TIME AND LONGITUDE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2992, 17 September 1878, Page 2

TIME AND LONGITUDE.

jwhich I have latelj'projjouQdedftoMTe^al variety of rnsvers gtven to it. ■ jfe jfact, it is nevertheless true that any given iday or year does not begin all over^fhfej {world.at the same moment, but, comjmencing first at iojae,poin>in thTeMt.lT (ravels rocnd v Westward 'with the sun, so that two different years,are often coexiajtenfc at tne kkirie! qjorijft& 4nA Ht{ik'4*4k jpoisible for two events to occur a few {hours apart, aad<y<at>shaj[ wtoh happened jfirst to occur in 1878, and the later event jin 1877. In the same^way each day of the week starts somewhere to the east* jward TOfan, m d (d^ s^^e^kvjts* jwest. Taking, then, any given day of jthe week, as Mqn^ajr,^?fffap^lem is— jWhen and where did last Monday first pommence, where did^it end, and how long did it exist; Or, to put a similar pues t tfoo) :nrhsre r^/^'iWHEd^Mnt commence, and at what Greenwich tiM P I I will simply state my belief that last Monday vcommenced rin tfqfi somewhere about noon on Sunday/ bat not at noon, itf v^tniqenflepent at that time and place being in no way connectedrrwith -its poiitipn a« ou^,,an^i{|qdem^ but being a mere accident of civilisation. If the whoW northern kemisphere ishtf»l4o^ become civilised and inhabited, the day Would then almost certainly; cdmsaepce; sttO Behring's Straits, and would last 48 hours. A person crossing Behring-» Strtiti <«kgtr) or west wouljj gaia r or,lose a whole day-/ just as he how'lddes: by bailing round the. globe^ so that he might easily cross over and "spend a few hours of to-morrow wiw bis friends and return in time for dinner, or might* enjoy the New Yetr's Kve on f jtwo successive days ' " • fj' I: If the Pacific Gce»n became iahsbitedl, land, a meridian Would have to be chosen as a starting point lor, the/day, and a per^ son; stepping jacrpsp ; this! imagined ,-IiJP? would gain or lose a day,l /; At moment that Sunday, morning''was commencing onjthe one aide of this JinerMon- f day morning i-would i-be; .eommeneing' pn the other, and-there would be constantlj two rdifferent days going gar side by! side, with<24 honw' ; differdnft6 of time between..them,, though; only, a .fejf j yards apart. It would be, possiblei foit*. «r person standing astride this line ; to h^ve for an instant one foot in Monday morning, theoth'er foot in Monday night, and his body in the previous Sunday. < ' >; -nm'i ; I purposely avoid "giving any Sreawwr,' and do not assert tnaft all-my views are > correct, but I throw out the-pr'oblem'os! . an amusing' one for argument and discus-? • sion, as it abounds in apparent, para'dbt^ii'f - At the same time 1 it cannot fai 1 to'be'in-, structive.' "■ " ' »>?•!!* May 7. ' LAMMBECiiBKi;,'^