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SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS. 5D 
The greatest difficulty presents itself in the fact that as yet no means 
of bringing Cosmopolitan Time into certain relationship with the rise 
and setting of the sun in the different parts of the earth ; the appear- 
ance of the sun admittedly governing the ordinary avocations of 
business life. 
But if we consider this question in a scientifie spirit, it follows 
that for some but not for all branches of sciences, for example, for 
Meteorology and Astronomy and in part also for physical questions 
of the earth, and in general for al] questions which are affected by 
the close determination of time, the common acceptance of one and 
the same Time would extend great advantages, and could be effected 
with little difficulty. Besides, it would save much time, and set 
aside a great extant of misunderstanding. 
According to Struve’s view, we must in the first place investigate 
in what relationship the introduction of Cosmopolitan Time be oppor- 
tune for science, and for what scientific problems the application of 
Local Time with its relationship to the rise and setting of the sun can 
be indicated. 
The common acceptance of another proposition of Fleming’s, accord- 
ing to Struve, should meet with slight objection, and is to be recom- 
mended, viz., to set aside that division of the day mto two halves of 
12 hours, brought down to us from antiquity, and in its place to 
establish the simple division of 24 hours, as at present is the case 
with the Italians ;* so indeed that besides the standard datum, exact 
Standard Time for the several chief places, in the form of 24 Standards 
one hour apart should be established from which all the remaining 
Local Times would obtain their derivation. 
Our associate, Prof. W. Forster, Director of the Observatory of 
this place, at the conclusion of his paper, ‘‘ Review on some Time 
considerations, espectilly concerning the establishment of a German 
Standard Time,” read at Hamburg, 7th February, 1881 (Deztche 
fievue, 1881, No. 8 and 4), has likewise taken into consideration this 
proposition of the Canadian Institute, and expresses himself against 
the introduction of 24 chief Local Times for ordinary life, in interna- 
tional relations. On the other hand, he accepts the introduction of 
a universal and not a national Standard Time in connection with a 
standard datum for all transactions requiring precision m time. 
The specified starting-point and time-determination yet to be estab- 
lished, named in the Canadian papers as the ‘“‘ Cosmopolitan,” accord- 
ing to Prof. Forster’s view, must be the common principle of a 
universally accepted and undisputed measure of time freed from all 
differences of local time. Equally for the starting point of Universal 
Time, he considers the meridian the best suited to be the one exactly 
12 hours or 180° from that of Greenwich (thus precisely identical 
with that of Greenwich). Gov. By 
* Also the day is divided by astrouomers into 24 hours. 
