NEW TIME-RECKONING. 361 



missionaries and adherents in Alaska to celebrate Sunday a day later, or on Monday, 

 according to the old reckoning. 



The reverse has been met in another quarter of the globe. The Philippine Inlands, 

 lying between Australia and Asia, and about 100 degrees of longitude to the west of 

 Alaska, were discovered in 1521 by the illustrious Magellan in his memorable first cir- 

 cumnavigation of the globe. That navigator followed the sun in his path around the 

 world. Legjispi succeeded him and took posses&ion of these important islands in the 

 name of Philip II, King of Spain, The Philippine Islands extend for a thousand miles 

 from north to south, they embrace Manilla, one of the oldest citiesof the Indies, and they 

 contain a population of 5,000,000. They were colonized, as well as discovered, by 

 Spaniards coming from the East, and as a consequence the reckoning of the inhab- 

 itants has for more than three centuries remained a day behind the day in British 

 India and the neighboring countries in Asia. 



Travelers who arrive at New Zealand or the Australian colonies by the San Fran- 

 cisco route meet the same difference, owing to the fact that the countries in the South 

 Pacific were colonized from the West. The day of the week and of the month carried 

 from San Francisco never agrees with the day and date reckoned by the inhabitants 

 at the destination of the steamer. 



All travelers who have made the voyage between America and Asia have expe- 

 rienced the diiFiculty in reckoning referred to. Those who have jiroceeded westward 

 have lost, while those who have traveled eastward have gained a day. In Mrs. 

 Brassey's Around the World in the Yacht Simheam, this experience is recorded. The 

 journal of that lady passes from Wednesday, January 10, directly to Friday, January 

 12 — Thursday, January 11, having no existence with the travelers. 



In sailing across the Pacific from west to east, one day has to be repeated before 

 landing on the American coast. If, for example, the correction be made on Wednes- 

 day, 1st July, there will be two Wednesdays in the one week, and two days of the 

 month dated July 1. 



A journey round the world is now an everyday undertaking, and is accomplished 

 with comparative ease. Suppose two travelers set out from a given place, one going 

 eastwardly, the other westwardly. A singular circumstance will result when they 

 both return to the common starting point, and the reason is obvious. One man will 

 arrive, according to his reckoning, say on Tuesday, December 31, when in fact at 

 that locality it is Wednesday, January 1. The other traveler, assuming that he has 

 kept accurately a daily journal, will enter in his diary on precisely the same day, 

 Thursday, January 2. This consequence has been brought out by Edgar Allen Poe, 

 in his amusing story of "Three Sundays in one Week," but it no longer can be held 

 to be an imagiuary contingency, since steam communication by land and water is 

 now affording extraordinary facilities for making the tour of the globe. 



To illustrate the difiSculty more particularly. First, let us select points in four 

 quarters of the globe, each about 90 degrees apart, say in Japan, Arabia, Newfound- 

 a nd, and Alaska. If we assume it to be Sunday midnight at the first-mentioned 

 place, it must be noon at the opposite point, Newfoundland, but on what day is it 

 noon? Arabia being to the west of Japan, the local time there will be 6 p. m,, on 

 Sunday, and Alaska, lying to the east of Japan, the time there will be G a. m. on Mon- 

 day. Again, when the clock indicates G p. m. on Sunday in Arabia, it must be Sunday 

 noon at a point 90 degrees farther west, or at Newfoundland ; when it is G a. m. on Mon- 

 day in Alaska, it must be noon on Monday 90 degrees farther east, also at Newfound- 

 land. Thus, by tracing local time east and west from a given point to its antipodes, 

 the clock on the one hand becomes twelve hours slower, on the other hand twelve 

 hours faster. In the case in point, while it is midnight on Sunday in Japan, at pre- 

 cisely the same moment it is noon at Newfoundland on two distinct days, viz, on Sun- 

 day and on Monday. 



Secondly, let us trace local time only in one direction around the earth. The day 

 does not begin everywhere at the same moment. Its commencement travels from 



