This interval is
called the _lunar month_, which for a long time was regarded as the
radical unit in the admeasurement of time."
"But the year is now the unit, is it not?"
"Yes, in course of time the moon, in this respect, gave place to the
sun. It was observed that the earth, in performing her revolution
round the sun, always arrived at the same point of her orbit at the
end of three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, fifty-eight
minutes, and forty-five seconds."
"Does the earth invariably pass the same point at that interval?"
"Yes, invariably; and the interval in question is termed the solar
year."
"After all," remarked Jack, "the perseverance of the earth is very
much to be admired. It goes on eternally, always performing the same
journey, never deviates from its path, and is never a minute too
late."
"If the earth had performed her annual voyage in a certain number of
entire days, the solar year would have been an exact unit of time; but
the odd fraction defied all our systems of calculation. Originally, we
reckoned the year to consist of three hundred and sixty-five days."
"And left the fraction to shift for itself!"
"Yes, but the consequence was, that the civil year was always nearly a
quarter of a day behind; so that at the end of a hundred and
twenty-one years the civil year had become an entire month behind.
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