TIME-RECKONING. 125 



rail will have broiiglit men of all races face to face to intercommunicate 

 knowledge and dispel prejudices. Sooner or later the barbarous 

 custom of dividing the day into two sets of twelve hours, as if 12 was 

 the limit of arithmetical knowledge, will be judged at its right value. 

 The hands of time-keepers pointing in all conceivable directions at 

 the same instant of absolute time will be held as an extraordinary 

 anomaly, and steps will be taken to avoid the spectacle of men at the 

 one moment nominally living in different hours, in different days, 

 aiid in. some extreme cases in different months and years. 



The system of chronometry which we have inherited may have 

 been well suited to the purpose for which it was designed long 

 centuries ago, when the known world was confined within the pillars 

 of Hercules, or it may even have answered all the requirements of 

 man a few generations back, before the great modern civilizers, steam 

 and electricity, began their work. Now we realize the fact that the 

 system is awkward and inconvenient. In a few years — and who 

 can count them— may we not find a radical change imperatively 

 demanded by the new conditions of the human race. 



It is probably not now unseasonable to discuss the subject. It 

 would be a vain task to attempt at once to abolish a custom so 

 hoary with age, and so generally practised as our system of com- 

 piiting time. But the necessity of change once admitted, the public 

 mind will gradually become familiar with the idea, and will learn to 

 welcome any modification in the system when its ex]jediency is 

 established. 



But it will be important first to determine the extent of the 

 required modification. The scheme should be well considered so as 

 to be free from the imperfections which result from haste. It should 

 be rendered generally acceptable, so that whenever the necessity arises 

 in any country or community for its introduction, it may be spontane- 

 ously adopted; the inhabitants feeling assured that they were selecting 

 a system eventually to become univei'sal. 



The suggestions I have ventured to offer are presented with the 

 view of dravdng attention to the subject. They point to the establish- 

 ment of a common prime mer-idian as the first important step, and as 

 the key to any cosmopolitan scheme of reckoning. This step taken, 

 the more progressive nations would probably promote the establish- 

 ment of a comprehensive system of chronometry suitable to every 

 condition of civilization, and advantageous to the inhabitants of the 

 globe on every line of longitude and on every parallel of latitude. 



