The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-15
HOW TIME WAS TOLD.
VARIOUS ExPEDIENTS EMPLOYED BE-
FORE THE DAYS OF CLOCKS.
The Clepsydrs Of the Time Of the second
sardsnspslus-Ths sundial Gifted with
Lasting Quaiities-Ths Hourglass and
Other Methods of Telling Time.


Lasting Qualities--Ths Hourglass and
Other Methods Of Telling Time.
The first clock In our sense OF the word
seems to have been flor we are not sure as
to what CLOCKS they were which In S72
the Venetians invented. of which they sent
a specimen to Constantinople) one made
in 1874 for Charles v of France. 1t was
a very big one, weighing several hundred
weight and made by converted Arab,
named Henry de Vic, and those who are
curious may find full details In Froissart.
This clock was put up In the round tower
Of the palace, and for months vast crowds
assembled to watch the novelty's action
and details. 1t is not with this, however,
or any of the succeeding efforts of clock
makers that we are concerned but at far
anterior date with the contrivances by
which men measured time and supplied In
some degree the place of the clock. And
back to remotest ages must we go.
The water clock, otherwise the clepsy-
dra, seems, unless the Psychologists find
something fresh In that land of incessant
discoveries from the most far mists Of
time to have been the first scientific effort
ut noting the hours. A good many people
talk glibly about the clepsydra who neither
know its precise construction nor the ma
ton who have the credit of constructing
1t. That belongs to the Assyrian, and as
far back as at least over 1900 years ago
| the clepsydra was used in Nineveh under
| the sway of the second Sardanapalus. 1t
was brass vessel of cylindrical shape,
holding several gallons of water, which
| could only emerge through one tiny hole
| IN the side. Thus the trickling Of the fluid
marked certain amount of time, and the
water was emptied about half dozen
times per diem. In Nineveh there was one
at the palace, and one in each principal
| district. These were all filed by signal
| from O Waterman on a tower at the mo-
ment of sunrise, and each had an attend
| ant, whose business was to refill the
clepsydra as soon as 1t was emptied, the
fact being announced by criers, much as
| in the last century the Waterman drowsily
shouted the hours at night throughout the
streets of London. Some five centuries
later an anonymous genius made great
improvement by inserting toothed wheels,
which revolving turned two hands on a
dial In clock fashion, thus showing the
progress of the time, which from one fill
ing to emptying averaged az hours. In
this shape the clepsydra, which was then
chiefly procurable in Egypt, became intro
/ duccd to various other nations, including
] Rome, where 1t fourished with various
splendid embellishments until the end of
the empire.
| The sundial stands next In the order of
time to the clepsydra. 1t was invented at
Alexandria some five centuries and a half
B. @. Unlike the water clock, 1t flourished
through all the centuries, even unto our
own days, where 1t fifty adorns many a
] c<o <ovxv cip 10 oil
smooth shady lawn. 1t was naturally Of
| greater constant use In other chimes than
those of our "brumous" isle, from the far
| larger amount of sunshine these enjoyed.
| But some fine and famous sundials have
| long existed within the realm, and the in
( scriptions have not been their least charm
of the past.
During the dark ages the clepsydra
seems to have vanished with the Roman
| empire. It's reintroduction into Europe Is
due to that hero of our young days. the
| Caliph Haroun- al Raschid. the famous po-
tentate of Bagdad having sent In the year
( SO7 "a splendid specimen to Charlemagne.
But just about or little before this time
France had hit on another mode of mark
ing time by the invention of the hour
glass, destined to as long an existence as
the sundial Indeed, properly made. this
was valuable and accurate timepiece,
provided it was regularly turned.
| Wo need not do more than al1udeto the
habit after the reformation, and especial
ly in Scotland, of preachers measuring
their discourses by the hourglass In the
pulpit These marked an hour exactly
Those first made in Charlemagne's day
ran for 10 hours. Alfred the Great hit
upon method of measuring time which
fhnur
very probably some of the monasteries
(then the only homes of knowledge were
acquainted with water clocks land hour
glasses, if not by practical knowledge at
any rate by hearsay. However, the king
dom in general followed Alfred's plan,
which, though ingenious, necessarily lack
ed anything like the accuracy of the other
inventions. Yet the kings idea was hailed
as wonderful effort of genius, which, for
such an era and 10y comparison with the
general ignorance, 1t was. AS every school
boy lin this case literally knows, Alfred
marked time by flashlights. A long ex-
istence, by the way. has the rushlight en-
joyed seeing that middle aged people still
remember its use In the nursery at
night, and the reflection Of the circular
holes in the tall metal shades on the cell
ing. Alfred, says an ancient authority,
THAT no might properly know how the
hours passed, made use Of burning tapers
which were marked with lines, and fixed
in lanthorns, an expedient invented by
himself" $50, by the way, were In S92 the
lanthorns of scraped horn, which still
some old fashioned rustics prefer to glass;.
} But tapers, however, were then very OK
pensive. The king might himself use
, these but probably the rushlight was used
, by people in general.
OF all primitive methods of telling the
time, however, the most curious and
. among the most ancient existed In China
and as tho "cycle of Cathay" has revolved
: unaltered for ages no wonder 1t Is still In
use there. Time was guessed by recourse
to the harmless necessary cat BY exam
ination of her eye the Chinaman could
and can make fair shot at the hour by
inspection Of the creatures pupil. At moor
It is said completely to contract, so that
thin hairlike perpendicular line only do
notes the pupil, which again after moor
! begins to dilate. The floral clock OF Lin
, n@us Is, of course, comparatively modern
, London Standard.