Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-27
DIVIDES THE WORLD.
The Line That Marks Where Day Be-
qins and Ends. -

The Line That Marks Where Day Be-
gins and Ends. ..a
1t Is evident that the day must begin
somewhere, though it is confusing
thing to- undertake to determine just
where, for one may go on and on
around the world and never catch up
with 1t. On the other hand, IL we are
not careful in reasoning we will reach
the absurd conclusion that 1t Is Mon
day noon and Tuesday noon at the
same time in any given place.
A writer in the st. James Gazette
,, treats this peculiar phase Of the sub
ject in a very definite way.
Seeing that as one moves westward
the time gets earlier and earlier so
that when 1t is Monday noon In Lon
don 1t is some time on Monday morn
ing in America, it follows that, II this
principle were continued without limit
halfway round the world, at the same
moment that it was Monday noon In
London 1t would be also twenty-four
hours later-that Is, Tuesday noon-in
London. AS this is reductio ad absur-
dunn, we have to look for the limit,
which does, in fact, exist, on the prin-
ciple that as one moves westward the
time gets earlier and as one moves
eastward 1t gets later. ... e..
Before the circumnavigation of the
globe there was no difficulty. When
on a Monday the sun stood over Lon
don II was Monday noon In London.
AS the sun moved Ito use the popular
phrase) westward and stood a little
later over Dublin 1t became Monday
noon in Dublin, and so on until 1t
reached the western limit Of the known
world.
When the sun passed over that limit,
that was the end Of noon for that Mon
day, and nobody knew what the sun
was doing until he reappeared on the
eastern limit Of the known world,
bringing with him Tuesday morning.
II is evident, therefore that while
the sun was in the unknown abyss be-
tween west and east he dropped the
attribute of making the time at all
places directly under his rays Monday
noon and took to himself the attribute
of making 1t Tuesday noon.
AS the confines of the world were
pushed farther eastward and west
ward, respectively, the unknown abyss
where this change of attribute had to
be made got narrower and narrower
until, when the globe was circumnavi-
gated, the place of change became
simply line.
This line exists and Is the place
where the days begin. AS the sun
crosses this remarkable spot the time
Jumps twenty-four hours onward
from noon one day to noon on the next
day. The situation of the line has
been located quite fortuitously-name-
lly, by the circumstances whether any
given place was first reached by civ
ilized man journeying from the east
or from the west.
The discoverer brought with him the
almanac from whence he came, and II
he came from the west the time In the
new country would be later, and IL he
came from the east it would be earlier
than the time in the country he came
from.
America was reached by civilized
man voyaging westward and China by
man travelling eastward, and the re-
suit is that the line that marks where
the days begin lies between these two
in the Pacific ocean, and instead OF
being a straight line, zigzags about,
dividing islands which happened to be
discovered from the east from those
which happened to be discovered from
the west.
There must still be many islands In
that ocean where 1t is not yet decided
tn which side of the line they belong
and where, If one were put down, one
would not know whether 1t were to-
day, tomorrow or yesterday.
There must also be many islands
there which, never having been per-
manently occupied by civilized people,
change their day from time to time,
so that a ship calling there coming
from China might arrive on Tuesday,
while another ship calling at the same
time from America would arrive on
Monday. There must be people living
so near this line that by going few
miles they can leave today and get in
to tomorrow or, by going back, can
find yesterday.