The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-01
HISTORY OF CLOCKS.
Their Use Dates Back to the Time 0t u
Assyrtank.


Their Use Dates Back to the Time of The
AssyrtanH.
The periods of the dsy were first
measured by the Assyrisns with water
clocks, which, according to early Persian
authors, were in use in Ninevah in the
reign of Sardanspalus. 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 clepsydrs, contin-
ued to remain in its primitive condition
for many centuries; and it was not until
/ the invention of the sun dial at Alexan.
dria, $50 years before Christ, that it un.
derwent any improvement. About that
time, however, sp Egyptian of Memphis,
added dial with hand to the ciepsy-
dra. The hand revolved on PIVOT and
communicated to string which was to
float. As the water leaked out the float
/ fell with it, and the tension OF the string
caused the hand to move around with
slight, spasmodic jerks, something like
tho-e of the secondhand OF q watch OF
inferior make.
When Pompey returned to Rome
after his 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 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 MAS hence that the
custom of wearing chaplets or beads
arose The task assigned to each monk
was to recite as many "paters" and
"aves" as there were beads ON his string,
| and as the orthodox number on a chaplet
was supposed 70 be then, as now, thirty
three-that is one for each year of oul
Savior's life-there was WORK for full
hour and half, If conscientiously per-
formed.
The famous Caliph Of Bsgdad, Harour
al Raschid, restored the old water clocE
to Europe in the year S07, and sent (
magnificent clepsydra as token o
; friendship to Charlemagne but thu
present was looked upon as thing rathe
to be admired than copied, for we flnt
no mention of any water clocks OF Frencl
make until the reign of Philip, cotem
porary with William the Conqueror.
! al = do Eror1
in the year 1874. The maker was on
Henri de Vic, an Arab, who had bee
converted to Christianity. This cloc
was a monster machine, weighing so
r pounds 1t was moved by weights, ws
possessed of horizontal lever, and pro
vided with bell to toll the time. Th
2 maker received a pension of 100 GROVE
o. gold for life and was enobled.
Horology was first applied to astror
omical calculations by Purbsch in l5Oi
and in 1860 the Danish astronome
: Tycho Brshe, the teacher of the gres
2 Kepler, set up in his magnificent obser'
r atory of Crsniesburg clock whic
! marked both the minutes and th
! seconds.
! Popular tradition ascribes the invel
, ton of watches to Peter Hele, of Nuren
! burg, in the year 1890. But then it is
notorious fact that King Robert, of SEQ
land, possessed one so far back as the yes
, 1910. The only way in which we ca
, account for this discrepancy is by th
supposition that watches were original
: invented by Scotchman, but that tn
maker died suddenly without promulg;
ting his secret. German watches wei
not introduced at the English court Ent
1897. The first seen in England WIS
, worn by the beautiful Lady ATabell
Stuart. Claude. wife OF Francis l. {
, France, had one so small that it was st
in ring.
In 1880, Calico conceived the idea {
, a pendulum clock. The theory was after
ward put into practice in 1887 by Hu
| gems in Holland.
Theinventiono of spring pocket watche
such as we now wear, is owing to tn
Englishmsn Hooke; it dates from 1865
and eighteen years after this, in th
year 1876, the first repeating watch ws
made at Amsterdam From this tim
, until the present century, when chror
ometers and stop-watches were invented
the science OF horology received n
4 further development.