The Penn's Grove record., 1885-02-14
Uioop, and watches.

The first people who appear 70 nave
allotted the day in portions were the
Assyrians, who invented the c~lcpsydra,
or water clock, at a period too remote
for precise calculation. All that Is
known for certain is, that the apparatus
existed before the overthrow Of the first
Assyrian empire by Abaces aud Bsleses,
in the year 7j0 B. O. This water CLOCK
was nothing more than a brass vessel
vi cylindrical shape holding seYeta.
gallons Of water. A very small hole
was bored in one of Its sides, through
which the liquid was allowed TO trickIe,
and It was calculated that the vessel
could empty itself about FIVE OF six
times q day,
The clepsvdra remained in its print
tive condition for many centuries, and
It was not until the invention Of the
sun dial az Alexandria, $50 yeats before
Christ, that it underwent any improve.
ment. About that time au Egyptian Of
Memphis added a dial, with a hand, TO
the clepsydra. The hand reYolved OF
a pivot, and communicated with a string
which was fastened to a float. As the
water leaked ont the float iell with 1t,
and the tension of the string caused the
hand TO move around with spasmOdic
Jerks. This reform, though m]eritorious
IL theory, proved deficient in practice.
Egypt, which had become the great
mart Of the new timepIece, exported
ctepsydras to the different countries OF
the East as rare c~uriosities and at
fabulous prices. When Pompey re
turned t. Rome in the year 62 before
Christ, from trIumpbing over Autiochus
aud MithrIdates, n of the most val
liable trophies 1t brought with him
from the treasures of the king OF
Pontus was an Egyptian clepsydra,
marking the hours and minutes ac-
carding to the method Of horology IN
use III Rome. The cylinder which
served IS a receptacle for the water
wal OF gold, as was also the dial
plate. Tie hands were studded with
small rubies, and each Of the ciphers
that denoted the Uwenty-fours of the
day Was cut ont of a sapphire. The
cylinder only needed replenishing once
a day. Then came the age of total
darkness that followed the overthrow OF
the Roman empire, when science, art,
and everything that was refined fell
into contempt and OBLIVION. The bar
buriaus who conquered the imperial
city had very primitive modes OF mark
ing the course of time. The methods
differed according to the locality. In
peasant districts tue iaborer reckoned
by the number of burrows he could
pIow, or, if it was harvest time, by the
---AsL- -E a-v, In a9vflI raaV In
towns where some remnant Of Roman
civilization survived the reckoning was
kept by Watchmen. At daybreak a
soldier started on foot, or, if the town
was "a large one, on horseback, to walk
around the CITY. When he had gone
his rourl the first watch was over, and
he returned to his quarters blowing
loudly on a trumpet, when a second
set out IL silence to perform the
watch. This continued unin.
terruptedly day and night, the only
difference being that after sunset there
was no trumpet blowing, and the watch
men, instead Of going round singly,
went their rounds III patches of ten or a
dozen. AS a last instance Of barbarous
cG%rguonetry, allUsion should be made
10 the method employed in monasteries.
Tie monks were III the habit of COM
putting time by the number of prayers
they could say, and it was from this
that the custom OF wearing chaplets OF
beads arose.
1t was the famous Caliph OF Bagdad,
Hsrouu-al Raschid, who restored the
old water clock to Europe. In the year
S07, he sent a very beautiful cIepsydra
to C~harlemagne, but 1t was looked upon
q thing to be admired and not to be
copied after. The reason OF this was
that the sabiier. sand glass, had been
invented in France shortly before the
accession of Charlemagne, and this CON
triyauce was considered handler and
more simple than the other. The first
sablier was invented by the man who
~re-invented the blowing of glass after
the secret had been lost for years.
He was q monk OF Charities named
Lultpraud, and the sand-glass he made
was the exact prototyL o of all those
that have been made since. Ii con-
sisted Of two pear-shaped receptacles
joined by their slender ends. When
the sand had I'll Fad from one end to
the other, the lower glass was turned
uppermost. and kept IN that position
until empty. Charlemagne caused a
monster sabiier to be made with the
horal divisions marked on the outside
by thin lines Of red paint. THIS was
the first ~hour.glass. 1t required to be
turned over only once in twelve hours,
and it kept time with as much precis-
ion IS the best of our lever clocks.
Many persons still consider the hour
glass the best time-keeper ever invented.
King Alfred devised a method of COM
putting time by means OF a rush light
set in a lantern. Anything more unsat-
isfactory or expensive than this it was
impossible t imagine.
The first real clock was set IN in
1874, during the reign of Charles Y. of
France. Tue maker was one Henri de
Vic, al Arab, who had been converted
Christianity. This clock was q monster
machine, weighing five hundred weight.
1t was put up N the round tower OF the
royal palace, o the PalaIs de Justice,
and attracted crowds for several months
after 1t was erected. The maker re-
ceiYed a pension of a hundred crowns
of gold for life and was ennobled. He
Is the first artiticer on whom this dis
tinction was ever conferred in France,
From this time the making OF large
clocks for public edifces was extern
siyely carried on throughout Europe.
But it was not until the beginning OF
the Sixteenth century that small clocks
were made for apartments. The first
one came from Florence in 1918. as a
present from Julio de Medlci to King
Francis I. of France. The invention Of
watches had preceded by a few years
that of small clocks. Popular tradition
ascribes the invention of watches to
Peter Hele of Nuremburg, ia the year
1870. But King Robert of Scotland
possess ell one as far back as 1910.
German watches were not introduced
at the English court until 1897. They
cost fabulous sums of money, and we're
made in fancy forms, such as acorns,
olives, walnats and crosses, and were
also worn as pendants to ladies' brace
lets. Claude, wife of Francis / of
France, had one so small that it was set
-, w,r,v II4wa,a - UaEs~I--- -