UNIVERSAL TIME. 801 



time would be used solely for the internal administration of railways 

 and telegraphs, and that accurate local time must be rigidly adhered to 

 for all other purposes. It was conceded, however, that persons who 

 traveled frequently might with advantage use universal time during 

 railway-journeys. This attempt to separate the traveling from the 

 stationary public seems to be one that is not likely to meet with suc- 

 cess, even temporarily, and it is clear that in the future we may expect 

 the latter class to be completely absorbed in the former. Another 

 argument that influenced the meeting at Rome was the supposed use 

 of the astronomical day by sailors. Now, it appears that sailors never 

 did use the astronomical day, which begins at the noon following the 

 civil midnight of that date, but the nautical day which begins at the 

 noon preceding r , i. e., twenty-four hours before the astronomical day 

 of the same date, ending when the latter begins. And the nautical 

 day itself has long been given up by English and American sailors, 

 who now use a sort of mongrel time-reckoning, employing civil time 

 in the log-book and for ordinary purposes, while, in working up the 

 observations on which the safe navigation of the ship depends, they 

 are obliged to change civil into astronomical reckoning, altering the 

 date where necessary, and interpreting their a. m. and p. m. by the 

 light of nature. It says something for the common sense of our sail- 

 ors that they are able to carry out every day without mistake this 

 operation, which is considered so troublesome by some astronomers. 



In this connection I may mention that the Board of Visitors of 

 Greenwich Observatory have almost unanimously recommended that, 

 in accordance with the resolution of the Washington Conference, the 

 day in the English " Nautical Almanac " should be arranged from the 

 year 1891 (the earliest practicable date) to begin at Greenwich mid- 

 night (so as to agree with civil reckoning, and remove this source 

 of confusion for sailors), and that a committee appointed by them 

 have drawn up the details of the changes necessary to give effect 

 to this resolution without causing inconvenience to the mercantile 

 marine. 



The advantage of making the world day coincide with the Green- 

 wich civil day is that the change of date at the commencement of a 

 new day falls in the hours of the night throughout Europe, Africa, and 

 Asia, and that it does not occur in the ordinary oflice-hours (10 a. if. 

 to 4 p. m.) in any important country except New Zealand. In the 

 United States and Canada the change of date would occur after four 

 in the evening, and in Australia before ten in the morning. This 

 arrangement would thus reduce the inconvenience to a minimum, as 

 the part of the world in which the change of date would occur about 

 the middle of the local day is almost entirely water, while on the op- 

 posite side we have the most populous continents. 



The question for the future seems to be whether it will be found 

 more troublesome to change the hours for labor, sleep, and meals once 



VOL. XXIX. 51 



