Changes in Reckoning

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 29, 1883

Changes in Reckoning.

THE new mode of reckoning time, adopted by the railroads of the United States, was put in practical operation Nov. 18. Instead of being regulated by the solar variations "all along the line," there are now but four stated reckonings between the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, as follows: The Eastern, centering on the 75th meridian; the Middle, centering on the 90th meridian; the Mountain, centering on the 105th meridian; and the Pacific, centering on the 120th meridian. All the large cities and towns are adopting the railroad time of their various sections, as are also the stations of the Government Signal Service.

Almost simultaneously with this change of time-reckoning, a conference, in which England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Hamburg, and the United States were represented, has decided to reckon longitude from east to west only, beginning at Greenwich,—from 0° to 360°,—so that there will be no more east and west longitude. It was also decided to reckon the astronomical day from midnight, as the civil day is reckoned, instead of beginning it at noon, as has been the custom in the past.