UNIVERSAL OR COSMIC TIME, 



Uead before the Canadian Institute, Wth December, 188U, 

 BY MR. SANDFORD FLEMING, C.M.G. 



On the first day of the month, the President of the United States, 

 in his message at the opening of Congress, i-eferred to the Interna- 

 tional Meridian Conference lately convened in Washington, in the fol- 

 lowing words : — " The conference concluded its labours on the first 

 of November, having with substantial unanimity agreed upon the 

 meridian of Greenwich as the starting point whence longitude is to 

 "be computed through one, hundred and eighty degrees eastward and 

 westward, and upon the adoption for all purposes for which it may be 

 found convenient of a Universal Day, which shall begin at midnight 

 on the initial meridian, and whose hours shall be counted fi'om zero 

 up to twenty -four." 



The Canadian Institute is peculiarly interested in this announce- 

 ment. No society, literary or scientific, has taken a more important 

 part in the initiation of the movement to reform our Time-system, 

 of which the success is, to some extent, indicated in the President's 

 words. It therefore appears to me fit and proper that I should 

 recall to your attention the various steps which from time to time 

 have been taken, so that we may possess a record of the events which 

 have led to the now almost general recognition of the necessity for a 

 new notation. 



Six years ago on several occasions the meetings of the Institute 

 were engaged in discussing the subject of Time-reckoning and the 

 selection of a Prime Meridian common to all nations. Papers were 

 read and arguments were advanced, with the view of showing the 

 necessity of establishing a cosmopolitan or universal time, by which 

 the events of history might be more accurately recorded, and which 

 would respond to the more precise demands of science, and generally 

 satisfy the requirements of modern civilization. The proceedings of 

 the Institute for January and February, 1879, give at considerable 

 length the viyws submitted and the suggestions offered to meet the 



