DAWSON, WILLIAM JAMES. a clergyman and writer, born at Tow cester, England, in 1854. He was edu cated at Didsbury College, Manchester. In 1875 he was ordained Wesleyan min ister. He served in several pastorates in England until 1905, when he moved to the United States, becoming pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church. He lectured widely on literary and histori cal subjects. He wrote "Makers of Eng lish Poetry" (1890) ; "Makers of English Prose" (1899) ; "Quest of the Simple Life" (1903) ; "A Soldier of the Future" (1908)• "The Book of Courage" (1911); "The Father of a Soldier" (1917) ; and "Chalmers Comes Back" (1919). He also wrote several volumes of poems.
DAY, the time taken by the earth to revolve once on its axis. This varies according to the method adopted in mak ing the calculation. A solar day is the interval between the time of the sun's coming to the meridian and returning to it again. Similarly a sidereal day is the interval between the time of a star's coming to the meridian and again return ing to it on the immediately subsequent night. A mean solar day is 24 hours long. A mean sidereal day is about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds. The reason of the difference is that the sun appears to go slowly to the E. through the stars, which makes them reach the meridian in a shorter time than he does, if the estimate be made by sun-time. An apparent day is the interval which exists between two successive transits of the sun across the meridian. An astronomi cal day is a day beginning at 1 P. M. and continuing to the next. It is divided into 24 hours, not into two periods of 12 hours each.
A day, in law, includes the whole 24 hours from midnight to midnight. In reckoning periods of time from a certain event, the day on which the event oc curred is excluded. On the other hand, if it be required to prove survival for a cer tain number of days, it will suffice if the person be alive for any portion, however small, of the last day. While an obliga tion to pay on a certain day would there fore be theoretically discharged by pay ment before midnight, the law requires that reasonable hours be observed—e. g., if the payment (as a bill) is at a bank or place of business, it must be within business hours.
Days of Grace.—The time at which a bill is actually due and payable, except in the case of bills payable on de mand or at sight, is three days after the time expressed on the face of it, and these three additional days are called days of grace. In England, if the third day of grace fall on a Sunday, Christ mas day, Good Friday, or a national fast or thanksgiving day, the bill is payable the day before. If it fall on any of the other bank holidays, or if the last day of grace is a Sunday and the second a bank holiday, the bill is payable on the succeeding business day. Days of grace have now been abolished in many countries, but there are still three allowed in some of the United States, and 10 in Russia. In the United States a bill or note, becoming due on a Sunday or a holiday, is payable on the first busi ness day thereafter.