The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1863-01-09
Clocks.

Of time, was, undoubtedly, the observation
of the suns motion. In almost all climates
the morning, noon, ard evening would be
readily distinguished. The Babylonians
appear TO be the first who obtained great
er accuracy by the invention of the suu-
dial; at what epoch is not exactly known;
but it was evidently al a very remote pe--
rlod. The dial Of Ahaz, mentioned by
Isaiah, must have existed eight centuries
before the Christian era ; and 1t is a curl.
Gus example of the little communication
which existed in ancient times between
the nations of the world that this instru-
ment was unknown to the Greeks, until
about $40 b. G.. One of these Grecau
sun dias is preserved in the British
Museum. 1t is corjecturel that it served
to show the hour in one Of the cros--ways
of Athens. The Greek inscription, placed
on the x'erior o: the two western faces,
states, that " Pbadrus, the son of Zoilus,
a P1onian, made this
A few centuries latter, the Egyptians,
in order 10 distinguish the hours at night
and in cloudy weather, invented the
clepsl dra or watey-clock: probably mere
float, with a rod fixed upon it like mast
and placed in a vessel or water with hole
at the bottom; as the water ran out, the
float descended, and figures marked On the
rod, At proper intervals. showed the mum
Der Of hourse elapsed. The sand-g!ass,
made Ike the modern hour glass, was al
so used in ancient times, as appears from
pas relief. representing the marriage OF
Pelens aud Thetis, in which is the figure
Of Morpheus, holding glass Of this con-
struction.
The period Of the inyention Of wheel
clocks is involved in uncertainty; some
authors stating it 10 have been as early as
the fourth, and others as late As the tenth
century. The cause of this disagreement
is, that the word clock has been used to
designate the ciepsydra AMI hour>glass;
and probably the clocks meniioned by old
chroniclers, and set down by modern al
thors as proofs Of the antiquity OF the in
vention, were some notifications of these
Instruments. Such probably was the
clock sent by Paul |, to Pein lie Bsef, in
76O.
The French historians describe clock
sent 10 Charemague in S07 by Harounal
Raschd, tie Calph of the East, which
struck the hours by ihe falling of twelve
brass balls upon bell. 1t had also twelve
horsemen, who came out, one at time
at separate doors. which they opened and
closed again. This clock mast certainly
have been furnished with some kind Of
wheel work but the moving power is said
to have been the fall of water
In thetwelth century. clocks moved bv
weights, appear to have been u~el ia Ilav;
and, early in Tie fourteenth, one nas put
up in london, By WalIingf,i,l monk,
who d;ed in 1926 whcl, was SAID to show
the time with accuracy In the year I344
Giscono Dondi erected, At I'adua, his cele-
brated clock which besides the hour of
the dav. shovel the course Of ;he sun in
elip.ic and the places of the plan t.. The
celebrity acquired by this clock. was the
cause of great Advancement in the art:
almost every court in Europe was desirous
Of possessing similar work; and skillful
mechanics were. in consequence, inducet
to turn their attention to the manufacture.
Is author was ii rnif;e with t! @ surname
of IIoroogius, which is still borne by his
descendants, the c,lef Of whom, the MARI
chose Dondi OgoIogio, was lately, and,
most likely, still is, a resident at Padua.
A story, told of Louis NI, Osinc Of
France from 1861 to 1883 shows tha: the
art then had made great advances. A
gentleman, who had lost great deal Of
money at play, S o'e clock be onging to
the king, and hid it in his sleeve In
short time, The clock, which continued to
20, notwithstanding its removal, struck
the hour, and tie theft was ofcourse dis
covered. Louis, as capaicious ia kindness
as in tyranny, not only parlonel the GU,
pri,. but made him present of the clock.
All these Instruments, though much
sroerior to the clep~yira, and celebrated
at the period Of their invention for the
accuracy OF Their movements, gave accord