The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-10-26
Lost Sixteenth y
- Of a Second.


That time IL MONEY IA not a recent dis
covery. but that so small a nortion OF lost
fgme as one-Sixteenth OF a second could
be 80 valuable that score OF eminent
seholars would devote years in searching
FOR II ID surprising saya a contributor 70
the North American.
such search is now In progress. The
searchers are monument English and
French astronesncfs and the lost fraction OF
a second is TIE diserepancv Of time exist
Inc between the meridians OF Greenwich
and Paris.
Thls mite OF time. to which an ordinary
man wouldn't rive an inStAnt's thought
has alwnys worried the scrupulously ex-
Gct souls Of the scientists
They have tried many umNs 70 explain
how Il came TO be mislaid. but the present
Effort Is tho most important ever made,
Buildings have been especially erected
at The Paris observatory for the elahorate
machinery and Instruments that have oeen
~ mathem aticians are scanning the sun
and stars. delying Into huge books ana
making the most uortentous calculations
with the most appalling array OF hgures
Il seems strange to the lay mind that
90 much fuss should be made over THIS
innnitesimai gap OF time. but the astron-
emers take the matter most seriously pi ~
really know where she's at" until the
vexed issue has been settled.
Originally. the lost time was consider
ably more than a sixteenth OF second.
Improved instruments and advanced meth
DDS Of calculation enabled the astronomers
Of today TO correct the errors OF their
Fellows of earlier DAYS. and the gap has
been gradually reduced.
But this is not enough. Nothing short
OF absolute exactness viii content the
eter,gaEers. Hence the present costly re-
The outcome will have bearing on many
tutorests. whose votarieE viii learn with
surprise that they are In any way con-
The mariner viii be particularly NJ.
fectcd. as all the calculations which enable
him TO safely navigate his ship are based
oil the longitude of Greenwich.
The interests OF those who live near the
boundary lines Of any country are at stake,
for the corrected calculations may make
vital changes in the worlds geography.
Perhaps many a man will find that he has
~ his life been a resident OF another coun-
nv than the one he has hailed as his
,atherland.
In this connection. as an Illustration ~
now the computation Of longitude affects
he question Of disputed boundary lines,
he Alaskan boundary contest may be cited
When gold WAS hrst discovered In the
Nlondke nobody seemed 10 know whether
he territory was American or English,
The boundary lines between British North
vest territory and AlaSka we're not clearly
iehned
The only wav TO decide the ownership OF
'hc valuable land was 10 make exact oh
iervAtinns Then 70 was found that the
Nondke was 100 miles within British ter
sitorv.
Ntnch the same sort NJ contention at
tended the determination n the location OF
ClFcle CITY on the Yukon,
The RENE Circle had heen applied by
the founders 10 this hamlet 81 log hUfs he,
cause they believed # 70 lie within the
Arctic Circle. Whom corrected ohserva-
tinns we're made II was found that the
title of the city was q uisuoucr FOR n Law
fully twenty miles south Of the Arctic