"At a meeting of the _General Railway Time Convention_, held in _Philadelphia, October 9th, 1884_, the following minute was unanimously adopted: "_Whereas_, An International Conference is now in session at Washington, D. C., for the purpose of fixing upon a prime meridian and standard of time-reckoning; and "_Whereas_, The railway companies of the United States and Canada have adopted a system of time standards based, respectively, upon the mean local times of the 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians west from Greenwich, and this system has proved so satisfactory in its working as to render any further change inexpedient and unnecessary; therefore "_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this Convention that the selection of any prime meridian which would change the denomination of these governing meridians from even degrees and make them fractional in their character would be disturbing in no small measure to the transportation lines of the United States and Canada. "_Resolved_, That a duly attested copy of these resolution be presented to the Conference." P. P. WRIGHT, _Chairman._ Attest: HENRY B. STONE, _Secretary pro tempore_. Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden. Mr. President, I propose as an amendment to the resolution just offered the fourth resolution adopted by the Congress at Rome: "It is proper to count longitude from the meridian of Greenwich in one direction from west to east." Baron H. VON ALVENSLEBEN, Delegate of Germany. Mr. President, I beg to state that I think that this is only a question of detail; and, if the question is put to the Conference, I shall not be able to vote, and I shall abstain from voting. The PRESIDENT. May I ask the Delegate from Germany whether his remark applies to the amendment? Baron H. VON ALVENSLEBEN, Delegate of Germany. Yes, sir; to the amendment, and to the resolution, also. Prof. ADAMS, Delegate of England. Mr. President, I must say that I am very much inclined to agree with the Delegate of Germany in the opinion that this is only a question of detail. It is a mere matter of convenience whether we count longitudes in one direction only, or in two opposite directions, considering longitudes measured in one direction as positive and in the opposite direction as negative. These two methods are nominally different from each other, but in reality there is no contradiction between them. In the mathematical reckoning of angles we may agree to begin at zero, and reckon in one direction round the entire circumference of 360 degrees, but this does not prevent a mathematician, if he finds it convenient for any purpose, from reckoning angles as positive when measured in one direction, and negative when measured in the opposite direction.