104 TIME-RECKONING. 



of absolute time which is pai't of Saturday in one place, is equally 

 part of Friday and of Sunday in some other places east and west. 



It is a preconceived idea with many that there is a simultaneous 

 Sunday over the earth, and that Christians in every meridian keep 

 the Lord's day at one and the same time. Facts, howevei", establish 

 that this is a mistake. From its first commencement to its final 

 ending, the Sunday extends over 48 hours. Indeed, if we take into 

 account the remarkable circumstance mentioned with regard to 

 Alaska and the Philippine Islands, Sunday has been discovered to 

 run over some 55 hours. The same may be said of any day in the 

 week ; and as a consequence we have, taking the whole globe into 

 view, Saturday and Monday running over the intei'vening Sunday to 

 overlap each other about seven hours. We have in fact as a constant 

 occurrence, portions of three consecutive days co-existent. 



From the fact that not only are the hours of the day difierent in 

 every meridian, but that difi'erent days are constantly in progress on 

 the face of the globe, it is a difficult matter under our present system 

 of reckoning to assign relatively the hour and day when events take 

 place. We may learn of an occurrence, and the time assigned will 

 be correct in the meridian of the locality. Everywhere else it will 

 be inaccurate. Indeed, if the fact of the occurrence be transmitted 

 over the world by telegraph, it may, in some places, be recorded on 

 different days.* If tlie incident occurs at the close of a month, or a 

 year, it may actually take place in two different months, or two 

 distinct years. 



Under our pi'esent system it is quite possible for two events to 

 take place several hours apart, the first and older occurring in the 

 new year in one locality ; the second, although the more recent in 

 absolute time, falling, in another locality, within the old year. The 

 same may be said of events that occur during the period which 

 elapses when one century merg-es into another. In one part of the 

 globe the same event may transpire in the nineteenth century, while 

 in another it falls within the twentieth century. 



These explanations set forth the inconveniences and the ambiguity 

 inseparable from the ordinary mode of reckoning. The system, 

 besides being unscientific and inconvenient, must, as time rolls on, 

 inevitably lead to countless mistakes. In fact, unless the geographical 



* Time and the Telegraph. — A message dated Simla, 1.55 a.m. Wednesday, was received in 

 London at 11.47 p.m. on Tuesday. As the clerk said, with pardonable ooufusion, " Why, this 

 message was sent off to-morrow." — Times. 



