The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-29

Manila bay began. This question was an
Swered briefly in the Gfobe-Democrat Inv
Dlediate.y after the news OF the battle
reached this country, but several queries
have been sent since for more light OF GER
tain points involved in this problem OF time
determination. Manila is approximately
10 degrees OF longitude east of Greenwich.
) and as ST. Louis is approximately - de-
grees west of Greenwich. Manila Is 10 de-
grees from 81. Louis. measured toward the
east. This IS equal TO difference OF four
/ teen hours in local time. The morning, noon
and night OF any named day reach Ma
Mia before they do Greenwich IA suburb or
( London the seat of the Royal British OBJ
/ servatory and the place through which the
conventional prime meridian .unsl. and ST
| Louis. Noon OF any given day reaches Ma
| Mia eight hours before il does Greenwich
and fourteen hours before II does st. Louis
When Dewey's first shot was fred 1t was
! about O'Clock on Sunday morning. May l.
/ In the local time Of his neighborhood. AT
! that instant of absolute time the local time
| OF ST. Louis and of all the places on the
| St Louis meridian was o'clock on Satur-
| day afternoon. April 80
| How is il that 30 degrees difference or
| longitude is equivalent to fourteen hours
| difference of time? In the earths rotation
| on its axis eastward every point on its sur
| face tomitting the poles, each Of which al
I ternately is hidden from the sun for severa.
/ months at a siTne). has the sun in or near
/ its meridian at IL o'clock noon. Apparently,
| therefore, the sun makes complete circuit
| OF the earth from east to west once every
| twenty-four hours. 1t passes through $50
degrees IN this time, which means. at tho
! rate OF ID degrees every hour. The places
/ u degrees east of ST. Louis have noon an
| hour earlier than st. Louis. or when il IS
| IL o'clock In the forenoon here. Points 10
| degrees west of st. Louis have noon at an
4 hon tAt hon, rs al hey
! o'clock in the afternoon in this city. AS
| Manila Is 30 degrees east of us as we look
| toward Greenwich, noon, and consequently.
| al the other hours OF the day, reach her
| fourteen hours before it does St. Louis.
| But is not Manila west of ST. Louis rath-
| er than east? another questioner asks.
| And If west, why is not her time laier
| than that of st. Louis, and not earlier?
| Counted toward the west Manila would
be only about 80 degrees distant from st.
| Louis, as compared with 2l0 in the other
direction. Her time would then be ten
| hours different from ours, instead of four
| teen, and noon of each given day would
| reach her later than as instead OF earlier.
Reckoned in this way. the instant at which
| Dewey's first shot was fred in Manila bay.
/ which was o'clock on Sunday morning at
| that place. was o'clock on Sunday after
| noon in st. Louis, instead of o'clock on
| Saturday afternoon. as at first stated.
This way Of reckoning. however. over
| looks the circumstance that the 1S9th mer-
idian west or east from Greenwich-that IS.
| the meridian just half way around the
| globe from Greenwich--lies between St.
| Louis and Manila If We look westward
toward Manila. The 1S0th meridian from
| Greenwich Is the mark at which nearly all
the nations of the world have fixed upon
| as the dividing line between the days. Some
meridian had to be chosen as the line Of
separation between the days. and for this
| reason chiefly:
The sun is in the meridian of some part
| or other or the earth every moment during
| the entire twenty-four hours. 1t IS noon
| somewhere or other at every instant of
| time. Imagine an airship starting at noon
| today Sunday from st. Louis and sweep
| ing westward at about 700 miles an hour a
! rate of speed, which, at St Louis parallel
| OF latitude, would complete the east or
west circuit Of the earth in twenty-four
| hours. Persons in this airship, travelling
| at this speed westward, and starting AT
| Sunday noon, would have the sun in their
| meridian during their entire course round
| the earth. They would be moving west
| ward as fast as the earth would be rotat-
Ing on its axis eastward. 1t would appar-
emily be noon to them-Sunday noon-all
the way round, yet when they reach St.
Louis after making their twenty-four hour
circuit of the globe they would find that
| 1t was not Sunday noon, but Monday noon.
at that point. But neither night nor morn
Ing had come to them during the twenty
four hours. The sun had not set TO then,
IL was near their zenith all the time. vet
me oio Jay mad gone out and a new day
had come in during their Journey.
Where did the day change? Ohviore,v
1t did change. and must change. soma-
Where. 1t changed at the 1sOth merida,
from Greenwich. which the travalarr
crossed SIX hours after they started on
their westerly circuit from ST. louis and
| which they left behind them aigh,oa,,
hours before they reached ST. Louis an
their return. They struck the Monaa,
noon the instant they crossed that linz
When they reached ST. Louis. at MONDAY
noon IN the st. Louis calendar. II was
eignteen hours later at all points imma-
uIateiy east or the lOth meridian, as the
trave.ers looked backward in the direction
from which they had come or 6 o'clock
on Tuesday morning
| The distance to be Travelled nv the DIR
snip westward in the latitude of ST.. I.ouis
IN order to keep the sun In the meridian
OF the travellers all the way around the
ea,th Is gwen here as approximately 40
miles an hour, or a little over thirteen
miles minute. In the latitude OF New
dreams the air-ship would have to trave,
somewhat faster In order TO keep I'D with
the sun. In the latitude OF Havana Il
| would have TO travel stii faster while in
| t.ie iahtuoe or ST Paui IT could go slower
tnan At St Louis and have the sun con-
s'ant.y in Its meridian. This is dI,e ~
| course, TO the fact that the meridans as
Is shown on terrestrial globes. steadily
approach each other as they go from the
| equator toward the poles. Thus tho
length OF degree OF longitude measured
In miles. decreases with the distance
northward Cor southwark from the equa-
tor. The length OF a degree OF longitude
Is l-360th of the distance around the earth
In an east and west direction. and this
length at the equator Is about sixtv-nine
| and one-sixth statute miles while at ths
poles the length is nothing because the
meridians converge at those points.
Persons crossing the lsoth meridian 60
| ing westward are thus seen to have an
| parentiy lost twenty-four hours of time a
| whole day has been dropped out of their
calendar. To return 10 the imaginary case
| OF the persons travelling dna uex.u.nra