September 26, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



^7d> 



zontally pieces of cane of a length from two to three joints. If 

 the ground has previously been under cultivation, the methods 

 differ. The ground must first of all be ploughed, and furrows are 

 then made in which entire canes are stretched d chorros ; that is 

 to say, end to end horizontally. The plants are then covered with 

 earth. The sugar-cane is frequently planted in the spring, but 

 many planters are of opinion that plantations in Cuba sown in 

 winter give a much better yield. The young plants are allowed 

 to shoot for ten or eleven months if they have been planted in the 

 spring, for fourteen or sixteen months if planted in the winter, 

 and the harvest then takes place. There are in the island several 

 varieties of sugar-cane, — the white or Otaheite cane, the twisted 

 white cane, the twisted violet cane, and the so-called black cane. 

 The first two varieties are the only ones cultivated at Cuba. The 

 white cane is prepared for planting in virgin soil, and gives a good 

 yield. The crystalline is reserved for old plantations: it is better 

 adapted to resist the long drought than the white variety. The 

 cultivation of the last three species of sugar-canes has been aban- 

 doned on account of their insufficient yield. Before the abolition 

 of slavery, the planters themselves cultivated their fields; since 

 that period, however, they have experienced the greatest difficulty 

 in obtaining a sufficient number of hands to harvest their canes. 

 Many planters, in consequence, deemed it advisable to divide their 

 labor between a certain number of colonists, who are bound to 

 cultivate each his plot of ground, to plant the canes, to cut them 

 at harvest time, and to carry them to the factory,, where they re- 

 ceive, after the sugar is turned out, a certain proportion of the quan- 

 tity of the sugar extracted from the caues harvested on their 

 allotments. Cuban sugar is generally prepared for exi)ort. The 

 special quality intended tor home consumption is clearer and finer 

 than that shipped abroad. 



THE UNIT MEASURE OF TIME.i 



I DESIEE at the opening meeting of this section of the Royal 

 Society to bring to your attention a subject of some general im- 

 portance. 



For a number of years past attempts have been made on both 

 sides of the Atlantic to effect a reform in the method of reckoning 

 time. The degree of success which has attended the movement is 

 a matter of surprise when we consider that the changes involve a 

 departure from the usages of society, and are in opposition to the 

 customs of many centuries. 



The modern introduction of rapid means of communication has 

 created conditions of life different from those of preceding genera- 

 tions. It may be said that until a few years back, localities sepa- 

 rated by a few miles of longitude were assumed to have distinct 

 and separate notations of time. When many localities were first 

 brought into close relations by the establishment, of a line of rail- 

 way, the different local times (so called) with which the railway 

 authorities had to deal produced much confusion. In order to 

 attain security for life and pi-operty in operating the line, and 

 likewise to promote the convenience of the public using it, it be- 

 came necessary to observe a uniform notation, which received the 

 name of "railway time;" that is to say, the many local reckonings 

 which prevailed at the numerous points between the two termini 

 were reduced to a single reckoning common to the many locali- 

 ties. 



As lines of railway multiplied, the unification of the reckoning 

 of time became more indispensable, and it early came to be seen 

 that the benefits to result from unification would be in proportion 

 to the extent of territory embraced within its operations. At length 

 it became obvious that uniformity of reckoning might with ad- 

 vantage be extended to a whole continent or the whole globe. 

 Investigation also established that such an extension would con- 

 travene no law of nature, or principle of science.- 



The proposal to supersede the numberless local times by a single 

 notation, synchronous in every longitude, had a somewhat Uto- 

 pian aspect. Many, indeed, regarded it as a revolutionary inno- 

 vation, for it came into direct conflict with the customs and the 



' Address at the opening of Section III. of the Royal Society of Canada, by 

 the president, Dr. Sandford Fleming, May 27, 1890. 



habits of thought which had descended from a remote antiquity. 

 Nevertheless, the potent agencies steam and electricity, which 

 have co-operated in making astonishing transmutations in human 

 affairs, have forced on our attention the investigation of time and 

 its notation, and demanded some change to meet the altered cir- 

 cumstances of daily life. 



If we consider the nature and attributes of that which we know 

 as time, we will find that it is wholly independent of material 

 bodies, and uninfluenced by space or distance; that it is essentially 

 non-local and an absolute unity; that it is not possible for two 

 times to co-exist, or for time to be divided into two parts having 

 a separate entity, in the sense that material things can be divided. 

 This view of time incontrovertibly established, there is no ground 

 for the theory that there are many local times. We may there- 

 fore sweep away the ordinary usages based on that theory as be- 

 ing unsound and untenable, and the way is made clear for a com- 

 prehensive system of time-reckoning to embrace the whole globe. 



About fourteen years ago the effort was first made to introduce 

 a reform which would satisfy the requirements of the age. What- 

 ever system might be adopted, it was felt that it should be based 

 on the fundamental principle that there is only one time. It was, 

 moreover, held to be expedient that there should be only one 

 reckoning of time common to all nations; and, to secure a common 

 reckoning, one established zero and one common unit of meas- 

 urement became necessary. 



With the attainment of these objects in view, preliminary dis- 

 cussions took place at the meetings of several scientific associations 

 in Europe and America, and it was held that in a matter of such 

 widespread importance the unit of time should be a measure 

 which could be readily referred to as a perpetual standard for the 

 use of the entire human family. It was likewise felt desirable, if 

 not indispensable, that all nations should acquiesce in its recogni- 

 tion. 



It was accordingly proposed at an international geographical 

 congress at Venice in 1881, and confirmed at a geodetic congress 

 at Rome held two years later, that the government of the United 

 States should be invited formally to call a conference of repre- 

 sentatives, to be specially appointed by the governments of all 

 civilized nations, to consider the subject, and determine the zero 

 and standard of reckoning to be used in common throughout the 



Six years ago this conference assembled, under the auspices of 

 the United States, in the city of Washington, the governments of 

 twenty-six nations sending fully accredited delegates. Their de- 

 liberations extended over the month of October, 1884. With sub- 

 stantial unanimity they passed a series of resolutions, in which 

 the unit of measurement was constituted, and they recommended 

 that time be computed according to the solar passage on a recog- 

 nized zero meridian of the earth's surface. 



The resolutions of the Washington conference thus authorita- 

 tively established the fundamental principles which underlie the 

 Scheme for a general unity of lime-reckoning ; each nation being 

 "left in its discretion to accept the details of the reform when- 

 ever deemed expedient in each individual case. To facilitate the 

 acceptance of the new system, the circumference of the globe has 

 been divided into twenty-four sections, the reckoning in each sec- 

 tion being based on a standard subsidiary to, but directly related 

 to, the unit measure. In the twenty-four subsidiary standards 

 thus constituted the hours are simultaneous, although differently 

 numbered in accordance with the longitude of the several sec- 

 tions. With the single exception respecting the numbers by 

 which the hours are locally to be known, there is complete iden- 

 tity in every subdivision of time throughout the twenty-four sec- 

 tions. The many local days which foUow in succession during 

 each diurnal period are by this arrangement reduced to twenty- 

 four normal days, each differing an hour in its commencement 

 from the day which it succeeds. Twelve of these normal days 

 precede, and tvv'elve follow, the primary standard or unit measure 

 of time, which is the mean of the whole series of normal days. 

 By this expedient, which has received the name of "the standard 

 time system," the means have been provided by which all nations, 

 without any apparent great departure from old usages, may ob- 

 serve substantially the one common reckoning. 



