The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-12-06
LENGTH OF A DAY.



Interesting Studies Made BY q Weli-
Known Man of Science.
Prof. F. H. Bailey makes the state
ment in the Boston Journal of Educa-
ton that the day contains exactly
forty-eight hours, and that the week.
though seven times as long as the
day for any one locality. is, upon the
earth as a whole. only four times as
long. 1--WE readily perceive" he says.
THAT the natural day travels around
the earth with the sun and never ends,
it being day or daytime continually on
the half of the earth toward the sun
and night on the opposite half. The
date, or almanac day. travels the same
way and with the same speed and if it
had no place for beginning or ending
it would always be the same date.
I'VE will commence with the begin
ming OF the first day of the year. 1t is
the moment of noon December 81 on
the meridian of Greenwich, forenoon
over the western hemisphere and after
noon over the eastern. The mean sun
is exactly in the south. and at that
moment, the first day of the new year
is born. Where? Not at Greenwich.
The civic day begins at midnight, and
it is midnight on the 180th meridian at
that moment. and there New Years
day bagins AS the sun travels west
ward from Greenwich across the At
lantic and America Newly ears marches
westward across the Pacific and Asia.
conquering the earth at the RAD OF
one twenty-fourth part every hour.
By the time the sun reaches the Ills
sissippi valley it is evening of the last
day Of the year in England. but Janu-
airy hold sway over one-fourth of the
earth-that lying t<xween the Goth
meridian east of Greenwich and the
lS0th.
six hours later, when the sun has
travelled half way around the earth
and is over the 18Oth meridian, New
Years has reached Greenwich and
sways ono-half the earth. In another
six hours the bells of the Mississippi
valley are ringing in the new year,
but it has been on earth eighteen
hours. And in six more the sun is
again over the meridian of Greenwich,
and New Years exists for a single mo-
ment over the Ell. ire earth. But
Mother Earth does not stop her waltz
ing, nor old Sol his westward journey.
and the ID day of January puts in his
appearance where the 1st did twenty
four hours before, and Immediately
commences chasing his elder brother
around the earth at the rate of more
than one tn 'usand miles an hour, the
chase continuing for exactly twenty
four hours. during which the portion
of the earth under the sway Of Janu-
airy is continually decreasing and
that of the 81 increasing.
Another method of presenting the
same facts may be considered better
Think OF the days past and future as
threads each wound upon its own
spool and of sufficient length to reach,
when unwound around the earth at
the equator. The spOols are kept at
the 1S0th meridian-thOse bearing
past dates have been used. future dates
awaiting their time. and always two
in use at once. When it is noon at
Greenwich on the 31st of December the
spool bearing that date is empty and
its thread girdles the earth Beside
it. rotating about the same axis (the
1S0th meridian). is the spool dated
January l; and at that moment some
power capable of travelling 1000 miles
an hour seizes the end of the thread
and flies westward; the thread I'M
winds. The other spool rotates at the
same velocity. but is winding up the
thread of December 81. dragging it
around the earth, the free end keep
ing exactly even with the advancing
end Of January l. Each thread is ex-
actly twenty-four hours unwinding
and the same winding up again. and
the portion of the earth lying north
and south OF the unwound part of
each thread bears its date. conse-
quently each date exists upon the
earth for forty-eight hours. or little
more than two complete rotations of
the earth upon its axis. 1t is evident
that the thread of any. day has been
unwinding seventeen hours when it
reaches the seventy-fifth meridian west
of Greenwich, that it is twenty-four
hours dragging itself across the line.
and that it will be seven hours longer
before it is entirely wound upon its
spool and the date is past for the en-
tire earth"