I have given some consideration to the practical bearings of this question—­whether it should be midnight or noon.  What we ought to decide is what will be the least inconvenience to the world at large.  I have ascertained from two of my colleagues, who have given this matter the greatest consideration, that the adoption of midnight will really cause less confusion than noon, for this reason, that all the great colonies of the world would be less affected; that is to say, that the times they are using now would be less affected by midnight than by noon.  That being so, it appears to me to be an essential point in coming to a settlement of this question.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain.  I have only to say that I have listened to the remarks about navigators changing the reckoning of time.  I do not know whether there are many navigators here, but it is a fact that seamen reckon the day from noon.

The PRESIDENT.  I beg the pardon of the Delegate of Spain; but, in the United States navy, we reckon the day from midnight.

Mr. RUIZ DEL ARBOL, Delegate of Spain.  I am speaking generally.  Now, there is some reason for this rule among seamen, for the only way to find out the position of a ship is to observe the meridian altitude of the sun; and everybody requires to know, at sea, what has taken place in the course of every day, from the beginning to the last moment of the day; and I think that whatever the rule may be in the United States navy, navigators generally will count their time as they count it now.

I think that navigators will not change the rule now in force, no matter what we may adopt in this Conference.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States.  I think, Mr. President and gentlemen, that the change to the adoption of the universal day, beginning at midnight, would be a very decided advantage to navigators.  The quantities as now given in the nautical ephemerides are for noon of the meridian for which they are computed, as Washington, Greenwich, &c.  It is very evident that every navigator, in making use of the quantities given in the nautical almanac, must find the corresponding time at Greenwich, wherever he may be on the surface of the earth.  Consequently, if we suppose that navigators are pretty equally distributed, one-half on one side of the earth and one-half on the other side, the Greenwich day for one portion would be the local night for the other.

The usual observations made by navigators at sea consist in a meridian observation of the sun for latitude, and a morning and possibly afternoon observation of the sun near the prime vertical for longitude.  Consequently all navigators, when in the vicinity of the initial meridian, might have their day’s work occurring in two astronomical days.  On the other hand, those navigators who were in the neighborhood of the 180th meridian would have all their work of one day occurring in the same astronomical day.  The first would have the advantage of interpolating for short intervals only, while the second would be obliged to interpolate for much larger intervals.