Abstract
TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR TIME IN THE ARMY.—An Army Order issued last week states that from October 1 the system of twenty-four-hour time reckoning, starting from midnight, will be adopted throughout the British Army. This system is already in general use at sea, and we hope that its introduction into the Army is a step towards its adoption by the general public. Attempts were made in this direction thirty years ago; Sir, W. Christie had the gate-clock at Greenwich arranged to show this time, and it was suggested that astronomers should change the commencement of their day from noon to midnight, so as to have a single system for all purposes. Both proposals collapsed at that time owing to insufficient driving-power, but they are now being revived with better prospects of success. There is a great probability that the various astronomical ephemerides will from the year 1925 use the day commencing at midnight; the necessity of preparing these ephemerides many years in advance rnakes an earlier change impracticable. But there is no reason why the general use of twenty-four-hour reckoning should not begin sooner. If the railway companies could be induced to use it in their time-tables, it would prevent all confusion between a.m. and p.m., and would also accustom the public to the system. The Army Order states that, four figures are always to be used for hours and minutes; for example, 4.7 a.m. will be written as 0407. This is a convention already familiar to American astronomers.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 102, 74 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/102074a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102074a0