Absolute time and the order of nature

J. C. Maxwell

pp. 231-232

in: Milič Čapek (ed), The concepts of space and time, Berlin, Springer, 1976

Abstract

The idea of Time in its most primitive form is probably the recognition of an order of sequence in our states of consciousness. If my memory were perfect, I might be able to refer every event whithin my own experience to its proper place in a chronological series. But it would be difficult, if not impossible, for me to compare the interval between one pair of events and that between another pair — to ascertain, for instance, whether the time during which I can work without feeling tired is greater or less now than when I first began to study. By our intercourse with other persons, and by our experience of natural processes which go on in a uniform or a rhythmical manner, we come to recognise the possibility of arranging a system of chronology in which all events whatever, whether relating to ourselves or to others, must find their places. Of any two events, say the actual disturbance at the star in Corona Borealis, which caused the luminous effects examined spectroscopically by Mr Huggins on the 16th May, 1866, and the mental suggestion which first led Professor Adams or M. Leverrier to begin the researches which led to the discovery, by Dr Galle, on the 23rd September, 1846, of the planet Neptune, the first named must have occurred either before or after the other, or else at the same time.