteenth 
 day of the moon of the first month ; but in case the four- 
 teenth day of the moon fell on Sunday it should be held 
 on the following Sunday, that is seven days after, de- 
 claring that the first month was that of which the four- 
 teenth moon fell upon the day of the Equinox of Spring, 
 or immediately after. It was also decided that the day 
 of the Vernal Equinox was the twenty-first of March. 
 
 As the course of the moon was thus made the basis for 
 determining the time of the Pascha, recourse was had 
 to the lunar cycle of Meton from which was deduced 
 the rule by which may be found the date of Pascha or 
 Easter for any year. 
 
26 
 
 It will therefore be seen that the discovery of the true 
 length of the solar year as a basis for the measurement 
 of the progress of time, required the labor of thousands 
 upon thousands of men for centuries, and exacted the 
 closest attention of the priests and philosophers for many 
 generations. To make a proper arrangement of the divi- 
 sions of time, adapted to the purposes of civil institu- 
 tions, in other words to form a calendar, has occupied 
 the talents of the wisest men, and it is not yet completed. 
 
 The month is a period of time derived from the motion 
 of the moon. The '^ sidereal" inonth may be regarded 
 as the period in which the moon, as seen from a fixed 
 star, would appear to make a complete revolution round 
 the earth; it is evidently the period in which she passes 
 through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Its mean value 
 during the year is slightly in excess of 27 32/100 days. 
 The "synodical" month, more commonly called the 
 ''lunar" month, or ''lunation," is the period of time 
 during which the moon goes through all her phases. It 
 is usually reckoned from new moon to new moon; to 
 complete the lunation the moon must not only pass 
 through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, but also come 
 again to occupy her old position relatively to the sun, 
 which has itself advanced in the Zodiac, hence the lunar 
 is longer than the sidereal month. The mean value of 
 lunation is very slightly in excess of 29 53/100 days. The 
 "solar" month is the 12th part of one solar year and is 
 slightly more than 30 43/100 days. The "anomalistic" 
 or irregular month is the period in which the moon passes 
 from perigee to perigee of her orbit, the perigee being 
 that position in the moon's orbit nearest to the earth. 
 It differs from the sidereal month because the perigee 
 varies its position. 
 
 The line of the nodes of the moon's orbit, the points 
 where the moon intersects the ecliptic, or apparent path 
 of the sun around the earth, varies its position, and the 
 "nodial" month, or the period of her motion from ascend- 
 ing to descending node, differs from the other months 
 mentioned above. 
 
27 
 
 The lunar month was used by the Egyptians and Chal- 
 daeans, and is still used by the Jews and Turks. 
 
 The twelve "civil" or calendar months of the year 
 have from 28 to 31 days each. They are not equal 
 divisions of the year, some April, June, September 
 and November consisting of 30 days, and the remainder 
 of 31 days, except February to which only 28 days are 
 assigned, and the addition every fourth year of one more 
 day. 
 
 These distinctions often give rise to much confusion 
 as to the time intended to be designated by a month. 
 In popular language it is often understood to be four 
 weeks, as this is very nearly an equal period, expressed 
 by weeks, to the month. This is even laid down by 
 Blackstone as the legal definition of the term, so that a 
 lease for twelve months is only for forty-eight weeks; 
 but the expression of a "twelve-month" has been legally 
 held to mean a solar year. 
 
 The term "week" is derived from the Latin vicis, 
 by turns, one after the other; Gothic, wiko, a succession 
 or change; Anglo Saxon, weocu or wicu, a week. As 
 applied to time it designates generally a period of seven 
 days. Although not founded on any natural phenom- 
 enon yet it was probably first instituted as a broad sub- 
 division of the periodical month, corresponding to the 
 four quarters of the moon. 
 
 At a very early period the Egyptians counted seven 
 periodical days, naming them according to the seven 
 planets then assimaed. The application of the names 
 of the planets to the days of the week in the order they 
 now stand, originated in this way. It was an astrologi- 
 cal notion that each planet in order presided over an 
 hour of the day, the order, according to their distances 
 from the earth, being in the geocentric system, Saturn, 
 Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury, the moon. 
 Assuming Saturn to preside over the first hour of Sat- 
 urday, and assigning to each succeeding hour a planet 
 in order, the 22nd hour will fall again to Saturn, the 
 23rd to Jupiter, the 24th to Mars, and the first hour of 
 
28 
 
 the next day to the sun; in the same way the first hour 
 of the following day falls to the moon, and so on. The 
 days were named from the planets which presided over 
 the first hour and were known as Sun-day, Moon-day, 
 Mars-day, Mercury-day, Jupiter-day, Venus-day, and 
 Saturn-day. From Alexandria this seven days' week 
 was imported, together with the individual days, to the 
 Greeks, who had previously divided their months into 
 three decades, and to the Romans, about the time of 
 Christ. Rome had previously counted her periods by 
 eight days, the eighth day itself being originally called 
 Nundinae, a term later applied to the whole cycle, on 
 which day the country people were in the habit of com- 
 ing to town for the purposes of business, to inquire after 
 public news, the changes in government and legislation, 
 vacant places, and the rest. The seven days' cycle soon 
 found great favor among the Romans although the 
 change was not introduced before Constantine. 
 
 The Jews as well as the early Christians had no special 
 names for the single days, but counted their number 
 from the previous Sabbath, beginning with Sunday as 
 the first after the Sabbath, and ending with Friday as 
 the sixth after the previous Sabbath, or Eve of the next 
 Sabbath, or the seventh day, it being called the Sabbath 
 from the Hebrew shabath, to rest, and designates the 
 seventh day of the week, set aside in the Old Testament, 
 as a period of cessation from work. 
 
 Whether the Sabbath was an institution of pre-Mosaic 
 times or was purely Mosaic is an open question. The 
 division of the week into seven days antedated the time 
 of Moses, but the celebration of the seventh day as a 
 day consecrated to Jehovah is first mentioned after the 
 Exodus from Egypt (Exodus xiii, 6; xx : 8-11.) The 
 Jewish name ''Sabbath" came into use in Rome and 
 from it spread all over the Roman empire. 
 
 At what date the Sunday, or the first day of the week 
 began to be generally used by Christians as a stated 
 time for religious meetings is not definitely known, but 
 whatever may have been the opinion and practice of 
 
29 
 
 the early Christians in regard to cessation from labor on 
 Sunday, unquestionably the first law, either ecclesias- 
 tical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of 
 that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict 
 of Constantine, 321 A. D., which reads: "Let all judges, 
 inhabitants of the cities, and artificers rest on the ven- 
 erable Sunday. But in the country, husbandmen may 
 freely and lawfully apply to the business of agriculture; 
 since it often happens that the sowing of corn and plant- 
 ing of vines cannot be so advantageously performed 
 on any other day; lest, by neglecting the opportunity, 
 they should lose the benefits which the divine bounty 
 bestows on us." 
 
 It is curious to notice how the names of the five days 
 of the week which followed those named after the sun 
 and moon, became Germanized, as it were, or the names 
 of the originally imported gods translated into those 
 of the Germanic divinities. Thus the day of Mars, 
 the dies Martis of the Romans, became Tyrsdag among 
 the Germans, the god Tyr being in German the same as 
 the god Mars in Latin, namely the god of war, and the 
 third day of the w^ek was called Tuesday. The fourth 
 day, the day of JMercury, became Wednesday, being 
 named from Wodan, or Odin, the chief of the gods. 
 Jupiter's day, the fifth day, was changed to Thor's day, 
 or Thursday, from Thor, the god of thunder. The sixth 
 day, the day of Venus was named Friday in honor of 
 Freya, the wife of Odin. Saturn's day, being the seventh 
 day was called Sanstag or Sabbath day. 
 
 Speaking generally, with the ancients as with us, 
 a day was the name applied to the time during which, 
 apparently, the sun performed his course around the 
 earth. This, however, is not exactly true. It is not a 
 complete rotation of the earth which makes a day in 
 its usual sense. If the time is noted when a particular 
 fixed star is exactly on the meridian, when the same star 
 comes again to the meridian the next day, the earth has 
 made exactly one rotation, and the time that has elapsed 
 is called a sidereal day. This portion of time is always 
 
30 
 
 of the same length and on account of its unvarying uni- 
 formity sidereal time is much used by astronomers. 
 The passage of a star is not conspicuous enough to be 
 used in regulating the affairs of men in general. It is 
 not a complete rotation of the earth, but a complete 
 alternation of light and darkness that constitutes their 
 day. This is called the civil or solar day and is meas- 
 iu"ed between two meridian passages of the sun, and is 
 about four minutes longer than the sidereal day, which 
 is due to the movement of the earth in the ecliptic. With 
 the Babylonians the civil day began with the rising of 
 the sun; with the Greeks with the setting of the sun; 
 and with the Romans with midnight. 
 
 The time between the rising and the setting of the sun 
 was called the natural day and in very early times the 
 Greeks divided the natural day into forenoon, midday, 
 a period during which the sun was supposed to stand still, 
 and afternoon. The Romans divided the natural day 
 into antemeridian and postmeridian, meridian being 
 considered the point at which one ended and the other 
 began. It was one of the duties of an officer known as 
 an accensus to proclaim the time of midday when from 
 the Curia he saw the sun appearing between the Ros- 
 trum, where orators harangued, and the spot called 
 the Station of the Greeks, where ambassadors stopped 
 when deputed to the Senate. This was the nearest 
 approach made by the Romans for ascertaining the hour 
 for centuries. Although time was early divided into 
 years according to the motions of the sun; into months 
 according to the moon; and into days by the alternation 
 of hght and darkness, yet it was long before any accurate 
 measure was found for a division of the day itself. 
 
 As the Greeks divided their month into three parts 
 and reckoned each day as such a part of a decade, so 
 the Romans divided their month into three parts and 
 reckoned the days by Calends, Nones, and Ides. 
 
 The month always began upon the first day of the 
 moon. Therefore, at the first appearance of the new 
 moon, one of the pontifices assembled the people in the 
 
31 
 
 Capitol near the Curia Calabria and there called over 
 as many days as there were between that and the Nones 
 whether five or seven, by so often repeating the word 
 "calo," and from tliis word "calo, " I call, this day re- 
 ceived the name of Calends, and that which was to be 
 called became known as Calendar. 
 
 On the Nones the country people assembled for the 
 purpose of learning from the Rex Sacrorum the various 
 festivals to be celebrated during the month, and the days 
 upon which they would fall. In hke manner all who 
 wished to go to law were obliged to inquire of the privi- 
 leged few on what day they might bring their suit, and 
 received the reply as if from the lips of an astrologer. 
 
 The ability to give this information was long a source 
 of power and profit to the priests who jealously guarded 
 the secret of their information and surrounded it with 
 a veil of mystery. 
 
 The calhng of the Calends, and the announcing by 
 word of mouth of the festival and Court days continued 
 imtil 304 B. C, when Cneius Flavins, a curule aedile, 
 and scribe to Appius Claudius, censor, having gained 
 access to the pontifical books copied out all the requisite 
 information, had it engraved on tablets, and hung them 
 up in the forum for the use of the people at large. 
 
 From this time siich tables became common and were 
 known by the name of Fasti. They contained an enum- 
 eration of the days and months of the year, Nundinae, 
 Dies Fasti and Nefasti, astronomical observations on 
 the fixed stars, prophecies on the weather, notices of 
 glorious victories, etc. Indeed they varied but little 
 from the modern Ecclesiastical Calendar. 
 
 In early times the Calends of March, but after the 
 adoption of the Julian year in 45 B. C, the Calends of 
 January, was more solemn than the Calends of any of 
 the other months. It was New Year's Day. It was the 
 day upon which the magistrates entered upon their 
 office. On this day friends wished each other good for- 
 tune and interchanged presents. It was also the day 
 upon which debtors were obliged to pay interest upon 
 
32 
 
 their debts, and settle their accounts, hence according 
 to Horace ''tristae calendae. " The interest or account 
 book was called " calendarium. " 
 
 The "Nones" took their name from being the ninth 
 day before the Ides reckoning inclusively. In March, 
 May, July, and October the Nones fell on the 7th and 
 the Ides on the 15th of the month; in the remaining 
 months the Nones fell on the 5th and the Ides on the 
 13th. 
 
 According to Macrobius the name ''Ides" was derived 
 from the Etruscan verb iduo, I divide, because it divided 
 or nearly halved the month. Days were reckoned as 
 so many days before the Nones, Ides, or Calends, reck- 
 oning inclusively. 
 
 The division of the natural day into twelve equal 
 parts was adopted by the Romans about 291 B. C, when 
 L. Papitius Cursor erected in the Court of the Temple 
 of Quirinus a solarium horologium or sun-dial which he 
 had taken in the war with Pyrrhus. As this sun-dial 
 had been made for a different meridian and could be 
 used only in the day-time when the sky was clear, it 
 marked the time at Rome very imperfectly. 
 
 About 157 B. C, Scipio Nasica introduced the clep- 
 sydra or water-clock, the principle of which was very 
 similar to what we know as the sand hour-glass, which 
 was of the utmost utility as it could be used in all weath- 
 ers, by night as well as by day. The clepsydra of Scipio 
 Nasica is described as follows by Pancirollus. ''They 
 took a vessel made of glass, in the bottom of which was 
 a narrow hole done about with gold, lest the water should 
 wear it away: on the other part of the vessel was drawn 
 a right line having the twelve hours set upon it, after 
 which they filled the vessel with water, which issued 
 drop by drop out of the little hole; in the water was a 
 cork with a pin stuck into it, and the point of that pin 
 turned to the first hour when the glass was full and to 
 the other hours in proportion to the gradual decrease 
 of the water." It was also about this time that the 
 twelve equal parts of the day were called hours. As the 
 
33 
 
 natural day was constantly changing in length, the 
 length of these hours changed every day. At the sum- 
 mer solstice, when the natural day contained about 
 sixteen of our hours, the hour contained seventy-five 
 minutes; in the winter solstice when the natural day 
 contained only about eight of our hours, each hour con- 
 tained forty-five minutes. The present system of mak- 
 ing a day to extend from midnight and of dividing it 
 into twenty-four equal parts regardless of daylight or 
 darkness was adopted about the end of the fourth cen- 
 tury A. D., and the first calendar in which we find the 
 duration of day and night marked according to equinoc- 
 tial hours, is the ''Calendarium Rusticum Farnesianum." 
 
 Both the sun-dial and clepsydra were invented in the 
 East and had been in use from very early times among 
 the Egyptians. The first mention of the sun-dial is in 
 the Bible, II Kings, 20th chap., llth verse, which reads: 
 "And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: And he 
 brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it 
 had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. " Also the 8th verse 
 of the 38th chapter of Isaiah reads, ''Behold I will bring 
 again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in 
 the sun-dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the 
 SUA returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone 
 down." Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, the king of Ju- 
 dah, died about 726 B. C. 
 
 The time of the invention of the clepsydra is unknown, 
 but it was in common use in the time of Aristophanes, 
 who was born about 444 B. C. 
 
 But previous to the sun-dial and clepsydra the ancients 
 used the gnomon, which is the earliest and simplest 
 instrument for measuring the time of day which has 
 been mentioned. It was a staff or pillar standing per- 
 pendicularly in a place exposed to the sun so that the 
 length of its shadow might be easily ascertained. The 
 shadow was measured by feet which were marked on the 
 place where the shadow fell. By whomsoever the 
 gnomon was invented, and Herodotus gives the credit 
 to the Babylonians, from that day to the present it has 
 
34 
 
 been the proper method for determining the hour of the 
 day. Any person who is employed in the open air, 
 whether hunter, farmer, backwoodsman, sailor or sol- 
 dier, whether white man,. Indian, or negro, can usually 
 tell the time of day by means of the length and direction 
 of the shadow of a staff cast by the sun. Many can 
 tell the hour of the day by standing with their backs to 
 the sun and noting the length and direction of their 
 shadows. It is reported that in 1100 B. C. the Chinese 
 astronomers found the length of the shadow of a gnomon 
 at the summer solstice was one foot and a half, the gno- 
 mon itself being eight feet long. Phny recorded that 
 the shadow of the dial which they call the Gnomon in 
 Egypt, at noon tide on the equinoctial day, is little more 
 in length than half the gnomon. Augustus erected a 
 gnomon 100 feet high in the Campus Martius. "The 
 Enghsh Chapman's and Traveler's Almanack for 1712" 
 gives a rule and table by which the hour of the day 
 may be found by means of a staff. In John Wing's 
 "Olympia Domata^' and Salem Pearse's "Celestial Diary," 
 both almanacks for the year 1722, the rule and table are 
 repeated. They are again found in an almanac for 
 1765 entitled "Poor Richard Improved. By Richard 
 Saunders, Philom. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by 
 B. Franklin and D. Hall. " As the rule in each almanac 
 is given in almost the same words it is evident that it 
 is but a copy of some very old rule. According to the 
 table in "Poor Richard Improved," the staff, which was 
 ten feet long, on the 21st of March at 12 o'clock, noon, 
 cast a shadow seven feet long; on the 21st of June, 3 
 feet long; on the 21st of September 9 feet long; and on 
 the 21st of December 19 feet long. At six o'clock, either 
 morning or afternoon of the 21st of March the shadow 
 was 192 feet long and on the 21st of June at the same 
 time it was 38 feet. On the 21st of September at 7 in 
 the morning or 5 in the afternoon the shadow was 83 
 feet long and on December 21st at 8 in the morning or 
 four in the afternoon it was 100 feet. The length of the 
 shadow was shortest at the summer solstice; gradually 
 
35 
 
 increased until it reached its greatest length at the 
 winter solstice, and then gradually decreased until the 
 summer solstice was reached. 
 
 The wisdom of man was continually exercised in 
 trying to find some mechanical device for measuring 
 the passage of time and the clepsydra was succeeded 
 by a clock impelled by weights or springs and regulated 
 by toothed wheels. But of this invention the Romans 
 were entirely ignorant. It is attributed to Pacificus 
 who lived in the ninth century A. D. It was not, how- 
 ever, until about the 13th century that the invention 
 became practically useful. A very great advance in 
 clock making and the measurement of time reduced to 
 the greatest precision was caused by the discovery of 
 the pendulum by Galileo about the commencement of 
 the 17th century, and its application to clocks about 
 the middle of the same century. The first pendulum 
 clock made in England was in the year 1662 by Mr. 
 Fromantil, a Dutchman. 
 
 When watches were first used is not known. Watches 
 were made in Nuremburg by Peter Hele as early as 1490 
 and were called ''Nuremburgh Eggs" on account of 
 their oval shape. But it is claimed that the watch as 
 we know it was invented as recently as 1658 and its in- 
 vention is claimed for Dr. Hooke and Mr. Huygens. 
 Great improvements, however, have been made and 
 watches are now made with such extreme accuracy as 
 to vary only a few seconds in the year, and those made 
 at Waltham, Mass., are not surpassed by any other 
 make. 
 
 As in early days the calendar was under the control 
 of the priests it is not unlikely that an annual calendar 
 containing a list of the months, weeks, and days which 
 is so common with us was engraved, WTitten, or printed, 
 but if so no copy has been brought to my attention. 
 
 Of almanacs we have examples from very early times. 
 The pastoral life of the Egyptians, Chaldseans, Baby- 
 lonians and Arabians predisposed them to a belief in 
 astrology and no operation of daily life was performed 
 
36 
 
 without first consulting the stars. To satisfy this de- 
 mand for celestial knowledge almanacs, or books giving 
 general information and advice upon the movements 
 of the heavenly bodies were common in the Egyptian 
 and Arabian world, and this form of hterature has spread 
 over Christendom. 
 
 These books, however, were not known as almanacs. 
 Roger Bacon used the term "almanac" as early as 1267, 
 but whether or not he was the first to use that term does 
 not appear. Previous to his time the register was known 
 as "Computus," " Martyr ologium, " " Calendares, " and 
 "fasti." As the "computus" contained the Eastern 
 tables, a list of the Saints' days, and the various Fast 
 and Festival days, is was indispensable to the officers 
 of the Church and from the year 325 every cleric was 
 expected to know his "computus." 
 
 These registers were not annual registers but what 
 we call perpetual almanacs, or an almanac so devised 
 that it may be adjusted for any particular year. The 
 annual almanac seems to have been first made for the 
 use of navigators who did not venture far into the open 
 sea, but kept in sight of the coast or some island, which 
 served as guides in the day tune; in the night-time the 
 position, the rising and setting of the different stars, 
 answered the same purpose, and tables were found in 
 the "ephemeris" which is an ancient Greek term for 
 an astronomical almanac, or a book giving the com- 
 puted places of the heavenly bodies for each day in the 
 year. 
 
 One of the earliest of these registers or almanacs is 
 the "Papyrus Salher, No. IV," published in facsimile 
 in "Select Papyri, Vol. 1." The papyrus itself is in 
 the British Museum. About one third is missing, but 
 the remaining portion contains eight months of the year. 
 The author, a contemporary of Rameses II, by making 
 extracts from the works of other writers has compiled 
 an almanac in which every day of the year has marked 
 against it its good and evil virtues, that is, it was a regis- 
 ter of lucky and unlucky days throughout the year. 
 
37 
 
 Rameses II is supposed to have reigned in the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 The hours between the rising and setting of the sun, 
 the only ones that are of importance, are divided into 
 three seasons of four, each of which is ruled by its par- 
 ticular influence. Most often their quaUty was the 
 same and the whole day was placed in the category 
 either of propitious or fatal days. Sometimes, however, 
 it happened that one of the periods had one value, while 
 another assumed another value, and there were also 
 mixed days on which fortune differed every minute. 
 The writer has carefully registered these oscillations 
 and has placed a warning note for the reader after each 
 date, as good, good, good, or hostile, hostile, hostile, 
 or good, good, hostile, or any combination to which the 
 division into three groups lends itself. Afterwards he 
 indicates the things to be done or avoided, the animals 
 whose encounter or sight should be shunned, injunc- 
 tions with regard to fire, precautions for guarding against 
 the evil eye, and adds to this information a summary 
 of the motives which justified his recommendations. 
 It was in almost every case a legendary episode of the 
 gods. We perceive that a victory or some pleasant 
 experience of one of the immortals at that particular 
 date and hour had some undefined effect upon mortals 
 and gave them a chance of prosperity. On the other 
 hand, the consequences of a disaster in heaven would 
 make themselves felt on earth for a long period of time; 
 thus men were benefited or injured by the pleasures or 
 misfortunes of the gods. So many injunctions and so 
 many warnings were given, and so many methods offered 
 by which calamity could be averted, that it is not to be 
 wondered at that the almanac was consulted on all 
 occasions. 
 
 The influences whether good or bad were always 
 exerted on fixed days of the month, regardless of the day 
 of the week on which the date might fall. For instance, 
 on the eleventh of Tobi no one might approach the fire 
 place, for the god Ra had once burst into flame on that 
 
38 
 
 day in order to devour his enemies and the effects of his 
 metamorphosis was felt each anniversary, and even at 
 the present day the superstition still holds among the 
 Egyptian peasants who will neither kindle a fire, ap- 
 proach a flame, or smoke on that day. 
 
 As all of these influences were exerted on a certain 
 day of the month regardless of the day of the week upon 
 which that date fell, the almanac was good for any and 
 all years. Just as we celebrate Independence Day on 
 the fourth of July, Sunday excepted, so fire was to be 
 avoided by the Egyptians in the times of Rameses II 
 on the eleventh of Tobi. 
 
 Another early almanac is the one engraved on the ceil- 
 ing of the Temple of Denderah in Egypt which represents 
 in hieroglyphics the yearly journey of the sun between 
 Cancer and Capricorn and return. Apparently all the 
 signs of the Zodiac are represented as well as the nineteen 
 years of the Metonic cycle, and the festival days. The age 
 of this temple is much disputed, but recent discoveries 
 would seem to indicate that it was built about 35 A. D. 
 
 That the representation of the twelve signs of the 
 Zodiac has been a favorite subject for artists from that 
 time to the present is fully shown by James Fowler in 
 his beautiful quarto volume "On Mediaeval Represen- 
 tations of the Months and Seasons. London, 1873," 
 in which he describes one hundred examples taken from 
 the porticos, ceihngs, windows, and tiles of cathedrals 
 and churches in Great Britain and France, covering the 
 period from the tenth to the eighteenth century. In 
 his introduction he says ''none of the phenomena of 
 nature can earlier, or more widely, or more deeply have 
 attracted notice and curiosity than the phenomena of 
 the Seasons; and none, probably, earlier or more widely 
 became embodied in art and poetry. For that reason 
 few subjects, probably, would prove of greater interest 
 in themselves, or in the light which they have reflected, 
 incidentally, on the life and thought of those who have 
 gone before us, if undertaken by an accomplished anti- 
 quary, than the enumeration, and description, and 
 
39 
 
 comparison of the different modes of representing the 
 Seasons employed in different countries and ages from 
 the earliest to the latest times .... It would seem that 
 in the middle ages, whether in illuminated manuscripts, 
 early printed books, clogg almanacs, cut stone, carved 
 wood, metal work, incised pavers, encaustic tiles, mo- 
 saics, wall paintings or painted glass, representations 
 of the months and seasons were of frequent occurrence. 
 For each month the custom was to represent the cor- 
 responding sign of the Zodiac, or some characteristic 
 symbol or occupation, or both, with or without the month 
 or other inscription. The seasons were usually repre- 
 sented by symbols or occupations only." 
 
 The Roman Fasti closely resembled a modern almanac 
 and the celebrated ''Fasti" of Ovid may be considered 
 as a poetical "Year Book" or ''Companion to the Al- 
 manac" having been composed to illustrate the Fasti 
 published by Julius Caesar, who remodelled the Roman 
 year. All the more remarkable epochs are explained in 
 succession, the origin of the different festivals explained, 
 the various ceremonies described, the legends connected 
 with the principal constellations narrated, and many 
 curiolis discussions interwoven upon subjects likely to 
 prove interesting to his countrymen. 
 
 Several specimens of Fasti, on stone or marble have 
 been discovered at different times in different places, 
 but none of them older than the age of Augustus. One 
 of the most remarkable is that known as the "Kalen- 
 darium Praenestinum " or "Fasti Verriani. " Seutonius 
 tells us that a statue of Verrius Flaccus, preceptor to the 
 grandsons of Augustus, stood in the lower part of the 
 Forum of his native town Praenesti, on which he had 
 exhibited to public view the Fasti arranged by himself 
 and engraved on marble slabs. In 1770 the remains 
 of a circular building w^re discovered in the immediate 
 vicinity of the modern Palestina, together with several 
 fragments of marble tablets which were soon recognized 
 as forming part of an' ancient calendar. Farther ex- 
 amination showed that these were the Fasti of Verrius. 
 
40 
 
 In the Naples Museum is preserved an ancient Roman 
 Farmer's Calendar or Rural Almanac known as the 
 Calendarium Rusticum Farnesianium. It is inscribed 
 upon the four sides of a cube of marble about two and 
 one-half feet in height, and a foot and a half in length 
 and breadth, each face being divided into three columns, 
 and each column including a month. At the top of 
 each column is carved the appropriate sign of the Zodiac ; 
 then follow the name of the month, the number of the 
 days, the position of the Nones, the length of the day 
 and night, the name of the sign through which the sun 
 passes, the god under whose protection the month was 
 placed, the various agricultural operations to be per- 
 formed, and a list of the principal festivals. The re- 
 semblance of the various modern Farmer's Almanacs 
 to this ancient Farmer's Calendar is very striking. 
 
 A very interesting but more modern almanac is what 
 is known as The Mexican Calendar Stone. It is an 
 enormous slab of basaltic porphyry about twelve feet 
 square and three feet thick which has been cut from a 
 quarry in the neighborhood of the city of Mexico. The 
 disc is wrought from this great stone, stands out in relief 
 from the surface of the block about nine inches, and is 
 eleven feet, eight inches in diameter. After having been 
 suitably engraved by the sculptor this slab was sunk in 
 the surface of an altar which had been erected upon the 
 platform of an immense pyramidal structure which had 
 been built in the great square of the city as a temple to 
 the Aztec god, Mixitli. The sculptor has covered the 
 surface of the disc with hieroglyphic pictures the lines 
 of which have been cut to a depth of more than seven 
 inches. These pictures have been deciphered and prove 
 to be a very successful attempt to preserve in stone the 
 Aztec idea of the division of time. The central tablet 
 represents the face of the sun-god and from the manner 
 in which it is engraved the artist intended to represent 
 that god as the creator, the giver, the divider of time, the 
 very oldest being that ever existed. Around this central 
 tablet in concentric zones are other tablets which repre- 
 
41 
 
 sent the day, the week, the month, the year, and the 
 cycle. At the top of the disc, in the outer zone, over 
 the central tablet is the symbolic representation of the 
 year in which this work of art was made and consecrated, 
 namely 1479, and it is claimed^ that other symbols show 
 the dates of important events in Aztec history. 
 
 Although attributed to the Aztecs it is very probable 
 that the calendar represented here was formed by the 
 Toltecs, a very superior race, who, coming from the 
 North, conquered the people then inhabiting the coun- 
 try, and remained here from the seventh to the twelfth 
 century, laying the foundations of social, political and 
 religious order, and building sumptuous temples and 
 palaces. 
 
 Early in the thirteenth century, they either migrated 
 farther south or were driven by other nations from the 
 north among which were the Aztecs, who were the most 
 powerful, and apparently exercised common dominion 
 over all the others until conquered by the Spaniards in 
 1521. 
 
 The Aztecs built a great city, on whose ruins is now 
 the City of Mexico, in which was the temple of which 
 the Calendar Stone was an important feature, as on it 
 thousands of human victims were sacrificed whose 
 blood was thought to conciliate the anger of the gods. 
 The temple was destroyed by Cortes and the stone 
 after having been placed on exhibition for several years 
 in the Market-place was in 1561 buried where it had 
 stood. It was resurrected in 1790 and built into the 
 walls of the cathedral, where it may now be seen. 
 
 Calendars made of gold and silver were common in 
 Mexico. Before Cortes reached the capital Monte- 
 zuma sent a deputation of noblemen to meet him carry- 
 ing a magnificent present of articles beautifully wrought 
 of gold and other costly materials. Among them two 
 wheels, one of gold with the image of the sun, and the 
 other of silver with the image of the moon upon it, both 
 formed of plates of these metals each twenty-eight hands 
 
 "Philipp J. J. Valentini, Ph. D. 
 
42 
 
 in circumference, with various figures of animals and 
 other things, in basso relievo, finished with great ingen- 
 uity and skill. The Aztecs represented their division of 
 time by means of wheels and these two wheels were 
 calendars. 
 
 They calculated their civil year by the solar; they 
 divided it into eighteen months of twenty days each, 
 and added five complimentary days, to make up the 
 complete number of three hundred and sixty-five, after 
 the last of these months: the five '^nomentemi" or ''use- 
 less days" were intercalated, and belonging to no par- 
 ticular month, were regarded as unlucky by the super- 
 stitious natives. 
 
 Their week consisted of five days, the last of which 
 was market-day, and a month consisted of four of these 
 weeks. As the tropical year is composed of about six 
 hours more than three hundred and sixty-five days, 
 they lost a day every fourth year which they supplied, 
 not at the termination of that period, but at the expira- 
 tion of their cycle of fifty-two years, when they inter- 
 calated the twelve and a half days that had been lost. 
 
 It is in only the first year of the cycle that the Mex- 
 ican year corresponds with our year. For instance, the 
 first day of the first year of the Mexican Cycle in the 
 year 1454 corresponds with December 31 of the Julian 
 year old style, or January 9, new style. For on account 
 of our intercalation of one day every fourth year, the 
 Mexican year receded as compared with ours one day 
 every four years. This correction therefore must be 
 made when a comparison of dates is wanted for any 
 other year than the first year. The Mexican intercala- 
 tion of thirteen days at the end of fifty-two years made 
 again the first year of every cycle correspond with our 
 year. 
 
 The question naturally arises, how the Toltecs became 
 so far advanced in civilization as to be able somewhere 
 between the seventh and the twelfth century of the 
 Christian Era to formulate a calendar which the Span- 
 ish conquerors in 1521 found to be as accurate as their 
 
43 
 
 own, and how the Aztecs were able to solve such prob- 
 lems in engineering as the transporting of a huge stone 
 block, many tons in weight, over miles of marshland 
 and river, and the elevating and placing it on a platform 
 120 feet in height. 
 
 In ''Clavis Calendaria" John Brady says, ''Those 
 immense square pillars or obelisks in Egypt, the hier- 
 oglyphical characters upon which have so much per- 
 plexed the learned, have been considered as containing 
 directions for the monthly rural labours of the Egyp- 
 tians and consequently to have been the first species of 
 almanac ever issued ; and when the repetition of the same 
 figures or characters on each of those vast pillars is 
 considered, the titles assigned to them by the Egyptian 
 priests ''fingers of the sun," to which orb they were 
 usually dedicated; and the nature of the stone of which 
 they were composed, being of various colours, and re- 
 garded as typical of the four elements; there is good 
 reason for concluding that they were intended as alman- 
 acs rather than histories of sovereigns, or for any other 
 uses that have been assigned them by the ingenuity of 
 antiquaries. " 
 
 As early as the eleventh century our English ancestors 
 used as an almanac an instrument of somewhat similar 
 form, although a very humble imitation. I refer to 
 what we call "Cloggs" but which among the Danes, 
 Swedes, and Norwegians were known as "Runstocks," 
 "Runstaffs, " etc. Mr. Brady says "they were intro- 
 duced into England at the Norman Conquest. Before 
 printing was introduced, and when manuscripts were 
 scarce and dear, these Runic almanacs were particularly 
 useful in assisting the memory. In all visits to distant 
 churches, in all pilgrimages, etc., they were made the 
 instruments of instruction and regularity; and that they 
 might be doubly serviceable, they were frequently carved 
 on the tops of pilgrims' staves, so as to regulate their 
 times of assembling at particular places and also to 
 support them in their wearisome journeys. These 
 Runic almanacs, Uke others in manusrcipt, bore the 
 
44 
 
 characters of pagan superstition until about the fourth 
 century when they partook of both heathen and Chris- 
 tian emblematic devices, so as to be more generally 
 saleable; but after the seventh century, they became 
 wholly Christian, and that they might be made as uni- 
 versally serviceable as possible, they were sometimes 
 cut on sword scabbards, implements of husbandry, etc." 
 
 Although the Greeks of Alexandria are said to have 
 constructed written almanacs in the second century of 
 the Christian era and manuscript almanacs must have 
 been quite common, yet there is no record of any now 
 extant previous to the twelfth century. 
 
 An early manuscript almanac is one written in the 
 year 354 A. D. It was written on parchment and con- 
 tained about fifty leaves. Romulus Huart (b. 1537 — 
 d. 1613), utriusque juris Ucentiatas, writes that "fastos 
 quosdam seu calendarium Romanum antiquis plane 
 characterihus in membrana sex {si bene memini) foliorum 
 descriptum, sex etiam dumtaxat menses complectens" 
 was in 1560 in the possession of his father-in-law John 
 Brenner, royal secretary and actuary of the Provincial 
 Council of Luxemburg. It passed through various 
 hands until in 1627 it was in Brussels in the possession 
 of Peirescius who wrote to Peter Dupuy, the publisher, 
 May 12, 1627, "Parceque je desire de faire imprimer ce 
 calendria Constantinien MS. (avec les fastes et martyri- 
 ologes qui y sont joinds) lequel vous avez veu aytres fois 
 je vous supplii de ne pas laisser sortir de vos mains le 
 coppie au memoires que vous en pourriez avoir tirees, etc." 
 
 From that time to the present no trace of the calendar 
 has been found. Copies of the original pages and of 
 other portions of the whole Calendar had been made at 
 various times, and by diligent searching Mr. Mommsen 
 had been enabled to reconstruct the Calendar which he 
 calls ''Chronographus Anni, CCCLIIII, and" which 
 was published in ''Monumenta Germanica Historica." 
 Chronica Minora. Saec. IV, V, VI, VII. Edidit Theo- 
 dorus Mommsen. Volumen I, Bucolini 1892. It was 
 divided into thirteen sections, viz: 
 
45 
 
 I. Dedicatio Valentino. 
 
 II. Imagines urbium Romae Alexandriae Constanti- 
 nopolis Treverorum. 
 
 III. Dedicatio imperatoria et natales Caesarum, in his 
 
 d(omim) n(ostri) Constantii. 
 
 IV. Imagines Planetarum VII laterculo norarum noxiarum 
 
 communium bonarum. 
 V. Signa zodiaci eorum utilitates. 
 VI. Imagines mensium cum hemerologio, in quo item 
 
 adnotatur natalis Constanti. 
 VII. Imagines imperatorum duorum alterius sedentis et 
 diademati cincti (a Constantio Augusti figlio di 
 Constantino) alterius diademati stantis (Constantio 
 Caesare Gallo.) 
 VIII. Fasti consulares ad a. p. Chr. 354. 
 IX. Cyclus paschalis ab a. p. Chr. 312 as a. 358 cum con- 
 
 tinuatione perturbata finiente a. 410. 
 X. Laterculus praefectorum urbis Romae as. a. p. Chr. 
 
 354. 
 XI. Depositiones episcoporum Romanorum quorum ulti- 
 
 mus est Julius a 352. 
 XII. Feriale ecclesiae Romanae (depositiones martyrium). 
 XIII. Laterculus episcoporum Romanorum finiens in Liberis 
 qui adiit a. 352. 
 
 Complete lists of these tables are given in Chronica 
 Minora. 
 
 In regard to this almanac Mr. C. W. Ernst, the well 
 known antiquary of Boston wrote to me the following 
 letter: 
 
 298 Commonwealth Avenue, 17 December, 1906. 
 Dear Mr. Littlefield: — 
 
 The clog you gave me is quite clear, now that I have looked 
 at it under your guidance. With a Catholic almanac all turns 
 out right. 
 
 The Filocalus, or Liberius, almanac of 354, in Chronica Mi- 
 nora, ed. Mommsen, I (1892), pp. 39-148, was first printed, 
 1634, in Bucherius, Doctrina Temporum (Antwerp); and 
 Mommsen published it again in 1850. In a sense, then, it is 
 ancient history, by the side of which the Gothic fragment of 
 the 4th century (?), found by Mai, is not to be mentioned. 
 This Gothic scrap has our word "yule," meaning "jolly 
 season." 
 
 The Liberius almanac of 354 is the earliest Christian almanac 
 knoun, not likely to be excelled. It came in the very heart 
 of the 4th century controversy between Unitarians (Arians) 
 
46 
 
 and Catholics. It has the dominical and nundinal letters, 
 the Easter cycle, a list of Saints' days, and stands first in 
 assigning Christmas to the 25th of December. These latter 
 points give the almanac present interest, and make me think 
 that no man save Pope Liberius could have issued the docu- 
 ment. 
 
 Up to that time there was no special celebration of the 
 nativity; what there was took place on the 6th of January, 
 Epiphany. In 354 a new festival of the first order was intro- 
 duced, and the non-movable part of the church year was 
 established. All Christendom has accepted the almanac of 
 354. The Pope who took this step was not unfriendly to 
 pagans, and his beginning of the year on the 25th of December 
 generally prevailed through the Middle Ages. English medi- 
 aeval chronicles frequently begin the year on the 25th of 
 December. Roger Howden may be given as an example. 
 The novelty of the almanac, its influence, and especially its 
 list of holidays, strengthen the belief that Pope Liberius was 
 its real source. Filocalus was only the scribe, I think, chosen 
 by Liberius. And other reasons might be named for calling 
 it the Liberius almanac of 354. Liberius had the best of 
 reasons for issuing just such a document, and the year is not 
 an accident. A little later Liberius carefully compromised 
 with Unitarians. It is plain that we of Boston in 1906 cele- 
 brate Christmas on the 25th of December, because Liberius 
 established that festival in 354. 
 
 Always yours, 
 
 C. W. Ernst. 
 
 In the Savilian Library at Oxford is a manuscript 
 ahnanac published by Petrus de Dacia about 1300 A. D. 
 He was a believer in astrology and has been credited 
 with being the originator of the homo signorum, the 
 man of signs. This, however, is a mistake as diagrams 
 of the stars with descriptive hieroglyphics taken from 
 ancient temples and tombs indicate most positively 
 that the early Egyptian system of studying the stars 
 was by noting their hourly position above and around 
 some huge figure like the sphinx, so that the varying 
 positions "over eye, heart, elbow, etc.," could be intel- 
 ligently recorded for different times, and arguments 
 discussed, as well as theories framed therefrom. The 
 similarity of the figure in the Egyptian diagram and the 
 "man of signs" in the modern almanacs is very striking. 
 
47 
 
 Even at the present day the "Anatomy" as the "man 
 of signs" is called is a familiar figure in a few of the al- 
 manacs, as it has been for centuries in many of the more 
 prominent almanacs. It is the figure of a man surround- 
 ed by the twelve signs of the zodiac with daggers pointing 
 to the parts of the body which the signs are supposed to 
 govern as the moon passes them. 
 
 In "Fly. An Almanack for the Year of our Lord 
 God, 1722," a whole page is devoted to the "homo-sig- 
 norum." The figure itself occupies the middle of the 
 page and is surrounded by printed descriptions. The 
 legend at the top of the page reads, "The Anatomy of 
 the Body of Man, as the Parts thereof are governed by 
 the Twelve Constellations of Stars in the Zodiack, or 
 rather the Moon passing by the same Constellations." 
 In each monthly table one of the columns shows what 
 part of the body is influenced by the moon on every 
 day of the month. Although most of the almanacs con- 
 tained the monthly column of Moon's sign yet they did 
 not all of them contain the Anatomy. In a bound vol- 
 ume containing eighteen almanacs for the year 1722, 
 fifteen contained the monthly column, but only six con- 
 tained the Anatomy. The pointing out proper days for 
 bleeding, taking physics, and other odd matters seems 
 to have been one of the important parts of the task of 
 the almanac compilers. Many well-meaning persons 
 would not willingly adopt a remedy for disease without 
 previously consulting that mystical column in the Al- 
 manac devoted to knees, hams, legs, ankles, feet, etc., 
 it being considered unlucky to take medicine of the sign 
 which influenced that part of the body on that day was 
 not propitious. The following story is related: In the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century a famous physician 
 sent physic to a patient desiring him to take it immediate- 
 ly. On the following day he called upon the patient and 
 inquired how it had operated. The patient, a farmer, 
 replied he had not taken it. Upon the physician's re- 
 monstrating against this disobedience the patient replied, 
 "I looked into the almanac and seeing the sign lay in 
 
48 
 
 the bowels I thought that and the physic together would 
 be too much for me. " 
 
 In "Merhnus Liberatus for 1761," by John Partridge, 
 the table of the moon's sign is advertised as ''being of 
 excellent use for the direction of any person that deals 
 in cattle, etc. It being so plain and easy that it requires 
 no more explanation, for its use is exhibited by inspec- 
 tion. " Although Partridge died in 1714 yet the almanac 
 was published with his name attached as author for more 
 than one hundred years after his death, but to his name 
 was added the legend "etiam Mortuus loquitur. ^^ He 
 was a shoemaker by trade, but by employing his leisure 
 moments in study, acquired a knowledge of latin, as- 
 tronomy, astrology, and physic, and in 1688 began the 
 publication of an almanac. He acquired considerable 
 renown from an attack on him by Dean Swift, who 
 under the name of Bickerstaff published several 
 satirical and humorous pamphlets against the ''shoe- 
 maker astrologer." 
 
 Notwithstanding its absurdity the public resisted 
 attempts to eliminate the anatomy from the almanacs. 
 The Stationers Company once tried the experiment of 
 omitting the column of the moon's influence on the parts 
 of the body from Vox Stellarum by Francis Moore, but 
 so many copies were returned upon their hands that they 
 were obliged to insert it the next year. On the titlepage 
 of the second part of Old Poor Rohin, 1816 is a woodcut 
 of the Anatomy under which is printed. 
 
 Above is a figure will puzzle your brains, 
 
 The more 'twill bewilder, the more you take pains; 
 
 If you take my advice, you will let it alone, 
 
 For indeed it is useless when thoroughly known. 
 
 Among the authors of the manuscript almanacs were 
 Solomon Jarchus, A. D. 1150; Roger Bacon, 1292; Wal- 
 ter de Elvendene, 1327; John Somers, 1380; and Nicolas 
 de Lynner, 1386. Although independent manuscript 
 almanacs are uncommon, yet an almanac is almost sure 
 to be found in the early manuscript Books of Hours and 
 Prayer Books. It is called the Ecclesiastical Calendar 
 
49 
 
 and in addition to the simple calendar contains ''Tables 
 and rules for the moveable and inmioveable feasts, days 
 of fasting and abstinence, Easter-day, dominical or 
 Sunday letter, and the golden number." To correspond 
 with the rest of the book the pages of these calendars or 
 almanacs were beautifully written in black and red text, 
 and were surrounded with illuminated borders, jeweled 
 with gold, in which were represented fruits, flowers, 
 birds and animals. In many of the "Books of Hours," 
 several of the miniatures executed by famous artists, 
 indicate the labors and exploits of serfs and nobles in the 
 four seasons. In the August, 1906, number of ASm6ner's 
 Magazine, Mr. A. B. Frost, an American artist, has fol- 
 lowed this idea by presenting four pictures in colors 
 representing the labors of a farmer and which he enti- 
 tles "The Farmer's Seasons." Naturally these manu- 
 script books are much sought for and fine copies bring 
 thousands of dollars. 
 
 Besides being written in book form, the almanac was 
 also ^UTitten on separate pieces of paper and folded in 
 the shape of a flat stick or lathe. 
 
 Probably the first printed almanac is what is known as 
 the Calendar of 1457. It was printed in Mentz by Gu- 
 tenberg, in the new printing office which he had opened 
 after his lawsuit with Fust. It was printed on one side 
 of the sheet with type of double pica body, obviously 
 made to be posted or hung upon the wall. Only the 
 half of a single copy is extant. It contains the festivals 
 and notable days for six months. Gutenberg also is 
 supposed to have printed An Almanac for 1460, a quarto 
 of six leaves, printed with a type of round Gothic on 
 English body, with head lines in types resembfing the 
 text types of the Bible of 42 lines. 
 
 Johann Muller, a German mathematician and astron- 
 omer, a pupil of the famous astronomer Purbach, who 
 published manuscript almanacs, a native of Konigsburg, 
 from whence he received the name of Regiomontanus, 
 its Latin equivalent, compiled an almanac which appears 
 to have been the prototype of all the almanacs which 
 
50 
 
 have followed it. It contained the golden number, the 
 motions of the sun and moon, days of the weeks, months, 
 and year, and astrological tables. In 1471 Muller went 
 to Nuremberg where he " attracted the attention of a 
 wealthy and intelligent citizen, Bernard Walther, who 
 assisted him in starting a book-printing establishment. 
 He is said to have printed his Kalendarium Novum in 
 1472. No copy of it, however, is in existence. The 
 earliest copy known, containing title-page and date, was 
 printed in Venice in 1476 by Bernard Pictor, Petrus 
 Loslein, and Erhardus Ratdolt. Muller died 6th July, 
 1476 and as this book came out just before his death it 
 is presumed to have been the first edition, especially as 
 Muller had removed from Niu^emberg to Rome. It 
 contains twelve leaves. On the recto of the first leaf 
 is the title, surrounded on three sides by an elegant bor- 
 der in black; the bottom being filled up in the middle 
 with the names of the printers, etc., in red, the vacancy 
 at each end having an ornamental knot in black. As 
 a running title it has the ornamental K L, the beautiful 
 capitals are formed of the branches and foliage of trees, 
 and the words and figures are printed in red. The whole 
 appearance of the book shows it to be a monument of the 
 typographical skill of the Venetian printer, Erhardus 
 Ratdolt, one of the most wonderful masters of the art of 
 printing during the fifteenth century, and one of the 
 earliest to introduce wood engraving into books. His 
 work was famous for the beauty of the types and illus- 
 trations. As far as known this almanac has the honor 
 of being the first book which contains a complete as well 
 as an ornamental title-page, giving the place and date of 
 publication and names of the printers, with no other 
 peculiarity than the fact of the contents of the book being 
 stated in verse instead of prose. It is a curious fact 
 that it was at least twenty years before a full title-page 
 appeared in any other book and title-pages did not be- 
 come common until 1520. An almanac was printed at 
 Ulm in 1478, at Barcelona in 1487, and at Vienna in 
 1491. The earliest English ahnanacs were printed in 
 
51 
 
 Holland on small folio sheets. Several of these have 
 been preserved from having been used as stuffing in 
 the covers of books. The earliest almanac known to 
 have been printed in England was The Shepheard's 
 KaJendar, translated from the French and printed by 
 Richard Pynson in 1497. It was a translation of the 
 Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers printed in Paris in 
 1493, which was itself an adaptation of the Vrai Regime 
 et Gouvernement des Bergers by Jehan de Brie in 1379. 
 The earliest known English almanac is an "Almanacke 
 for XII yere .... emprynted at London, in the 
 Fletestrete by Wynkyn de Worde. In the yere of the 
 Incarnacyon of our lorde a. MCCCCXCVII." From 
 that time a continuous chain of such productions may 
 be traced both in England and on the continent. 
 
 Owing to the influence which the heavenly bodies 
 had or were supposed to have upon the earth, it was very 
 easy to believe that they also ruled the fortunes of men, 
 which gave rise to the science of astrology, or the knowl- 
 edge of the stars, and to a class of men who claimed to 
 be skilled in the science and to be able by the positions 
 and aspects of the stars to foretell the fate and acts of 
 nations and individuals, and to predict events of inani- 
 mate nature, such as changes of the weather, earth- 
 quakes, tornadoes, and the like. Naturally astrology 
 was considered a higher science than astronomy, and 
 astrologers were held in greater favor than astronomers. 
 Astrology is one of the most ancient forms of superstition 
 and prevailed among the Egyptians, Chaldaeans, Chi- 
 nese and Hindoos from very early times. The Jews 
 learned it during their captivity and afterwards practised 
 it. It spread into the West and to Rome about the 
 beginning of the Christian Era and astrologers plaj^ed 
 an important part in all the European countries until 
 about the middle of the sixteenth century. Astrology 
 was a powerful weapon in the hands of the ancient 
 priesthood and in more modern times many famous 
 astronomers were believers in it. The position of the 
 stars was taken by means of an instrument called an 
 
52 
 
 ''astrolabe/' which in the pahny days of astrology was 
 the badge of an astrologer. Cardinal d'Ailly, who died 
 in 1420, is said to have calculated the horoscope of Jesus 
 Christ and to have maintained that the Deluge might 
 have been predicted by astrology. Astronomy and 
 astrology went hand in hand and the almanacs were the 
 vehicle for proclaiming to the world the astrological 
 predictions. Indeed the evil resulting from predictions, 
 which in most cases proved to be false, caused Henry III 
 of France in 1579 to prohibit the insertion of any political 
 prophecies in the almanacs. The real death blow to 
 astrology was given by Copernicus when in 1543 he pub- 
 lished "De Revolutionibus Orbium. " Astrology, how- 
 ever, is still in vogue among the more ignorant classes, 
 and one of the most popular of the prophetic almanacs 
 is the ''Ahnanach Liegeois, " which was first published 
 in 1636. It is very popular among those who cannot 
 read, for by special symbols attached to certain dates 
 the most unlettered persons can follow its instructions: 
 for instance, a pill-box designates the planet most pro- 
 pitious for pills, and a lancet for letting blood. 
 
 As one of the earliest, if not the first products of the 
 press, at Mainz by the famous prototypographer Guten- 
 berg was an almanac, so the first book printed in the 
 English colonies in America, on the press which had been 
 sent over by the Rev. Jose Glover, and set up in Cam- 
 bridge, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by Stephen 
 Day, but worked undoubtedly by his son Matthew Day, 
 was the almanac for 1639 calculated by the celebrated 
 shipmaster. Captain William Pierce. Unfortunately 
 no copy is known to be in existence. The oldest extant 
 ahnanac printed in the English colonies in America is 
 that for the year 1646 calculated by Samuel Danforth 
 of Harvard College, and printed by Matthew Day. 
 As Pierce's Almanac and Danforth's Almanac were 
 printed at the same office and by the same printer it is 
 reasonable to suppose that they resembled each other 
 in size and number of leaves, and that they corresponded 
 very closely to the almanacs printed in England at the 
 same time. 
 
63 
 
 Of the almanac of 1646 one copy only is known to be 
 in existence. It measures 5^4 by 33^2 inches and con- 
 tains only one signature or eight leaves. The first leaf 
 bears the title on the recto with astronomical matter on 
 the verso (or rather did, as the first and last leaves are 
 missing). The twelve months of the year which began 
 with March, follow on the second to seventh leaf in- 
 clusive, together with various tables of the sun, moon, 
 tides, etc., computed for each month. The eighth leaf 
 contains miscellaneous information on both verso and 
 recto. Perkins' Almanac of 1642 is made up in a very 
 similar manner. 
 
 From 1646 to the present time almanacs have been 
 published in the English Colonies in America, and their 
 successors, every year with an occasional exception. 
 At first the almanac of some one person was sufficient, 
 then, a competitor for public favor appeared, until at 
 the present time nearly every city and large town has 
 one or more writers of almanacs, a mere list of whom 
 would make a large catalogue. 
 
 The world has seen innumerable almanacs written 
 to illustrate almost every conceivable subject. As early 
 as 1729 a writer in Le Mercure de France says: "There 
 have appeared almanacs upon so many different subjects 
 that it would seem to be impossible to find a subject 
 which would be sufficiently interesting upon which to 
 compile one" but since that date perhaps more almanacs 
 have been published varying in contents than ever 
 before. There have been almanacs of the Gods, the 
 Muses, the Graces, Goblins, Kings, and even of the 
 Devil, the latter, according to the title-page, printed 
 in 1733-35 "A L'Enfer." 
 
 In all ages and in all countries persons of the highest 
 culture and most scientific attainments have compiled 
 almanacs. Besides those already mentioned there were 
 Solomon Jarchus, 1150, and Anton Purbach, 1452-1460. 
 If good fortune brings to you the Almanack Calcule sur le 
 Meridional de Lyon,'^ printed in 1533, congratulate 
 yourself you have found a pearl of great price, for it 
 
54 
 
 was compiled by Rabelais, of famous memory. Other 
 early almanac makers were Anthon Askham, 1550; 
 Nostradamus, 1579; Gabriel Frende, 1589; John Wood- 
 house, 1634; and William Lilly, 1644. A few well known 
 English authors were Nicholas Culpepper, 1652; Henry 
 Coley, 1688; John Gadbury; Francis Moore, Vincent 
 Wing; Richard Saunders; Poor Robin (said to be the 
 nom de plume of Robert Herrick, the poet) ; and Cardanus 
 Rider. Among the American compilers were Capt. 
 William Pierce, Samuel Danforth, Revs. Urian Oakes, 
 Israel Chauncy, Samuel Cheever, Nehemiah Hobart, 
 and John Sherman. John Foster, Revs. Cotton and 
 Nathaniel Mather, John Tulley, N. Whittemore, and 
 S. Clough. 
 
 The first Pennsylvania almanac, "Kalendarium Penn- 
 silvaniense" which is one of the earliest works of the first 
 printer of Philadelphia and New York, carries the imprint: 
 ''Printed and Sold by William Bradford" at Philadelphia 
 in the year, 1685. It contained twenty unpaged 
 leaves. When in 1880 the copy in the Brinley library 
 was offered for sale it brought $555. Bradford also 
 printed "An Almanach for the Year of Christian Ac- 
 count, 1694. By Daniel Leeds, Philomat. Printed 
 and Sold by William Bradford at the Bible in New- 
 York, 1694." Bradford removed to New York from 
 Philadelphia in March or April, 1693, and the almanac 
 is one of his early publications. Daniel Leeds says in 
 his Almanach for 1700: "Friendly Readers: I have 
 now freely served you with an Almanach twice seven 
 years." The first genuine New York almanac is 
 "An Almanac for 1697. By John Clapp, " which was also 
 printed by William Bradford. John Clapp, the editor, 
 kept a house of entertainment "about two mile without 
 the City of New York at the place called the Bowry." 
 Against the 24th of June in the calendar, he gives notice 
 that in commemoration of the feast of St. John Baptist, 
 a feast is held by the Johns of this City, at John Clapp's 
 in the Bowry, "where any gentleman whose Christian 
 name is John may find a hearty Wellcome to joyn in 
 
55 
 
 consort with his namesakes." In the preface he says: 
 "To the Ivind Reader, having Httle else to do, and finding 
 this whole Province beholding to a stranger for a New 
 England Almanach every year he did resolve to set 
 himself upon the work." It contains 25 leaves and the 
 Brinley copy sold in 1886 brought $420. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, commencing in 1733, wrote and 
 published for twenty-five years Poor Richard's Almanac 
 under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders: James 
 Franklin, elder brother of Banjamin, compiled and 
 printed "The Rhode Island Almanach for the Year 
 1728. By Poor Robin," the imprint of which reads, 
 "Newport, J. Franklin, at his Printing-House on Tilling- 
 hast's \\Tiarf, near the Union Flag Tavern, 1728." It 
 is the first work printed in Rhode Island. The pithy 
 remarks and quaint proverbs of Poor Robin undoubtedly 
 gave a hint to Poor Richard. Benjamin West was the 
 author of the first almanac printed at Providence, name- 
 ly, "The New England Almanac for 1763, and was also 
 the author of the popular Bickerstaff almanacs printed 
 in Providence, Boston, and other New England towns. 
 The names "Poor Robin," "Poor Richard," and "Isaac 
 Bickerstaff" were copied from the English originals. 
 
 Nathaniel Ames began his series of almanacs in 1726; 
 Nathaniel Low in 1762; IsaiahThomas in 1774; Nathan 
 Daboll in 1773; Chas. R. Webster in 1785; Robert B. 
 Thomas in 1793; and Dudley Leavitt in 1797, the last 
 four still having an annual issue, after having been pub- 
 hshed continuously for more than one hundred years. 
 
 The "Almanach de France" for 1845 discourses as 
 follows: — "Fifteen millions of French people learn only 
 by the almanacs the destinies of Europe, the laws of 
 their country, the progress of the sciences, the arts, and 
 industry. Almanacs are the village library. It is 
 therefore important to give them a practical usefulness 
 which shall satisfy the daily needs of the common people. 
 The first duty which the betterment of their manners 
 and intelligence imposes upon us is to purge our publi- 
 cations of the scandalous anecdotes and lying predictions 
 
56 
 
 which offend pubHc modesty or tend to prolong a dan- 
 gerous superstition. This is what the Almanach de 
 France has tried to do since its foundation and has been 
 the principal cause of its great success from year to year. 
 
 Our readers will give us this credit that our intention 
 and aim is to enlighten and moralize the masses. We 
 shall be happy and well repaid if we contribute in a small 
 way to that result which all eloquence and all pens ought 
 to propose in a free and civilized country, namely to 
 form citizens who will cause their laws to be respected 
 by respecting their own obligations. " 
 
 In the introduction to his delightful essay on Almanacs, 
 Sam. Briggs of Cleveland, an old and valued friend, now 
 passed beyond, says: — ''No book or publication has 
 ever been the subject of more ridicule and contempt 
 than the Almanac, yet no book has been more universally 
 read, or more highly valued, or more serviceable to its 
 day and generation. From the earhest times and in all 
 countries they have been consulted and treasured with 
 an almost religious veneration; in earlier times they con- 
 stituted the only reading matter in many families and 
 copies were preserved from year to year for the useful 
 informations and maxims which they contained, as well 
 as the practical astronomy they taught. When we are 
 aware that the almanack in early days constituted the 
 only method of reaching the people generally, we appre- 
 ciate the full importance of these publications and gain 
 a clearer knowledge of the tastes and inclinations of 
 the people among whom they were a popular and rever- 
 enced class of Uterature." 
 
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