74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Thus the exact position of tlie twenty-four secondary or hour meri- 

 dians is practically determined, and provision is thereby made for 

 extending around the globe so as to secure complete uniformity, the 

 hour system of regulating time which has been adopted with so much 

 advantage in America. 



These hour meridians, so designated, completely establish the rela- 

 tion between Cosmic time and longitude and likewise between 

 Cosmic time and local time. Once every day the relationship 

 will be prominently brought under the notice of every indi- 

 vidual. Any one, for example, living on the 6th hour meridian, 

 will know at noon that it is at that instant six o'clock Cosmic time ; 

 or, take a citizen of Toronto, the local time of which would be gov- 

 erned by the 17th hour meridian. At the instant of noon he will 

 know that it is 17 o'clock Cosmic Time. Invariable time will thus 

 agree with longitude, conversely longitude with time. The earth it- 

 self becomes the great chronometer, and in its daily relations the 

 passage of the sun will everywhere be the index of Cosmic time. 



The resolutions of the International Conference establish a means 

 of reckoning time which promises, in the years to come, to be of 

 the highest advantage to the human family. Cosmic time, or 

 whatever name may be given to Universal Time applied to civil pur- 

 poses is an entirely new feature. It has now obtained recognition 

 by a properly constituted authority, although until recently, T believe, 

 it has remained unconsidered. Astronomers have long had equinoc- 

 tial time, which is absolute time, dating from an epoch determined 

 by the sun's motion among the stars ; beyond this I cannot find any 

 nearer approach to the mention of Universal Time as now vmderstood. 



The conclusions of the Conference mark a new era. ' The civil 

 time of England is adopted as Universal Time. It may be said that 

 G-reenwich time is already known on every sea, that it has been car- 

 ried by British ships wherever British explorers and colonists and 

 merchants have penetrated, but Greenwich time is the local time of 

 Greenwich, and, heretofore, it has always been held as such. Uni- 

 versal time, based on the Prime Meridian of the globe, iand recog- 

 nized by the several civilized nations is an entirely difierent conception. 

 As the time of the world common to every nation, it is held 

 that the term Cosmic will better express that meaning than Green- 

 wich. Cosmic and Greenwich time are identical, by accident, but 

 the expressions imply two totally different ideas, and known national 



