114 BULLETIN OF THE 



practicability ; but it may be said in conclusion, in. answer to an 

 objection raised by Prof. Coffin, that the longitude of any place i3 

 given at once by the clock face at meridian transit of the mean 

 sun, without any subtraction whatever. 



Mr. Henry Farquhar urged some objections to the device of 

 reckoning time by meridians an hour apart, as not being suffi- 

 ciently local to avoid a longitude correction in tables of sun- 

 rise and other astronomical events, nor sufficiently universal to 

 escape confusion at points nearly 30 minutes from the standard 

 meridians. He thought the need of a universal standard time* 

 already greatly increased by railway and telegraph communication, 

 would become still more strongly felt iu the future. Inconvenience 

 resulting from the occurrence of the 24th hour during daylight at 

 any place, could be obviated by numbering hours beyond 24 and 

 retaining the same day. It would not be suitable to reckon time 

 everywhere from Greenwich midnight, since that would involve a 

 change of day at local 10 A. M. in Sydney, (nearly noon in New 

 Zealand) or, if the hours after 10 A. M. were counted as 25, 20, 

 etc. of the previous day, a discrepancy in date between Australia 

 and Europe. Hours might be reckoned from midnight at 6h. east 

 of Greenwich, noon at Oh. west; though 5£h. west, a meridian 

 passing near Cumberland, Maryland, would be preferable. The 

 longitude of a place would be the time of mean noon at that place, 

 and count from the last-named meridian westward, from Gh. to 30h., 

 and not from Oh. to 24h. The longitude of Washington, then, 

 would be 23h. 53.2m., that of San Francisco, 26h. 54.6m., Hono- 

 lulu, 29h. 1.6.4m., Auckland, 7h. 5.7m., Calcutta, 12h. 51.7m., and 

 Greenwich, 18h. 45.0m. The Gh. meridian would pass through 

 Bering Straits and be the line adopted for the change of date. 



East of British India the day would be understood to change at 

 24h., which hour would arrive at some time less than Gh. after mid- 

 night. For the rest of the world, the hours would run above 24, 

 and be diminished by 24 at the time indicated by local custom and 

 convenience for a change of day. In Washington, for example, 

 the conventional day might change at 36h., the hours of next day 

 counting on from 12h., or at 39h. and count on from 15h., accord- 

 ing as it was preferred to have the change near midnight or about 

 3h. after midnight. At Greenwich the hour nearest midnight would 

 be 31 h. or 7h. 



