The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1915-06-11
THREE DAYS IN ONE.
This Queer Condition Lasts Half
an Hour Every Day.
A FREAK OF CHANGING TIME.

When ills Noon on Monday In Eon-
don, Tuesday Has just Begun at
Cape Deshnef, Siberia, but Sunday
Has Not Vet Ended at Attu island.
Three days can exist at the same
time! 1t sounds impossible, but 1t is
nevertheless a fact that when 1t is very
late Sunday night at Attu island it Is
Monday noon at London and Tuesday
morning at Cape Deshnef. Siberiai
If one travels westward one loses
day in going round the world. If one
travels eastward one gains day.
Could one travel at the rate Of 15 de-
grees day one would lose exactly one
hour each day. In twenty-four days
the circuit would be complete.
Inasmuch as sun and earth are con-
stantly revolving and day merging into
night. Sunday passing into Monday,
etc, it Is obvious that at one point on
the worlds surface an arbitrary line
must be set. to the east of which is one
day. to the west of which is the next
day. This immediate Jump" of day
regulates the calendar for one circum-
navigating the globe.
This international date line" as it is
called. passing north and south and d.
viding our world into two equal parts,
is the one hundred and eightieth merid-
ian and crosses the Pacific ocean
where, fortunately, there is very little
land-taking slight bulge outward to
include Siberia. and one the other way
to Alaska geographically. The map
will show this. West of this line is
Monday and east of it is Sunday.
When it is noon on Monday in Lon
don Tuesday has already begun at
Cape Deshnef, Siberia, but Monday
morning has not yet dawned at Attn
island. Nearly half an hour of Sunday
still remains there. We are thus con-
fronted with the paradox of three days
coexisting at the same time.
We must remember that every day
begins at midnight. If we could travel
round the world at the same rate that
it travels. beginning our fight at noon,
it would be perpetually noon all the
way round! Yet we should lose a day.
While at any particular point on the
surface of the earth day is twenty
four hours long, every day, as a mat
ter Of fact, lasts forty-eight hours
sometimes even longer. This seems
another contradiction. Yet 1t can be
explained
Any given day, say Christmas, be-
gins las that day. Immediately west of
the 180th parallel One hour later
Christmas day begins Is degrees west
Of the date line, two hours later 80 de-
grees west Of the line and so on round
the globe.
Those living just west of the date
line would have enjoyed twelve hours
Of Christmas when it reached England.
eighteen hours when it began In the
United States and twenty-four hours
IA whole day. when it began in Alas
ka. Already Christmas had existed
twenty-four hours on this globe, but
having just begun in western Alaska
it will last there twenty-four hours
longer.
We have just seen that each day
lasts for forty-eight hours. As mat
ter of fact. day lasts In some places
more than forty-nine hours. This Is
because Of the irregularity Of the date
line previously mentioned.
= Let us begin an imaginary journey
from Cape Deshnef, Siberia, at mid
night. AS midnight sweeps westward
successive places see the beginning of
the day. When the day begins in Lon
don 1t has been that same day at Cape
Deshnef twelve hours and forty-flve
minutes.
When this same day arrives at Attn
island it has been twenty-five hours
and twelve minutes since it began Of
hcially at Cape Deshnef. Since the day
VIII then last twenty-four hours at At
tn island, before it is spent forty-nine
hours and twelve minutes will have
elapsed from the beginning Of that day
until the time 1t closes.
Thus three days can exist at one
time. as before explained. -Hereward
Darlington in New York World.