118 TIME-RECKONING. 
As an illustration, I present condensed time-tables of the great 
railway route now being established from London to the Pacific 
through Canada. Table A is prepared in accordance with the present 
system. Tables B and C are two different modes of applying the 
system of cosmopolitan time, and illustrate the simplicity of that 
system for such purposes. (Vide Appendix, No. 1.) 
It has been said that the 24 sub-divisions of the unit-measure 
may be known by letters, in order to be distinguished from local 
hours. But why use numerals for local hours? Numerals have no 
special advantage over letters; habit has undoubtedly rendered the 
former familiar to the mind of this generation in connection with 
the hour of the day ; but if the 24 divisions had to be again named, 
and letters instead of numerals were adopted, the time of day could 
be as well expressed and as easily comprehended as at present. On 
the other hand, letters when arranged in a circle, as on the dial of 
a clock, have at least this advantage over numerals: they are all 
symbols of equal importance, and any one letter could be taken to 
represent the beginning of the series of the 24 which make up the 
day ; while in the case of numerals, the lowest number can only 
represent the first of the series. 
Let us take an illustration of the advantages of letters in connection 
with the scheme. Suppose G to be the noon letter at a particular 
place, how easy it would be for a resident to comprehend that it was 
always noon when the hour hands of the clock pointed to G ; that 
it was always midnight when they pointed to 7’, the letter on the 
dial plate opposite to G'; or, in speaking of any particular time of 
day, say four hours before mid-day, it would be as easy to comprehend 
the time referred to by the use of the letter C’ as by the numeral 8. 
Persons living in that locality would soon become familiar with the 
relation which the several letters had to the time of day. 
Again, if we pass to a locality where another letter O becomes 
the meridian or noon letter, there could be no misunderstanding the 
meaning of the expression, Zime P. 22. It could have but one 
meaning, viz., 1 hour and 22 minutes after mid-day, while 1.22 has 
a double meaning, undetermined without the addition of “ante 
meridian” or “ post meridian.” 
Thus it may be shown, if we could entirely ignore old practices 
and begin de novo, the nomenclature proposed for cosmopolitan time 
might very readily be employed for local purposes. 
¢ 
