It is evidently desirable that weights and measures should always continue the same, and that posterity should be able to replace any one of them when the original measure is lost. It is true that a yard, which is now exact, is kept by the public authorities; but if this were burnt by accident,[32] how are those who shall live 500 years hence to know what was the length which their ancestors called a yard? To ensure them this knowledge, the measure must be derived from something which cannot be altered by man, either from design or accident. We find such a quantity in the time of the daily revolution of the earth, and also in the length of the year, both of which, as is shewn in astronomy, will remain the same, at least for an enormous number of centuries, unless some great and totally unknown change take place in the solar system. So long as astronomy is cultivated, it is impossible to suppose that either of these will be lost, and it is known that the latter is 365·24224 mean solar days, or about 365¼ of the average interval which elapses between noon and noon, that is, between the times when the sun is highest in the heavens. Our year is made to consist of 365 days, and the odd quarter is allowed for by adding one day to every fourth year, which gives what we call leap-year. This is the same as adding ¼ of a day to each year, and is rather too much, since the excess of the year above 365 days is not ·25 but ·24224 of a day. The difference is ·00776 of a day, which is the quantity by which our average year is too long. This amounts to a day in about 128 years, or to about 3 days in 4 centuries. The error is corrected by allowing only one out of four of the years which close the centuries to be leap-years. Thus, A.D. 1800 and 1900 are not leap-years, but 2000 is so. [32] Since this was first written, the accident has happened. The _standard yard_ was so injured as to be rendered useless by the fire at the Houses of Parliament. 213. The day is therefore the first measure obtained, and is divided into 24 parts or hours, each of which is divided into 60 parts or minutes, and each of these again into 60 parts or seconds. One second, marked thus, 1″,[33] is therefore the 86400ᵗʰ part of a day, and the following is the MEASURE OF TIME.[34] 60 _seconds_ are 1 _minute_ 1 m. 60 _minutes_ ” 1 _hour_ 1 h. 24 _hours_ ” 1 _day_ 1 d. 7 _days_ ” 1 _week_ 1 wk. 365 _days_ ” 1 _year_ 1 yr.