GENERAL MEETING. 109 
munication, such as the railroads, steamship lines, telegraphic and 
post routes, the utility of adopting a universal time, along with 
local or national time, which will necessarily continue to be em- 
ployed in civil life. 
VI. The Conference recommends, as the point of departure of 
universal time and of cosmopolitan date, the mean noon of Green- 
wich which coincides with the instant of midnight, or with the 
commencement of the civil day, under the meridian situated 12 
hours or 180 degrees from Greenwich. 
It is agreed to count the universal time from 0° to 24°. 
VII. It is desirable that the States which, for the purpose of 
adopting the unification of longitudes and of time, find it necessary 
to change their meridians, should introduce the new system of lon- 
gitudes and of hours as soon as possible. 
It is equally advisable that the new system should be introduced 
without delay in teaching. 
VIII. The Conference hopes that if the entire world should agree 
upon the unification of longitudes and of time by accepting the 
meridian of Greenwich as the point of departure, Great Britian will 
find in this fact an additional motive to make, on its part, a new step 
in favor of the unification of weights and measures, by acceding to 
the Convention du Metre of the 20th May, 1875. 
IX. These resolutions will be brought to the knowledge of the 
Governments and recommended to their favorable consideration, 
with the expression of a hope that an International Convention, 
confirming the unification of longitudes and of time, shall be 
concluded as soon as possible, by means of a special conference, 
such as the Government of the United States has proposed. 
Mr. HriuGarp said that while the report of the Association did 
not conform in some of its details to the desires and interests of this 
country, nevertheless our principal object had been gained by the 
endorsement of the Association for the International Conference on 
the subject of standard time, to be held in Washington. 
The selection of the meridian of Greenwich as the starting point 
for longitudes, was more convenient for us than for Europeans; 
Europeans alone are liable to the confusion arising from the 
numerical identity of meridians east and west of Greenwich. It 
will be impossible, however, for us to agree to the rule which counts 
all longitudes from west to east. 
