International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884.: Protocols of the ProceedingsInternational Meridian Conference (1884 : Washington, D.C.)
History
International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884.: Protocols of the Proceedings
International Meridian Conference (1884 : Washington, D.C.)
Prime Meridian -- Congresses; Time -- Systems and standards -- Congresses
Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, as
near as I can follow the Delegate of Spain, he seems to be under the
apprehension that by the adoption of the universal day, which has been
proposed here, we should either gain or lose time in our chronology;
that we should skip 12 hours, more or less. But, of course, that is
not the case. Any event which has occurred, or which will occur, at
the time of the adoption of the universal day will be expressed just
as exactly with reference to time as if the time had been calculated
from the beginning of the Christian era. There will not only be no
confusion, but it seems to me the adoption of the universal day will
tend to avoid confusion hereafter, because confusion must exist where
we have so many standards of time. Now, if any event which is taking
place, or has taken place at any past time in the history of the
world, is referred to the prime meridian, or is expressed in the time
of any locality or of several localities, these times will all be
different. The adoption of the universal day is to avoid any
difficulty of that sort, and any event which has transpired will, when
expressed in the time of the universal day--that is, according to the
universal method--represent exactly the interval of time which has
elapsed since the beginning of the Christian era. Nothing is gained or
lost.
General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. It seems to me that the
Congress having accepted the resolution to which reference was made a
little while ago, adopting the universal day, it is incumbent upon us,
in the nature of things, to determine when that universal day shall
begin. The resolution presented by the Delegate of the United States
proposes to define how that universal day shall be reckoned; that is,
when it shall begin and how its hours shall be counted.
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