88 UNIVERSAL OR COSMIC TIME. 
two termini, or by the Time of some point lying intermediate. This 
want of conformity with us, as it appears, hitherto has not brought 
to light any special consequences by which injury has resulted : 
possibly with this exception, that occasional stoppages have arisen 
from the irregularity of the trains, as for instance, the transport of 
freight can bear witness. But that through this want of conformity 
of Time, the more likely danger of collisions has not more frequently 
happened, is indeed to be ascribed to the fact that our railway com- 
munication with other countries has only been partially developed. 
and the rate of speed of the trains, in spite of the greater lengths of 
single lines, is considerably Jess than elsewhere. Under these 
circumstances, it appears by the free use of the telegraph, collisions 
are avoided. But it is to be expected that with time, this constant 
untrustworthy expedient will not be sufficient, and that, as a conse- 
quence, owing to an increased communication, a decided and identical 
Time will be again made obligatory on the administration of all 
Russian railways. 
Until lately a similar condition of things existed in North America 
with regard to the notation of Time on Railways. There, as with 
us, Railway Time was not governed by a common binding law. 
But the administration of single lines accepted, for the movement of 
trains generally, the origin of Normal Time, which in the easiest 
manner they could obtain from one of the observatories in the neigh- 
bourhood of the line. The complications which arose from this want 
of conformity in the enormous increase of railway communication, 
furnished the starting point to the extended effort which was made 
last year in North America on behalf of a strict wide-spread regula- 
tion on the subject of Time Notation established by the Railway 
administrations, not simply within the territory of the United States 
but where possible over the entire continent. ‘Had the matter alone 
applied to the United States it would have been easy possibly to 
establish the desired good understanding either through a resolution 
of Congress or by a convention of the directors of the several lines. 
But, at the same time, the desire arose to include in the same strict 
arrangement the railways of neighbouring states, which equally 
in the matter of Time Notation were subjected to local enactments 
and incidental changes. This desired arrangement could only be 
obtained by international agreement. Such an agreement obtained 
by means of an international conference or congress became so 
much the more desirable when this beneficial result, principally 
sought after for the new. continent, could equally extend its good 
results to all the civilized states of the earth : and at the same time 
it was to be expected that resolutions passed in such a meeting would 
be held to be binding on each individual country with an enhanced 
degree of force. 
It is especially during the last ten years that those persons who 
in North America have taken interest in such questions have 
