The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-02-29
/ New Question.

wew Question.
IN he Editors Of the Dispatch:
There ia ne reason why should add any
more on the subject Of Night and morning,
As your correspondent as" warned you OF
1mi.es " and floods on the question, and
made good his warning by two premonitory
miles or showers, It "a well, perhaps, that Il
am out Of the way. But zee that you have
such an abundance of politics aud news as
will PROBABLY forbid your attention to these
matters. dismise the subject By ssviug
that your courteous reply Is both ingen,oas
and INGENIOUS, aud reduces the difference 10
a soIecism 10 ourvlsage, or 80 fmperfecnon
in our language. concede that night lasts
till day bresk, bet cannot consent that II
bears with 1t after midnight The name OF the
next day. You agree that the time after
midnight IL morning 10 respect to the Ktter,
but still claim that 1t Is the night Of the for
mer. Probably the confusion Is due p7ina-
rily to a departure in our perVerse ancestors
and their posterity from the ordinance oil
creation. "Tbe evening and the morning
were the first day.; for It Is manifest thai
all violations Of the several ordinances then
established bave brought upon the human
race manifold evils. Witness the sconse.
quepces OF rejecting the simple statement OF
the ak days, d-sregardiDg the Sabbath, ana
practiciog polygamy.
But wish TO introduce for your oonside'
ration criticism on the teachings of the
Dispatch In regard to another afialr Oh t'mes
and seasona, concerning which have ire
ouently noticed 10 you 90 unaccountabe
tendency to error, which occasions me the
more regret and surprise because the matter
is important and the deviation palpable,
With q bish appreciation Of the Dispotch s.
a hopeless hereto on the subject OF lunar
irfluences-,he proof whereof lies IN the
fact that orthodoxy Is my doxy and hetoro-
doxy is your dcxy-I have nevertheless re-
spected it 80 In general judicious guide ID
grammar, lierssure, politics, and the origin
of man ard as rot unreasonable on nlSol
and morning. Ton may imagine, therefore,
the feelings with which you are now arra'sn-
ed as upsound on the subject OF sunrise ana
sunset. According TO the almanacs OF Firgl-
MIA, during this and al the months when the
DAYS are lepgthening, the sun rises oy the
clock as many inmates earlier as is the min
ute later when It sets than On the previous
day-:hat is, just DOW it rises at 30 many
minutes before and always sets the same
number Of minutes after s. From the 10Th
to the 18th the almanac gives the following
figures for the three days s.: GAO, 5:20-6:39,
5:2l- 6:37, 5:23; but the Dispatch gives
6:55, 5:35- 1854, 5:38 6:52, 5:3S-making
the sun rise at the time OF its rising the last
of January that is. Yearly at O'CLOCK, ana
making it set at what will be its time OF set
ting about the 1st Of March. And instead OF
the same number Of minutes before as after
5, you give against 80, Q against 80, ana
agsinst:3S.
Three more daily papers have come to
band since the foregoing dates-vizJ the
10th, 21st, and 22d. By the almanac We have
on these. t6:a5, 525--6:32, 5:26--6:31, 5:2S-
that, is 25, %, and Is. minutes before 7, and
25, %, and 20 minutes after 8. But in the
Dispatch find 6:49, 5:39-6:46, 5:42-6:45,
5:43-that is. IL, IA, and Is minutes before 7,
against SO, AZ, apd 43 minutes after 5; carry.
ing us back for sunrise on the 22d February
TO the 10Th Of the mouth, and for sunset
forward TO the 9Th Of March.
The q" Miniature Almanac" seems adapted
to the habits OF the city, and the sun to &C.
commodate ii By rising late and prolonging
the day at the close 70 give more time for
business. IUCKAHoE.
February Is, 1875.
We have received SO many communica-
lions on the subject touched upon above
that we deem it proper to say word In
regard to it ourselves. First, "Tuckahoe"
has not found the figures he quotes In any
almanac for 1876, but for some previous
year. That, however, is not important. We
follow the Virginia almapacs. In old times
these always used solar time. Professor WIN.
sroN first, and BowLKs afterwards, adopted
mean time-aud for good reasons. First, our
railroads and telegrapbs are all governed by
mean time, the time daily sent out from the
observatory at Washington being mean
time. Secondly, even the Virginia almanacs
had siways recorded the rising and setting
OF the moon, and the periods OF its phases,
in mean time. So that the sun rose by solar
time and the moon by mean time. We sym.
pathize with our correspondent, having
always learned to regard II O'Clock as the
middle of the day. But we are thoroughly
progressive In our ideas, and try never TO
obstruct the wheels of the car Of pro-
press. Mr.. BowLEs gives the following ex-
PLANTATION. After saying that solar time,
though an unequal, Is the most natural, de-
.cision of time, be adds:
"TwelVe o'clock, soar Time, Is always tne
exact middle of solar day, and solar day
gts the interval of time between two success.
siye trausits of the sun over the same meri-
dian; but the Intervals between these re-
turns are not exactly equal-that is, the sun
returns to the noon mark, to Its rising or set
ting. 10 sometimes little less aud sometimes
alitile more than exactly twenty-four hours.
This want of uniformity in the suns motion
rso from rum
does not move 10 the equator, but 10 the
ecliptic; the other, that bis motion IN the
ecliptic Is not uniform. The difference be.
tween solar and mean time Is called the equs-
ton Of time, aud mean time is time equated
or, ss solar d.y is sometimes too long and
sometimes too short, day OF mean time is
US, tweuty.four bonrs, or the exact average
'of-eVery solar day ia the year."
SO that the Dispatch is, as usual, right.
Revival Of the Minuot-How it was