Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1817-09-18


ten. are ! Ike that wiich has alrea,iy
brea rfr!ed. the mere sasse.tians ofiy-
nulani s1ep:icism. II has been imperti
neatly asked, (" What connection ran
&. c. ~ blmceH the Artificial aai arb
trary DIVISIONS ut ti;ne, Itself mere
crca re oi nvnd, AID having 10 ineu-
cree gu the princi, les of Tie material
void, and the FIVE penry.b;t umblcr
AMI 81 iEg :" This is auo'her error, Il
rising irom our hut ascending i'll such
prOfuund enqui,irs To the fountain head.
The ancicnts, in fact, originally divided
time JUS, as nature had done, by means
of tie p1.ent fiye-penny-bit, or grog
watch Nature separated the hours, man
only numbered them. The s,nd glass
was not, as has been ignorantly and va
pminsly pretended by pedants, TILED
with sand, which ran through hole, but
it was called sand glass, me ELY because
| it was Gust mary to stick it in the sand
Tor greater steadinpss, while the expert
meu,al philosopher was feeling in his
brooches poc' els for ive.penny biz, or
a six-pence, with which to begin his ope-
| rations. That the f,st time piece or
chronomcter used by the learned, was
nothing more than cur patent watch, may
be made appear by inviucible arguments.
/. In The Greek language, Chronoa
(ime) was said 10 be derived from AronoS
(Saturn). because he destroyed his chit
dren, and line DESTROYS its own pruduc-
,ions This absuid fable shows how vi
lifted and calumniated philosophers have
been in all ages. EroHos, Or Saturn, III
! stead Of being cannioai, the dcvOurer Of
: his own chilJren.was very amiable gem
,leman, who kept house first in Greece,
aud afterwards in Italy. He was very
exact observer Of the heavens and taught
astronomy to his son Chiron the ceDtanr,
who made the celestial globe tor the Ar
gonautic expedition. Saturn had Of course
occasion for accurate time pieces. The
6gure which has been incau lousy suppo-
sed to be scyths on the ancient medals
of Saturn, was in TACT his watch, consist
ing of cut sixpence little bent, tied 10
ring. With this and glass he made
his astronomical observations, and when
done he gave his appa atus to the Cory
bantes as a rattle, to amuse Jupiter, and
hence the monstrous fable of their beating
Kettles to drown his cries. Sometimes
when he had no small! change about him
10 find the hour, or buy 4 gill of whisKry,
he used bit of lead, which was from this
time called Satwnum. The uppermost
planet was also called, in honor OF such a
distinguished astronomer, Saturn, as we
have since had with equal proPriety the
Georsium ,Sidgs. RrORos being then the
first mpasurer Of time, Time itself was
called after him, ChrOnon.
?. If a doubt could still remain that the
ancient sand glass was our modern gros
watch, Horace, the most accurate OF pc
cts. and one who was never without a
plass TO ;earn the hour, and take a drink
Vt wine. ~ ould put this matter finally t"
rest. L. Lib. |, Sat. 5, he pathetica'iy
lamcnts that before he and bis tliends
could after hot journey tie their mules.
and pull out their five penny bits to lind
the hour. it had fed. For the words,
Dum as exigitur, dam muia liSatur
Tota sbit hoyaj
can mean nothing else Es being as PHI
ny tells US a small Roman coin, and era
Corybartia are admitted to have been the
cymoals OF the Corybantes, which have
already been shewn to have been our grog
watch. Q.E. ID. :,
To this demonstration l shall only add
one other passage l'om Horace. Lib z,
Sat. Z. prisCu, is represented as the
most Impatient person in the world De-
cause he spent Ills whole time, nay even
lived, In trying to force the hour sith
. nail or key, instead of 6Ye-penny bit
Vixit insqua!ie, clayum Ut mutaret heras'
These arguments may suifi e to con-
vince the most inCl edulous, lhat this last
Improvement IN measuring time IS only a
recurrence to the original method OF the
ingenious ancients. They also tetute an
old dogma. nih,L simM iRvenium est q
p,rfectan, for the first invention was per'
feet.
Yours with great admiration and es'
teen
...s.. .ssss's, MD. LID, &c
P.S, | had ln,eaded to write com
mepta illustrating the text Vi our au'
thor, bu!, upon cuneideratlon, l!iu III:
argument too clear, and MS reasoning to'
irT sis,ibls, to reYuf 0 calculation.
Perhap, may, i leisure allow, give =