Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-20
FOB MEASURING TIME.
Queer Methods Employed in
Primitive Times.
The Boy Who Dropped Pebbles and the
Monk Who Prayed-Trumpet Blow
ing, Clepsydras, Hour-tilasses and
Modern Clocks and Watches.

ing, C~lepsydras, Hour-tilasses and
Modern Clocks and Watches.
The first people who appear to have
allotted the day into portions were the
Assyrians, who invented the clepsydra,
or water clock. at a period too remote
for precise calculation. All that i.
known for certain is that the apparatus
existed before the overthrow of the first
Assyrian empire by Abaces and Beleses,
in the year 759 B. C.
This water clock was nothing more
than a brass vessel of cylindrical shape
holding several gallons of water. A
very small hole was bored in one of it's
sides, through which the liquid was al
lowed to trickle, and it was calculated
that the vessel could empty itself about
five OF six times a day. Under the
reign of Phul, the royal palace of Nine
yah. and each of the principal districts
OF the city possessed a water clock of
this same shape and capacity. They
were all filled together or us nearly as
possible together, at the signal of a
Waterman stationed aloft on a tower to
proclaim the rising Of the sun, and
they remained all day in the keeping
of officials, whose business it was to
fill them as soon as they became empty.
There was a regular staff OF criers en-
ploycd in connection with each of the
time offices, and as often as the water
clocks were replenished they passed
through the streets shouting out the
fact Tor the benefit of the toWnspeople.
In this way a sort of rough computa-
ton OF the flight of time was obtained.
The intervals between the filling and
emptying OF these vessels were called
watches" and We're of about two
hours and q halls duration. 1t is hard
to suppose that the water clocks kept
very steady pace with each other. The
difficulty OF making by hand vessels of
the aame size. of drilling them with
holes precisely the same diameter and
of supplying them with water of lust
the same density must have given rise
TO a great deal of irregulamty in the
working of these machines.
! The clepsydra remained in its print
tive condition for many centuries, and
it was not until the invention of the
Il dial at Alexandria, $50 years be-
fore Christ, that it underwent any i'm
1:rovement. About that time an Egyp-
tisn OF Memphis added a dial. with a
hand, to the capsydra. The hand re-
Ngolyed on q pivot; and communicated
zN1Sh a string which was fastened to a
float. As the water leaked out the
iloatfell with it, and the tension of the
string caused the hand to move around
with spasmodic Jerks.
This reform, though meritorious in
theory. proved deficient in practice, for
the old difficulty about getting the
clocks to keep step was doubled or
trebled when the system became CON-
plicated with dial. needle, string and
float. But Notwithstanding its draw
backs, the improvement was a valuable
one, because it prepared the way for
further changes and led to the perfec-
ton Of the water clock by the substitu-
ton of a system of denied wheels for
those already in use. The wheels were
set to work On the watcr-mill principle,
and the addition OF a second needle al
lowed the clock to mark the factions of
the different ''Watches."
This was the plus ultra SO far as the
clepsydra was concerned. 1t dates
from $50 years before Christ, and
Egypt which had become the great
mart of the new time-piece, exported
them to the different countries of the
East as rare curiosities and at fabulous
prices. When Pompev returned to
Rome, in the year 81 before Christ,
from triumphing over Antiochus and
trophies he brought with him from the
t,,,c,,,.oc nf 1ln K;, ~ ~ pN,,t,,o 11,,c ~,
Egyptian clepsydra, marking the hours
OF horoiogy in use in Rome.
The cylinder which served as a re-
-ceptacle for the water was of gold, as
was also the dial plate. The hands
were studded with small rubies, and
each of the ciphers that denoted the
twenty-four hours of the day was cut
out Of a sapphire. The cylinder only
needed rcplcnishing once a day.
Then came the age of total darkness
that followed the overthrow of the
Roman Empire. The barbarians who
conquered the imperial city had very
primitive modes Of marking the course
of time. At the break of day, when
the clieftain of the camp or village
rose, a boy slave came and took his
position at the entrance of the hut and
sat there with two helmets, one full of
pebbles and the other empty before
him. His business was to transfer the
pebbles. one by one, from the first he'll
met to the second, and not too fast,
after which he surrendered the posi-
ton to so1ne one else, who repeated
the operation, and SO on until it be-
came dusk. AS the helmets were large
and the pebbles small, it took two
hours to make the transfer.
As o as The helmet had been emp
tied, the fact was proclaimed through
the camp by the striking OF a sword