Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
In the early part of the book we are given to think Fogg has some strong sense of the time (telling Passepartout his watch is four minutes slow etc.), but I don't recall being told that Fogg checked his watch. Early on, Fix talking to Passepartout says, "You have kept London time, which is two hours behind that of Suez. You ought to regulate your watch at noon in each country.", and I wonder if the reader is supposed to assume that this is what Fogg is doing.
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I'd completely forgotten the "four minutes slow" scene.
I just Googled "time zones" and discovered that they hadn't even been proposed till 1878, let alone standardized and universally adopted. The
article says:
Quote:
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Before the advent of railways in the 1800s, all time was local. Noon was simply when the sun was directly overhead wherever you were, in what is called solar time. Each town's citizens would set their clocks and pocket watches according to the official town clock or timekeeper. When they traveled to another town, they would simply change their watch when they arrived.
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Which matches Fix's mention of setting the watch at noon.