The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-10
ORDINARY SUN DIAL, CAME NExT.
The Eye OF Cat and the Petals of
Certain Flowers Also Were
Used.

listing without its main spring, the
clock. Yet this indispensable accom-
paniment Of our daily life is but just
over five centuries old, which, in COM
parison with the long duration of an
cient vanished but complex civiliza-
ton. Of which the Egyptian is the most
conspicuous, Is a very moderate extent
of time.
The first clock, in our sense of the
word, seems to have been (for we are
not sure as to what clocks they were
which, in S72, the Venetians invented,
Of which they sent specimen to Con-
stantinople) one made in 1874 for
Charles v, of France. 1t was a very
big one, weighing several hundred
weight, and made by a 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 clockmakers.
that we are concerned, but at a far
anterior date, with the contrivances by
which men measured time and supplied
And back to remotest ages must we go.
THE MOST ANCIENT TIME-PIECE.
The water clock, otherwise the clep-
sydra, 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 at noting the hours. A
good many people talk glibly about the
Il
construction nor the nation which has
the credit of constructing it, That be-
longs to the Assyrian, and as far back
as at least over $500 years ago the
clepSydra was used in NineVeh under
the sway of the second Sardanapalus.
1t was a brass vessel of cylindrical
shape, holding several gallons of water,
which could only emerge through one
tiny hole in the side. Thus the trick
ling of the fluid marked a 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 dis
trict. These were all filled by signal
from a Waterman on a tower at the
moment of sunrise land each had an
attendant, 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 watch
men drowsily shouted the hours at
night throughout the streets of Lon
don Some five centuries later an
anonymous genius made a great i'm
provement by inserting toothed wheels,
which, revolving, turned two hands on
dial in clock-fashion, thus showing
the progress of the time, which from
one filling to emptying averaged two
hours and a half. In this shape the
clepsydra, which was then chiefly pro-
durable in Egypt, became introduced
to various other nations, including
Rome, where it flourished with various
splendid embellishments until the end
OF the empire. n 81
USE OF THEtSUN DIAL.
The sun dial stands next in order of
time to the clepsydra, 1t was invented
at Alexandria some five centuries and
a half B. c. Unlike the water cloak,
it flourished through all the centuries,
even unto our own days where 1t fifty
adOrns many stately TOR simple old
world garden and smooth, shady lawn.
1t was naturally of greater constant
use in other climes than those of our
"brumous" isle, from the far larger
amount of sunshine these enjoyed. But
some fine and famous sun dials have
long existed within the realm, and the
charm of the paste During the dark
ages the clepsydra seems to have van
ished with the Roman empire. It's re-
introduction into EurCpeiis due to that
hero of our young days, the Caliph
Haroun-al- Raschid, the famous poten-
tate of Bagdad having sent in the
year SO7 a splendid specimen to Char
lemagne. But just about or a little be-
fore this time France had hit on an
other mode of marking time by the in
vention of the hour glass. destined TO
as long an existence as the sun dial
Indeed, properly made, this was valu-
able and accurate timepiece, provided
1t was regularly turned.
We need not do more than allude to
the habits after the reformation, and
especially in Scotland, Of preachers
measuring their discourses by the hour
glass in the pulpit. These marked an
hour exactly. Those first made in
Charlemagne's day ran for twelve
hours Alfred the Great hit upon q
method of measuring time which shows
that there was no Saxon one, though
very probably some of the monasteries
fhen the only homes of knowledge
were acquainted with water clocks and
hour glasses, If not by practical knowl-
edge, at any rate by hearsay. However,
the kingdom in general followed AL
freds plan. which, though ingenious,
necessarily lacked anything like the &C
curacy of the other inventions. Yet
the kings idea was hailed as a wonder
full effort CT genius, which. for such an
era of comparison with the general ig-
nOrance 1t was. AS every SchOolbOy
Gin this case litera1ly) knows, Alfred
marked time by rushligfts
White of Selborne mentions how In
his time and neiglTborhsod the poorer
classes stripped the rushes in summer
of the rind, leaving a regular even rib
from top to buttom TO support the pith.
and dipped them IN scalaing fat. Also
that a good rush measuring two feet
four inches and a half being mounted
burnt only three minutes short of an
hour. Thus something like regularity
might have been attained. But always
with exceptions, fott the. consistency of
the grease not being the same-the
process of refining fat net being known
some flashlights must have burned
fast, some slow. However, these tap
ers or flashlights seem to nave been from
this time generally known precursors
Of clocks in England. Not until the
reign of the latter monarch were hour
glasses used to any extent, though here
and there in monasteries and houses,
the owners of which had travelled intel
ligently, specimens probably existed.
AS for the water clock, the first in this
realm seems to have been brought here
by Richard I.
OF all the primitive methods of tell
ing the time, however, the most curious
and among the most ancient, existed IN
China, and as the "Cycle of Cathay"
has revived unaltered for ages no won
der 1t is still in use there. Time was