Chapter 16

Finally, permit me to state that I am ready to cast my vote in favor of a universal hour, with the precise understanding that the universal hour will have to be limited to international transactions, and that will not interfere with the rules up to now in force in my own country.

Before resuming my seat I wish to thank the President and the members of the Conference for their kind indulgence in having listened to my remarks.

The PRESIDENT, The Chair would remind the Delegate of Turkey that the following resolution was passed at our last session:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference propose the adoption of a universal day for all purposes for which it may be found convenient, and which shall not interfere with the use of local or other standard time where desirable."

The very difficulty which the Delegate of Turkey anticipates was thus carefully provided for in the resolution just read.

Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING, Delegate of Great Britain. To my mind it is of very great importance that this resolution should be adopted. I have already given generally my views on this question, and therefore I do not intend to trespass on the attention of the Conference beyond saying a very few words. From what I have already ventured to submit, it will be obvious that I hold that all our usages in respect to the reckoning of time are arbitrary. Of one thing there can be no doubt. There is only one, and there can only be one flow of time, although our inherited usages have given us a chaotic number of arbitrary reckonings of this one conception. There can be no doubt of another matter; the progress of civilization requires a simple and more rational system than we now have. We have, it seems to me, reached a stage when a unification of the infinite number of time-reckonings is demanded.

This unification will be, to a large extent, accomplished if the resolution be adopted, and by adopting it, it seems to me to be in the power of the Conference to confer lasting benefits on the world.

Universal time will in no way interfere with local time. Each separate community may continue the usages of the past in respect to local time, or may accept whatever change the peculiar conditions in each case may call for. But the use of universal time will not necessarily involve a change; it will rather be something added to what all now possess. It will be a boon to those who avail themselves of it.

To the east of the prime meridian all possible local days will be in advance; to the west all possible days will be behind the universal day.

The universal day, as defined by the resolution, will at once be the mean of all possible local days, and the standard to which they will all be related by a certain known interval, that interval being determined by the longitude.

In my judgment, the resolution is an exceedingly proper one, and the Conference will act wisely in passing it.

The PRESIDENT. In taking the vote upon the resolution, it is requested that the roll be called.

The following States voted in the affirmative:

Brazil, Liberia, Chili, Mexico, Colombia, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Great Britain, Turkey, Guatemala, United States, Hawaii, Venezuela. Japan,

States voting in the negative:

Austria-Hungary, Spain.

Abstaining from voting:

France, San Domingo, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland. Netherlands,

Ayes, 15; noes, 2; abstained, 7.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the resolution was passed.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, I now present for the consideration of the Conference the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference expresses the hope that as soon as may be practicable the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere to begin at midnight."

Before action is taken upon this resolution, I would make a verbal correction. I think that the word "_mean_" ought to be introduced before the word "_midnight_" and I therefore alter my resolution in that way.

The vote was then taken upon the resolution just offered, and it was carried without division.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair begs leave to state that the protocols in French and in English of the first and second sessions of the Conference, have been examined, and are now before the Conference for adoption. If any Delegate wishes to make any correction in these protocols, he can submit it to the Conference, and, if approved, it can be immediately made.

No objection was raised, and the President put the question to the Conference on the adoption of the protocols of the first and second sessions in French and English, and they were unanimously adopted.

M. JANSSEN, Delegate of France. Mr. President, we have been directed to present for the approval of the Congress the desire that studies relative to the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time should be resumed in order that this application may be extended to all cases--and they are numerous and important--where it presents real advantages.

I would say that a similar desire upon the same subject was expressed by the Conference at Rome.

You are aware, gentlemen, that at the time of the establishment of the metrical system the decimal division had been extended to the measurement of angular space and of time. Numerous instruments were even made according to the new system. As to time, the reform was introduced too abruptly, and, we might say, without enough discretion, and it came into conflict with old habits and was quickly abandoned; but as to the division of angular space, in which the decimal division presented many advantages, the reform sustained itself much better, and is still used for certain purposes. So, the division of the circumference into 400 parts was adopted by Laplace, and we find it constantly employed in the Mécanique Celeste. Delambre and Mechain used, for the measurement of the are of the meridian from which the metre was derived, repeating circles divided into "_grades_." Finally, in our own time, Colonel Perrier, Chief of the Geographical Division of our Department of War, has used instruments decimally divided, and at the present time logarithmic tables appropriate to that method of division are in course of calculation.

But it is especially when it is a question of making long calculations of angular space that the decimal system presents great advantages. In this respect we find, so to speak, only one opinion expressed by scientists.

The Conference at Rome, which brought together so many astronomers, geodetists, eminent topographers--that is to say, the men most competent and most interested in the question--expressed in respect to it a desire, the high authority of which it is impossible to mistake.

It is, therefore, now evident that the decimal system, which has already done such good service in the measurements of length, volume, and weight, is called upon to render analagous services in the domain of angular dimensions and of time.

I know that this question of the decimal division encounters legitimate doubts, principally as to its application to the measurement of time. It is feared that we want to destroy habits fixed for centuries, and upset established usages.

In this respect, gentlemen, I think that we ought to be fully satisfied. The teachings of the past will be respected. It will be perceived that if we failed at the time of the Revolution, it is because we put forward a reform which was not limited to the domain of science, but which did violence to the habits of daily life. It is necessary to take the question up again, but with due regard to the limits which common sense and experience would prescribe to wise and well-informed men.

I think that the character of the reform would be well defined by saying that it is intended especially to make a new effort towards the application of the decimal system in scientific matters.

But, gentlemen, I have not to discuss here the bearing of the reforms which the study of this question will lead to. It is sufficient for me to show that there is in that direction an indispensable step to be made, and to ask you to express the desire that the question should be studied. I do not think that there is anybody here who would desire to oppose a request which does not in truth commit us to any specific solution of the question, and which appears so opportune at the present time. I would ask the President to be so kind as to submit the following proposition to the Conference:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference expresses the hope that the studies designed to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time shall be resumed, so as to permit the extension of this application to all cases where it presents real advantages."

The PRESIDENT. The Chair is of opinion that the Conference was called for a special and somewhat narrow purpose, and the consideration of the decimal system, proposed by the Delegate of France, seems to it foreign to that purpose and beyond the scope of the Conference. The President, however, simply acts for the Conference, and if the Conference shall decide to take the matter up, he will acquiesce, but it strikes the Chair that the resolution is out of order.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. Sir, I desire to express my personal views on this subject. I should be very happy to join the Delegate of France in voting for such a resolution, but I fear that there is a feeling among many of the delegates that it is not within our competence to discuss it. If that is so, I would suggest whether it might not be better that it should not be pressed to a vote. It would be a pity if there should be on the records of the proceedings of this Conference anything in the shape of a vote against the subject-matter of this resolution. I consequently think that if delegates have formed any decided opinion on the subject, they might express their opinion without voting; but I repeat that it would be a great pity if a negative vote should be taken on the subject of the decimal system of dividing the circle and time, particularly as it was received with unanimity in the Conference at Rome.

Prof. ADAMS, Delegate of Great Britain. Mr. President, I may say that while I agree with Gen. STRACHEY in thinking that I should not like to vote against the proposition brought forward by our eminent colleague, Mr. JANSSEN, yet I feel it is somewhat beyond the scope of the subjects which we have to discuss, and, therefore, I should abstain from voting. I quite recognize that, for certain purposes, the decimal division of the circle is very valuable.

The PRESIDENT. Unless the Conference decides to entertain this proposition, the Chair suggests that no discussion shall take place. If any member present desires to bring the matter up, he can do so by taking an appeal from the decision just made.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. Do I understand, sir, that the subject is dropped?

The PRESIDENT. The Chair has decided that the resolution offered by the Delegate of France is out of order, and unless a difference of opinion is expressed by the Conference, the subject will be dropped. The Chair wishes to treat with the most distinguished deference the Delegate of France, because we are all most happy to do honor to him in every way. Does the Chair understand that the Delegate of France appeals from its decision, and wishes to take the sense of the Conference upon it?

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, replied in the affirmative.

Commodore FRANKLIN, Delegate of Colombia. Mr. President, I would like hear the resolution read again. If it be merely a suggestion to consider the subject of the decimal system, I should like to know it.

The vote was then taken upon the appeal of the Delegate of France from the decision of the Chair.

States voting in favor of the appeal:

Austria-Hungary, Netherlands, Brazil, San Domingo, Chili, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Venezuela. Mexico,

States voting against the appeal:

Colombia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Liberia, Germany, Paraguay, Great Britain, United States. Guatemala,

Abstaining from voting:

Russia, Sweden.

Ayes, 13; noes, 9; abstained, 2.

The PRESIDENT. The appeal from the decision of the Chair is sustained, and the proposition offered by the Delegate of France is now before the Conference. If no delegate wishes to speak upon the resolution, the vote will be taken.

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France. Mr. President, before the definitive vote I desire to again call my colleague's attention to the fact that it is a question here of the much-needed extension of the decimal system, an extension desired by a large number of the highest scientific authorities and of the most distinguished observers. As I said only a moment ago, the Congress at Rome, whose high authority in the matters which have occupied us is acknowledged, was a still higher authority as to astronomy, geodesy, topography; that is to say, in the domain to which our proposition relates. At Rome a wish, similar to that which we ask you to formulate, was expressed. Besides, if we observe that it is a question here only of expressing the desire that studies should be resumed upon the matter in question, is there anyone among us who would wish to oppose the liberal proposition which prejudges nothing in the solution of the question, but which will surely lead to important progress. I do not doubt, then, that all our colleagues will desire to unite in a resolution, which by its object and by the manner in which it is expressed, ought, it appears to me, to unite the suffrages of all.

No further remarks were made upon the resolution, and the vote was accordingly taken on the question whether it should be adopted.

States voting in the affirmative:

Austria-Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, Netherlands, Chili, Paraguay, Colombia, Russia, Costa Rica, San Domingo, France, Spain, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hawaii, Turkey, Italy, United States, Japan, Venezuela. Liberia,

States voting in the negative: None.

Abstained from voting:

Germany, Sweden. Guatemala,

Ayes, 21; noes, 0; abstained, 3.

The PRESIDENT. The resolution of the Delegate of France is, therefore, adopted.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. Sir, before concluding the session to-day, I hope that the Delegates will be in a position to listen to the two resolutions which I now desire to propose, and which I think will tend to clear up a good deal of the discussion which we have had. The first of these resolutions is as follows:

"The Conference adopts the opinion that, for the purposes of civil life, it will be convenient to reckon time, according to the local civil time at successive meridians destributed round the earth, at time-intervals of either ten minutes, or some integral multiple of ten minutes, from the prime meridian; but that the application of this principle be left to the various nations or communities concerned by it."

This resolution, as it stands, embraces all the practical suggestions which have been made on the subject up to the present time. The only limitation it proposes to put upon the adoption of what may be called local standard time is that the breaks shall be at definite intervals of ten minutes or more.

The second resolution which I propose is a very simple one. It is this:

"The arrangements for adopting the universal day in international telegraphy should be left for the consideration of the international telegraph congress."

There has been established by an international arrangement a congress which meets every two years to settle questions of international telegraphy, and I think that the precise manner in which universal time may be adapted to telegraphy would very properly be left to that congress.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia. On behalf of the Delegates of Russia, I beg to make the following remarks:

We have already expressed the opinion that the universal time could be properly used for international postal, railway, and telegraphic communications. But it is to be understood that local or any other standard time, which is intimately connected with daily life, will necessarily be used side by side with the universal time.

It has been proposed, in order to establish an easier connection between local and universal time, to accept twenty-four meridians at equal distances of 1 hour or 15°, or to divide the whole circumference of the earth by meridians at distances of 10 minutes of time or 21/2°.

This question not yet having been made the subject of special and thorough investigation by the respective Governments, and not having been discussed at the International Conference at Rome, we believe that it would as yet be difficult to express, in regard to Europe, any positive opinion on the practical convenience of the above mentioned or other possible methods of dividing the globe into equal time-zones.

We would suggest to recommend that the system of counting the hours of the universal day from 0 to 24, which probably will be adopted for the universal day, might also be introduced for counting the local time side by side with the old method of counting the hours of 0 to 12 A. M. and 0 to 12 p. m.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden. I have had the honor to transmit to the members of the Conference a résumé of a report on this subject made by Professor Gyldén, an eminent Swedish astronomer, whose name, no doubt, is familiar to many of the Delegates. The system proposed by Mr. Gyldén is similar to the one now proposed by the Delegate for Great Britain. The only difference is that Mr. Gyldén, in explaining the system, recommends the adoption of equidistant meridians, separated by intervals of 21/2°, or 10 minutes of time, while the proposition of the Delegate for Great Britain is so worded that this distance may be greater than 10 minutes. This difference is, however, only a question of detail. The basis of Mr. Gyldén's system is that time meridians should be separated from the standard initial meridian by either 10 or some integral multiple of 10 minutes. Therefore, I shall, with pleasure, vote for the resolution of the Delegate from Great Britain.

I beg only permission of the Conference to insert Mr. Gyldén's report as part of my remarks:

_RÉSUMÉ OF A REPORT read before the Swedish Geographical Society by Hugo Gyldén, Professor of Astronomy and member of the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, concerning the use of Equidistant Meridians for the fixation of the Hour._

If we suppose the meridian passing through the Observatory of Greenwich extended round the globe, this grand circle will cut the equator, at 180° from Greenwich, at some place a little east of New Zealand. This meridian falls almost entirely in the Ocean, and cuts, in any case, not more than a few small islands in the Pacific. If we suppose, further, another great circle at 90° from the meridian of Greenwich, the western half touches very nearly New Orleans, and the eastern half passes a few minutes from Calcutta. If, now, the hour is fixed according to these four meridians, we have four cardinal times--one European, one American, one Asiatic, and one Oceanic.

It will, however, be necessary to fix much more than one civil time for Europe. Therefore I suppose for Europe a whole system of meridians, which, however, ought not to be closer together than 21/2°. The difference of time between these meridians is then only 10 minutes, which, in general, can be considered as an insignificant difference between the civil and the true solar time. The starting point of this system is the meridian of Greenwich. To the west the system ought to extend 30 minutes; to the east 21/2 hours, or to a meridian passing near Moscow.

I suppose as time zero the meridian of Greenwich. The next meridian to the east is meridian 1. This meridian will not pass far from the Observatory of Paris, because the difference between this meridian 1 and the meridian of Paris is only 40 seconds, an insignificant difference in civil life. The meridian 1 can be called the meridian of Paris, or French meridian.

The second meridian (to the east of Greenwich) does not touch Utrecht, but will pass so close that the time of this city could, without the least inconvenience, be regulated as if the difference of time between Greenwich and Utrecht were exactly 20 minutes. The second meridian would also pass almost as close to Amsterdam, (22s.,) and would not be far from Marseilles, (1m. 29s.) In the vicinity of the third meridian we have, first, Bern, (16s.;) next, a little further, Turin, (42s.) The fourth meridian is close to Hamburg, Altona, and Gottingen, (respectively 6s. and 14s.) Not far from the same meridian is Christiania, although at a distance of a little over 2 minutes. The fifth meridian passes also close to three large cities--Rome, (5s.,) Leipzig, (26s.,) and Copenhagen, (20s.)

The sixth meridian does not touch any city of importance, but it coincides very nearly with the meridian adopted for the normal civil time in Sweden; the difference amounts only to 15 seconds.

The seventh meridian touches the little town of Brieg, in the vicinity of Breslau, and Königsberg is situated two minutes from the eighth. The ninth meridian passes less than one minute to the west of Abo, and is situated at a distance of only a few seconds from Mistra, a town in Greece. The tenth meridian almost touches Helsingfors in Finland. As regards the eleventh meridian, I have not been able to find any locality of importance exactly so situated that it merits a place in this list, but I can, however, mention the cities of Minsk and Jassy. The twelfth meridian is situated 1m. 14s. to the west of the Academy of Sciences, in St. Petersburg, and the distance from Kiew is about the same. It is not necessary to continue the enumeration of the other meridians to the east by intervals of 10 minutes, but I will mention that Moscow is situated _2h. 30m. 17s._ to the east of Greenwich, and in consequence the system would be convenient with regard to this city.

If we pass to the west of Greenwich, we will find that the first meridian west touches the little town of Almeria, in the south of Spain, which country extends to equal distances on both sides of this meridian, east and west, and the situation of Portugal is the same with regard to the third meridian west.

Then, in all the towns and localities given above, of which the greater part are of some importance, the local time coincides so closely with times differing from the Greenwich time, by whole multiples of 10 minutes, that there is no reason to fear any real inconvenience if these times were taken to regulate local reckonings. If the different countries in Europe should decide to adopt the system which I have explained, the following system of normal times would, perhaps, be found convenient:

EAST OF GREENWICH.