SCIENCE. 



'5 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



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Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK. 



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London, England, - - - - 150 Leadenhall St. 

 SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1882. 



STANDARD TIME. 



At present there are said to be more than seventy 

 distinct " railroad times" in the United States ; in some 

 single cities there are as many as four, differing from 

 each other by amounts varying from five to twenty 

 minutes. This state of things of course involves con- 

 fusion and inconvenience to travellers, and all Ameri- 

 cans travel. In some cases it has been the cause of 

 serious disasters. 



It is beyond doubt, then, that there would be great 

 advantages in a uniform standard of time for the whole 

 country. Can they be secured without too much 

 counterbalancing inconvenience and expense? We 

 believe they can, and without any very great difficulty. 



A single standard for the United States (and still 

 more, for the whole world), while in many respects 

 highly desirable, would be exposed to the fatal objec- 

 tion that it would bear no relation to the true local 

 time determined by the Sun's position. Now this 

 local time is what we must necessarily live by. Na- 

 ture compels us to work by day and sleep by night ; 

 to rise in the morning and retire at evening. A time- 

 standard which does not recognize this cannot be 

 practically convenient, and will never be adopted. 

 Suppose, for instance, that Washington time were 

 made the standard for the country ; at San Francisco 

 every thing would be three hours out of joint ; and 

 though undoubtedly, such good people as live there, 

 and always stay at home, could, after a while, become 

 accustomed to having noon come at 3 o'clock by their 

 watches, and other things to match ; yet there would 

 probably be some grumbling first. Changes so radi- 

 cal are always hard to accomplish. But, what is 

 worse, whenever the San Franciscan journeyed, or 



changed his residence, he would have to unlearn all 

 his time-relations, and begin again. 



In fact, if a uniform time-standard were adopted 

 over the whole world, all allusions to the time of day 

 in literature now existing, such statements of the hour 

 as are involved in almost every accurate description 

 of an event, would become unintelligible except by a 

 process of translation. 



The late Professor Pierce proposed a plan, which, 

 while securing most of the advantages of the uniform 

 standard, avoids its worst difficulties. It is to adopt, 

 not one standard for the country, but a series of stand- 

 ard, {four would be needed) agreeing exactly in their 

 minutes and seconds, but differing by entire hours. 

 We should then have Atlantic time, Mississippi time, 

 Mountain time, and Pacific time. Since the minutes 

 and seconds would be everywhere the same, tele- 

 graphic signals from a correct clock would be directly 

 available for regulating the time wherever received; 

 the difference of one or more entire hours could never 

 cause confusion. And yet the standard time at any 

 place need never differ more than thirty minutes from 

 the true local time. This amount of difference, though 

 of course in itself undesirable, is not co great as to be 

 intolerable in view of the attendant advantages. We 

 hardly notice the discrepancy of fifteen minutes be- 

 tween sundial and clock, which occurs at certain sea- 

 sons of the year, in consequence of the Equation of 

 time. 



As to the time to be chosen for the standard of 

 minutes and seconds, unfortunately there is not yet 

 an agreement among our astronomers. Naturally 

 enough many think it should be Washington time, 

 just as in England, Greenwich time is used. So far 

 as landsmen are concerned it is really a matter of al- 

 most no importance what time is selected, but with 

 the shipping interest it is different. Almost all na- 

 tions use Greenwich time on the ocean ; and for this 

 reason it would probably be best to lay aside national 

 prejudice, and make our Atlantic time differ from 

 Greenwich time by just five hours; this would agree 

 with the correct local time for a meridian passing be- 

 tween New York and Philadelphia. The meridian of 

 Mississippi time (six hours from Greenwich) would 

 then pass between Chicago and St. Louis, that of 

 mountain time would run near Denver, and the 

 Pacific meridian near San Francisco. 



The meridian theoretically dividing Atlantic from 

 Mississippi time would nearly bisect the State of 

 Ohio. In a case of this sort the legislature would be 

 likely to adopt one or the other of the two times as 

 the standard over the whole State ; so that in practice 

 the boundaries between the standards would probably 

 follow State lines. 



