the civil time of
Greenwich, that decision will be contrary to the most ancient ideas of
the human race. For many centuries the day has been reckoned as
starting from the east, and the world will not easily abandon the
traditions of its predecessors.

The civil day of the world commences near the anti-meridian of Rome,
Greenwich, or Paris. Therefore it is not natural that one of these
meridians should be chosen as the point of departure of dates.

Really, one phenomenon cannot be the commencement of a series of
phenomena if there is another which precedes it periodically.

If the majority, as is logical, adopts the formula, "cosmic time=local
time-longitude," and applies in the calculation longitude with the
signs plus and minus, according as the longitude is east and west, the
system will be source of frequent mistakes, and those, in their turn,
will be the cause of disastrous accidents, especially on railroads.

Let us take the 31st of December, for instance. It is three o'clock at
a point nine hours east of Greenwich; at the same moment they will
count at Greenwich eighteen civil hours of the 30th of the same month,
after the actual manner of reckoning the civil day, and that civil
time of Greenwich will be the cosmic time.

Apply to the proposed example the formula which I suppose the majority
of the Congress will adopt, and the result will be a negative
quantity, minus six hours--a result not sufficiently comprehensible in
itself, and one that could not be easily applied by the general
public.

Can a majority prevail in questions, such as those we are speaking of,
simply by the force of numbers? The whole world for several centuries
thought that the earth was the centre of our planetary system; in
fact, until an insignificant minority rose against this theory, for a
long time considered by their ancestors indisputable.

I will conclude by expressing my opinion upon the subject with which
the Congress is occupied. My opinion is not new, in spite of its
having been modified in the course of our sitting. The works of our
eminent colleague and indefatigable propagandist, Mr. SANDFORD
FLEMING, the resolution of the Conference at Rome, the valuable
opinions of Messrs. Faye, Otto Struve, Beaumont de Boutiller, Hugo
Gylden, the scientific work of Monsieur Chancourtois, and the report
which M. Gaspari has just presented to the Academy of Sciences of
Paris are the text upon which I base the simplest and most practic