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. The
first month of winter found itself in autumn, the first month of
spring in the middle of winter, and so on.

"Rather a lubberly sort of log, that," remarked Willis.

"This confusion became, with time, more and more embarrassing. Another
evil was, likewise, eventually to be apprehended, for it was seen
that, on the expiring of fourteen hundred and sixty revolutions of the
earth round the sun, fourteen hundred and sixty-one civil years would
be counted."

"But where would have been the evil?"

"All relations between the dates and the seasons would have been
obliterated, astronomical calculations would have become inaccurate,
and the calendar virtually useless."

"Well, Willis, you that are so fertile in ideas, what would you have
done in such a case?" inquired Jack.

"I! Why I scarcely know--perhaps run out a fresh cable and commenced a
new log."

"Your remedy," continued Wolston, "might, perhaps, have obviated the
difficulty; but Julius Caesar thought of another that answered the
purpose equally well. It was simply to add to every fourth civil year
an additional day, making it to consist of three hundred and sixty-six
instead of three hundred and sixty-five, This supplementary day was
given to the month of February."

"Why February?"

"Because February, at that time, was rec