Though the year is commonly reckoned 365 days, 6 hours, it is accurately ascertained to contain 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds.

To know the Days in each Month.

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November;
February hath twenty-eight alone,
All the rest have thirty and one;
Except leap-year, and then's the time
February's days are twenty-nine.

To know when it is Leap-Year.

Divide the year by four, and if there be no remainder, it is leap-year; but if any figure is over, it denotes the number of years since. Thus 1840, 1844, &c., divided by 4 leave no remainder, and are leap-years.

LADY DAY.

The Tropical, or Solar Year, is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds.

A Siderial Year is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, 11 seconds. The Lunar Month is 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes, which is the time the Moon occupies in effecting its changes.

13 months of 4 weeks and 1 day; or 52 weeks 1 day; or 365 days, make 1 year for three years together; but every fourth year contains 366 days, and is called Leap-Year: hence the Julian Year is 365 days and 6 hours at a mean.

The astronomical day is reckoned from noon to noon, and consists of 24 hours. This is called a natural day, being of the same length in all latitudes. The artificial day, is the time elapsed between the sun's rising and setting, and is variable according to the different latitudes of places. The civil day, like the astronomical or natural day, consists of 24 hours, but begins differently in different nations. The ancient Babylonians, Persians, Syrians, and most of the eastern nations, began their day at sun-rising; the Athenians, Jews, &c. at sun-setting, which custom is followed by the modern Austrians, Bohemians, Silesians, Italians, Chinese, &c. The Arabians begin their day at noon; the ancient Egyptians, Romans, &c. at midnight, and this method is followed by the English, French, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese.

F

All countries on the face of the earth, in respect to time, equally enjoy the light of the sun, and are equally deprived of the benefit of it; that is, every inhabitant has the sun above his horizon for six months, and below it for the same period.

The Zodiac is an imaginary belt encompassing the heavens, and extending eight degrees on each side of the Ecliptic. It contains the paths of all the planets. The ecliptic and zodiac are divided into twelve equal parts called signs, each containing thirty degrees. The sun makes his apparent annual progress through the ecliptic at the rate of nearly a degree in a day. The names of the signs, and the days on which the sun enters them, are as follow: