The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865: A Monthly Eclectic MagazineVarious
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 01, April to September, 1865: A Monthly Eclectic Magazine
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
And this brings us back to our hypothetical Mullets. Josiah died at
noon (Sydney time), and Jasper died on the same day at noon (Greenwich
time). Which died first? Sydney, although not quite at the other side
of the world, is nearly so; it is ten hours of longitude Eastward of
Greenwich; the sun rises there ten hours earlier than with us. It is
nearly bed-time with Sydney folks when our artisans strike work for
dinner. There would, therefore, be a reasonable ground for saying that
Josiah died first. But had it been New Zealand, a curious question
might arise. Otago, and some other of the settlements in those
islands, are so near the antipodes of Greenwich, that they may either
be called eleven and three-quarter hours East, or twelve and a quarter
hours West, of Greenwich, according as we suppose the navigator to go
round the Cape of Good Hope or round Cape Horn. At six in the morning
in London, it is about six in the evening at New Zealand. But of which
day? When it is Monday morning in London, is it Sunday evening or
Monday evening in New Zealand? This question is not so easy to solve
as might be supposed. When a ship called at Pitcairn Island several
years ago, to visit the singular little community that had descended
from the mutineers of the Bounty, the captain was surprised to find
exactly one day difference between his ship's reckoning and that of
the islanders; what was Monday, the 26th, to the one, was Tuesday, the
27th, to the other. A voyage East had been the origin of one
reckoning, a voyage West that of the other. Not unlikely we should
have to go back to the voyage of the Bounty itself, seventy-seven
years ago, to get to the real origin of the Pitcairners' reckoning.
How it may be with the English settlers in New Zealand, we feel by no
means certain. If the present reckoning began with some voyage made
round Cape Horn, then our Monday morning is New Zealand Sunday
evening; but if with some voyage made round the Cape of Good Hope,
then our Monday morning is New Zealand Monday evening. Probabilities
are perhaps in favor of the latter supposition. We need not ask,
"What's o'clock at New Zealand?" for that can be ascertained to a
minute by counting the difference of longitude; but to ask, "What day
of the week and of the month is it at New Zealand?" is a question that
might, for aught we can see, involve very important legal
consequences.
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{129}
From the Dublin Review.
RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE CATACOMBS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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