mining the time of Easter, is called the "Golden Number:" the first year of the Christian æra corresponds with the second of this cycle. 6. The golden number, or year of the lunar cycle, is found by adding 1 to the present year, and dividing by 19, the quotient shows the number of cycles which have revolved since the Christian æra, and the remainder is the golden number for the given year. Example for the year 1839: to the year I add 1, and divide by 19, = 96. Therefore there have 1840 been 96 complete cycles since the birth of Christ, and the golden number for the present year is 16. 7. The solar cycle consists of 28 years, when the sun returns to the sign and degree of the ecliptic which he had occupied at the conclusion of the preceding period, and the days of the week correspond to the same days of the month as at that time. 8. The first year of the Christian æra corresponds to the ninth of the solar cycle: if therefore 9 be added to the present year, and the sum be divided by 28, the quotient denotes the number of the revolutions of the cycle since the ninth year before Christ, and the remainder will be the year of the cycle. 1839 + 9 1848 28 = 28 = 66. Example for the year 1839, Therefore there have been 66 complete solar cycles: and as there is no remainder in this example, the year of the cycle for 1839 is 28. 9. The cycle of Roman indiction consists of 15 years, and the first year of it corresponds to the third year before the Christian æra. 10. To find the year of the Roman indiction, add 3 to the present year, and divide by 15; the quotient gives the number of cycles since the third year before Christ, and the remainder is the year of the cycle. 1839 + 3 1842 Example for the year 1839, 15 = 15 122. Therefore there have been 122 complete cycles, and the present year is the twelfth year of the cycle. Had there been no remainder in this and the example No. 6, then the golden number would have been 19: and the Roman indiction 15. The dominical, or Sunday letter in the Almanack, is thus found, the days of the weeks are named A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and A is always put for the first day of the year, B for the second, &c. In the present year, the first day being Tuesday, or A; the sixth, or Sunday will be marked F: of course the dominical letter is F. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. How did the Romans reckon? 2. From what period did the Greeks reckon? 3. What are cycles? 4. What is meant by the lunar cycle? 5. By what other name is the lunar cycle called? 6. How is the golden number found? Give the example. 7. Of what does the solar cycle consist? 8. How does the Christian æra correspond with the solar cycle? Give the example. 9. Of what does the cycle of the Roman indiction consist? 10. How do you find what year of the Roman indiction answers to any year of the Christian æra? Give the example. 11. How is the Dominical letter found? LESSON THE THIRD. EPOCHS AND ERAS. 1. The Julian Period is formed by the combination of the cycles; that is, by multiplying the three numbers into one another: thus 19 × 28 × 15 = 7980, this is the number of years of which the Julian period consists, at the expiration of which, the first years of each of those cycles will come together. 2. The first year of the Christian æra corresponds, or is supposed to correspond, with the 4714th of the Julian period, which is 706 years before the common date assigned to the creation of the world. 3. To find the year of the Julian period corresponding with any given year before or since the Christian æra. Rule; in the former case subtract the year from 4714, and the difference is the answer: in the latter case add to the year 4713, and the sum will be the year required. Example for the present year: 1839+4713 which is the year of the Julian period. 6552, 4. Epochs and æras may be thus explained: an epoch is a certain point generally determined by some remarkable event from which time is reckoned, and the years computed from that period are denominated an æra. Example. The birth of Christ is reckoned an epoch: the years reckoned from that event are called the Christian æra. fore 4004+ 1839: = 5. The most remarkable epoch is that of the creation of the world, which is supposed to have happened 4004 years before Christ. The present year is there5843rd year from the creation. 6. The universal deluge is another epoch which is computed from the year of the world 1656, or reckoned from the years before Christ, 2348. 7. Two other æras are used in sacred chronology, namely, "The call of Abraham," B. C. 1921, and the departure of the Israelites from Egypt in the year B. C. 1491. 8. Sir Isaac Newton has made use of the Argonautic expedition as an epoch to reckon from, which is supposed to have happened B. C. 1225. 9. The destruction of Troy, B. C. 1183, and the æra of the Olympiads, B. C. 776, are epochs of considerable note in ancient history. Note. In order to find the year of the Olympiad, or the year of Rome, in which any event happened, of which we know the date in years before Christ: we have to consider that the first Olympiad took place 776 years before Christ, and that Rome was founded 753 B. C. Hence, we get the following rules. To find the Olympiad: subtract the given year before Christ from 776, divide the remainder by 4, and to the quotient add 1 for the cur rent Olympiad, and 1 for the current year of it. The battle of Granicus was fought B. C. 334. Therefore That is, the battle of Granicus, was fought in the third year of the 111th Olympiad. 10. The æra of Nabonassar is another standard to reckon from; this is thus denominated, from Nabonassar, the founder of the Babylonian empire, who began his reign in the year 747 B. C. 11. The æra of the Seleucidæ is reckoned from the establishment of Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, in the empire of Babylon, 312 years B. C. 12. The Christian æra is dated from the birth of Christ, which is supposed to have happened 4004 years after the creation, and 1839 years before the present period. 13. The Hegira, or Mahometan æra, founded upon the flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, to avoid his enemies, is computed for A. D. 622, of course the the present year 1839 answers to the year 1217 of the Hegira. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 1. How is the Julian period formed? 2. In what way does the Julian period correspond with the Christian æra? 3. What is the rule for finding the year of the Julian period which corresponds with any given year before or since the Christian æra? 4. How are epochs and æras explained? Give the example. 5. Which is the most remarkable epoch, and what does the present year answer to, reckoning from the creation? 6. From what years is the epoch of the deluge reckoned? 7. What two other æras are noted in sacred history? 8. What æra did Sir Isaac Newton make use of? 9. What other epochs are of considerable note in ancient history? 10. What is meant by the æra of Nabonassar? 11. From what does the era of the Seleucidæ take its rise? 12. From whence is the Christian æra dated? 13. On what and when was the æra of the Hegira founded? ARTIFICIAL MEMORY. ON MEMORY AND MENTAL CULTURE. "The capacities and powers of the soul plainly indicate her excellency and her value."-Archbishop Tillotson. "Amongst the vast majority of mankind, from the beginning of the world to the present hour, the mental faculties and the higher capabilities of moral and intellectual feeling, have been dormant, and unemployed."-Quarterly Review, No. 101. MEMORY can restore to its pristine disposition and arrangement all that we have ever felt, all that we have ever thought, and of which no trace remains without us; it can store up unnumbered ideas of the most dissimilar things, without confusion or mixture, for our future use; it can contain within itself the whole circle of arts and sciences, all that ancient and modern history teaches us of remarkable transactions, of the inventions and discoveries of mankind, ever augmenting this enormous stock of knowledge, and at all times delivering to us whatever is best adapted to our present purpose. Rogers thus beautifully apostrophises this noble faculty :— "Hail, Memory, hail! in thy exhaustless mine, From age to age, unnumbered treasures shine! Thought and her shadowy brood thy call obey, And place and time are subject to thy sway! Thy pleasures most we feel when most alone; The only pleasures we can call our own. Lighter than air, Hope's summer-visions die, If but a fleeting cloud obscure the sky; If but a beam of sober reason play, Lo! Fancy's fairy frost-work melts away; But can the wiles of art, the grasp of power, Snatch the rich relics of a well-spent hour? |