twenty minutes past five on the
twenty-third of November
As to the place , the importance of the issues involved in that question is obvious and we need not consider it . But the question of time has another kind of significance . Cases have occurred , as I pointed out in the lecture , in which proof of survivorship by less than a minute has secured succession to property . Now , the missing man was last seen alive at Mr. Hurst 's house at twenty minutes past five on the twenty-third of November . But he appears to have visited his brother 's house at Woodford , and , since nobody saw him at that house , it is at present uncertain whether he went there before calling on Mr. Hurst . If he went there first , then twenty minutes past five on the evening of the twenty-third is the latest moment at which he is known to have been alive ; but if he went there after , there would have to be added to this time the shortest time possible in which he could travel from the one house to the other . `` But the question as to which house he visited first hinges on the scarab .