SUPPLEMENTAEY PAPERS. 59 



graph was unknown and the horse was almost the only locomotive. 

 The system is based on the theory that time is regulated everywhere 

 by the passage of the sun over the meridian of each separate locality, 

 that the y^eriod between any two solar passages, at any one place, is 

 divided into halves, known as ante-meridian and post-meridian, each 

 half being subdivided into twelve hours, and that the two halves 

 together constitute a day. 



According to the recognised theory, as already stated, every spot 

 on the surface of the globe differing in longitude has an entirely dis- 

 tinct day, and a local time peculiar to itself. Except on the same 

 meridian there are no simultaneous days, or hours oi* minutes. 

 Everywhere the days and divisions of the day vary, and the varia- 

 tions ai'e infinite. 



In the case of North America the continent extends across one 

 hundred and five degrees of longitude. Within its extreme eastern 

 and western limits it is possible to draw many thousand distinct 

 meridians, and following rigidly the prescribed theory, we may have 

 as many thousand standards of time, nob two of which would be in 

 harmony, The railway authorities have come face to face with the 

 difficulty, and they hav^e from time to time met it as circumstances 

 dictated. In order to operate the long line of railway with some 

 degree of safety, each separate manager has been obliged to ignore 

 the different local times and arbitrarily adopt a special time for the 

 movement of trains on the particular lines under bis charge. The 

 railway guide books publish at least seventy-five (75) irregularly 

 chosen standards of time, employed for the running of trains in the 

 United States and Canada, Every city and town of importance has 

 its own time, occasionally coinciding, but frequently differing from 

 the nearest railway standard. The public have been obliged to 

 accommodate themselves to this irregular system, but it has become 

 exceedingly inconvenient and irksome, and a scheme which will in- 

 troduce a time-system characterized by uniformity and simplicity 

 cannot fail to be cordially welcomed. 



For the reasons stated, an earnest movement has begun in America 

 with the view of establishing reform in time-reckoning. The ques- 

 tion is engaging the attention of the Canadian Institute, the Ameri- 

 can Metrological Society, the American Society of Civil Engineers, 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and 

 other Societies. The community generally and the great railway 

 and telegraph interests are being awakened to its importance. 



It is felt that the question is one in which all countries have an 

 interest, and although it has presented itself perhaps more promi- 

 nently in America than elsewhere, it is eminently desirable that 

 Americans should take no narrow view of a scientific matter of 

 world-wide interest. 



