THE

AMERICAN ALMANAC,

FOR THE YEAR

1844,

Being the latter part of the 68th, and the beginning of the 69th, year of the Independence of the United States of America;

แ the 6557th year of the Julian Period;

the latter part of the 5604th and the beginning of the 5605th, year since the creation of the world, according to the Jews;

the 2597th year (according to Varro) since the foundation
of Rome;

the 2591st year since the era of Nabonassar, which has been
assigned to Wednesday the 26th of February of the 3967th
year of the Julian Period, which corresponds, according to
the chronologists, to the 747th, and, according to the as-
tronomers, to the 746th year, before the birth of Christ;
the 2620th year of the Olympiads, or the fourth year of the
655th Olympiad, beginning in July, 1843, if we fix the
era of the Olympiads at 775 years before Christ, or at or
about the beginning of July of the year 3938 of the Julian
Period;

the latter part of the 1259th, and the beginning of the 1260th
year (of twelve lunations) since the Hegira, or flight of
Mahomet, which, as is generally supposed, took place on
the 16th of July, in the year 662 of the Christian era.

o Conjunction, or having the same Longitude or Right Ascension. Quadrature, or differing 90° in

The sign is prefixed to the latitude, or declination, of the Sun, or when south; but the other heavenly body, when north, and the sign former prefixed to the hourly motion of the Moon in latitude, indicates that she is approaching, and the latter that she is receding from, the north pole of the ecliptic.

The letters M. A., m. a., denote Morning and Afternoon.

46 แ

Autumn

d. h. m. S. 89 1 532 92 26 51 56 93 14 10 57 89 17 24 5 2 53

"north of Equator, (Spring and Summer) 186 11

"south of

66

(Winter and Autumn) 178 18 29 37

365 5 32 30

Length of the tropical year, commencing
at the winter solstice, 1843, and termi-
nating at the winter solstice, 1844,
Mean or average length of the tropical year, 365 5 48 48

[The anniversaries marked with an asterisk (*) are to be strictly observed.]

The Jewish year generally contains 354 days, or 12 lunations of the Moon, but, in a cycle of 19 years, an intercalary month (Veadar) is 7 times introduced, for the purpose of rendering the average duration of the year quite or nearly correct.

The Mahometan Era dates from the flight of Mahomet to Medina, July 16th, A. D. 662.

The Mahometan year is purely lunar; it consists of 12 synodical periods of the Moon, or of 354 days, 19 times in a cycle of 30 years, and 11 times of 355 days. The average length of this year is therefore 354 days, which differs only thirty-three seconds from the truth; a degree of exactness that only could have been attained by a long series of observations. But as no allowance is made for the excess of 11 days in the length of a tropical year over the time of 12 revolutions of the Moon, it is obvious that in about 33 years, the above months will correspond to every season and every part of the Gregorian year.

[The anniversaries marked with an asterisk (*) are to be strictly observed.]