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The Prime Meridian
From: Mal Misuraca
Date: 1997 Dec 10, 8:49 PM
From: Mal Misuraca
Date: 1997 Dec 10, 8:49 PM
If anyone has a question why it took so long to get universal agreement on the meridian at Greenwich as the one-and-only zero longitude line, here is an excerpt from Lecky (1917 edition): The starting point [for determination of longitude] is the meridian at the transit instrument at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich; and, by international consent, it has recently been arranged that this will in future be considered the First Meridian for the entire globe, and foreign charts graduated accordingly. At the Conference the French representative stood on his dignity and was the only dissenter---on what grounds the writer does not know, as England for many a long day has certainly taken the lead in maritime matters. . . . With that most reasonable explanation, it is difficult to see why controversy continued to rage for so long among so many about so little. Mal Misuraca Passage East Sausalito =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= =-= TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send this message to majordomo@ronin.com: =-= =-= navigation =-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=