THE WASTE OF DAYLIGHT.
[To THE EDITOR Of THY "SPECTATOR."]
Srn,—However• much Mr. Willett's ideas respecting "the waste of daylight " may form an attractive target for humorous critics, they would, were they carried out, be a great public benefit. Although I cannot quite follow him as regards the periodical .alteration of clocks, I would suggest
that the most practical method of dealing with this matter would be for all Western Europe to adopt what is known as "middle Europe time." This would result in giving that part of the world one hour's more daylight during a substantial part of the year and introduce a uniformity of time which would have numerous advantages, international and other. I think that to adopt literally Mr. Willett's suggestions and introduce spasmodic changes of time Would be fatal to his ideas, excellent as they are in spirit. They are neither new nor original. They form the subject of common talk amongst nautical men, and it is well known that commanders of ships which are "running down longitude" " make it twelve o'clock " as much earlier or later than true "ship time" as best suits the working of their vessels. The " vagaries of the sun" (if I may so name them to illustrate my point), and the best methods of adapting our- selves to them, formed a subject of constant thought to me when I, about thirty or forty years ago, thrice circumnavigated the globe—thereby "gaining" three days—and passed one long winter's night over ninety days in length amongst the ice, some seven hundred miles from the North Pole. May be bold enough to assert that the suggestion I have made commends itself to the intelligence of any one who will give it the best consideration of an unprejudiced mind P—I am, Sir, &c., E. P. PIIILPOTS, M.D., F.R.G.S.
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