THE TIME OF HIGH WATER at the places following may be found approximately for each day by adding to or subtracting from the time of high water at New York the hours and minutes annexed. [Corrected at the office of the United States Coast and Geodetical Survey.] EXAMPLE.--To ascertain at what hour it will be high tide at Boston on the 1st of August, find the time of high water at New York under August 1st, which is 10.50 A. M., then add 3 hours 22 minutes, as found in the table or ide Constants under Boston. and we have 2.12 P. M. as the hour of high water at boston August 1st, 1889. NOTE. The hours of high water in the calendar pages are the morning hours -from midnight to noon-throughout the year, as computed for the U. S. Coast Survey. To find the time of next high water, or the afternoon tide-from noon to midnight-add 12 h. 25 m. in each day. The result will be the proximate hour of evening tide. For low water, add 6 h. 12 m., approximately, to the time of high water. Explanation of the Calendar. THE two natural divisions of time are the day, of 24 hours, representing one revolution of the earth on its axis, and the year, 365 days, approximately representing one revolution of the earth around the sun. The month represents (nearly) the period of the moon's revolution round the earth (about 2911⁄2 days), while the week is approximately one-fourth of this. By the Julian Calendar, established by Julius Cæsar, 46 B.C., the months were reconstructed; and the Roman year was regulated entirely by the sun. the lunar year being abolished. Thirty-one days were given to the 1st, 3u. 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 12th months, and 30 days each to the rest, except February, which on every fourth year received an intercalary day, made by the sexto Calendas Martius, whence "leap-year" came to be called Bissextile. As the Julian year had 3654 days, its length exceeded the true solar year by 11m. 14 sec., so that the equinox in the course of centuries fell back sever! days. To correct this error, Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582 reformed the calendar by suppressing ten days, restoring the equinox to March 21. The Gregorian Calendar also made every year which is divisible by four without & remainder a leap year, except the centesimal years, which are only leap years when the first two figures are divisible by four: thus 1600 was a leap year, 1700, 1800, and 1900 common years, 2000 a leap year, etc. The length of the mean year is 35 d. 5h. 49m. 12 sec., exceeding the true solar year nearly 26 sec., which error amounts only to 1 day in 3 325 years. The Gregorian Calendar was adopted by Germany in 1700, and by English law in 1752, when the Julian Calendar, or old style, gave place to the new style, by dropping eleven days from the month of September, 1752. The festival of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Christ, used to be observed on the 14th day of the moon, i.e., near the full moon-the same as the Jewish Passover. But the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, ordered Easter to be celebrated on the Sunday next succeeding the ful' moon that comes on or next after the vernal equinox-March 21st; thus making Easter and the related feast and fast days movable holidays. To find the time of high tide at fifty places in the United States, see page 5. JANUARY is so named from the Roman Janus, who was the porter of heaven, having the surname of Patulcus, the opener. He presided over the beginning or opening of everything, hence the first month of the year was called after him, when the Roman year was altered by Numa Pompilius (in the 7th century B.C.), from ten months beginning in March, to twelve months by adding January and February. In his original character Janus was the god of the sun, and worshipped as such by the Etruscans and the Romans. The temple of Janus (which was really a covered passage or gate at Rome) was left open in war as a symbol that the god had gone out to assist the Roman arms, while it was continually shut in time of peace. On New Year's Day, which was the festival of the god Janus, the Romans gave · presents to one another. Thus ancient was the origin of the modern custom of New Year's presents and first of January festivities. To find the time of high tide at fifty places in the United States, see page 5. FEBRUARY, according to some, derives its name from the Latin februare, signifying to expiate or purify, as the Romans had a custom of general lustrations and purifica- tions in the latter part of that month. More generally, February is traced to the Roman divinity Februus, afterward identified with the god Pluto, of the lower world. Still another origin is found in the goddess Februa, supposed to be the same as Juno; and Dr. Foster says, "The evident relation between the Februata Juno and the Purificata Virg. Maria is one of the most striking instances of the connection between Pagan and Christian rites and festivities as to the period of their occurrence." In every fourth year, February has 29 days, instead of 28, and the years (thus hav- ing 366 days, instead of 365, and styled Leap-years) are those which are divisible by 4 without a remainder-as 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896, 1904, etc. The exceptions are the cen- tenary years which are not multiples of 400, as it was found in the Gregorian reform of the calendar that the Julian intercalation involved an error amounting to 3 days in every 400 years. Thus, while 1600 and 2000 are leap-years, the three intervening cen- Sun Sun Moon Sun Sun Moon High H. M. 3 1 eve. H. M. 2 1 eve. 5 59 morn. 3 47 morn. 10 54 eve. 23. 3 37 morn. Calendar for WASH- Calendar for CHAR INGTON, D. C., Sun Sun Moon LESTON, S. C., North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas. Sun Sun Moon Rises Sets. R. & S. Rises Sets. R. & S. at N.Y. Rises Sets. R. & S. Rises Sets. R. & S. To find the time of high tide at fifty places in the United States, see page 5. The month of MARCH was named from Mars (Lat. Martius), the Roman god of war. This divinity was known as Father Mars, and next to Jupiter he enjoyed the highest honors at Rome, of which city Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were the three tutelary divinities. March was the first month in the early Roman calendar, and the legal year began with March 25 even in England, until the change from Old Style to New Style in 1752. (See explanation of the calendar, p. 5.) The custom of reckoning the year according to the Old Style is still retained in Russia, and even the financial year of Great Britain is reckoned from the 31st of March. In historical works, dates are frequently written thus: Feb., 1732; the upper figures representing Old Style reckoning, and the lower New Style. We also see dates between Jan. 1 and March 25 expressed thus: Jan. 30, 1648; mean ing that the year was legally 1648 (O. S.), but by modern reckoning 1649 (N. S.). To find the time of high tide at fifty places in the United States, see page 5. APRIL (Lat. Aprilis), derived perhaps from Aperire, to open, because spring and the buds generally open in this month. Another derivation has been found in the dedication of this month by the Romans to Venus, goddess of buds and beauty, whose name in Greek was Aphrodite, whence Aphrilis or Aprilis. This is more fanciful than the first-named derivation, but the word-mongers are never daunted by diîficulty, any more than by distance, in their etymologies. In the French revolutionary calendar, April included most of their new season of Germinal, and the beginning of Floreal. On the ancient monuments, Aprilis appears as a dancing youth with a rattle in his hand, thus symbolizing the gay and jocund spirit of spring. All-Fools' Day (April 1) is traced through every country of Europe to the Hindoos, and even farther back-to the mistake of Noah in sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the Hebrew first day of the month. |