^ ^^8^^^ ^ \^ ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ ^^> 1.0 I.I 11.25 118 ■ 50 1^ 2.2 ^ llllii^ $s 0% w /, ^;; '/ /A CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. H Canadian Institute for Historical Microraproductions Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas 1980 Technical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notas tachniquas at bibliographiquas Tha inttituta ha* attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. 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Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la darnlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le ces: le symbols -^ signlfie "A SUIVRE". le symbols V signlfie "FiN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., mey be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure ere filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right end top to bottom, es many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tebleaux, etc., peuvent Atre fllmAs A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grend pour Atre reproduit en un seul cllch6, il est film* A partir de I'engle supArleur geuche, de gauche k dro^te, et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'imeges nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 ■ ■1 Section III, 1890. 1 '^ ] TiUNs. Roy. S ANADA. I. — Prenidt-nfial Athlresf : The Unit Measure of Time. Ky SANPFonn Fi.emino, C M.O., M. IiiKt., O.K., F.a.S. (K<.a.l M»y 27th, 1890.1 I deKirc at the opening mooting ot thij Section of the Royal Society to briu2' to your attention a subject of some getieral importance. For a number oi" years past attempts have been made on both sides of the Atlantic to effect a reform in th<' method of reckoning time. The detrree of succcks which has attended the •novement i.s a matter of surprise vvhtni we consider that the changes involve a departure from (he usagt^s of society, and are in opposition to the customs of :aany centuries. The modern introduction of rajud means of communication has created conditions of lil'e diticreut from those of preceding generations. It may be said that until a tew years back, Ktcalities separated by a few miles of longitude were assumed to have distinct and separate notations of (im"- When many localities were first brought into close relations l)y the establishment ot a line of railway, the dirt'ercnt local times (so called) with which thf railway authorities had to deal, produced mu< h confusion ; in order to attain security for life and property in operating the line, and likewise to promote the convenience of the public using it, it b law of nature, or principle of science. The proposal to super.sede thi' numberless local times by a single notation, syn- chronous in every longitude, had a somewhat Utopian aspect. Many indeed regarded it as a revolutionary innovation, for it came into direct conflict with the customs and the habits of thought which had descended from a remote antiquity. Nevertheles.s the potent agencies, 8team and Electricity, which have co-operated in making astonishing transmu- tations in human affairs, have forced on our attfution the investigation of time and its notation, and demanded some change to meet the altered circumstances 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 dis- tance ; that it is eBsentially uou-local and au absolute unity ; that it is not possible for ■HIIb tmm f> 4 SANDKORD FLEMING : two times to co-exist, or for time to be divided into two parts haviug a separate entity, in the sense that material things ran he divided. This view of tim" ineontrovertibly established, there is no ground for the theory that there are miinv lo .meg. We may, therefore, sweep iiway the ordinary nsages based on that theory as being nns )und and untenable, and the way is made tlcar lor a comprehensive system of time-rrokoning to embrace the whole globe. About fourteen years ago the effort was first mado to introduce a reform which | would satisfy the requirements of the age. Whatever system mii^lit be adopted, it was I'elt that it should be based on the fundamental principle that there is unly 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 measurement became necessary. With the attainment of these objects in view, preliminary discussions took place at the meetings of several scicntifii! associations in Kurope and America, and it was held that in a matter of such wide-spread importance the unit of time should be a measure v" which could be readily referred to, ivs a perpetual standard for the use of the entire human family. It W'ls likewise felt desirable, if not indispensable, that all nations should acquiesce in its recognition. It was ac<;ordingly proposed at an Literuational (Geographical Congress at Venice in 1881, and at a Geodetic Congress at Rome held shortly afterwards, that the government of the United States should be invited formally to call a conference of representatives to be specially appointed by the governments of all civili/ed nations, to cotjsider the subject and determme the zero and standard of reckoning to be used in common throughout the globe. till 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 deliberations extended over the month of October, 1884 ; with substantial unanimity they passed a series of resolutions, in which the unit of measurement was con- stituted, and they recommended that time be computed according to the solar passage on a recognized zero meridian of the earth's surface. The resolutions of the Washington conference thus authoritatively established the imdameutal principles which nnderlie the Nchemo for a general unity of time-reckoning; each nation being left in its discretion to accept the details of the reform whenever 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, th* reckoning in each section being based on a standard, subsidiary to, but direct)" related to the tmit measure. In the twenty-four subsidiary standards the hours are simultaneous, although differently numbered in accordance with the longitude of the sayeral sections. W^ith the single ex(-eption respecting the numbers by which the hours are locally to be known, there is complete identity in every sub-division of time throughout the twenty-four sections. The many local days which follow in succession during each diurnal period are by this arrangement of subsidiary standards reduced to twenty-four normal days, each differing an hour in the moment of its commencement from the day which succeeds. Twelve of these normal days are in advance and twelve behind the primary standard or unit measure of time, which is the mean of the whole series of normal days. By this expedient, which ( { I f! HKii .1 PRKSIDKNTIAL AI)DRK»S. 9 has received the name ol" "the titandard time system," tlm menus have beeu provided by whiih all iiatinn>4, without any apparent great departure I'rom old unages, may observe sulistiintially the one common rerkoniug. The adoption of the syHtem olHtandard lime has alr-ady made <'ousiderable progresN. In Norlii Anu'rira, standard tinu' was lirHt introdur.ed in railway eionomy ; it has siine been generally aceepted by the ma«8 of the oommunity. In Asia, the same system has been legally established throughout the Japanese empire. In lilurope, a general interest has been awakened on the subjet:t, and at the present moment it attracts special attention in Austria-Hungary, (Jermuny mid Itelginm ; late odvices give expression to the belief that standard time will be adopted by the railway 8orvi«'e of these i-ountries in a few months. It is already observed in Sweden and (treat Britain. Thns, at the present day, standard time has been fully a. A Cosmic Day. It requires no argument to show that no one of these six terms is appropriate. The unit of time is not a day in the ordinary sense, it is indeed much more than an ordinary day. According to our habit of thought, a day is invariably associated with alternations of light and darkness ; and each day, moreover, lias a definite relationship to some locality on the surface of the earth. Such a day is essentially local ; and during each rotation of the globe on its axis, occupying a period of twenty-four hours, there are as many days as there are spots on sea and on land differing in longitude. All of these numberless days are separate and distinct, each having its noon and midnight, its sunrise and sunset. The tirne-unit is an entirely different coiiception ; it is equal in length to a day, and must Jrom its nature be synchronous with some one of the infinite number of local days ; by IM 6 SANDKOKF) FLKMlNf! ^ PRKSI DKNTIAL ADPRFSS. « tht! roHolutioiiH of till- Wushiiigtoii i-oiiftTfiict'. it is idiMitified with Ihi' civil liiniiod to the (Ireouwich mcridiiin, the unit nn'usurf 18 o» the other hand not ko limited ; it in equally relaterl to all points on the earthf* NurliK-e in every latitude and longitude. Under thin Bspett, the wider i'lUKtions an,.