Abstract
THERE is a practical answer to the problem put by Mr. Latimer Clark (NATURE, vol. xviii. p. 40). As a matter of fact the day begins, or rather the day is first named at the 180° meridian east or west from Greenwich; but this initial line, if I may call it so, diverges in the South Pacific to about 170° west from Greenwich, bringing many of the islands, as Fiji, Friendly, Sunday, Chatham, &c., into the same date with the nearest civilisation, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, &c. Without notes I cannot trace this line accurately between the Isles, but to take certain cases. Fiji counts its day east from Greenwich, Hawaii and Society west from Greenwich. At this moment I forget which division the Navigators enter, so to answer the problem, Where did last Monday begin?—At about 170° west longitude. Where did it end?—At 180° west in North Pacific. How long did it exist?—At any one place twenty-four hours, but taking adjacent places on either side of the initial line, Monday will have been a date during forty-eight hours; or if a vessel should be just on the eastern side of the 180° meridian, and keeping, as she should, Greenwich time through American route, Monday will have been a date during very nearly forty-nine hours.
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MACLEAR, J. Time and Longitude. Nature 18, 66 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018066b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018066b0
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