t of any given point or
meridian is nothing more or less than one hemisphere, and as that
which lies to the west is another hemisphere, it is evident that, at
the anti-meridian of Rome, the two meridians, which constantly differ
by one day in their dates, are confounded, and that the anti-meridian
of Rome, being the first one in the world that adopted the Julian and
the Gregorian systems of reckoning, is the prime meridian of the
world, the meridian by which we now reckon, and ought to reckon
universal time, until the establishment of a different system. If we
had, at the present time, to settle any question depending on dates,
in the region where there is some confusion in regard to them, we
should have to do so on this principle. If we desired to compel the
entire world to keep a regular and logical account of dates, we should
have to do so by compelling all the nations to the west of the
anti-meridian of Rome to go on reckoning their dates uninterruptedly
after they have begun to be reckoned at the said anti-meridian, and by
forbidding all the nations to the east of it to reckon any date until
it has been reckoned at the anti-meridian of Rome. For this reason I
say that the express designation, for the reckoning of universal time,
of the meridian of Greenwich or of any other than the anti-meridian of
Rome, involves a chronological reform, inasmuch as it will involve the
abandonment of the system to which we now adhere, and which we now use
by common consent.

This reform will cause a change of nearly 13 hours--that is to say, 12
hours plus the difference of longitude between Rome and Greenwich, if
the meridian of Greenwich is designated as the new initial point of
the universal date. I do not believe, however, that you will adopt
this choice irrevocably, since its curious and strange consequences
may be shown by one example, which I will adduce: This table is of
about sufficient extent to allow the difference between the
geographical longitude of its two ends to be observed and appreciated.
Let us suppose that these sessions were held at Greenwich, and that
the table were placed east and west, so that the meridian intersected
it lengthwise; let us further suppose that we had agreed to reckon the
new universal time by this meridian--that is to say, by that of
Greenwich--and that, in signing the protocol, we wished to set an
example to the world by using the universal date, the present civil
date and the future civil