Finally, I must return again to those sentimental reasons which my eminent and friendly opponents so often call to my attention. If I do not err, the very warmth of these interesting discussions shows me that the honor of being personally connected with a great reform touches us more than we are willing to admit, or than practical interests alone could effect.
Professor Adams himself supplies an illustration of this. He should remember the lively discussions of the English and French press on the occasion of the magnificent discovery of Neptune, and on the claims of the two illustrious competitors who were then the objects of universal admiration. If we go back in history, do we not see the friends of Newton and of Leibnitz equally contesting with asperity the discovery of the infinitesimal calculus. The love of glory is one of the noblest motives of men; we must bow before it, but we must also be careful not to permit it to produce bad fruits.
When our men of science sought, a hundred years ago, to determine a new measure of length, some one proposed the length of the seconds pendulum at Paris. This measure was rejected, because it introduced the idea of time in a measure of length, and also because it was peculiar to Paris, and because a measure acceptable to the whole world was desired. It is important not to introduce questions of national rivalries into a scientific reform intended to be accepted by all, and history shows us precisely on this question of prime meridians what active rivalries there are. There was a time when almost every nation which had a large observatory had a meridian, and that meridian was considered an object of national pride. There were the meridians of Paris, of Rome, of Florence, of London, and so on, and no nation was willing to abandon its meridian for that of another. If you please to adopt either the meridian of Greenwich, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Pulkowa, Vienna, or Rome, our reform may be accepted for the moment, especially if it offers immediate advantages in economy; but it will contain within it a vice which will prevent its becoming definitive, and we are not willing to participate in action which will not be definitive.
Whatever we may do, the common prime meridian will always be a crown to which there will be a hundred pretenders. Let us place the crown on the brow of science, and all will bow before it.
Commander Sampson, Delegate of the United States, said that he thought that the Delegate of France, Professor Janssen, had explained very fully the advantages of a neutral meridian, but he thought that he had not explained how we are to determine the neutral meridian. He added that he quite agreed with Professor Adams and Professor Newcomb, that to establish a prime meridian it is necessary to refer its position to an astronomical observatory.
He stated further that if a meridian were selected passing through the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, it must be referred to some initial point whose longitude is known, and the consequence of that would be, it seemed to him, that the prime meridian selected would still be dependent upon some national observatory, and that to select a meridian at random without reference to any observatory would lead to the utmost confusion, and, he had no doubt, would not be entertained by any one.
Prof. Janssen, Delegate of France. When my honorable colleague, Commander Sampson, reads the remarks which I have just made, he will see that I have very fully shown what characterizes a neutral or geographical meridian, as contradistinguished from those meridians which, passing through capitals and observatories of different countries, bear the names of nations, whilst geographical meridians bear geographical names, such as the meridian of Ferro, of the Azores, Behring's Strait, &c. Of course it would be necessary to connect the places selected with observatories, either by calculation or in some other effective manner. I said all this a few moments ago.
Mr. Rutherfurd, Delegate of the United States, then remarked that in addition to what had been said he would merely call attention to the fact that after that neutral point had been established it would cease to be a neutral meridian; that if the Azores be chosen they belong to Portugal, and he did not know any island in the Pacific which would serve the purpose, and at the same time not be subject to this objection; that perhaps Behring's Strait, mentioned by the French Delegate, might be less objectionable than any other place. He added that it is absolutely necessary that there should be some means of determining the difference between this adopted place and the other places, or else no use could be made of it. We must know how far other places are from the prime meridian, and for that reason it is necessary that it should be on land. Now, that land must belong to some country, and after we have fixed upon it it would cease to be a neutral meridian, and it would have to be connected by telegraphic wires with all the great observatories in the world.
Prof. Janssen, Delegate of France. My honorable friend, Mr. Rutherfurd, says that from the time the prime meridian was chosen it would cease to be neutral. I reply that he confounds a scientific principle with a question of property in the soil. If, for reasons of a geographical nature, we should fix upon a point in the Azores, that meridian would be neutral, because it would have been chosen on scientific grounds alone. The equator is neutral because geographical conditions give it that character; and, nevertheless, the countries along it belong to various nations, do they not? As to the manner of connecting the prime meridian with the system of observatories, I have already explained how this may be done in my former speech.
General Strachey, Delegate of England, remarked that he had rather hesitated about saying anything on the subject, after the expression of so many opinions of persons better qualified to speak than himself, but he felt that he ought to make a few remarks as to the distinction which Prof. Janssen had attempted to establish between astronomical and geographical longitude. It appeared to him that longitude was longitude. It would never do if, for geographic purposes, we are to have a second or third-class longitude and for astronomical purposes a first-class longitude. He said that as a geographer he repudiated any such idea. When you come to the practical application of the determination of longitude at sea for maritime purposes, it is true that a much less accurate determination suffices than would suffice for the determination of longitude for astronomical observatories; but, for all that, what is the object of a ship desiring to know what its place at sea is? Obviously to arrive at the port to which it is destined, and the object to be obtained is such a determination of the longitude as to enable that ship to arrive at its port without danger. You obtain a comparatively imperfect determination of longitude, but it is sufficiently accurate to prevent you from striking on the solid earth. But how is the longitude of the port to be determined? Certainly, as has been properly said, by astronomical observations, which can only be made with certainty on the earth. Consequently, it seemed to him that it is absolutely essential for fixing an initial meridian for the determination of longitude that it should be placed at an astronomical observatory which can be connected with other places by astronomical observations and by telegraph wires, and that the idea of fixing a neutral meridian is nothing more than the establishment of an ideal meridian really based upon some point at which there is located an observatory. This has been repeated once or twice before, and I need not enlarge upon it.