SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS. 79 



A revolution of tlie earth, denoted by the mean solar passage at the Prime 

 or Anti-prime Meridian, will be recognizable by the whole world as a period of 

 time common to alL By general agreement this period may be regarded as the 

 common unit by which Time may be everywhere measured for every pjirpose 

 ill science, in commerce, and in every-day life. 



The scheme set forth in the recommendations has in view three prindpal ob- 

 jects, via : \i 



1. To define and establish an Universal Day for securing chronological ac- 

 curacy in dates common to the whole world. 



2. To obtain a system of Universal Time on a basis acceptable to all nations, 

 by which, everywhere, at the same time, the same instant may be observed. 



.3. To establish a sound and rational system of reckoning Time which may 

 eventually be adopted for civil purposes everywhere, and thus secure uni- 

 formity and accuracy throughout the globe. 



But, in the inauguration of a scheme affecting so many individuals, it is de- 

 sirable not to interfere with prevailing customs more than necessary. Such 

 influences as arise from habit are powerful and cannot be ignored. The fact 

 must bo recognized that it will be difficult to change immediately the usages 

 to which the mass of men have been accustomed. In daily life we are in the 

 habit of eating, sleeping, and following the routine of our existence at certain 

 periods of the day. We are familiar with the numbers of the hours by which 

 these periods are known, and, doubtless, there will be many who will see little 

 reason in any attempt to alter their nomenclature, especially those who take 

 little note of cause and eifect, and who, with difficiilty, understand the ne- 

 cessity of a remedy to some marked irregularity, which, however generally ob- 

 jectionable, does not bear heavily upon them individually. 



For the present, therefore, we must adapt a new system, as best we are able, 

 to the habits of men and women as we find them. Provision for such adapta- 

 tion is made in the recommendations by which, while local reckoning would be 

 based on the principles laid down, the hours and their numbers need not ap- 

 preciably vary from those with which we are familiar. Thus, Time-reckoning 

 in all ordinary affairs in every locality may be made to harmonize with the 

 general system. 



Standard Time throughout the United States and Canada has been es- 

 tablished in accord with this princixjle. Its adoption has proved the advan- 

 tages which may be attained generally by the same means. On all sides these 

 advantages have been widely appreciated, and no change intimately bearing 

 upon common life was ever so unanimously accepted. Certainly, it is an im- 

 portant step towards the establishment of one system of Universal Time, or, as 

 it is designated in the recommendations, Cosmic Time, 



The alacrity and unanimity with which the change has been accepted in 

 North America encourages the belief that the introduction of Cosmic Time in 

 every-day life is not unattainable. The intelligence of the people will not fail 

 to discover before long, that the adoption of correct principles of Time-reckon- 

 ing will in no way change or seriously affect the habits they have been accus- 

 tomed to . It will certainly sweep away nothing valuable to them. The sun 

 will rise and set to regulate their social affairs. All classes will soon learn to 

 understand the hour of noon, whatever the number on the dial, v/hether six, 

 as in Scriptural times, or twelve, or eighteen, or any other number. People 

 will get up and retire to bed, begin and end work, take breakfast and dinner 

 at the same periods of the day as at present, and our social habits and customs 

 win remain without a change, depending, as now, on the daily returning phen- 

 omena of light and darkness. 



The one alteration will be in the notation of the hours, so as to secure uni- 

 formity in every longitude. It is to be expected that this change will at first 

 create some bewilderment, and that it will be somewhat difficult to be under- 



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