EIGHTH ORDINARY MEETING. 63 



European Societies, and the special attention of their members was 

 ■directed to the documents themselves : 



1. The Institut de France , Paris. 



2. Society de Geographie Paris. 



3. Society Beige de Geographie Brussels. 



4. Koniglich Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften . . Berlin. 



5. Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde Berlin. 



6. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften Vienna. 



7. K. K. Geographische Gesellschaft Vienna. 



8. Nicolaevskaia Glavnaia Observatoria Pulkova. 



9. Imper. Eousskae Geograficheskoe Obschestov St. Petersbiirg. 



10. Imp. Akademia Nauk St. Petersburg. 



11 . Society de Geographie Geneva. 



By this means attention was obtained for the subject in Europe, 

 and when I submit evidence of the fact, I think you will agree with 

 me, that no little of the success which has attended the movement 

 is owing to our late Governor-General. We must all acknowledge 

 how much we are indebted to him for the great personal interest he 

 has always shown on the subject. We are certainly warranted in 

 forming the opinion, that the dissemination of these papers, under 

 such distinguished auspices, awakened attention to the arguments 

 they contain, and prepared the way for the subsequent action taken 

 at the International Geographical Congress at Venice, at the Geo- 

 dedic Congress at Rome, and more recently at the Conference at 

 Washington. 



Mr. Wilhelm Eorster, director of the Berlin Observatory, enters 

 into the subject at length in a paper " Zur Beurtheilung Einiger 

 Zeitfragen, insbefondene gegen die Einfuhrung einer deutschen ISTor- 

 malzeit." [A Review of some considerations on Time, especially 

 against the introduction of German National Uniform Time]. 



Mr. Eorster proceeds to say : The British Government is now 

 transmitting, through its representatives, although at the same time it 

 declares itself neutral, a proposition which has been published by a 

 society of scientific men in Canada, which aims at the establishment 

 of a cosmopolitan normal datum (Prime Meridian) and of Universal 

 Time, and also the establishment of 24 meridians of an hour apart, 

 by which local time will be absorbed. The first proposal, Mr. Eorster 

 describes as an important sign of the times and evidently?favours it. 



He strongly protests against the establishment of a national Ger- 

 man time; but for railway business, and for such matters of commu- 



