Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-29

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p~ Of time is enhanced in pro
w ~ portion to the multiplicity
~1Mof the demands upon it
|. H which an existing state of
N N society involves. II is only
!: =: !:
necessary to divide the day
and night into definite parts.
The primitive notion Of time was necessarily
regulated by hunger. When the savage felt
gnawing he realized that the hour for a meal
had arrived. Naturally, inasmuch as a human
being wants food usually three times a day. this
would make q definite division of the waking
hours Noon was the first point Of time recog-
nlzed, because it is midway between breakfast
and supper and the sim at that hour suggests
that the middle Of the day has come.
RECKONING BY SHADOWS.
1t was natural that men should know how to
reckon the time Of day by shadows thrown al
most as soon as they learned anything. but for
ages no attempt was made to subdivide the day.
Many centuries elapsed after the word moon"
had been coined before there was any further
DIVISION OF the time required for a single revo-
luton OF the earth. Not until civilization had
progressed to a point considerably advanced
were the hours observed and recorded. 1t is q
tween savages, who need no clock save their
digestive functions, and modern peoples, who
run their lives by minutes and seconds. Think
for example. of the schedules made a whole
season in advance for railway trains, each
one OF which is set down TO arrive at each place
at q certain moment of every day, the whole
system being regulated by management which
Is obliged primarily to consider the safety of
lives and property. When You compare such
an organized method ID this with the conduct
OF business affairs among savages, you get some
notion OF what civilization has accomplished.
PRIMITIVE CLOCKS.
Therefore one finds interest in tracing the
progress of civilization through the develop
ment Of mechanical apparatus for the record
keeping instruments existed in the past-the
sun dial, the water clock and the graduated
candle. lnasmuch as the List of these was not
productive OF any subsequent advance in the
art OF keeping time it may be left out of con-
sideration. The sun dial was naturally the first
of all timekeepers. In the development of
what was destined to be the clock the next
stage was found in the ''clepsydra'' or water
CLOCK. This latter instrument is said to have
been the invention of the Babylonians, who
were certainly acquainted with the sun dial
The latter device for marking time was intro
dueed as novelty abou. 700 BIC. in Jerusalem
by King Ahaz. who brought this and other new
and queer things back with him at that date
from Damascus, whittier he had gone to make
submission to the King of Assyria. But even
at that time the sun dial had been so far deyel-
Oped as to be a graduated instrument with de-
gree marks on it showing the daily course of
the SUM- 1t is probable that at that period no
knowledge was made public regarding the sun
dlal the priests and magi, who were professors
OF science az well as Of religion, considering it
garded as an astrological mystery.
THE SIN mai
AT all events no representations Of the sun
dial appear on the monuments of ancient Egypt
and Assyria, which so faithfully record in a
general way the life and doings of the people
OF those times. 1t was in the sixth century
before Christ that the sun dial was first intro4
duced into Greece. HerodOtus saws that it was
obtained from the Babylonians. from which
source also, according to his account was de-
rived the notion of dividing the day into
twelve parts. At the beginning the sun dial was
o mere staff or pillar. The length OF the
shadow made by the pillar determined the
times for the performance of regular day du-
ties. At Athens, when the shadow was six feet
long, it was time for the bath; when it was
twelve feet long the hour had arrived for SUP
per and so on. The Athenians had no word for
any subdivision Of the day beyond forenoon.
midday and afternoon. As late as the time of
Augustus the shade cast by an obelisk in
Rome served to record the time for the citi-
Zens.
The most primitive water-cloc, is found on
board Malay proa. usually piratical. in the
shape of a cocoanut shell that floats in the bot
tom of the boat, with a small perforation
through which the water slowly makes its way
So proportioned is this orifce that the shell
fills and sinks at the end of one hour. In
northern India you find this water clock further
developed in the shape Of a copper bowl. which
operates in the same way, but Is attended by a
slave whose duty it is to stand by and, watch
ing the moment Of the sinking, strike the hour
on the resonant metal A step beyond this il
exhibited by the Chinese plan Of filling a per
forated metal bowl with water and calculating
the hour by the time required for the leaking
out OF the contents.
THE CHINESE WATER CLOCK
Curiously enough, until a comparatively
recent period the Chinese were far ahead of all
other peoples in the development of time-keep-
ing apparatus. They elaborated the water
clock to such point that its highest develop
ment at their hands constitutes almost a con-
Meeting link between the cepsydra and the
modern clOok. There was time when China.
rs you may know, was progressive nation, and
during that period were developed inventions
for which Europe had hundreds of wears to
wait. Their arrangement was one composed
Of vessel filed with water which discharped
its contents into another vessel and on the
surface Of the water foated q cork, with a
needle attachment that registered the time on
q scale.
WET AND DRY.
In ancient Greece the water clock was in
common use. II was employed in the law
courts to regulate the time of speeches, and in
thus way IT came about that 'orations were
spoken OF commonly as either ''wet" or dry"
When case was being tried that was of great
moment to the state, each side was allowed ten
jars of water, holding fifty gallons altogether
Unfortunately, it is not known how long it took