458 



GENERAL SCIENCE 



If you started eastward from Greenwich you would set your watch 

 ahead 24 times, thus gaining a day in traveling around the world. 



To overcome the difference of the extra day, all nations in 1884 

 agreed upon a place where the day should begin and end; or, in 

 other words, where time should be read. This place is the 180th 

 meridian east and west of Greenwich, and is called the International 

 Date Line. This line does not follow the 180th meridian exactly, 

 since it would cut some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean in two 



wv- "<*-* 



FIG. 350. 



parts, making one day in one part while it was still the preceding 

 or following day in the other part. If a man should cross this line 

 on Monday, traveling west, he would call the day Tuesday. If 

 he should cross this line on Monday traveling eastward, he must 

 pass from Monday to Sunday. 



Standard Time. If you were riding in a train from New York 

 to Buffalo the train, arriving at 1 o'clock by New York time, 

 might leave Buffalo at 12.10; in other words, the time west of Buffalo 

 is 1 hour behind the time at New York. If you were to travel across 



