Part 23 (1/2)

The universal day, as defined by the resolution, will at once be the mean of all possible local days, and the standard to which they will all be related by a certain known interval, that interval being determined by the longitude.

In my judgment, the resolution is an exceedingly proper one, and the Conference will act wisely in pa.s.sing it.

The PRESIDENT. In taking the vote upon the resolution, it is requested that the roll be called.

The following States voted in the affirmative:

Brazil, Liberia, Chili, Mexico, Colombia, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Great Britain, Turkey, Guatemala, United States, Hawaii, Venezuela.

j.a.pan,

States voting in the negative:

Austria-Hungary, Spain.

Abstaining from voting:

France, San Domingo, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland.

Netherlands,

Ayes, 15; noes, 2; abstained, 7.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the resolution was pa.s.sed.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States. Mr. President, I now present for the consideration of the Conference the following resolution:

”_Resolved_, That the Conference expresses the hope that as soon as may be practicable the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere to begin at midnight.”

Before action is taken upon this resolution, I would make a verbal correction. I think that the word ”_mean_” ought to be introduced before the word ”_midnight_” and I therefore alter my resolution in that way.

The vote was then taken upon the resolution just offered, and it was carried without division.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair begs leave to state that the protocols in French and in English of the first and second sessions of the Conference, have been examined, and are now before the Conference for adoption. If any Delegate wishes to make any correction in these protocols, he can submit it to the Conference, and, if approved, it can be immediately made.

No objection was raised, and the President put the question to the Conference on the adoption of the protocols of the first and second sessions in French and English, and they were unanimously adopted.

M. JANSSEN, Delegate of France. Mr. President, we have been directed to present for the approval of the Congress the desire that studies relative to the application of the decimal system to the division of angular s.p.a.ce and of time should be resumed in order that this application may be extended to all cases--and they are numerous and important--where it presents real advantages.

I would say that a similar desire upon the same subject was expressed by the Conference at Rome.

You are aware, gentlemen, that at the time of the establishment of the metrical system the decimal division had been extended to the measurement of angular s.p.a.ce and of time. Numerous instruments were even made according to the new system. As to time, the reform was introduced too abruptly, and, we might say, without enough discretion, and it came into conflict with old habits and was quickly abandoned; but as to the division of angular s.p.a.ce, in which the decimal division presented many advantages, the reform sustained itself much better, and is still used for certain purposes. So, the division of the circ.u.mference into 400 parts was adopted by Laplace, and we find it constantly employed in the Mecanique Celeste. Delambre and Mechain used, for the measurement of the are of the meridian from which the metre was derived, repeating circles divided into ”_grades_.” Finally, in our own time, Colonel Perrier, Chief of the Geographical Division of our Department of War, has used instruments decimally divided, and at the present time logarithmic tables appropriate to that method of division are in course of calculation.

But it is especially when it is a question of making long calculations of angular s.p.a.ce that the decimal system presents great advantages. In this respect we find, so to speak, only one opinion expressed by scientists.

The Conference at Rome, which brought together so many astronomers, geodetists, eminent topographers--that is to say, the men most competent and most interested in the question--expressed in respect to it a desire, the high authority of which it is impossible to mistake.

It is, therefore, now evident that the decimal system, which has already done such good service in the measurements of length, volume, and weight, is called upon to render a.n.a.lagous services in the domain of angular dimensions and of time.

I know that this question of the decimal division encounters legitimate doubts, princ.i.p.ally as to its application to the measurement of time. It is feared that we want to destroy habits fixed for centuries, and upset established usages.

In this respect, gentlemen, I think that we ought to be fully satisfied. The teachings of the past will be respected. It will be perceived that if we failed at the time of the Revolution, it is because we put forward a reform which was not limited to the domain of science, but which did violence to the habits of daily life. It is necessary to take the question up again, but with due regard to the limits which common sense and experience would prescribe to wise and well-informed men.