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Show The Leap-Year Question. A solar year consists of 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 4S seconds, according ac-cording to the chronologlsts. We aa-sumo aa-sumo that three years out of four consist of 365 days, the fourth, or leap year, being of 366 days' duration, except in the case of what are known as centennial years, by which 19 meant years that end In two ciphers. If you will take your pencil and do some figuring you will find that there are credited to Father TImo by this system 1461 days, each four years. The solar system only charges us with halng lived) in four years 1460 days 23 houra 16 minutes aud 12 seconds. sec-onds. The result Is we have had out lives shortened by figures 11 minutes and 12 wconds each year, or 41 minutes nnd 4S seconds during each leap year period, through adding too much time to the calendar by arbitrarily making a leap year every four years. In 400 years this- would amount of 73 hours and 50 minutes, or a shade over three- days; therefore In order to etiuallze the matter mat-ter It was decided that three limes In every 40 years, a po-called leap yar should be dropped from the calendar For convenience sake It was decided to drop this from centennial year?. And that la why all years having two ciphers are not leap years, Unless they can be dlvldcrt by 400 Instead of 4. Thus 1600 was a leap year, 1700, 1SO0. 1900, were not, and IhuB commencing at the year 1600 and ending with the year 1999, -vo shall have lost three days, or 72 hours, and gained In 400 years 73 houiu and 50 minuter. At this rate we arc- gaining one hour and fifty minutes every 400 yeare.. About the year 2100 another day will have to be dropped, but this will I not worry very many, who may, sea this. |