What Shall Be the Prime Meridian for the World? (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: ...Strait; with this exception, it passes over no land between the Arctic and Antartic circles. The foregoing shows clearly that it is, of all the meridians, the one which would best accommodate the greatest number and tonnage of the world's shipping. By the adoption of this as a common prime meridian, there would be no disarrangement in the charts, the nautical tables, or the descriptive nomenclature of nearly three-fourths of the ships navigating the high seas. The same lines of longitude would be traced on the maps, although differently notated. The necessity would simply arise of falling back on the familiar phrases of 'new style' and 'old style, ' first applied in connection with chronological dates in England in 1752--the year when popular prejudice was met and the calendar reformed. The following table will show all the change that would be called for in notating the degrees of longitude. It will be observed that the table is limited to the twenty-four lettered meridians elsewhere alluded to: But a proposal of this character cannot be effected without much discussion. Such a change must be the work of time, for it is to be feared that much passive if not active opposition would have to be overcome before general concurrence be obtained. Whatever benefits a measure may promise, there will always be those who fail to recognize the anticipated advantages; and there are generally not a few who consider it a duty to combat the least innovation on existing practices. The object of these remarks, however, is to show that there is no impediment to the establishment of a prime meridian for the world unmarked by national pre-eminence, a meridian in itself admirably adapted for the important purposes referred to in connection with the notation of time, and the accu..