Jan. 14, 1886] 



NA TURE 



261 



Of those who replied to the queries, 95 per cent, favoured the 

 idea that there should be a common agreement between the 

 standards of time in all countries. That while we must primarily 

 look to our own convenience on this continent, it is proper to 

 aim at eventually attaining general uniformity among all nations. 



Seventy-six per cent, were in favour of reducing the standards 

 in North America so that they would differ only by intervals of 

 one hour, and 92 per cent, were in favour of a notation of the 

 hours of the day by a single series from i to 24, instead of in 

 two divisions, each of 12 hours. 



The character of the replies received indicated that a remark- 

 able unanimity of opinion prevailed in every section of the 

 continent heard from. The Convention accordingly resolved 

 that an attempt should be made to obtain European concurrence 

 to the selection of a Prime Meridian on which a time-system 

 could be definitely based. But, failing to obtain this recognition, 

 the people of the Western Continent should determine a zero- 

 meridian for their own use and guidance. 



It was thereupon resolved to petition the Congress of the 

 United States to take the matter into consideration. The 

 American Metrological Society about the same time adopted a 

 similar proceeding. The consequences were that a joint-resolu- 

 tion of the House of Representatives and the Senate was passed, 

 authorising the President of the United States to call an Inter- 

 national Conference to fix on and recommend for universal 

 adoption a common Prime IMeridian to be used in the reckoning 

 of longitude and in the regulation of time throughout the 

 world. 



On the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science in Montreal, in July, 1882, the subject was 

 brought forward, and all the documents were submitted and 

 discussed. It was agreed that the Association should co-operate 

 with other bodies in furtherance of the movement. 



On two occasions the Roy.al Society of Canada has had its 

 attention directed to the matter, and this body has assisted in 

 furthering the determination of the problem by its co-operation 

 and by correspondence with the Government. 



While some delay took place in summoning the International 

 Conference by the President, in consequence of diplomatic 

 correspondence on the subject, the question was ripening on 

 both sides of the Atlantic for concerted action. Indeed, a 

 decision with respect to the regulation of local tim^ was antici- 

 pated by tlie railway authorities in North America, who adopted 

 the system of hour-standards which had been prominently 

 brought forward as described. 



On November 18 of last year (1883) the new system of regu- 

 lating railway time on this continent came into operation. There 

 had been several preliminary meetings of railway managers ; the 

 last meeting was a Convention held in Chicago the previous 

 October, and it was then determined immediately to carry out 

 the change. 



Mr. W. F. Allen, the secretary of this Convention, who also 

 took a prominent part in effecting the adoption of the change, 

 has given a history of the events leading to it. Upon this 

 gentleman mainly fell the labour of arranging details, and he 

 executed the difficult duties assigned to him with consummate 

 ability. In the words of the historian, the transition from the 

 old to the new system " was put into effect without any appreci- 

 able jar, and without a single accident occurring." According 

 to this authority the first newspaper to advocate some change 

 was the Railroad Gazelle for April 2, 1870, and it is claimed that 

 as early as 1869 Prof. Charles F. Dowd, Principal of Temple 

 Grove Ladies' Seminary, Saratoga Springs, proposed a system 

 of meridians based on the meridian of Washington at intervals 

 of one hour, by which railways should be operated, and that an 

 expression of his views was placed in the hands of the President 

 of the New York and Canada Railroad. The proposition appears 

 to liave attracted attention in the Travellers' Official Guide of 

 1872. In 1873 it was brought before the Railway Association of 

 America, not now in existence. A committee was appointed to 

 examine into its merits ; they failed to recognise its necessity, 

 and recommended that the question of National Standard Time 

 for use on Railways be deferred till it more clearly appeared that 

 the public interest called for it. 



Mr. Dowd's efforts to introduce a National Standard Time to 

 meet the difficulties which were being developed were at the 

 time imperfectly appreciated. He, however, has had the satis- 

 action of seeing a scheme unanimously accepted, and put in 

 operation, which in essential features does not materially differ 

 from that which he advocated : and he himself attended at the 



meeting of the American Metrological Society, and took part in 

 the proceedings when the details of the new time arrangements 

 were officially narrated. 



Prominent among those who have earnestly laboured to ad- 

 vance the movement of time-reform is the distinguished President 

 of Columbia College, New York. Dr. Barnard has from the 

 first taken the deepest interest in the question, and few men 

 have done so much to bring it to a practical issue. In the pro- 

 ceedings of the American Metrological Society for 188 1 will be 

 found a paper prepared by Dr. Barnard in 1872, and presented 

 to an association which has since assumed an international 

 character, and is known as the Association for the Reform and 

 Codification of the Laws of Nations. In this paper Dr. Barnard 

 recommends the selection of Greenwich as the Prime Meridian 

 for the world, and he submits the views he held at that early 

 date, which at this hour are of peculiar interest. He points out 

 that "it is becoming a matter of greater importance everyday 

 that there should be established some universal rule for defining 

 the calendar day for all the world." 



I have alluded to the valuable report of Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 

 of the United States Signal Sei-vice, to the Metrological Society, 

 and I cannot deny myself the pleasure of acknowledging the 

 services of the gentlemen with whom I have been associated on 

 the special committee on Standard Time of the American Society 

 of Civil Engineers, Mr. Charles Paine, of New York ; Mr. 

 Theodore N. Ely, of Altoona, Pennsylvania ; Mr. J. M. Toucey, 

 of the Hudson River Railway ; Prof. Hilgard, Coast Survey, 

 Washington ; Prof. T. Egleston, of Columbia College : General 

 T. G. Ellis, of Hartford, now unfortunately deceased, and Mr. 

 John Bogart, Secretary of the Society. 



The American Society of Civil Engineers, since meeting in 

 Montreal, in 1881, has made persistent and continuous efforts in 

 the common interest to advance the movement of time-reform, 

 having greatly aided in bringing about the important change 

 carried into effect a year ago. This Society is now directing 

 attention to a reform of scarcely less importance, the notation of 

 the hours of the day. At the Buffalo convention in June 18S4, 

 this particular question received prominent consideration in the 

 address of the President, as well as in the report of the special 

 committee. Since that date a correspondence has taken place 

 between the .Secretary and the railway managers in the United 

 States and Canada Already replies have been received from 

 the representatives of some 60,000 miles of railway, 98 per cent, 

 of whom have given expression to their sympathy with the move- 

 ment, to abandon the old practice of halving the day, designating 

 the two sets of 12 hours by the abbreviations a.m. and P.m., 

 and are prepared to adopt a simple notation of 1 to 24 in a 

 single series. The great telegraph interests of the country are 

 likewise in full sympathy with it. The President of the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company, Dr. Norwin Green, states that their 

 telegraphic traffic is equal to the transmission of 44,000,000 

 messages a year, and the general adoption of the 24 o'clock 

 system (as it has been designated), would be cordially welcomed 

 by telegraphers. It would reduce materially the risk of errors, 

 and to the company over which he presides, he says it would 

 save the transmission by telegraph of at least 150,000,000 letters 

 annually. % 



The branch literature bearing on the two questions of Universal 

 Time and the establishment of a Prime Meridian, has been en- 

 riched by a series of papers which have appeared during the 

 past year in the Inlcrnational Standard, a magazine published 

 in Cleveland, Ohio. These papers are lay the following gentle- 

 men connected with the International Institute : — Rev. H. G. 

 Wood, of Sharon, Pennsylvania ; Prof. C. Piazzi-Smyth, Astro- 

 nomer Royal for Scotland ; Prof. John N. Stockwell, Astro- 

 nomer, Cleveland; Mr. Jacob M. Clark, C.E., New York; 

 Mr. William H. Searle, Pennsylvania ; the late Abbe F. Moigno, 

 Canon of St. Denis, Paris ; Commodore Wm. B. Whiting, 

 U. S. Na\7 ; Mr. Charles Latimer, C.E., Cleveland; and 

 others. 



It will be seen from what I have submitted, that the proceed- 

 ings have neither been few nor without success, and that since 

 this Institute published the first issue of papers on Time and 

 Time-reckoning, the subject has received much attention on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. Societies with kindred pursuits, men 

 of recognised merit in the scientific world, have turned to its 

 examination and aided in its development. Some few men have 

 acted in concert. The labours of others have been independent. 

 Some of these names I have been able to record, but I fear that 

 I neglect to include many of eminence beeause they are not 



