Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/821

Rh time would be used solely for the internal administration of railways and telegraphs, and that accurate local time must be rigidly adhered to for all other purposes. It was conceded, however, that persons who traveled frequently might with advantage use universal time during railway-journeys. This attempt to separate the traveling from the stationary public seems to be one that is not likely to meet with success, even temporarily, and it is clear that in the future we may expect the latter class to be completely absorbed in the former. Another argument that influenced the meeting at Rome was the supposed use of the astronomical day by sailors. Now, it appears that sailors never did use the astronomical day, which begins at the noon following the civil midnight of that date, but the nautical day which begins at the noon preceding, i. e., twenty-four hours before the astronomical day of the same date, ending when the latter begins. And the nautical day itself has long been given up by English and American sailors, who now use a sort of mongrel time-reckoning, employing civil time in the log-book and for ordinary purposes, while, in working up the observations on which the safe navigation of the ship depends, they are obliged to change civil into astronomical reckoning, altering the date where necessary, and interpreting their and  by the light of nature. It says something for the common sense of our sailors that they are able to carry out every day without mistake this operation, which is considered so troublesome by some astronomers.

In this connection I may mention that the Board of Visitors of Greenwich Observatory have almost unanimously recommended that, in accordance with the resolution of the Washington Conference, the day in the English "Nautical Almanac" should be arranged from the year 1891 (the earliest practicable date) to begin at Greenwich midnight (so as to agree with civil reckoning, and remove this source of confusion for sailors), and that a committee appointed by them have drawn up the details of the changes necessary to give effect to this resolution without causing inconvenience to the mercantile marine.

The advantage of making the world day coincide with the Greenwich civil day is that the change of date at the commencement of a new day falls in the hours of the night throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, and that it does not occur in the ordinary office-hours (10 to 4 ) in any important country except New Zealand. In the United States and Canada the change of date would occur after four in the evening, and in Australia before ten in the morning. This arrangement would thus reduce the inconvenience to a minimum, as the part of the world in which the change of date would occur about the middle of the local day is almost entirely water, while on the opposite side we have the most populous continents.

The question for the future seems to be whether it will be found more troublesome to change the hours for labor, sleep, and meals once