The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-07-18
WONDERFUL CLOCK.

The Rev. Mr.. Turnbull, pastor of The Harvard
street Church, Boston, wrote letter during his
recent tour 10 Europe, 10 the members of the
Slbnalh school connected with his congregation,
in which he gave an interesting account of a won
derful work OF art. Alter introducing the letter,
he proceeds as follows:
There is no subject that can think of which
will be SO likely TO interest YOU as the great as
trononcal clock, which saw The other day in
the Cathedral at SIrasburg. This Cathedral, by
the way, Is one of the finest and Oldest in Europe.
1t IL very large, and its lower or sleepe is the
highest IN the world. Ii is twenty four ieet higher
than the great pyramid in Egypt, one hundred and
forty ieet higher han st. Paul's in London, and
three or four times higher than the old South
Church in Boston.
The astronomical clock stands in the inside, in
one corner of il, and is most imposing and beau
tful edtce. FIVE or six hundred people visit it
every day at IL o'clock, when it performs some
extraordinary leafs, which shall mention pres
emily, and several million in the course of the
year. There have been two three clocks in
the same place, upon the model of which the
present one is formed but it is almost a new one,
and was constructed by mechanic whose name
was Schwilgue, in 1888, to whom nocturnal
fete or festival was given by his fellow citizens
on the occasion of its completion.
To give you some idea of the size of this clock,
which you are familiar, instead of saying it was
so many feet high, and SO many feet wide, &c.
Well then, you remember the size of the post
Office in Washington street. 1t is as high as that,
and about as wide, or at least nearly SO. Its top
would reach to the very summit Of our meeting
house, and its front would go about half across
the front of the meeting house. On the top of it
is the figure Of the prophet Isaiah, about large
as life; on its two sides are couple of stairs to
go up into it.
Its front is beautifully painted, and has places
upon which the hours Of the day, the days OF the
week. the revolution of the stars, the motion of
the sun in the ecliptic the days Of the month"; the
seasons of the year, the phases Of the sun and
moon, and great many things, are indicated.
Here, also, in inches prepared for them. are
movable images Of the Saviour and his twelve
Apostles Death, and Time with his scythe the
four ages of human life, and several other forms
which | can not mention
To give you little farther idea of it's magni-
tude, let me say that there are means of going
inside of it ; and that 10 or Is people, perhaps
more, might stand together in its very heart and
examine the machinery. Mr.. Neale, two other
gentlemen, and myself with the CONDUCTOR went
into it and spent about an hour there. Wewent
first into a lower, then into higher, and then
still higher apartment of it, and should think, of
more than thousand pieces splendidly polished,
and all dependent for the harmonious action upon
the short, thick brass pendulum which swings in
the centre.
But must tell you what this clock does. 1t
not only points out the hours and the daye, the
times and the seasons, but the revolutions of the
stars, the solar and lunar equations, the conjunc-
tons and the eclipses of the heavenly bodies, their
positions at any given time, and the various chan
ges through which they pass for thousands of
years. 1t points out apparent time, mean or real
time, and ecclesiastical time. On its face you
see the motion Of the stars, of the sun and plan
cts, of the moon and her satellites. Two little
cherubs who sit, one on one side, the other on
the other, strike the quarters OF the hour-Death
strikes the hour with mace, while four figures
pass and repass before him, representing the va
rous stages Of human life.
At IL o'clock every day, when Death strikes
IL, the Apostles, who are represented each with
the badge of his martyrdonl, come out from the
clock and pass before the image OF the Saviour,
bowng as they pass, and receiving his benedc
ton, which he gives with movement Of the
hand. When the Apostle Peter makes his ap-
pearance, gilded cock, which is perched on one
side of the clock, flaps his wings, raises his head,
and crows so long and loud as to make the whole
Cathedral ring again. This he repeats three
times in memorial of the cock that crowed three
times before the fall of Peter, during the crucfx-
ion of our Saviour. Of course the cock makes
no further noise or motion till the next day at II
o'clock, when he repeats the same loud and start
Ing crow, Tapping his wings and raising his head
c. tharo he onlao IN