Thus, the years 1700 and 1800, which should have been leap years, did
not reckon the extra day; so the years 2000 and 2400 will likewise be
deprived of their supplementary four-and-twenty hours."
"There is one difficulty about this mode of stowing away extra days;
these leap years may be forgotten."
"Not if you keep in mind that leap years alone admit of being divided
by four."
"Did the Pope manage to get entirely rid of the fraction?"
"Not entirely; but the error does not exceed one day in four thousand
years, and is so small that it is not likely to derange ordinary
calculations; and so, Willis, you now know the origin of the calendar,
and likewise how time came to be divided into weeks, months, and
years."
"You have only spoken of the Christian calendar," remarked Ernest.
"There have been several other systems in use. Those curious people
that call themselves the children of the sun and moon, possess a mode
of reckoning that carries them back to a period anterior to the
creation of the world. Then, the Greeks computed by Olympiads, or
periods of four years. The Romans reckoned by lustri of five years,
the first of which corresponds with the 117th year of the foundation
of Rome."
"And when does our calendar begin?"
"It dates only from the birth of Christ, but may be carried back to
the creation, which event, to the best of our knowledge, occurred four
thousand and four years before the birth of our Savior.
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