A FIXED EASTER.
[TO THE EDITOR OD TES " SPECTATOR."
Six,—As most of your readers evidently do not study astronomy, judging by the recent correspondence as to the moon lying on her back, it may be of interest to point out one of the most peculiar features of the present method of fixing Easter. It depends, as pointed out • by Dr. Downing, late Superintendent of the Nautical Almanack, on an ecclesiastical moon, which does not actually exist in the heaven above, but was an inven- tion in the earth beneath. Consequently Septuagesima Sunday can fall on February 22nd only when Easter Sunday falls on its latest date, April 25th, in a leap year. This happened in A.D. 1204, and will occur again, in a cycle, in the years 3784, 4088, 4156, &c. After occurring nine times in 1,336 years there will be an interval of no less than 4,168 years before the next cycle.'
—I am, Sir, ho., J. W. MEARES. * Journal of the British Astronomical Association. The former reference about 1893, and the latter quite recently.
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