Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-06-13

! always produced many curious phe-
hohcha. SUCH as the receipt Of the
news or the Empress of Chinas death
IN New York almost day before IL
happened. telegram sent from Green
wich at noon VIII arrive in New York
a : O'Clock in tho morning. five hours
before - was sent, providing. OF course
the transmission lie instantaneous
san Francisco, which is much further
West. would receive II four hours
earlier. On the other hand. cable
gram sent from Greenwich to India
although instantly communicated
would arrive several hours later Thus
In Keeping The records OF all kilograms
sent me companies must bear in mind
the local changes in time Of the va
riouS countries, in addition TO the fuc-
tuations in world standard time.
Difficult TO Tnmpcr With.
10 iai"per with the time standard
has always been considered by the
mass OF the people an extremely dar.
Ing and dangerous thing to do. Changes
in the calendar in The past have ONLY
been accomplished after much arsu-
meni' persuasion and some bloodshcd
ana the standard time adjustment Is
always regarded with a certain stead
fast attachment and awe. /, was many
Years before We had standard time in
America.
The system in vogue in ancient
Greece and Rome was TO have twelve
whether 1t was winter or summer.
The ancient water-clocks were merely
constructed so as 70 vary the length
OF the hours. so that In the winter
they were short, and In the summer
very long. The polar regions were eyi
IDENTITY unknown to these peoples. and
the learned Roman would no doubt
have been amazed and shocked ~ ha
hao suddenly been transported TO land
where the sun shone steadily for a few
~ 'tsa
hnally became so confused that Julius
Caesar. with the assistance Of Roman
astronomer. changed the calendar re-
storing the vcrnal equinox 10 March
70 AZ this time 4, was discovered tina.
IL took the earth 365I-4 DAYS TO com
plete its circle around the sum. so
II was decreed tina, in the future each
year was TO have 36b days. except every
fourth year, which was 20 have an ex-
ira day in order to complete the four
quarters.
Pope GreEory's Reform.
The calendar continued until the six
ieenth century, when Pope Gregory
MIL instituted another reform. By
this time 1t was discovered that Gaze
sar's plan had added forty four too
many minutes on to every fourth year
which is the l33 centuries since then
had amounted to ten days Hence.
The Pope. In 1882. issued a decree com.
nandlnS ten days to be subtracted
from that year and making centurial
years leap years only when Invisible
by four. This reform was also in
adequate and inaccurate.
In the year 1881. Lord Chesterfield
with the help Of Lord Macc!esheld a
learned astronomer. introduced a bill
into the House OF Lords in England
providing that the earth be pushed for
ward for eleven days. which had been
accumulated By the Gregoran system,
the third OF September being called
the fourteenth of September This re-
form is interesting in that II created
a great deal of superstitious alarm
among the people. who firmly believed
they had been deliberately robbed Of
eleven days with no other purpose than
TO annoy them. The royal astronomer
Responsible for the original investiaa-
ton and Lord Macclcsfield both met
untimeiy deaths at the hands OF the
populace. who Neoueht TO he rcvenged
for the trick they had played them
While the proposed plan to change
the standard time of American clocks
is not likely to excite any great wrath
from any but the electric. light and
gas-lisht companies. who viii un-
doubleday suffer by an hour Of extra
daylight. there are many who enjoy
the dusk and darkness just as much
as the early daylight and who will
probably resent going TO bed with the
birds. There are many who like to
sit on their front porches and combat
the attacks of the mosquito.
From an economic and health stand
point. the conservation of daylight by
beginning the day an hour earlier and
quitting an hour earlier is ut least
worth trying. But AS psychological
experiment 1t is doubly important II
we succeed in deceiving ourselves by
the clock. Ii is not a far step to the
thermometer. and after that every one
OF US will be an autosuggestionist