TIME-RECKONING. 123 
for a great increase of railways; but taking the present mileage and 
population of that continent as a basis, the proportion would give to 
Europe and Asia together more than one million miles of lines. 
These two great continents have as yet only 96,000 miles of railway, 
and it would probably be taking too sanguine a view to suppose that 
so great an increase will speedily be realized. No one, however, can 
doubt that the network of railways in Western and Central Europe 
will before long be greatly enlarged ; that branches will extend to 
Asia ; and that off-shoots will ultimately be prolonged to the farthest 
shores of the Chinese and Russian Empires. A comparatively few 
years may indeed witness extraordinary progress in this direction, to 
bring into prominence the difficulties alluded to, and which cannot 
fail to make themselves felt. 
The subject which we are now considering, in different degrees clearly 
concerns all countries ; it is especially important to the United States, 
Brazil, Canada, indeed to the whole of America. It is important to 
France, Germany, Austria, and to every nation in Europe. It is of 
peculiar interest to the gigantic empire of Russia, extending over 
nearly 180 degrees of longitude, and with a total variation in local 
time of about twelve hours. It is of still greater importance to the 
Colonial Empire of Great Britain, with its settlements and stations 
in nearly every meridian around the entire globe, and with vast terri- 
tories to be occupied in both hemispheres. 
Before the introduction of railways in England, every town and 
village kept its own time. The traveller found his watch constantly 
at variance with the local clocks. On the establishment of the railway 
system this state of things could not be tolerated, as local time could 
only lead to complication and confusion. The railways demanded 
uniform time, and Greenwich time came to be used. This was looked 
wpon as an innovation, and was for a considerable period vigorously 
opposed. At last the advantages of uniform time became so manifest, 
that Greenwich time came into general use throughout Great Britain. 
But for the employment of uniform time in England, Scotland and 
Ireland, it would be an extremely difficult task to regulate safely 
the great number of daily trains. The safe working of the railways 
in the United Kingdom is indeed a problem sufficiently difficult even 
with uniform time; and we can scarcely conceive how much the 
problem would be complicated if in Great Britain they were to revert 
to the system of local time as it prevailed in the days of stage 
coaches, when every town and hamlet kept its own time. 
