142 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. II. 



much opposition was offered to it by popular prejudice, that one hundred 

 and seventy years passed before it became law in England; and this 

 reform has not yet reached Russia, where they still adhere to the old 

 style. 



The Astronomer Royal of Great Britain has pointed out how different 

 to the past, recent experience has been. In evidence that the claims of 

 truth and utility are now recognized to be above error and confusion, 

 he draws attention to the breadth of view of the managers of the 

 American railways, who were so largely instrumental in introducing the 

 Hour Zone system, a reform calculated to benefit the world in all future 

 ages. In 1886, at the Royal Institution, London, he paid them the well- 

 deserved tribute that " 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 greatest numbers, 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." 



