Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09
Time the Stuff of Life

| work of translating from the Latin
| for his people, and one-third to sleep
| he was at a loss to distinguish the
! dividing point. Casting about for
some means OF measuring the inter
walls in the natural division of day
he found that four candles of GER
tain size would burn for "a hours
| Thus by cutting notches in the cam
| dies at intervals a rough estimate
could be obtained of the passing
| hours.
There are many people who blithe'
ly announce that they take their own
| own time, If, for instance. some one
| is kept waiting Is minutes? Can
| those minutes ever be returned? 1t
| is thing to ponder while in the
| midst of New Year resolutions. To
each man is made exactly the same
allotment of this stuff which
stretches from infinity to infinity and
is called time.
Intriguing investigations that use
time as base were carried on dur
ing the months of October and No
vember, 1925. The United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey collaborat-
ed with some 80 nations of the world
in an effort TO determine the stability
of continents, and time errors down
to an almost infinitesimal fraction OF
second were reckoned.
Never before in the history of the
world has a scientific problem been
attacked with the degree of co-opera-
ton that this one attained. The two
reasons for this work briefly are:
First, to furnish an accurate network
of longitude stations around the
world. and second, to furnish means
of testing the theory of the so-called
Wegener process. This theory is
that Europe and Africa were once
joined to America, and that gradu-
ally this continent drifted westward
and is still drifting.
Thus, if the present relative posi-
tons of the continents can be de-
termined the process repeated in
or 10 years, the yearly slippage can
be readily computed. This theory, IL
proven, will account for many curious
facts; for one thing, the now discon-
nected geological similarity of con-
animals.
For the testing of this stability of
continents and the securing of base
longitude and astronomic stations
radio was an important factor. Time
SiS Wei . oCHN Oub AiOhA Z" CAN'Ah
of stations stretching around the
world. These were located in Belle
vue. d. c.; Honolulu. Saigon, French
Indo-China, the Eiffel Tower. in Paris.
and Annapolis. Local clocks were
timed with the stars. and when radio
signals from two contiguous stations
were received comparisons were cas-
lily made and the longitude correctly
determined.
Another interesting experiment
where time was the foremost item has
just been completed by Prof. A. A.
Michaelson of the Mount Wilson OBJ
servatory, in California.
The Coast and Geodetic Survey fur
nished Prof. Michaelson with an exact
measurement of the distance between
two peaks, a distance of just % miles.
The object was to determine IL 1t
were possible to measure to an exacti-
tude the time required by light in \
travelling short distances.
AS 1t has always been reckoned that
light travels 1856, 900 miles a second, 1t
is not difficult to imagine that %
miles would be bridged very quickly.
The distance given Prof. Michaelson
by the Coast Survey was correct to
within three inches. and 1t took light
Just one.four-thousandth Of q second
to travel the course and return.
l.