The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-14 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN•

ON TIME.

Mit. EDITOR—The close of one year, and the
opening of another, naturally inclines the reflect-
ing mind to fix its attention upon Time, that
most invaluable, yet most fleeting, gift of our
Creator.

Scarcely has the first toll of midnight an-
nounced to our ears, on the 31st of December,
than one-year had terminated, than the next had
already commenced. In Time there is no inter.
ruption ; it moves on with even steps silently ;
yet unerring in its progress ; it steadily pursues
its circling course, affording us at once the en-
joyment of the present, the recollections of the
past, and the anticipation of the future. There
is something truly awful in this silent progress
of time. Dreadful may be the war of the raging
elements, theearth may be convulsed and shaken
In its very foundations ; Empires may rise and
fall, and nations be swept away from the face of
the earth, men may pine and die; all, in a word,
may change ; but amidst the war of elements,
the convulsions of our globe, the revolutions of
Empires, Time still moves on with equable steps,
comprehending within its fathomless bosom every
passing event, but undisturbed by any, and ever
regularly holding " the noiseless tenor of its
way." _ _

Though so intimately connected with our exist-
ence, Time is, however, more easily understood
that' defined. We are conscious that it exists,
since our life forms a portion of it, and since in it
all our actions are performed, yet can we form no
clear and adequate idea of its nature. Whilst
we zrasp the present, the existence of Time seems
evident; but no sooner have we lost it, than we
are plunged into uncertainty and doubt. So
much are we accustomed to identify our own
existence with that of Time, that even though we
know that whole generations have successively
gassed away before we came into the world, yet,
the more we reflect upon the subject, the less
can we comprehend how it will happen that
generations will be born and exist when we our-
selves are no more. Memory may give us an
idea of the past, enjoyment may point out the
present, but of the future we can form no clear
or distinct idea.

By some philosophers of old, the existence of
'rime was altogether denied. Yet, surely, the
consciousness of our being, and the succession of
•our ideas, are, in themselves, convincing proofs
that it exists. It must, however, exist without
any absolute dependence upon these, since, if
this were not the case, it would follow, that as
the ideas of some men flow with more rapidity
than those of others, Time would also fly with
more swiftness for the one than for the other.
To mark the progress of Time, by which all our
actions must be regulated, it was, therefore, ne-
cessary to fix upon some standard, some regular
and uniform motion, and as we know of none pos-
sessing all these properties in a greater degree
than the motion of the heavenly bodies, it was
natural that the revolutions of the sun and moon
should be fixed upon to mark the progress of
Time, and divide it into equal portions. Some in-
genuity, and many accurate observations, were,
however, requisite before the motions of the
heavenly bodies could be effectually applied
to the proper division of Time. The phases
of the MOOll were assuredly the most ap-
parent phenomenon of the heavens. The
four changes which it undergoes, must have
been soon noticed, and as each of these changes
occupies about seven days, and returns at the ex-
piration of about four times. this number of days,
they gave the idea of dividing Time into weeks of
seven days, and into months of four weeks each.
The first, because the most obvious, division of
Time, must have been, however, that into days,
sparked by the apparent daily motion of the sun.
His absence or his presence pointed out the divi-,
sion into day and night. Whence, amongst some
of the nations of antiquity, the days and nights
were of unequal lengths at various times of the',
year; the former comprizing the whole time the
sun remained above the horizon, and the latter
the whole time of his absence. And as the hours
were always the same in number, it followed that
they also differed in length. This latter mentioned
division of Time into hours is attributed by Herodo-
tus to the ancient Babylonians. They accomplished
this by means of a pole or glomon, the shadow of
which served to mark the different hours of the
day, in the same manner as our sun dials. This
method must be very ancient, for men must soon
have noticed that the shadow cast by any upright
object always moved in a direction opposite to
that of the sun. The term hour is first mentioned
by Daniel, who flourished about 600 years B. C.
Yet the first sun dial upon record is one set up
by Ahaz, King of Jude, 727 years before the
Christian era. The gnomon was introduced at
Rome by Papyrius Cursor 293 years B. C.

About 24 Years B. C. Etesibius,of Alexandria
invented the Elepsydra, or water clock, so called
because it marked the hours by the water which
flowed from one vessel into another, acting there-
fore upon a principal somewhat similar to that of
the common hour glass.

Clocks were invented either by Boethius in
the year 510, or by Pacificus of Verona in the
course of the ninth century. That they were
known at this period in the East is evident from
a striking clock being sent as a present to Char-
lemagne by the celebrated Caliph of Bagdad,
-Ilaroun al Ita.o..id. For the improvement of
this useful instrument we are indebted to the la-
bours of Galileo and Huygens. The earliest
watches upon crecord were made by Peter Hela
.at Nuremberg,.-in 1490, and, from the place
where they first appeared, they were called Nu-
remberg Eggr, a name derived also from their
oval shape. The•irst watch that•marked seconds
existed at Vienna in 1500, and we stand indebted
to Barlow and to.Quare for the Invention ,of re-
peaters, •which .were made for the -first time
about the year 1676.
•The earliest division .of the year was :into
Awelrelunar months, because it was soon no-
ticed that the same season returned when twelve
iusfetions had elapsed. Hence the, first year
spa► record consisted of only 354 days ; and
4'414 rear is still employed by the Mahommedanse

But this year being too short by eleven days, six
hours, and forty-nine minutes, the order of the
seasons soon became inverted, which led to an-
-1 other division of the year into 360 days, whence
the Zodiac, the 'Ecliptic, and subsequently
every circle, of a sphere, were divided into 360
degrees. TLe errors of this new division were
soon made apparent, and-by subsequent improve-
ments of the Egyptians, Romans, and of the Mo-
derns, the duratio❑ of the year was at length
fixed at 365 days six hours, which, though not
strictly correct, is yet sufficiently so to answer
the ordinary purposes of life. The real length
of the year, or the time the Sun employs in pass-
ing through the whole circle of the Ecliptic, is,
according to Laland, 363 days, 5 hours, 48
minutes, and 8 seconds. A. P.