70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



from the representatives of some sixty thousand miles of railway, 

 ninety-eight (98 ).per cent, of whom have given expression to their 

 sympathy with the movement, to abandon the old practice of halving 

 the day, designating the two sets of twelve hours by the abbreviations 

 A.M. and P.M., and are prepared to adopt a simple notation of 1 to 

 24 in a single series, The great telegraph interests of the country 

 are likewise in full sympathy with it. The President of the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company, Dr. Norwin Green, states that their 

 telegraphic traffic is equal to the transmission of forty-four million 

 messages a year, and the general adoption of the 24 o'clock system, 

 as it has been designated, would be cordially welcomed by telegraphers. 

 It would reduce materially the risk of errors, and to the company 

 over which he presides, he says it would save the transmission of at 

 least 150,000,000 letters annually. 



The branch literature bearing on the two questions of Universal 

 Time and the establishment of a Prime Meridian, has been enriched 

 by a series of papers which have appeared during the past year in 

 the International Standard, a magazine published in Cleveland, 

 Ohio. These papers are by the following gentlemen connected with 

 the International Institute : — Rev. H. G. Wood, of Sharon, Penn- 

 sylvania ; Professor 0. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland ; 

 Professor John N. Stockwell, Astronomer, Cleveland ; Mr. Jacob M. 

 Clark, C.E., New York; Mr. William H. Searle. Pennsylvania; 

 L'Abb^ F. Moigno, Canon of St. Denis, Paris ; Commodore Wm. B. 

 Whiting, U. S. Navy ; Mr. Charles Latimer, C.E., Cleveland ; and 

 others. 



It will be seen from what I have submitted, that the proceedings 

 have neither been few nor without success. That since this Institute 

 published the first issue of papers on Time and Time-reckoning, the 

 su.bject has received much attention on both sides of the Atlantic. 

 Societies with kindred pursuits, men of recognized merit in the 

 scientific world, have turned to its examination and aided in its de- 

 velopment. Some few men have acted in concert. The labour of 

 others have been independent. Some of these names I have been 

 able to record, but I fear that I neglect to include many of eminence 

 because they are not known to me. It is this varied and widely 

 diffused eftbrt which has i-endered possible the realization of the 

 practical results which I have the gratification to record, and all 



