claim on the impartial solicitude of science. To strengthen my
assertion, gentlemen, I fall back upon the arguments brought forward
by Mr. Hirsch in his remarkable report to the Geodetic Conference at
Rome, arguments that evidently carried the vote of that assembly.

The Greenwich meridian, says that report, corresponds to an empire
that embraces twenty million square kilometres and a population of two
hundred and fifty millions. Her merchant marine, which counts 40,000
ships of a tonnage from six to nine million tons, and crews of
370,000 men, surpasses in importance all the other marines put
together. Other States, equally important by their merchant marine,
especially the United States, make use of the Greenwich meridian.
Well, gentlemen, if we weigh these reasons--the only ones that have
been set forth, the only ones that at present militate for the
Greenwich meridian--is it not evident that these are material
superiorities, commercial preponderances that are going to influence
your choice? Science appears here only as the humble vassal of the
powers of the day to consecrate and crown their success. But,
gentlemen, nothing is so transitory and fugitive as power and riches.
All the great empires of the world, all financial, industrial, and
commercial prosperities of the world, have given us a proof of it,
each in turn.

So long as there are not in polities or commerce any scientific means
by which to fix, to enchain fortune, I see no reason to fix, to
enchain, to subordinate, so to say, science to their fate.

The character of the proposed determination of the initial meridian is
so evident, that the reporter of the Conference at Rome, Mr. Hirsch,
admits it implicitly, for recognizing that the adoption of the