58 UXIVERSAL OR COSMIC TIME. 



period when one month oi' yeai' passes into another month or yeai', 

 an occurrence may actually take j)lace in two different months, or in 

 two difierent years, according to local reckoning. 



It will be readil}'" conceded that this system is extremely unscien- 

 tific, that it possesses all the elements of confusion, and pi-oduces a 

 degree of ambiguity which cannot long be tolerated, that as time rolls 

 on, it will lead to grave complications in social and commercial affairs, 

 that it will produce serious errors in chronology, that it. will lead to 

 litigation, and result generally in difficulties of various kinds. Ac- 

 cording to our present system there can be no absolute certainty with 

 regard to time unless the precise geographical position be specified as 

 an important element of the date. It is evident that it will be ex- 

 ceedingly inconvenient and troublesome when rapid intercourse be- 

 comes universal to bring the times of different countries and localities 

 into agreement ; and that the necessity for doing so by additions or 

 deductions for differences in longitude, will undoubtedly clog the 

 ordinary business of the world. 



It is proposed to obviate the difficulty by a system of cosmopolitan 

 time-reckoning, the chief peculiarity of which is the adoption of one 

 particular meridian as a standard time-zero, and by an extremely 

 simple arrangement regulating the times at all places on the globe by 

 a direct reference to the common standard. It is obvious that the 

 world's time zero should coincide with the prime meridian to be used 

 in common by all nations for reckoning terrestial longitudes. 



I shall proceed to submit special and more urgent reasons for the 

 selection of a common initial Meridian and Time-zero. I shall con- 

 tine my observations to the case of North America, a country with 

 which I am most familiar, but the remarks I shall venture to submit 

 will doubtless apply to other great divisions of the earth's surface. 



The gigantic system of railways and telegraphs which has been 

 established in America, has developed social and commercial condi- 

 tions which never previously existed in the history of the human 

 race. These conditions have affected the relations of time and dis- 

 tance in a manner which shows that the system of notation which 

 we have inherited is defective, that it leads to confusion, causes loss 

 of time, and disturbs the arrangements of travellers and business 

 men. that it frequently results in loss of life, and leads to difficul- 

 ties of various kinds, that under the circumstances which have fol- 

 lowed the extensive employment of steam and electricity as means 

 of rapid communication, it is generally inappropriate. 



This question has therefore become a matter of great public import- 

 ance, and attention is seriously directed to the simplest and best 

 means of removing an im[>ediment to commerce and general inter- 

 course. 



The system which we follow, and which has been followed for ages, 

 was quite unobjectionable half a century ago, when the electric tele- 



