The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-04
Ms1ORY OE SCIENTIFIC PROGREss.
tim E.MEAS URBRS.
IN TWO pARTs.-PART l.

ef IN TWO PARTs.-PART l.
There is. perhaps no subject more Interest
ing TO human nature than that OF Time; Hino 4.
eternity, IL concerns us all; ana unilSS S.e' ~
exaots "a we'll as demands our attention true,
oa S;~ yv.Iter Scott writes, 'it is but shadowy
So,sI - y s,ccsssion of breathings measured
s"NIts ! . ,,SSbt with the clank OF bell, by
Say ri,b Il shadowy crossing along DIAL
stono' - lint we cannot shut our eyes tor very
long to the fact Of its passage II IN our youth
-~aetrive 10 kilt it, so all the more in our age
AZ 40 40 strive TO lengthen its too brief hours
ont Fven the means by which to note its
course have naturally engaged the minds Of
mon In all ages; they have been very diverse
and ingenious, aud due record Of them can
NOT fail to contain many curious particulars.
Among the early Romans the day was di-
Vided into twelve hours, from sunrise to sun
set, the length of which, therefore, varied with
the seasons. The Egyptians, Mexicans and
Persans reekoned the day to begin from sun
rise, and divided it into four intervals, deter
mined by the rising and setting of the sun,
and its two passages over the meridian. Our
own uniform hours Of sixty minutes each
could scarcely have come into use until some-
thing like the wheel-olook was invented; the
ancient sun-dial represented hours of length
varying with the seasons, and the clepsydra
(Or water-clock) was adjusted to furnish hours
Of fifty to seventy minutes each, to suit the
changing lengths Of day and night. Clocks,
even 80 late as the reign of James /, were often
called hOrologes; and up to the fourteenth CEN
tgry the word clock was applied only to the
bell which rang out the hours, or certain pc
RODS determined by the sun-dial or sand
glass. To this day the bell of Wells Cathedral
is still called the horologe.
The clepsydra is said to have been invented
by the censor Scipio Nasica, 595 B. G.
The principle Of these early time-measurers
was a very simple one. "In those of
the common kind, the water issued drop
by drop through small hole in the vessel
that contained it, and fell into receiver, in
which some light floating body marked the
height of the water as it rose, and by these
means the time that had elapsed In bas-
relief of the date of the Lower Empire,
figuring the Hippodrome in Constantinople, a
clepsydra, in the shape of an oviform vase,
appears. 1t is very simply mounted, being
traversed by an axis, and turned with a
crooked handle. By this contrivance, the in
stantaneous inversion of the vase was secured,
and the contents escaping in certain definite
time, showed the number of minutes which
were taken up by each misSus, or course vi
truvius tells us Of the construction of clep-
sydra which, besides the hours, told the
moons age, the zodiacal sign for the month,
and several other things; in fact, it was q regu-
lar astronomical clock. His details now read
somewhat obscure and complicated; but the
principle was that float, as it moved upwards
by means Of a vertical column fixed in
it, drove different sets Of cog-wheels, which
impelled in their turn other sets, by means of
which figures were to move, obelisks to twirl
round, pebbles to be discharged, trumpets to
sound and many other tricks to be put into
action. The adrnission-pipe for the water was
made either of gold or perforated gem, in
order that it might not wear away, or be liable
TO get foul. The floats sometimes communi-
Gated with wheels, which worked hands on
dias, or supported human figures, which
pointed with hands to certain numbers as the
water rose;' and in some ingenious water
clocks the fluid flowed as tears from eyes OF
automata; but all these cIepSydrB had two
great defects-the one being, that the flow
varied with the density of the atmosphere;
the other, that the water. flowed quicker at
last than at first. They were, however, put
to one excellent use, which has, unhappily,
fallen into decay--they were set up in the
law courts to time counsel; to prevent bab-
bling, that such as spoke ought to be brief in
their speeches. For this custom, the world
was indebted to the Romans Especially Pom
pey), and from it Martial is supplied with a
pleasant sarcasm: perceiving a dull declaimer
mOstening his lips with glass of water, he
suggests that it would be relief to the audi
ence as well as to himself if he would take
liquor from the olepsydra."
modern story, with reference to another
learned profession, but of a somewhat similar
Samuel Parr (who died in lS25) had preached
the Spital sermon at Christ Church, on the
invitation of the Lord Mayor of London (Har-
vey Combe), and as they were issuing out Of
the church together-'W says Parr, how
did you like the sermon p
"'Why, Doctor replies his Lordship,
there were four things in it that did not like
to hear
&" State them.
''To speak frankly, then, they were the
Quarters of the church clock, which struck
four times before you had finished"
With some mechanical additions, the
ancient clepsydras were made to do wonderful
things besides stopping lawyers tongues.
HarOun- al -Raschid sent Tin 500, by two
monks of Jerusalem, to the Emperor Charlie
magne brass water-clOck, the dial of which
was composed of twelve small doors repre-
senting the divisions of the hours; each door
opened at the hour it was intended to repre-
sent, and out of it came the same number Of
little balls, which fell one by one, at equal dis
tances Of time, on brass drum. 1t might be
told by the eye what hour it was by the num-
Der Of doors that were open, and by the ear,
by the number of balls that fell. When it was
IL o'clock twelve horsemeR in miniature issued
forth at the same time, and, marching around
the dial, shut all the doors.
Hour-glasses, called clepsammia, in which
sand took the place of water, were modif-
cations OF the clepsydr@. Candle-cloczs
were used as time measurers by some. and
especially by our own Alfred the Great.
''To rightly divide his time he adopted the
following simple expedient, he procured
as much wax as weighed seventy-two nennv-
weights, which he commanded TO he made
into six candles, each twelve inches in length,