The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-05-31
When Does Day Begin.


Ss. The Expressmdaa' s Monthly says:
l. If person should start from Gin
cinnati, Monday, at twelve clock, and
travel westward with the sun, he would
return tothe city on Tuesday at twelve
o'clock. He would enjoy constant noon
during the twenty-four hours on his
journey ~
Observe that Monday noon would
change to Tuesday noon without an in
tervening night. Where did the change
occur? Cincinnati is "A little north OF
the Sthirty-ninth parallel of latitude,
which is circle much smaller than the
equator. or one of the meridians, hence
the length of adegree ON the formeris not
60. 16 miles, but about 1891 miles. In
travelling around the earth on the thirty
ninth parallel, the distance would not be
f $4,000 miles, but $50 times 81 miles,
or about 1897 miles, which, travelled
in twenty-four hours would be at the
$50 rate of about 500 miles per hour.
2, All points on the same meridian
have the same time, as Lansing, Mich,
80, Cincinnati, o., and Chattanooga, Tenn,
also Pittsburgh. Pa, Charleston, S. c.,
and GuaYaqul, South America; also
Berlin, Venice, Rome, and Tripoli.
5. Every traveller has observed that on
going eastward his watch has been too
slow and westward too fast. Since
during twenty-four hours every part
of a parallel is brought under the sun,
then $50 degrees passes by in twenty
four hours, or in one hour fifteen de-
grees are traversed by the sun. Hence,
in the latitude of Cincinnati, place
about eight hundred miles east of us, is
one hour earlier, and place the same
distance west Of us, would be an hour
behind our time. Since fifteen degrees
10. make one hour difference in time, then
one degvee will make a difference of
-FOUR minutes; hence at place fifty-three
and four-fifths miles east of us the
clocks are four minutes faster than ours,
and at q place the same distance west
of us, the clocks are four minutes slower
thansours. Let and Bsstart at the
same moment from Cincinnati and travel
at the same rate, the former due east
and the latter due west, they would
- zneeton the opposite side of the globe
and their watches indicate the same
time, One watch would gain twelve
hours and the other lose twelve. To
prove this, take two clocks and cause
one to gain twelve hours and the other
TO lose twelve, and then comparel the
time. They will indicate the same hour
4. Theoretically day begins at the one
hundred and eightieth meridian, which
sdiFides the Pacific Ocean into nearly two
equal parts but practically the inter-
national date line varies considerably
from this meridian. The English, Dutch
w. and Portuguese reach their possessions
lin the Pacific from the east and since
most of these islands are on the same
side of the, one hundred and eightieth
meredian as the mother country there
was no necessity for the marines and
merchantmen to change their log books
for the day of the week. But about two
centuries ago the Spaniards, in their
palmy days, with gold-searching ships
rounded South America, and passed into
the constant western current of the
trade-winds, and pursued their journey
until they reached the Philippine
Islands, which Spain holds to-day
These islands are near the coast of
China, and nearly sixty degrees west of
the one hundred and eightieth meridian.
The Spaniards did not then change the
day at the one hundred and eightieth
meridian, but regarded the Philippines
as having the same day with the mother
country, hence the great irregularity in
the international date line, or the line
where day begins.
3. Letls sailfro San Francisco. Cal.
to Toxic, Japan Tor rather Yokohama.
wich Islands, so as to have the right dav
of the week at Yokohama, it will be ne
vsg, eessary to skip one day. The log-book
would be kept in this manner: Tues
day, July 3, 1888, and the next day
would be entered as Thursday, July 5,
1883 The same object would be gained
fJuly and were crowded into twen-
.y4etsty-four hours. Suppose the vessel should
come to the one hundred and eightieth
meridian at three o'clock, p. M, of the
I'd, then the rest of that twenty-fOur
hours was called the 18th of July, then
the next morning would be the 9Th. But
the custom is to continue the full day,
and pass over one day on the log-book.
Thus you see it is possible to be cheated
out of the glorious Fourth altogether.
Again, Ingoing from Yokohama to San
Francisco it is necessary to add a day at
the one hundred and eightieth meridian.
s..zln this case therecord would be Wednes-
day July 4 tI.), 1888, Wednesday. july
4tiIJ, 1883. On this journey it is pos
slble to enjoy as many as six Sundays in
l4o4ebruary and as few as three Some
times the change is not made until the
time of arrival at the port
6. On account of the curvature of the
line to the westward to include the
s PHILIPPINES on its east side, some pecu-
har changes may be noted. Take Ma
Mia, thecapital of the Philippine Islands.
-, and Adelaide, the capital OF South Auz
q ssstralia, which is about eighteen degrees
ae east.of the former The difference of
time between these two places is about
one hour and twelve minutes, SO that
when it is twelve 0 clock at Adelaide it,
is twelve minutes to eleven O'Clock at
Manila; but since Manila Is east of the
"a line. and Adelaide west Of il when it Is
b nl4s 2, I'M. OF Tuesday. July 3, at Ma
Mia, it viii be twelve o'clock Wednes-
day. July 4. 1883, at Adelaide. But it