62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



various observatories on this continent which are in possession of the 

 necessary apparatus and force proper to furnish astronomically accu- 

 rate time by telegraph. Writing in February, 1880, while giving 

 the resolution adopted by the society, recommending the adoption 

 of accurate time by telegraph from an established astronomical ob- 

 servatory, Mr. Cleveland Abbe points out that the svibject of accu- 

 rate time had been taken up by the Horological Bureau of the 

 Winchester Observatory of Yale College, and that the most perfect 

 apparatus had been received for the purpose of distributing New 

 York time to the highest degree of uniformity and accuracy. 



Mr. Cleveland Abbe's own remarks on the subject are of high 

 value. He forcibly points out the difficulties and inconvencies under 

 which railway operations in America labour from the want of a 

 proper system of time. To show this fact in greater force, he gives 

 the seventy-four standards then followed. These several standards 

 he proposed to set aside and replace by standards each differing one 

 hour or 15° of longitude. 



While recommending this course, the report sets forth that the 

 change could only be regarded as a step towards the absolute uniform- 

 ity of all time-pieces, and the Society passed resolutions, that abso- 

 lute uniformity of time is desirable ; that the meridian six hours 

 west of Greenwich should be adopted as the national standard to be 

 used in common on all railways and telegraphs, to be known as 

 "Railroad and Telegraph Time;" that after July 4th, 1880, such 

 uniform standard time should be the legal standard for the whole 

 country, and that the State and National Legislatures should be 

 memorialized on the subject. 



Mr. Cleveland Abbe in this report alluded to the previous pro- 

 ceedings of the Canadian Institute. 



The active sympathy of the Marquis of Lome greatly aided the 

 movement of Time-reform in its early stages. In 1879, in his 

 official position as Governor-General he had been the recipient of 

 the papers published by the Canadian Institute, and had transmitted 

 them to Great Britain, and through the Imperial Government to 

 the several European centres. In 1880, it was learned that the 

 report to the American Metrological Society above alluded to, 

 would shortly be issued. Accordingly, advance copies were obtained 

 from New York, and, together with additional papers issued by this 

 Institute, they were transmitted by His Excellency to the following 



