The Osceola times., 1879-05-03
HISTORY OF CLOCKS.
Their use Dafes Bach 20 the Time ef Tn
Assy rfans.

nlSlOht Of CLOth>s
Their uss Date. Bach 10 the Time Of the
| Assyrtans'
The periods OF the day were first
measured by the Assyrians with water
clocks, which, according TO early Persian
authors. were in use In Ninevah In the
reign of Ssrdsnspslus. This clock was
merely brass vessel of cylindrical shape,
holding several gallons of water. A hole
WAS bored In one Of the sides, and 1t
WAS calculated that the vessel would
empty itsel five or six times day.
The water clock, or clepsydra, contin-
ued TO remain in its primitive condit on
for many centuries and 1t was not until
the invention of the sun dial at Alexsn.
dria, $50 years before Christ, that il un.
derwent any improvement. About that
time, however, an Egyptian Of Memphis,
added dial with hand to the clepsy-
dra. The hand revolved on pivot and
communicated to a string which was to
] foat. As the water leaked out the float
fell with it, and the tension OF the string
caused the hand to move around with
slight, spssmodic jerks, something like
tho'e of the secondhand OF watch OF
/
inferior make.
When Pompey returned TO Rome
after mis- triumph over the Mithridites,
he brought with him, from the treasures
OF the king of Pontus, clepsydra mark
ing the hours and minutes according to
the method horology in use in Rome.
The cylinder and dial plates were of
gold, and the hands studded with small
rubies; each of the ciphers denoting the
hours was cut from a single sapphire.
The cylinder needed replenishing only
once day.
The monks of the order OF st. Benedict,
instituted in the year 523, computed the
time by the number of prayers they
could say, and it uss hence that the
custom Of wearing cbsplets or beads
arose. The task assigned TO each monk
was to recite as many "paters" and
"aves" RS there were beads on his string,
and rs the orthodox number on chaplet
was supposed to be then, ~ now, thirty
three-that is one for each year OF our
Savior's life-there was work for full
hour and a half, il conscientiously per-
formed.
The famous Calipb of Bsgdad, Haroun
al Raschid, restored the old water clock
TO Europe in the year 807, and sent a
magnificent clepsydra as a token OF
friendship TO Charlemsgne but the
present was looked upon az thing rather
TO be admired than copied, for we find
no mention OF any water clocks Of French
make until the reign OF Philip, cotem.
porary with William the Conqueror.
The first real clock was made in France
In the year 1874 The maker was one
Henri de Vic, an Arab, who had been
converted to Christianity. This clock
WAS monster machine, weighing 500
pounds 1t WAS moved by weights, was
possessed OF a horizontal lever, and pro.
vided with a bell to toll the time. The
maker received pension of 100 crowns
o gold for life and was enobled
Horology was first applied to astron>
omicsl calculations by Purbach in 1900,
and in 1860 the Danish astronomer.
Tycho Brahe, the teacher of the great
Kepler, set up in his magnificent observ.
story of Craniesburg a clock which
marked both the minutes and the
seconds
Popular tradition ascribes the inven-
ton OF watches to Peter Hele, Ct Eurem
burg, in the year 1870. But then il is a
notorious fact that King Robert, OF Scot
land, possessed one 30 far back az the year
1910. The only way in which we can
account for this discrepancy is by the
supposition that watches were originally
invented by Scotchman, but that the
maker died suddenly without promulgs.
ting his secret. German watches were
not introduced at the English court until
1897. The first seen in England was
worn by the beautiful Lady Arabella
Stuart. Claude wife OF Francis |. OF
France, had one 30 small that it was set
in ring.
In 1880, Galileo conceived the idea OF
a pendulum clock. The theory was after.
ward put into practice in 1887 by Hu.
gems in Holland.
Tneinvention of spring pocket watches,
such as we now wear, is owing to the
Englishman Hooxe; it dates from 1858 /;
and eighteen years after this, in the
year 1876, the first repeating watch was
made at Amsterdam From this time
until the present century, when chron-
ometers and stop-wstches were invented
the science OF horoloey received no
| further development.