Count Lewenhaupt, Delegate for Sweden, then proposed that the resolutions passed by the Conference should be formally recorded in a Final Act, stating the votes on each resolution that was adopted.
The Conference took a recess, in order to allow the Delegates to examine a draft of the Final Act.
After the recess the Final Act was unanimously adopted, as follows:
Table of contents |
2 I. 3 II. 4 III. 5 IV. 6 V. 7 VI. 8 VII. |
The President of the United States of America, in pursuance of a special provision of Congress, having extended to the Governments of all nations in diplomatic relations with his own, an invitation to send Delegates to meet Delegates from the United States in the city of Washington on the first of October, 1884, for the purpose of discussing, and, if possible fixing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the whole world, this International Meridian Conference assembled at the time and place designated; and, after careful and patient discussion, has passed the following resolutions:
"That it is the opinion of this Congress that it is desirable to adopt a single prime meridian or all nations, in place of the multiplicity of initial meridians which now exist?"
This resolution was unanimously adopted.
"That the Conference proposes to the Governments here represented the adoption of the meridian passing through the centre of the transit instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich as the initial meridian for longitude."
The above resolution was adopted by the following vote:
"That from this meridian longitude shall be counted in two directions up to 180 degrees, east longitude being plus and west longitude minus."
This resolution was adopted by the following vote
"That the Conference proposes the adoption of a universal day for all purposes for which it may be found convenient and which shall not interfere with the use of local or standard time where desirable"
This resolution was adopted by the following vote:
"That this universal day is to be a mean solar day is to begin for all the world at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the beginning of the civil day and date of that meridian and is to be counted from zero up to twenty-four hours"
This resolution was adopted by the following vote:
"That the Conference expresses the hope that as soon as may be practicable the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere begin at midnight"
This resolution was carried without division.
"That the Conference expresses the hope that the technical studies designed to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time shall be resumed, so as to permit he extension of this application to all cases in which it presents real advantages."
The motion was adopted by the following vote:
C. R. P. Rodgers President |
R Steachey, J. Jannsen, L. Cruls Secretaries |
The following resolution was then adopted unanimously: