including the intercalary month, and if we add that month[1] to every other year in order that the seasons arriving at the proper time may agree, the intercalary months will be 35 more in the 70 years, and the days of these months will be 1,050.'
119. This method of calculating time is just another instance of how wayward would be all history without chronology. And yet what do we find? Chroniclers in every country in its infancy have devoted themselves to the task of spinning out fables, and passing these to posterity as immaculate records. I do not say that history, and accurate history, cannot be written without a chronological basis, but I do affirm that the neglect of chronology has plunged many histories otherwise meritorious into much confusion as to the origin, potency, and extinction of epochs.
120. Scaliger[2] is known as the father of chronology. He lived and died before the science of paleography was thought of. Paleography is likewise of assistance in Chronology, and is the science of deciphering, writings, especially those of ancient times, and of deciding upon their age, their authenticity, and present value. It is sometimes known as diplomatics. These three sentences will suffice to show that the great Scaliger must have wrought under serious disadvantages.[3]
121. In this science—so helpful towards accuracy in chronology—France led the way, in 1681, with Mabillon's
- ↑ If the first number 25,200 was correct, it follows that the year was 360 days; if the number of intercalary days 1050 in seventy years, there will he altogether , which will give 375 days to the year, so that in spite of the precaution the seasons will become confused.
- ↑ He lived between 1540 and 1609.
- ↑ He invented the Julian cycle. See section 55 supra.
