A FIXED EASTER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIE,—Mr. Meares maintains that the most peculiar feature of the present method of fixing Easter is its being determined by an imaginary or ecclesiastical moon. As the astronomers use a fictitious (mean) sun to measure our twenty-four hour day, and a moon that does not actually exist, for the mean lunar day, there can be nothing violently unscientific in this con- ception of the Church. However, in calculating the date of Easter it is assumed that the vernal equinox always occurs on March 21st, which is not the case. Further, the ecclesiastical moon is reckoned to be full when 14 days old instead of 141 days, the whole lunation being 29i days, nearly. These two anomalies appear to me to be much more peculiar and con- fusing than the adoption of a principle that has astronomical
Previous page
