354 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



tiuue to be felt until Cosmic Time comes into general use, for it is the 

 onlj' one remedy which can satisfy every requirement. 



The Standard-hour system is an elfective preliminary means for the 

 introduction of universal time, and it is not confined to North America. 

 In Sweden, as well as Great Britain, the principle is in common use. 

 The Standard Time of Sweden is based on the meridian fifteen degrees 

 east of the j)rime meridian ; consequently an hour in advance of the Prime 

 Meridian time. The time of Great Britain is that of the prime meridian 

 itself. 



The scheme of hour meridians can only be regarded as a provisional 

 arrangement. It greatly lessens the difficulties experienced, but it does 

 not wholly remove them. It is, however, an imj)ortant practical step 

 towards the general unification of time, as it brings the minutes and sec- 

 onds into complete agreement with the world's time wherever the sys- 

 tem is adopted. The Astronomer Koyal of Great Britain calls particular 

 attention to the breadth of view evidenced by the managers of the Am- 

 erican railways who were so largely instrumental in having this impor- 

 tant step taken. " By adopting a national meridian as the basis of their 

 time-system they might have rendered impracticable the idea of a uni- 

 versal time to be used by Europe as well as America. But they rose 

 above national jealousies and decided to have their time-reckoning based 

 on the meridian which was likely to suit the convenience of the great- 

 est number, thus doing their utmost to promote uniformity of time 

 throughout the world by setting an example of the sacrifice of human 

 susceptibilities to general expediency." 



There is one feature of time-reform alluded to by President Arthur in 

 his message to Congress which promises before long to be accepted by 

 the community. I refer to the proposal to count the hours from zero 

 to twenty-four. The recent report of the special committee on Standard 

 Time of the American Society of Civil Engineers (January, 188G) thus 

 alludes to this branch of the subject : 



" This feature has the authority of the International Conference for 

 its introduction. In intelligent circles in Europe, particularly in Eng- 

 land and in Russia, also at the antipodes in Australia, the proposal is 

 reported to have been greeted with enthusiasm. The Astronomer Royal 

 of England, Mr. Christie, has established at Greenwich Observatory a 

 division of the great dial into twenty-four hours. In London and in 

 other cities, public clocks have been also changed to accustom the 

 English public to this division of the day. Some newspapers in all 

 their announcements adopt the change, and scientific societies give 

 notce of their meetings in the same manner as this Society, according 

 to the twenty-four-hour system. 



"On this Continent there has been no uncertain sound. In the last 

 annual report of the Committee it was stated that one hundred and sev- 

 enty-one managers of railways in the United States and Canada had de- 

 clared their readiness to abandon the division of the day into half-days, 



