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LEFT TIME 404 TIMOB other. But if this local time is used as Uie standard time at every place it cause- the greatest confusion to people travel- ing from one place to another and to the railroads connecting them. England early adopted the time of the Greenwich meridian for the whole country, and like- wise France that of Paris. In the United States uniformity was more diffi- cult on account of the great difference of longitude of its different parts. San Francisco time being nearly four hours slower than the local time in the E. part of Maine. But an excellent compromise was brought about in 1883, principally through the influence of the railroads, pushed on by a few scientific men, and it resulted in the present system of standard time throughouut the country. This is based on Greenwich time, and differs from it at any place by some whole number of hours, the minutes and seconds being the same over the whole country, and exactly the same as those of Greenwich. The E. part of the country uses time five hours slower than that of Greenwich, or Greenwich five- hour time; i. e., when it is standard noon in the E. part of the United States it is 5 P. M. at Greenwich. In the Mississippi valley they use Greenwich six-hour time. The dividing line is not an arbitrary one, but is settled by the railroads, generally where they find it most convenient to change at the end of divisions of the roads. The Pennsylvania roads change at Pittsburgh. The cities and towns along the roads adopt the time of the nearest railroad, and no inconvenience results even where the difference of standard from local time is something more than half an hour. The only in- convenience is in cities like Pittsburgh, where two different hours are used by different railroad systems centering there. But the trouble is infinitely less than it was when there were more than 70 different standards of railroad time in the country. Out on the plains they use Greenwich seven-hour time, and on the Pacific slope Greenwich eight-hour time. These four standards are commonly called the Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time, respectively. See Day- light Saving. While the above is not an ideal sys- tem, it is about the best that can be used at the present time. If the people at large can ever be educated up to the standard of dissociating entirely 12 o'clock from noon, then we can adopt a universal time for all parts of the earth. This is already done by many scientific men, especially astronomers, meteorol- ogists, and those having any thing to do with terrestrial magnetism, it being nec- essary in all these matters to have a common universal time for use, and Greenwich time, either mean or civil, as defined above, is almost universally adopted for these purposes. Such a time is also a necessity ir 'nter national tele- graphic communicatioTi. and, once adopt- ed, would be found of universal con- venience. Its introduction would come about much easier if at the same time the 12 or 24-hour division of the day could be abandoned, and the decimal di- vision of a universal day come into gen- eral use. This, however, involves the abandonment of all existing time pieces and the purchase of new ones showing the decimal division of the day, and as this involves a large financial outlay it will be very difficult of introduction. TIMOLEON, a Greek general; bom of a noble family at Corinth in the be- ginning of the 4th century B. C. He saved the life of his brother Timophanes in a battle with the Argeians ; but his patriot- ism was stronger than his personal affec- tions, and when that brother sought to establish a "tyranny," Timoleon procured his assassination, 366 B. c. This act, though publicly approved, preyed on his mind, and he lived retired for 20 years. In 344, when Timoleon was 50 years old, ambassadors from Syracuse arrived at Corinth imploring aid against Dionysius the younger, who was seeking to recover his authority over the city. Timoleon was made leader of the Corinthian expedition- ary force, and ultimately made himself master of Syracuse, repelling the efforts of the Carthaginian allies in a great bat- tle at Crimissus (399 B. c). In six years he succeeded in clearing Sicily of tyrants and in establishing free democratic con- stitutions. His work now done, he re- signed his power and lived a private citi- zen profoundly respected, till his death in 337-336. Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos ' have written his life. TIMON, an Athenian misanthrope; born near Athens, and lived in the last part of the 5th century B. C. The faith- lessness of his friends and successive dis- appointments soured his nature, and drove him into solitude, where he is said, however, to have welcomed Alci- biades. His name has become proverbial, and his story is familiar through the tragedy of Shakespeare. ' TIMCA (te-mor'), the most impor- tant of the chain of islands which stretch E. from Java; length 300 miles; area 17,698 square miles; pop. approximately, 119,239. A chain of wood-clad moun- tains runs throughout its entire length; one peak. Alias, near the S. coast, being