364 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



day when events take place. "We may learn of an occurrence, and the time assigned 

 will be correct in the meridian of the locality. Everywhere else it will be inaccurate. 

 Indeed, if the fact of the occurrence be transmitted over the world by telegraph, it 

 may, in some places, be recorded on difterent days.* If the incident occurs at the 

 close of a mouth, or a year, it may actiially take j)laco in two different mouths, or two 

 distinct years. 



Under our present system it is quite possible for two events to take place several 

 hours apart, the first and older occurring in the new year in one locality; the second, 

 although the more recent in absolute time, falling, in another locality, within the 

 old year. The same may be said of events that occur during the period which elapses 

 when one century merges into another. In one part of the globe the same event may 

 transpire in the nineteenth century, while in another it falls within the twentieth 

 century. 



Another difficulty, forced on the attention by the science of the century, is mainly 

 due to the agency of electricity, employed as a means of telegraphy, and to steam 

 applied to locomotives. These extraordinary sister agencies having [revolutionized 

 the relation of distance and time, having bridged space, and drawn into closer affin- 

 ity portions of the earth's surface previously sci)arated by long and, in sonic cases, 

 iuaccessiblo distances. 



Let us take the case of a traveler in North America. He lands at Halifax in Nova 

 Scotia, amd starts by a railway to Chicago through the eastern portions of Canada. 

 His route is over the Intercolonial, the Grand Trunk, and other lines. He stoi>s at 

 St. John, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, and Detroit. At the begin- 

 ning of the journey he sets his watch by Halifax time. As he reaches each place in 

 succession, he finds a considerable variation in the clocks by which the trains are 

 run, and he discovers that at no two places is the same time used. Between Halifax 

 and Chicago he finds the railways observing no less than seven different standards of 

 time. If the traveller remains at any one of the cities referred to, he must alter his 

 watch to avoid inconvenience, and perhaps not a few disappointments and annoy- 

 ances to himself and others. If, however, he should not alter his watch, he would 

 discover on reaching Chicago that it was an hour and thirty-five minutes faster than 

 the clocks and watches in that city. 



If his journey be made by one of the routes through the United States, the varia- 

 tion in time and its inconveniences will not be less. If he extends his journey west 

 of Chicago, traveling from place to place until he reaches San Francisco, he will meet 

 continual change, and finally discovers a loss in time of nearly four hours (3h. GGm,). 

 Between the extreme points there are many standards of time, each city or place of 

 importance generally being governed by its own meridian. Hence the discrepancies 

 which xierplex the traveler in moving from place to place. 



On the continent of Europe, and indeed wherever lines of communication extend 

 between points differing to any considerable extent in longitude, the same difficulty 

 is experienced. -On a journey from Paris to Vienna or to St. Petersburg, the stand- 

 ard time employed by the railways changes frequently, and the extreme diflerence in 

 time between the first and last city is nearly two hours. As railways and telegraphs 

 are extended in Eussia, the inconveniences will become of serious importance in that 

 country. Within the limits of Russia in Europe and Asia, the extreme variations of 

 time is about twelve hours. 



Suppose we take the case of a person traveling from London to India. He starts 

 with Greenwich time, but he scarcely leaves the shores of England when he finds his 

 watch no longer right. Paris time is usfed for the journey until that of Rome be- 

 comes the standard. At Brindisi there is another change. Up the Mediterranean 

 ships' time is used. At Alexandria Egyi)tian time is the standard. At Suez, ships' 



*TiME AND THE TELEGRAPH.— A message dated Simla, l.r)5 a. ni. Wednesday, was 

 received in London at 11.47 p. m. on Tuesday. As the clerk said, with pardonable 

 confusion, " Why, this message was sent off to-morrow."— Times. 



