Various - International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884.

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I have the honor, therefore, to present the following resolutions, and
I ask the Congress to consider them, and to accept them as a means of
compromise:

I. We agree to choose as the prime meridian for cosmic time that
meridian near which the civil day of the world commences, namely, the
anti-meridian of Rome, Greenwich, or Havre.

II. The cosmic day consists of twenty-four hours, and commences at
midnight of the prime meridian.

III. The earth is divided from the initial meridian into twenty-four
hour-spaces, counted in a direction contrary to the movement of the
earth from _0h._ to _24h_.

We shall, then, have the following formula: T = t + R, where R
represents the difference reckoned from _0h._ to _24h_. between the
local time of the prime meridian and the local time of each point of
the globe; T the Cosmic Time and t the local time.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair would ask the Delegate of Spain, Mr.
PASTORIN, whether he offers his resolution as an amendment to that
offered by his colleague, Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. Mr. Chairman, the amendment
last offered is not intended to interfere with my proposition.

The PRESIDENT then put the question to the Conference upon the
amendment offered by the Delegate of Spain, Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL.

Upon a vote being taken, the amendment was lost.

The PRESIDENT. The question now recurs upon the amendment offered by
the Delegate of Spain, Mr. PASTORIN. That amendment runs as follows:

"I. We agree to choose as the prime meridian for cosmic time
that meridian near which the civil day of the world
commences, namely, the anti-meridian of Greenwich or Havre.

"II. The cosmic day consists of twenty-four hours, and
commences at midnight of the prime meridian.

"III. The earth is divided from the initial meridian into
twenty-four hour spaces, counted in a direction contrary to
the movement of the earth.

"We shall, then, have the following formula: F = A + R where
R represents the difference reckoned from 0h. to 24h.
between the local time of the prime meridian and the local
time of each point of the globe; F the cosmic time, and A
the local time."

The PRESIDENT. In order that this amendment may be presented more
clearly to the Conference, I would propose a recess for a few minutes.
If there be no objection, a recess will be taken.

No objection being made, the Conference took a recess.

* * * * *

The PRESIDENT having called the Conference to order stated that,
unless further remarks were presented, the vote would be taken upon
the resolution offered by the Delegate of Spain, Mr. PASTORIN.

No objection being made, the vote was then taken upon the amendment,
and it was lost.

The PRESIDENT. The question now recurs upon the resolution offered by
the Delegate of Sweden, Count LEWENHAUPT, which will again be read.
The resolution is as follows:

"The Conference recommends as initial point for the
universal hour and the cosmic day the mean mid-day of
Greenwich, coinciding with the moment of midnight or the
beginning of the civil day at the meridian 12 hours or 180 deg.
from Greenwich. The universal hours are to be counted from
0 up to 24 hours."

Professor ADAMS, Delegate of Great Britain. Mr. President, I intended
to speak on the resolution offered by the Delegate of the United
States, Mr. RUTHERFURD, but the remarks which I have put together
apply equally well to the amendment to that resolution now offered by
the Delegate of Sweden, which is identical with one of the
recommendations of the Conference at Rome, because, in fact, in my
remarks I discuss these propositions alternatively. Therefore, with
your permission, I will lay before you the observations which I wish
to make.

I beg leave to express my entire approval of the resolution which has
been laid before the Conference by Mr. RUTHERFURD. There is only one
point involved in the resolution which seems to call for or even to
admit of any discussion.

It appears evident that the universal day and date should coincide
with the day and date of the initial meridian. The only question,
therefore, which we have now to decide is, when shall this day of the
initial meridian be considered to commence? And the proper answer to
be given to this question does not appear to me in any degree
doubtful.

In modern times it is the universal practice to reckon dates by _days_
and not by _nights_. The word "day" is used in two different
significations, being sometimes applied to the period of daylight and
sometimes to the period of 24 hours, including both day and night; but
in whichever of these senses the word _day_ is employed, the term
mid-day has one and the same signification, viz., the instant of noon
or of the sun's passage over the meridian. In the present case, where
we are concerned with mean time, mid-day means the instant of mean
noon, or of the passage of the mean sun over the meridian.

Accordingly, the civil day, by which all the ordinary affairs of life
are regulated, begins and ends at midnight, and has its middle or
mid-day at noon.

It appears, then, most natural that the universal day should follow
this example, and should begin and end at the instant of mean midnight
on the initial meridian, and should have its middle at the instant of
mean noon on the same meridian.

I fail, therefore, to see the force of the reasons which induced the
Conference at Rome to recommend that the universal day should commence
at _noon_ on the initial meridian.

The only ground for making this recommendation is that astronomers,
instead of adopting the use of the civil day, like the rest of the
world, are accustomed to employ a so-called astronomical day, which
begins at noon. The advantage thus gained is that they avoid the
necessity of changing the date in the course of the night, which is
the time of their greatest activity; but this advantage is surely very
small when compared with the inconvenience of having two conflicting
methods of reckoning dates, and of being obliged to specify, in giving
any date, which mode of reckoning is adopted. If this diversity is to
disappear, it is plain that it is the astronomers who will have to
yield. They are few in number compared with the rest of the world.
They are intelligent, and could make the required change without any
difficulty, and with very slight or no inconvenience.

The requisite changes in the astronomical and nautical ephemerides
would be easily made. As these ephemerides are published several years
in advance, there would be plenty of time for navigators to become
familiar with the proposed change in time-reckoning before they were
called upon to employ it in their calculations.

I believe that they would soon come to think it more convenient and
natural to reckon according to civil time than according to the
present astronomical time. I am told that this practice is already
universally adopted in keeping the log on board ship. To avoid any
chance of mistake, it should be prominently stated on each page of the
ephemerides that mean time reckoned from mean _midnight_ is kept
throughout.

Whether or not astronomers agree to adopt the civil reckoning, I think
we ought to adopt the instant of midnight on the initial meridian as
the commencement of the universal day.

The relation between the local time at any place and the universal
time would then be expressed by the simple formula:

Local time = universal time + longitude.

Whereas, if the proposition of the Roman Conference were adopted, we
should have to employ the less simple formula:

Local time = universal time + longitude - 12 hours.

In recommending the mean noon at Greenwich as the commencement of the
universal day and of cosmopolitan dates, the Roman Conference refers
to this instant as coinciding with the instant of midnight, or with
the commencement of the civil day, under the meridian situated at 12
h. or 180 deg. from Greenwich. Now, this reference to the civil day and
date on the meridian opposite to Greenwich appears not only to be
unnecessary and to be wanting in simplicity, but it may also lead to
ambiguity in the date, as expressed in universal days, unless this
ambiguity be avoided by making an arbitrary assumption. No doubt the
Greenwich mean noon of January 1 coincides with midnight on the
meridian 12 h. from Greenwich, but with what midnight. What shall be
its designation and the corresponding date given to the universal day?
Shall we call the instant above defined the commencement of the
universal day denoted by January 1 or by January 2? Each of these
dates has equal claims to be chosen, and the choice between them must
clearly be an arbitrary one, and may, therefore, lead to ambiguity.

By adopting Greenwich mean midnight as the commencement of the
universal day, bearing the same designation as the corresponding
Greenwich civil day, all ambiguity is avoided, and there is no need to
refer to the opposite meridian at all.

Those are the ideas I wish to express with regard to the commencement
of the universal day.

I may mention in connection with this subject that Professor
Valentiner is one of the gentlemen who were invited, a week or two
ago, to attend the meetings of this Conference, in order that, if
requested, they might express their opinions from a scientific
standpoint upon the questions before it; but as Professor Valentiner
had to leave Washington before our sessions were at an end, I thought
it would be expedient to ask him for his opinion in writing upon the
matter which is now pending before this Conference. He has written a
letter in German, expressing his opinion. I have caused that letter to
be translated into English, and if the Conference allows me I will
read it.

The PRESIDENT. If there be no objection to the proposition of the
Delegate of Great Britain the letter will be read.

No objection being made, Professor ADAMS continued: It is well known
that Professor Valentiner is an eminent practical astronomer, and I
think that any opinion coming from him on this subject, which
interests astronomers very much, will be considered of great weight.
The letter runs as follows:

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.,
_October 12th, 1884_.

HONORED SIR: You had the kindness to ask me for my views as
to the choice of the moment for the beginning of the day. As
I cannot remain longer in Washington, I allow myself thus
briefly to write to you.

When, as in the present case, the object is to introduce
uniformity in the time-reckoning of the astronomical and the
civil world, I am of the opinion that it is the astronomer
only that must give way. For all purposes of civil life one
cannot begin the day in the middle of the day-light--that is
to say, in the middle of that interval during which work is
prosecuted. In general it appears to me natural that the
middle of the day, and not the beginning of the day, should
be indicated by the highest position of the sun which
governs all civil life. In fact, it would in civil life be
simply impossible to bring about a change of date in the
middle of the daylight. For the astronomer there certainly
exist difficulties. His activity occurs mostly in the civil
night, and he, therefore, has to make the change of date in
the midst of his observations; and this difficulty is
increased, since he almost exclusively observes according to
sidereal time, so that often a computation must be made in
order to ascertain whether the observations were made before
or after the midnight or moment of change of date. However,
this difficulty can be overcome by habit, and I believe that
scarcely any doubt will occur as soon as a uniformnity of
expression has established itself through the astronomical
world. As regards the ephemerides, we already employ, in
fact, the beginning of the date at midnight, since the
places of planets and comets, are generally computed for 12
o'clock midnight of Berlin or Greenwich or other places.
But these are points that have themselves long since been
discussed.

I scarcely need to say anything further. I would not
hesitate for a moment to give the preference to making the
change of date take place at midnight, according to civil
reckoning, in order to establish a uniformity with the
customs of civil life.

It, perhaps, may be important to remark that we could not
introduce this change immediately, since the ephemerides are
already computed and published for three or four years in
advance. It would, therefore, be well to fix the epoch of
change of normal dates to some distant time, such as 1890.

I remain, very respectfully yours,

W. VALENTINER.

I may also mention that the practice that prevails among astronomers
at the present time of reckoning the day from noon is by no means
without exceptions. There are very important astronomical tables which
reckon the day from midnight; for instance, in Delambre's Tables of
the Sun; in Burg's, Burckhardt's and Damoiseau's Tables of the Moon;
in Bouvard's Tables of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, and in Damoiseau's
Tables of Jupiter's Satellites, mean midnight is employed as the epoch
of the tables. I may also mention that Laplace, in his Mecanique
Celeste, adopts the mean midnight of Paris as the origin from which
his day is reckoned. Hence there are great authorities, even among
astronomers, in favor of commencing the day at midnight.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. Sir, I observe that a
very eminent American authority is present in this room, I mean
Professor Hilgard. As he was invited to attend the meeting of this
Conference, I suggest that the views of the Conference may be taken,
whether he may not be invited to express his opinion on the point now
under consideration.

The PRESIDENT. With the concurrence of the Conference, the Chair will
be most happy to ask Professor Hilgard to do us the favor to give us
his opinion upon the question now before the Conference.

No objection was made to the proposition of the President.

Professor HILGARD arose and said. I thank you and the Conference very
much for this invitation, and General STRACHEY for having proposed it
to the Conference, but my opinion has been squarely expressed both in
French and English in the report of a certain committee, that I am in
favor of midnight at Greenwich as the beginning of the universal day,
and of longitude being calculated both ways from Greenwich. I really
cannot add anything to what has been said in the arguments already
presented by Professor ADAMS, and I do not think that I ought to
detain this Conference a moment by repeating the opinion he has
expressed to all the experts in this matter.

I beg you will excuse me for not further ventilating my views. Absence
from the city, I regret, has prevented me from availing myself of the
invitation earlier.

Sir FREDERICK EVANS, Delegate of Great Britain. I have the honor to
address the Conference once more upon the practical aspect of the
subject before us as affecting the large body of navigators. I wish to
say upon this point that there appears to me, in the address of my
colleague, Professor ADAMS, somewhat of a mixing together of two
subjects.

The question immediately before us, as I understand it, is whether the
commencement of the universal day shall be midnight or noon of the
initial meridian. That is what we practically have to decide. Now, I
gather from Professor ADAMS' remarks that upon this question the
ephemerides which we now employ have some important bearing. I do not
think that that should influence us, for this reason, that the next
resolution which will come before 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."

This resolution, so far as I understand it, will be the warning to
astronomers to begin to make the changes growing out of this
resolution which may be necessary for seamen. Therefore, I consider
that we may at once proceed to vote upon the question whether the day
is to commence at midnight or noon, without any reference to the
practice or interests of navigation. In reality, it does not appear to
me to affect that subject at all.

I have given some consideration to the practical bearings of this
question--whether it should be midnight or noon. What we ought to
decide is what will be the least inconvenience to the world at large.
I have ascertained from two of my colleagues, who have given this
matter the greatest consideration, that the adoption of midnight will
really cause less confusion than noon, for this reason, that all the
great colonies of the world would be less affected; that is to say,
that the times they are using now would be less affected by midnight
than by noon. That being so, it appears to me to be an essential point
in coming to a settlement of this question.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. I have only to say that I have
listened to the remarks about navigators changing the reckoning of
time. I do not know whether there are many navigators here, but it is
a fact that seamen reckon the day from noon.

The PRESIDENT. I beg the pardon of the Delegate of Spain; but, in the
United States navy, we reckon the day from midnight.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain. I am speaking generally. Now,
there is some reason for this rule among seamen, for the only way to
find out the position of a ship is to observe the meridian altitude of
the sun; and everybody requires to know, at sea, what has taken place
in the course of every day, from the beginning to the last moment of
the day; and I think that whatever the rule may be in the United
States navy, navigators generally will count their time as they count
it now.

I think that navigators will not change the rule now in force, no
matter what we may adopt in this Conference.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States. I think, Mr.
President and gentlemen, that the change to the adoption of the
universal day, beginning at midnight, would be a very decided
advantage to navigators. The quantities as now given in the nautical
ephemerides are for noon of the meridian for which they are computed,
as Washington, Greenwich, &c. It is very evident that every navigator,
in making use of the quantities given in the nautical almanac, must
find the corresponding time at Greenwich, wherever he may be on the
surface of the earth. Consequently, if we suppose that navigators are
pretty equally distributed, one-half on one side of the earth and
one-half on the other side, the Greenwich day for one portion would be
the local night for the other.

The usual observations made by navigators at sea consist in a meridian
observation of the sun for latitude, and a morning and possibly
afternoon observation of the sun near the prime vertical for
longitude. Consequently all navigators, when in the vicinity of the
initial meridian, might have their day's work occurring in two
astronomical days. On the other hand, those navigators who were in the
neighborhood of the 180th meridian would have all their work of one
day occurring in the same astronomical day. The first would have the
advantage of interpolating for short intervals only, while the second
would be obliged to interpolate for much larger intervals.

Consequently, on the whole, it would make no difference to navigators
whether the quantities given in the nautical almanacs were for noon or
midnight of the initial meridian. Another consideration, however,
would make it very advantageous to have the quantities given for
midnight. That consideration is this: if midnight were chosen, then
the universal day would be identical with the nautical almanac day,
and navigators would have only ship time and universal time to deal
with, while, if the quantities were given for noon, they would have
astronomical time, in addition to the other two. This consideration I
think a very important one.

The PRESIDENT. The question will be on the amendment offered by the
Delegate of Sweden, Count LEWENHAUPT, which has been read.

The vote was then taken, as follows:

States voting in the affirmative:

Austria, Sweden,
Italy, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Turkey.

In the negative:

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

Abstaining from voting:

France, San Domingo,
Germany, Spain.

Ayes, 6; noes, 14; abstaining from voting, 4.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the amendment was lost.

The question then recurred on the original resolution offered by the
Delegate of the United States.

RUSTEM EFFENDI, Delegate of Turkey. Mr. President, I have listened
with a great deal of interest and attention to the learned arguments
bearing upon the proposition under discussion offered by the Hon. Mr.
RUTHERFURD, the Delegate of the United States for the adoption of a
universal hour.

This question is of such high importance, and of such interest to
every one, that I consider it my duty to make a few remarks upon the
subject, as I wish to state clearly the position my government
proposes to take in the matter.

I do not pretend to discuss scientifically this subject, which has
already been so ably treated by several of the gentlemen present. My
task is of a different and inferior order. I merely propose to briefly
examine the manner in which the proposition ought to be made, in order
that it may be adopted by our respective governments.

The question of a universal hour is not of equal interest and
importance to all. The United States of America, although
comparatively a young nation, have done so much in the pursuit of
science and scientific investigation that they must have more than a
common interest on the subject. The vast expanse of their country,
stretching over sixty degrees of longitude, with a difference of time
of more than four hours, almost compels them to adopt a universal
hour. The thousands of miles of railroad tracts covering this
continent, facilitating the intercourse between distant places,
necessitate a uniform system to avoid confusion. It was, therefore,
natural that the United States and Canada should have taken the lead
in proposing such a reform, which would likewise benefit other
countries, as, for instance, the British Empire, Russia, and Germany.
But there are, at the same time, other countries, like France, Spain,
Italy, Scandinavia, etc., that may content themselves with a national
hour, owing to the small difference in time within their dominion. For
them, the adoption of a universal hour would only be of secondary
importance, because it would only affect their international
relations.

I hope I may be permitted to remind you of the conclusions arrived at
by a commission consisting of scientists, railroad and telegraph
officials, &c., appointed by the French Government to express their
opinion upon this subject. If I am not mistaken, they recommended a
universal hour, stating, however, at the same time, that the benefit
to be derived from such an hour would be only of secondary importance
for their country. The learned Delegate from France, Professor
JANSSEN, will probably be kind enough to inform us whether I am right
or not.

The few remarks I have made bring me to the point I wanted to consider
more specially. I mean that the originators of the pending
proposition, and those directly interested in it, should be induced to
modify their proposition somewhat if they wish it to be adopted by
other countries. In other words, to leave to each country the greatest
latitude possible in adopting a universal hour.

With regard to the Ottoman Empire, I must state that it is placed in a
somewhat exceptional position in this respect, and is, therefore,
obliged to ask for more latitude even than the other countries
concerned.

In our country we have two modes of reckoning time: one from noon to
noon, or from midnight to midnight, as everywhere else, (heure a la
franque), the other (heure a la turque) from sundown to sundown. In
this latter case the hours count from the moment when the disk of the
sun is bisected by the horizon, and we count twice from _0h._ to
_12h._, instead of counting without any interruption from _0h._ to
_24h._ We are well aware of the inconveniences this system of counting
produces, because _0h._ necessarily varies from day to day, for the
interval of time between one sunset and the one following is not
exactly 24 hours. According to the season the sun will set earlier or
later, and our watches and clocks at Constantinople will be at most
about three minutes fast or slow from day to day, according to the
season.

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