"The Golden Number."

In the year 432 B.C., Meton of Athens discovered that at the completion of nineteen years, the new moon falls on the same day of the months as at the beginning of those nineteen years, thus forming a Lunar Cycle, also called the Metonic Cycle, from its discoverer. This was a very important discovery to the ancients as their religious ceremonies and festivals were largely governed by the new moon. In consequence of this custom, each year in the lunar or Metonic cycle was ordered by the Greeks to be inscribed, in letters of gold, on pillars of marble; hence any number between one and nineteen was a golden number, and indicated the year of the cycle. By a very simple arithmetical calculation, based on the principle that in the year I B.C. the new moon fell on the first of January, and will fall on that day every nineteen years, it is very easy to find the Golden Number. Add one to the present year of our Lord; divide by nineteen; the quotient will be the number of the cycles since 1 B.C., and the remainder will be the golden number; if there be no remainder, then nineteen is the "Golden Number," and the next year will begin a new cycle. For example, wanted to know the golden number of the year 1886; add 1 which will make 1887; divide by nineteen; the quotient is 99, and the remainder 6 which is the golden number for the year 1886, that being the sixth year of the ninety-ninth cycle. The Golden Numbers are still used in the Book of Common Prayer to determine the Festival of Easter. The Council of Nice (325 A.D.) ordained that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or next after the day of the Vernal equinox (March 21st).

To find the Dominical or Sunday letter we have only to remember that the days of the week are represented by the first seven letters of the alphabet. Place the letter A so as to correspond to the 1st of January; the Dominical letter for that year will then be the letter corresponding to the Sunday following.