| Show TwiiT1t CENTURY B GINS I ONE YEAR fROM TOMORROW i When do we enter the twentieth century cen-tury In flOO or 11 The dispute is not a new one Similar questions were raised In ITh9 in 699 and even as tar back as 1009 A learned German oC two centuries ago made this the sUbject of a learned disquisition which gave rise to quite a terature pro anti contra And In lSOO Paris witnessed a comedy with the title Mon dleu en quel sleds Ivons nous And yet says Camille FIammarIon the famous French astronomer the answer to the question Is simple enough Tea Is the sum DC ten units and the number 10Is one ot them There was no year 0 in the Ciristtan era The first year of this eia was the year L Therefore the twentieth twen-tieth century begins In the year 1901 end not in 1900 The first year after the birth of ChrIst passed withou speClal notice As much may be said about the second third and fourth In fact more than five centurl w h1d flown before the people realized thot II they had entered a new era For the P Christian er WilS established early In 502 A D by a Scthlan monk Dlonyslus nicknamed Exiguus because he was small T f I ot stature Dlonyslus jhe Small assumed that Chrlstwas born on Dec 25 753 years after the supposed foundation of Rome so the 734th anniversary of this more or less mythIcal event became the flrst year ot our era Later on 1t nirs found that the little monk had made a bIg mistake and that I thanJa to him the Christian era had been started not at the birth of Christ but tour years and seven das later This is why the Authorized VersIon ot the Gospels Gos-pels places the birth or Christ In the rear 4 B C I The German scientist of 199 mentions this In hs pamphlet but the error though acknowledged is suffered to remain But I such 15 ft was the era oC DIon3slus Ext gnus hid no year O Its 1rst year was I counted 115 A D 1 its tenth 11S A D 10 and so on And yet the world at large has made upUs mind that It will enter tIre wenUeth century in January 1900 Xo one doubts that 100 Includes Its hundredth hun-dredth unit but strange to say accord r lug tothe Idia > ot indviduale as well as natIons 11 tWo world enttred a new century J t < = nf on exchanging 1799 for 1SQO Truly fIgures I are almost as illusive as facts The French astronomer is perfectly pea Ilt that on Dec roR TiJ exactly r midnIght mid-night our nineteenth century wlll tan Ish Into eternity tn give place to the next Exactly at manignt These three words i suggest another puzzlng problem What country sill be the first to enter the twentieth twen-tieth century If we reckon the hours moving Saatwflrd we find that when the tfirnd J TIhll dod strike midnight in Paris it will he 1 a m in Vienna 2 a m jn Suez and Sebastopol Se-bastopol s a m in Teheran 4 a m In ToboJisk and lokhara Ii a m In Colomljo 6 a m In Calcutt 7 n m In SIngapore 8 a m In Shangh1t and Seoul 9 a m In Tedtio and full noon or Jan 1 1101 In the IOn I adIft i Chatham islands On the other hand IC we make the same reckoning moving westward we find that precisely at tire same time it will be 7 p m In New York 6 p m In Chicago 4 pin m p-in San Francisco 2 p m In Alaska 1 p m in Honolulu and fInally exactly noon of Dec 31 1900 1n the Chatham islands is-lands I To ront1y this discrepancy CmlJle ammarlon sugets the world should agee to la dawn a line or demarcation somewhere In the wastes or the Pacific I ocean east of Kamcatk and west ot the Caroline Islands r this suggestion be a tc th Americans In the Phil Ireineit the Russians in JCarnchatkri the fl tI English I in New Zealand I and the French in Nets Celedonla will all enter the twen Ucth century at about the same time Rt i 1 i 1 r < i < Yet the savage inhabitants or Chtham island will be In advance of them all as they will have lived through twelve hours and four minute of the new century when Flirts prepares to greet ts arrival wIth raised glasses ot champagne This however Is only justice as for the Oathamlc this new century Is likely tD be the laSt Since 1S their numbers have dwindled l from 100 to about fifty chiefly owing f tO the fact that their i ndghbors j the Maoris esteemed them as table del Ccy making i the rule that the Cath amfe should collect wood for the fire ot which Hapless ho was Chathamltes presently to be roasted |
