Trans. N. Y. Ac..Scé. 88 Jan. 
time for the whole city; and the time of some city on its line is em- 
ployed as the standard time for railroads. The time adopted by a 
railroad soon becomes the standard for all cities along its line, and, 
shortly, local time, in its astronomical or true sense, is disregarded. 
Prof, Cleveland Abbe has shown, in his report to the Metrological 
Society, that there are now used in this country, in operating railroads, 
seventy-five different standards of time. ‘Some of these are in error 
about a minute or more. Many do not differ among themselves more 
than one or two minutes. Some of them are furnished with uniform 
high accuracy by established observatories, others are furnished by 
jewelers employed by the railroads, and many are of very doubtful re- 
hability.’’!° 
The scientific men of the country have long felt that there are too 
many standards, and that there is no system used in adopting them. 
The subject of the “ Simplification of Time Standards’ was taken up 
in 1875 by a Committee of the American Metrolcgical Society. 
This Committee, adopting a system of Prof. Benj. Pierce, recom- 
mended (in 1879): /zrst.—That the number of standards of time be 
diminished, and second, that there be no more than one standard for 
every hour of longitude west of the meridian of Greenwich. 
The relations of the proposed standard meridians, to Greenwich (in 
longitude and time), to true local times of places adopting the stand- 
ards, and the designation of the proposed standard times, are given in 
the following table: 
Standard | Standard 
Meridian | Time _ /|Standard Timeslower or faster Designation of" 
Geographical Section. west | slower than — proposed 
of | than true “local times.” Standard Time. 
Greenwich Greenwich) . | 
Min. | 
Newfoundland, ) H. M. S. ( '29 slower than St.Johns, N.F.| ; 
New Brunswick, 60° 4. 0. 0. |24 faster than St. fohn, N. B.| -East’rn Time 
Nova Scotia, ) ] |14 faster than Halifax, N.S. | \ 
Canada, {| 15 slower than Quebec. ) 
| |18 faster than Toronto. \ 
Maine | | | | 16 slower than Boston. | 
to ( (| 3 ney than ew York. | 
Florida, \ 8 faster than Washington. jae 
Ohio ) ees 5: Oe { 19 faster than Charlesou: ( AtlanticTime: 
to - | 45 faster than Montgon-ery. 
Alabama \ 14 faster than Buffalo. | 
Lower Lakes, J | |30 faster than Detroit. — 
| 38 faster than Cincinnati. J 
; {| © faster than New Orleans, 
Miss. Valley, Wz Hee nae or oe | 
Missouri Valley, | |12 faster than St. Paul. 4 
Upper Tape \ go° 6. 0, 0.4 18 faster than Kansas City. fees: Time. 
Texas, | |19 faster than Galveston. | 
l|10 slower than Chicago. 
: | o faster than Denver. ey 
Bocley Mit Reeiaa: rob hee ot i | 28 ectee thee Sait Lake City. | t Mount’n time 
{ | 12 slower than San Diego. 
Pacific States, U| 6 } |10 taster than San Francisco. | r < 
British Columbia, {| *7° | 8: © © 4 |r faster tran Olympia. r Pacific Time 
(|12 faster than Victoria. |] 
