Jan. 22, 1885] 



NA TURE 



277 



throughout the island of Great Britain as long ago as the 

 year 1848. When the railways demanded uniform time, 

 and Greenwich time was adopted. France also has a 

 uniform standard. But the continent of North America 

 covers too many degrees of longitude to permit of the use 

 of any one meridian as a single hour standard for all 

 points between the two oceans. Under such a system 

 there would be points where local time would differ from 

 standard time by about two hours. 



V. The new systi m divides the United States into four 

 sections. At all places in the same section time is the 

 same. The first section, which is governed by the time 

 of the 75th meridian west from Greenwich, embraces all 

 the territory between the Atlantic coast and Detroit, 

 Pittsburg, Wheeling, Parkersburg, Huntington, Bristol, 

 Augusta, and Charlestown, as indicated on the accom- 

 panying map (see next page). This is called Eastern 

 Time. At 12.0 mid-day on the 75th meridian every clock 



and time-ball, from Calais to Pittsburg and from Quebec 

 to Charlestown, indicates the hour of noon. 



The second section is governed by the time of the 90th 

 meridian, called Central Time. It includes all the territory 

 from the western limits of the eastern time (that is, from 

 Detroit, Pittsburg, Augusta, &c.) to Bismark, North Platl, 

 Dodge City, &c. Time in this section is one hour slower 

 than eastern time. 



The third section extends from the last-named places 

 westward to Heron (Montana), Ogden (Utah), the Needles 

 (Arizona), etc. Time in this section is that of the 105th 

 meridian 'one hour slower than central time), and is de- 

 nominated Mountain Time. 



VI. At 12.0 noon in New York City the time at Chicago 

 is 11 a.m., at Denver 10.0 a.m., and at Portland (Oregon) 

 9.0 a.m. By the old system at 12.0 noon in New York it 

 was 11.05 in Chicago, 9.56 in Denver, and 8.46 in 

 Portland. 



VII. The adoption of a uniform standard of time by 

 the railway lines has led to the abandonment of local time 

 in nearly all the cities of the United States. The time of 

 the 75th meridian was selected as the standard for the 

 district of Columbia by Act of Congress, approved March 

 13, 1SS4. 



It is encouraging to learn that, as was to have been 

 expected, local time throughout the United States, as 

 opposed to railway time, has already been abolished, and 

 it is to be hoped, for the benefit of railway travellers on 

 this side of the Atlantic, that the continent of Europe, 

 from the extreme west of Spain to the Caspian, will soon 

 be dealt with in the same manner. 



NOTES 

 We regret to state thai Prof. Benjamin Silliman, of Yale 

 College, died at Newhaven on the 13th iust., aged sixty-eight. 



The death is announced of Prof. Friedrich von Stein, at 

 Prague, at the age of 67. He was appointed Professor of 

 Zoology and Zootomy of the Prague University, an office winch 

 he occupied for thirty years. 



The death is also announced, at the age of fifty years, of Col. 

 Roudaire, whose name is intimately associated with the project 

 of a Saharan Inland Sea. Although strongly supported by M. 

 de Lesseps, the scheme was opposed by the great number of 

 competent scientific authorities. With the death of Col. 

 Roudaire the scheme will probably fall to the ground. 



Tin Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge has appointed Mr. George 

 John Romanes, M.A., F.R.S., to the office of Sir Robert Rede's 

 lecturer for the ensuing year. 



The Ro)al Academy of Turin announces the foundation of a 

 prize of the value of 12,000 francs for the most useful and 

 striking discovery in anatomy, physiology, pathology, the exact 



sciences, history, geography, or statistics. The period within 

 which the work must be done or the discovery made is from 

 1883 to December 31, 1SS6. Members of the Royal Academy 

 or the Academy of Science in Turin are ineligible for the prize, 

 the judges for which will be the Academy of Sciences of Turin. 



The Academy of Sciences, Berlin, announces the following 

 subject for a prize of 2000 Marks, which, if sufficient merit be 

 shown, will be awarded on the Leibnitz Anniversary in 1SS7 : — 

 "A determination of the nature of the primary assimilation- 

 products of carbon-dioxide in plants ; to be based upon suitable 

 experiments and chemical investigations into the process in 

 plants, when exposed to the influences of light ; as well as upon 

 direct histological demonstrations of the form it assumes in the 

 tissues of the plant. The first form assumed by the assimilation- 

 product is to be distinguished from the succeeding ones which 

 the substance passes through in the metabolism of the cell. The 

 chemical formulae are also to be given. It will be considered 

 an approximation to the solution of the question, if, by going 

 over the work that has been done' already on this subject, it 

 shall be shown by an accurate series of observations and experi- 

 ments that the present theories concerning the process of assimila- 

 tion in plants and the primary organic product of this process, 

 are susceptible of a wider extension, or that they require to 

 be limited by i uportant qualifications." Essays may be written 

 in German, Latin, French, English, or Italian, and must be 

 forwarded before January I, 1SS7. 



From subsequent information with regard to the accident to 

 Dr. Divers, Principal of the Imperial College of Engineering, 

 Tokio, it appears that he had taken in his hand a bottle sup- 

 posed to contain perehloride of phosphorus, but, finding the 

 stopper fast, was heating the neck to release it, when it burst, 

 the bottle disappearing as dust, and the contents as gas. Dr. 

 Divers was nearly suffocated by the fumes, and one eye was 

 injured. When the last mail left, it was not in a state to be 

 critically examined ; but strong hopes are entertained that the 

 sight will be restored. The accident is supposed to be due to 

 the decomposition of the perehloride of phosphorus, which was 

 old. Dr. Divers was at work on a paper on the theory of acids 

 when the accident occurred. 



The undertaking to tram port a whole Japanese village, with 

 its shops, houses, and inhabitants, half round the globe to 

 London, was a somewhat bold one for a private individual. 

 But it has been performed with great thoroughness and success 

 in the case ol the Japanese village now on view at Knights- 

 biid^e. The houses are new and clean, which the tenements of 

 Japanese villages always are not ; the small temple or shrine is 

 rather more cleanly and ornamental than is usual with these 

 structures in real life ; the wrestlers do not exhibit the physical 

 characteristics which are -.,, conspicuous, not to say disgusting, 

 in the real Japanese wrestler ; and their methods of refreshing 

 themselves between the bouts are more in accordance with 

 European tastes. But, on the whole, home-loving English 

 people have now an opportuniy of seeing the Japanese at home, 

 which they can never have without a journey to Japan itself. 

 There is very little to note in the exhibiti >n from a scientific 

 point of view ; the inhabitants are fair average specimens of 

 Japanese artisans and shopkeepers, so that the ethnologist will 

 have a good opportunity of comparing his notions gathered from 

 Miss Bird and other writers of the Japanese people with the 

 reality. He can, in a measure, study the racial characteristics 

 of the Japanese in situ. 



The Spanish earthquakes have continued to manifest them- 

 selves at intervals during the past week in the same area as that 

 in which they first appeared. In connection with this phenome- 

 non, the following extract from the report of the meeting of 



