By C. G. MOR TIMER
Have you ever thought about time? It is one of the most interesting things in the world.
As one month slips into another, we are apt to forget that the reckoning of time has been by no means an easy matter in the past. The reason is a simple one we all know that our year consists of 365 days and if it took exactly this time for the earth to travel round the sun, there would be no difficulty. I:e)et as a fact the journey takes 365 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes odd.
About Julius Caesar Julius Cwsar was the first person who tried to put the calendar straight, ordaining that every fourth year should be a leap year, with an extra day, 366 in all. But in course of time this proved too much and after many centuries the world was ten days out in its reckoning.
It was Pope Gregory XIII who, with the help of astronomers of his day, made the necessary change. October 4, 1582, was followed by October 15. Thus about eleven days had been apparently lost! Some people were so foolish that they would not consent to the change and in England it was not till 1752 that the eleven days were dropped; in Russia the new style was not adopted till 1917.
Changes were also made in the Leap Years; some. were omitted. For example, the years 1700, 1800 and 1900. Yet even with all this care, if any of you five till the year 2000, you will all be a day out and somebody will have to put it right again!