SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS. 47 
Lo 
. It coincides exactly with that, where, after the custom intro- 
duced by an historical succession of maritime discoveries, the 
navigator makes a change of one unit in the date; a differ- 
ence which is made near a number of small islands in the 
Pacific Ocean, discovered during the voyages made to the 
east and west. Thus the commencement of a new date 
would be identical with that of the hours of Cosmopolitan 
time. 
3. It makes no change to the great majority of navigators and 
hydrographers except the very simple addition of 12 hours, 
or of 180° to all longitudes. 
4. It does not involve any change in the calculations of the 
ephemerides most in use among navigators, viz., the Eng- 
lish Nautical Almanac, except turning mid-day into mid- 
night, and vice versa. In the American Nautical Almanac 
there would be no other change to introduce. With a cos- 
mopolitan spirit, and in the just appreciation of a general 
want, the excellent ephemerides, published at Washington, 
record all data useful to navigators, calculated from the 
Meridian of Greenwich. 
For universal adoption, as proposed by the Canadian Institute, it 
recommends itself to the inhabitants of all civilized countries, by 
reason of the great difference in longitude, thus removing all the 
misunderstandings and uncertainties concerning the question as to 
whether in any case Cosmopolitan or Local Time was used. 
In answer to the first question offered by the Institute at Toronto, 
I would therefore recommend the Academy to pronounce without 
hesitation in favour of the universal adoption of the meridian situ- 
ated 180° from Greenwich as Prime Merid#én of the globe. 
Accepting this conclusion, the second question brought by the 
Canadian Institute has no further interest to us. 
It remains for me to say a few words on other questions presented’ 
in the memoir of Mr. Fleming. He offers suggestions on several. 
points which awaken a desire for further investigation. These sug- 
gestions seem very wise. ‘The ideas concerning the introduction of a 
common Time in all countries probably will yet take time to ripen, 
and some propositions set forth by Mr. Fleming will meet perhaps. 
with insurmountable difficulties in the habits and interests of several 
countries. To my mind, the most serious obstacle consists in the 
fact that there is no means of indicating Cosmopolitan Time in differ- 
ent parts of the world, while the rising and setting of the sun are 
the phenomena which, we know, regulate the every-day ‘occupa- 
tions of human life. But the question presents itself in another 
way, when it affects only the sciences. Without doubt in some sci- 
ences, for example, astronomy, meteorology, physical geography, and 
generally in all questions requiring an exact determination of time, 
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