The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-10-18

She had neither enemies nor friends. Her
life was useless; her death mere blank
" So live that, sinking in thy last long Sleep
Smiles may be thine, while all around thee weep
~~e~N
CT ks.
The first mode of measuring the lapse
of time was, undoubtedly, the observation
Of the suns. motion. In almost all eli
mates, the morning, noon and evening
would be readily distinguished. The
Baby lonians appear to have been the first
who obtained greater accuracy by the ill.,
ventiou Of thc'sun-dial, at what epoch is
not exactly known, but it was evidently
at very remote period. The dial OF
Ahaz, mentioned by Isaiah, must have
existed eight centuries before the Ch! is
llan era and ii is curious example of
the communication which existed III an.
cirnt times between the nations OF the
world, that this instrument was unknown
to the Greeks until abont GAO, B. T.. \
Grecian sundial is preserved in the Brit
i>h Museum. 1t is cOnjectu,cd that it
served to show the hour in one OF the
cross ways of AtherS. The Greek in
ScriPtion, placed upon the exterior Of the
two western faces. states that "Phadrus,
the son of XoiiuS, Paonian, made this. "
y few centuries later, the Egyptians,
in order to distinguish the hours at night
and in cloudy weather, invented the clcp-
sydra, or water clock-probably a mere
float, with rod fixed upon it like a mast,
and placed in vessel Of water with a hole
at the bottom; as the water ran out, the
float descended, and figures marked on
the rod at proper intervals showed the
number OF hours elapsed. The Sand.glasS,
made like the modern hour-glaSs, was also
used in ancient times, from q basrelief,
representing the marriage of Pe!cuS and
IhctlS, which is figure Of Morpheus,
holding a g lass # this construction.
[. The period of the invention Of wheel
clocks is involved in uncertainty y-somC
authors stating it to have been as eariv n
the fourth, alId others aS late as the tenth
ccttury. The Cau>c Of this disagreement
is that the word " clock' has been used
to designate tie clcp>ydra aud hour glass;
and probably the clocks mentioned by old
chroniclers, and set down by modern au.
thorS as proofs Oi the antiquity of the in
ventiOn, were some notifications of these
Instruments. Such. Probably, was the
clock ,cnl 10y Paul |. to Repin lie Bret, in
$50.
The French historians describe n clock
sent to Charlcmagne, in SO7, by liarour
al l;aschid, the Caiph OF the East, which
stuck the hours 10y the falling OF twelve
hoi oiscmcn, who came out, one at time
at separate doors, which they opened anC
closed again. This clock must certainly
have been furnished with some kind O
wheel-work but the moving power is sale
To have been the fall OF water.
In the twelfth century, clocks, moved
10y weights, appear TO have been used it
ltal Y and, early in the fourteenth ccntu
ry, one was put up in London, by Wal
lngiord, a monk, who diedin 1925, which
was said to show the time with accuracy
In the year 1874, Giacomo Dondi erected
at Padua, hi, celebrated clock, which, be
sides the Ia ur Of the day, showed til,
course Of the sun aud The places of tn,
planets. The celebrity acquired by thi.
clock was the cause Of great advancement
i'll the art Almost every courtiu Eurup,
was dr>irouS OF possessing similar work
aud Skilltui mechanics were, in conse
qnence, induced TO turn their attention t
the manufacture. Its author was digni
/ fled by the surname OF Horoogius, which
is still borne by his descendants, the chic
of whom, the MarcheSse Dondi. Orologio
was lately, and most likely still is, a resi-
dent Of Padua.
y story told Of Louis XT., (King o
France from 14G1 to 1852 shows tina
the art lad then made great advances. :
y gentleman, who had lost a great deal O
money at play, stole clock belonging +
,he king, and hid it in his sleeve. In
short time the clock, notwithstanding it
removal struck the hour, and the thet
was, Of course, discovered. Louis, as ca
precious in Kindness as in tyranny, no
! only parlonv@ tnc culprii, oul made hii
u present Of the clock.
All these instruments, though mucI
superior to the clepSydra, and celebrate,
at the period of their invention for the ac
curacy Of their movements, gave, accord
! ing TO our present notions, but coarse aI
, Proclamation to the true time. They wer
retarded greatly when a particle Of dus
got into their works, and accelerated whc
cleaned. AS to the minute divisions G
time, they were quite useless. Tych
Brahe, an astronomer who lived in tn
sixteenth century, and who spared no eX
penSe or trouble in then construction
found that no dependence could he place
upon them for his observations.
The adaptation of the pendulum by tn
celebrated Huypens, in 1867, at ono
brought clock making to perfection. Th
clock, which had hitherto merely serve
to divide the day into periods of suffi cien
accuracy for the details of business, o
the hours of eating and sleeping now be
came the means of recording the minutes
lapse Of time, of showing the smallest il
regularitieS in the apparent motions {
the sun and planets. and Of reducing as
tronomy to the eXactneSs of mathematics
reasoning. Increased skill in workman
ship has, of course, produced greater &C
curacy; but the pendulum is still tn
means Of giving the effect.
mn
THOMAS Ogden having arrived in Ne,
York from England, went several surccS,
i've mornings to the poSt.ofticc to ask fu
letters. lnquiring always for letters ad
dressed to Thomas llogdcn, the postmas
ter invariably replicd That there was non