238 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. I. 



would differences of opinion arise as to the appropriateness of such 

 terms, but owing to the diversity of languages among the nations, the 

 difficulty of selecting names universally acceptable would be so increased 

 as to render a common agreement respecting them scarcely attainable. 



These objections do not apply to numbers. A nomenclature based on 

 numbers would be common to all nations, and each term would have 

 the same precise meaning in all languages and in both hemispheres. 

 The numbers given to the hour meridians as shown on the map, begin at 

 zero and follow the sun in its apparent motion. The solar passage on 

 the anti-prime meridian being the zero of the " universal " or " world " 

 day, at the end of the first hour the solar passage would be on the first 

 hour meridian, at the end of the second hour it would be on the second 

 hour meridian, and so on for each of the twenty-four hours ; the hour in 

 each case agreeing with the number of the hour meridian at the instant 

 of mean solar passage. Then it will be evident that with the hour 

 meridians so numbered the solar passage would be the perpetual index 

 of "world " time. 



The notation of time in the zone of the twelfth hour meridian will 

 correspond with the numbers of the hours of the " world's " standard, in 

 all other zones it will differ according to a fixed rule. In zones to the 

 east of the twelfth hour meridian, the notation will be in advance, in 

 zones to the west it will be behind ; the following formula gives the 

 number of hours which it will be faster or slozver than the world's 

 standard in each case. 



Let H be the number of the hour meridian : then 



(i) When H is less than 12, the clocks in (H) zone will be faster than 

 the world's standards 12 — H. 



(2) When H is greater than 12, the clocks in (H) zone will be slower 

 than the world's standard:=H — 12. 



The world's standard will be the mean of the notation in all zones. 



The principle of this simple means of distinguishing the twenty-four 

 hour meridians constituting the sub-standards for regulating the reck- 

 oning of time the world over, and the advantages to accrue from its 

 universal acceptance and application are further explained in the 

 Smithsonian Report for 1886, pages 351-2. 



