Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-04-04
RECKONING FROM JERUSALEM.
Jerusalem. Claimed to he the Best Point for
the standard of Time


/ The much vexed question of a primary
meridian and universal standard Of time
has again been brought to the fore in an
interesting and rather promising form
! Last June, il will be remembered, the in
! ternational telegraph conference at Paris
discussedghe matter, and indirectly intima-
/ ted that the meridian. of Greenwich woad
not be acceptable to all nations as the
standard. vote was also passed ap-
proving the efforts of the academy Of
science of Bologna, ltaly to find ii salts
! factory solution The Bologna academy
/ has now formulated the results of its
/ studies and deliberations, and the Italian
I government has sent a summary thereof to
I all the countries interested with request for
! Judgment on the scheme.
The plan of the Bologna scientists is
| briefly stated, TO adopt the meridian Of
/ Jerusalem as the primary, and 10 make
/ the universal day begin there ut noon.
/ Thus the universal day and the chronology
/ zeal day should be made TO concde al
1 most exactly; result which has for many
years been earnestly desired
/ One of the strongest arguments in favor
| of this scheme is that it would admit of
/ the establishment of an international
/ observatory on the prime meridian. This,
/ of course, Is essential, and could not be al
! fected were Greenwich Paris, Washing
/ tor, Berne, or any other meridian ,hat had
| been suggested selected For these lat
! ter are independent states, that would not
/ be likely to eede ground for the interna-
| tional ownership, and to whose proprietor
/ ship, even in name Of the prime meridian
| the other powers would not agree. But
Jerusalem Is practically neutral ground
ard is likely to remain such for many
generations
| Another most important recommended
| tion OF the Jerusalem meridian purely
scientific in its nature, has reference to the
! portion of the eartn's surface which il
! traverses. 1t Is for obvious reasons highly
! desirable that the prime meridian should
lie on land as far as possible, In this
respect the Greenwich meridian is espe-
cialy faulty. Just north of the Humber,
IN latitude SO degrees, 45 minutes, it leaves
the land and thenceforth extends along the
! North Sea to the pole, while southwark it
crosses the inhogpitable Sahara. and IN
about latitude degrees north leaves the
coast of Guinea AID thenceforth, for more
/ than half its entire length, lies on the
/
! equator on land and is actually at sea for
more than l3l degrees. or nearly three
quarters of its length The meridian of
Paris is even more Objectionable, and that
| of Berne is no better. The meridian Of
Rome or of Palermo would give a vastly
| longer land line, of about 80 degrees, or
| half its whole length, almost spanning
| from the Arctic Circle to the Tropie of
Capricorn, and would cut the Equator on
| land in the Congo country. The Wash.
ington meridian is better still. extending
chiefly on land from SO degrees north to II
degrees south, 95 degrees, though much OF
it lies in accessible regions. New York
would give much better meridian;
while Boston yindicates its title to be called
the Hub 10y presenting a meridian lying
on or near the land for 1873 degrees. not
counting the Antarctic Alexander Land,
which it touches dozen degrees still fur
ther on.
The meridian of Jerusalem, however, is
an admirable one, if it does net rival that
of New York or Boston. 1t has a land
line from the shore of the Arctic Ocean
about SO degrees north, to Cape Corrien-
ties about "a degrees south, total Of 90
degrees, from above the Arctic Circle to
below the lroplc Capricorn. Moreover,
it runs through comparatively accessible
regions: Russia, Armenia, Abyssina, the
'hunterland' Of Zanzibar, and the lake
Nyassa county, cutting the equator in the
magnificent highlands surrounding the
Victoria Nyanza
Thus for practical science purposes this
meridian is highly satisfactory, while
from the point Of view of international
pride and etiquette it is to be preferred
before any other. Il would seem odd TO
begin saying so many degrees east or west
from Jerusalem, and we should have
torem;Th our charts. But once universally
adopted, the system would prove of in
calculabe convenience Some standard Of
reckoning for all the world is coming to
e necessity, and for the reasons We
have given, that proposed 10y the Bologna
academy seems decidedly preferable TO
any other that has vet been afforded TO the
word.-N. Y. Tribune,