Abstract
IT is to be regretted that the French delegates have declined to accept some of the resolutions of the Prime Meridian Conference, but it is to be hoped that their non-adherence is only temporary; at the same time it must be admitted that their contention that Greenwich is not a scientific starting-point for a universal meridian has much to be said for it; the zero of longitude ought certainly to be defined somewhere on the equator, and if it were to be hereafter so defined at a point on the equator having the same meridian as the Greenwich instrument it is probable that all difficulty would be removed. The French are known to attach importance to ideas, and doubtless do not like the apparent supremacy which would be conferred on Greenwich if it were made the actual centre of departure. The point in question lies somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, and is therefore on perfectly neutral territory.
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CLARK, L. The Prime Meridian Conference. Nature 31, 125 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/031125b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/031125b0
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