The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-06-07
MISSISSIPPI, THURSDAY. JUNE T. 1883.

and could be kept in running order for
three hundred years, is an impossibility.
Such a piece of mechanism woul d re-
quire the skill of the Great Architect of
worlds.
The history of the Strassburg clock
and the planetarium connected with it
bears witness, like everything else, to
the imperfection of workmanship, and
the frequent necessity of changes and
repairs.
The clock stands in the cathedral, and
dates back to 1852, when it was put up
under the patronage of Berthold de
Buchek, at the time Bishop of StrasS-
burg. As time passed on, the clock got
out of order. and in 1547 three distin-
guished mathematicians were commits
stoned to put it in repair. They all
died before the work was finished, and
Conrad Dasypodius undertook the re-
sponsible task, which he completed in
four years. The clock worked well
until 1888, the year of the Great Revo-
luton, when it struck for the last time.
1t was left undisturpe6 for nearly
fifty years, and fell into a dilapidated
condition, mournful to behold. An eff
fort was then made for its restoration.
This was found to be impossible, for
the works were rendered almost useless
by rust and verdigris. Finally,
Schwilgue, an artist and mathemati-
clan of Strassburg, undertook to re-
pair, modify and reinstate the clock.
He commenced the task in 1886, and,
after working four years, completed it
in 1910.
A mythical story is told of him, which
does not rebound to the honor of his
| fellow-citizens. 1t is said that he had
engaged to construct similar clock for
the capital of one of the Swiss cantons,
and that his ungrateful townsmen put
out his eyes to prevent the fulfillment of
| the contract.
Schwilgue placed the mechanism of
| the old clock in the old casing, after
skillful improvements and alterations,
where it continues to be source OF
proud satisfaction to the inhabitants OF
Strassburg, and an unfailing object of
attraction to travellers from all quarters
of the globe. Besides the remarkable
performance connected with the regular
clock-work, it shows the sidereal time,
the movements of the planetary system
and the procession of the equinoxes. 1t
| is claimed that the mechanism is so per-
| fectly elaborated that it marks the 29th
of February in every leap year.
1t is not impossible that the planeta.
rum may have marked the transit OF
| Venus on the 9th of December last, for
| if the inclination of the orbits of Venus
and the earth to the ecliptic is accurate
| ly represented, Venus must sometimes
be at appoint directly between the earth
and the sun, and consequently make a
transit over his disk. The possibility of
such an occurrence probably never en-
tered the mind of the ancient Conrad
DasypOdius; much less had he power to
make the accurate planetary arrange
ment to bring about a result, after a
lapse of three hundred years, depend
| ing on contingencies then unknown. 1t
was not until the seventeenth century
that Kepler so far improved the planet
ary tables so as to predict that transit
of Venus would occur on the 9th of De-
cember, 1881.
We have no means of knowing what
improvements Schwilgue made in the
ancient piece of mechanism, but it is
safe to say that absolute perfection was
not attained. If Venus did actually
wheel into line between the earth and
sun on the 9th of last December, we are
| inclined to think it must have been
simple coincidence rather than a result
of profound mathematical calculation.
If such were not the case, why did VIC
hear nothing of the transit of Venus in
1874, nor of the six transits of Mercury
that have taken place since the planeta-
rum was put in order in 1S40P-Scien
| Hfc american.