Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1894 — THAT MISSING DAY. [ARTICLE]

THAT MISSING DAY.

The Equator la Humdrum Compared with the Imaginary Line In ‘the Pacific. j A question which has often been asked but rarely answered satisfactorily is: How lar would one have to (to around the earth, moving east or west, and supposing no time lost in transit oh, before one would reach the point where to-day changes into yesterday or to-morrow.- Evidently there must be such a point somewhere, for an hour is lost every 15 degrees one goes to the east, and an hour gained every 15 degrees one goes to the west. To put the question in another way, suppose It is one minute pasi midnight iu Paris the morning ol Oct. 1, what day is at that moment at the ant p.ides of Paris? Is it Oct. 1 or Sept, ao? Apparently one can prove that It is either of these days by making an instantaneous journey half way around the earth, either to the east or to the west. Going cast, at the moment the Paris clock£*polnt to a minute past midnight it is approximately 1 o'clock iu the morning of Oct. 1 at Vienna, 2 o’clock of tho same day at Sebastopol, 3 o’clock at Astrachan. 4 o’clock at. Bokhara, 7 o’clock at Salgnon, i) o’clock at Yokohama, 11 o’clock at Pine Island, and noon at Fortune Island—the Ist of October at every point. On the other hand, going westward one finds that It is 10 o’clock in tho evening of Sept. 30 at the Azores Islands, 8 o’clock lit the evening at Buenos Ayres, 7 o'clock at New York, 0 o’clock at Now Orleans, 3:15 at Mexico City, 1 o'clock in tho afternoon near the Aleutian Islands, and noon at Fortune Islands—the date being Sept. 30 in each cuso. Thus one has demonstrated that It'ls noon of Oct 1 and noon of Sept 30 at the same place and at the same time. This would certainly bo embarrassing to tho good poople of Fortune Island, und in order to avoid such complications " and relieve wellmeaning Islanders in the Pacific from mixing up their Saturday and Sunday in hopeless fashion au arbitrary lino separating to-day from yesterduy or to-morrow has been agreed upon by the nuvigators of civilized nations This line has b:en drawn to avoid touching land. No one can bo exactly sure of the moment or passing it, but the line runs Just east of New Hebrides and the Now Caledonian groups and passes near the Marion Islands and Caroline Islands. Captains of vessels, Judging by the positions of the Islands mentioned, e«p fix tho dute within a few minutes. Vessels sailing from west to east on pa sing this Imaginary l'nc simply repeat tho day before on their log books, which consequently show two days bearing the same date. On the other hand ships going in tho opposite direction skip the tomorrow and lose a day entirely. In the first case the sailors get an extra day’s puy; in the second place they lose a day’s pay. The conclusion of the whole matter is that when Paris clocks Indicate a minute paßt midnight on Oct 1 it is Oct 1 going cast as far us the Imaginary lino just indicated, while it is Sept 30 going west up to the same line.—Boston Globe.