St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-09-19

sumption OF Oll IN lamps arranged fOl
this purpose; elsewhere by the burning
Of candles upon the wicks of which
were placed q series of knots at calcu.
lated intervals 70 mark periodic dura-
tion. In course of years sand-glasses
were employed. Generally they were
regulated to be reversed at the end ci
each half hour. in which case it was in.
dispensablc to have attendants to turn
them forty-eight times a day.
The greatest defect Of all these con.
trivances was that they had no princi.
pie of continuity, and incessant watch.
fulness had to be observed. An effort
was therefore made to supcrsede them,
by having recourse to suspended
weights and the introduction of wheel
work which would move with regulari.
ty. In 1855 one Of these machines was
installed at Westminster hall, and il
drew forth the admiration of the peo-
pie of London.
The introduction Of mean time into
common use was only effected after
much opposition. II took its origin in
Geneva in 1sSO. and slowly made its
way. In London the variable hours
ceased in 1872. It required another
eighteen years to overcome the old Gus
tom in Berlin. and it is difficult to be.
lieve that Paris did not renounce the
daily alteration Of its clocks until 1876
There is q general belief throughout
Christendom that Sunday is siwul.
taneous over the world. What wsuld
the rigid Sabbatarian say il told - q
matter Of fact that Saturday extords
into the middle of Sunday, and MonIay
begins when Saturday ends; and whils
this is actually the case, Sunday itself
extends from the end of Friday to The
first hour of Tuesday, ranging eger
forty-eight hours. Further, that she
same anomaly is common to each Of she
seven days Of the week. Again, I'd cal
time" is familiar expression, but u ID
entirely incorrect There 10 no sJch
thing. The expression ''local time" ID
based upon the theory that time
changes with the longitude; that esch
meridian has . separate and disti net
time. Let us follow this theory cut
Take one hundred or one thou
sand different meridians. All mer:di.
ans meets at two common points, onss in
each of the hemispheres, the poles 20
that at each of these points we would
have one hundred or one thoussnd
different ''local times" This on
ly requires to be stated to es-
tablish the impossibility and absur;ity
of the theory that in nature there IL =
multiplicity of local times"
To effect any measurement there are
two essentials-first, there is a starting
point or zero; second. y scale OF unit
of measurement The Washington
Of 1884 has determined brth
of these. The zero is the instant Of
mean solar passage on the anti-pri.ne
which is one hundred aid
eighty degrees from the meridian Of
The unit is the small.ss
and most available measure Of tiI:e
which nature presents to Us, the period
occupied by a single rotation of tac
earth on its axis, and is denoted by tu O
successive solar passages on the ze,o
meridian.
Let us in imagination place ourselv %
in observation at the north pole, free
from local influences. We would fad
no sunrise, no sunset, neither east a.
west and every radius of directica
would be identical. We have nothil.s z
given but the position of the meridisap
the time-zero. From THE
point suppose we divide tie
horizon into . series of arcs, each ct
fifteen degrees. making the total nun:-
Der twenty-four, and through the en1
Of each arc we draw q meridian. Tn,
passage of the sun over the zero merk..
ian will indicate the commencement al
The time unit, which, according to the
usage of centuries and the decision OF
the Washington conference, is divided
into twenty-four hours. At the end OF
The first hour the sun will be over y
meridian which may appropriately bV
termed the first-hour meridian; at thu
end OF the second hour the solar passage
will have advanced to another meridian
which may be distinguished as the sec
Dnd-hour meridian; and SO passing over
The whole twenty-four.-Engineering