The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1898-07-01

And this illustration will prepare us to
understand that on the equator a sun d.
aPs gnomon must coincide with the axis
Of our planet, while both of it's edges
must be parallel with the horizon, as we'll
as with each other, while at either pole
of the earth, IL man could 60 there with
his dial, Its gnomon would erect itself in
to perpendicular rod or index coinci-
dent with the prolongation of the pole it
self, or axis of the earth, and such there
then would be the most complete and per-
feet sun dial that could be constructed or
conceived Of in the world while it revolY-
ed on it's axis around the SUM-;
But the sun does not always shine on
given spot--it is interrupted by night,
by cloud, by shadow, by storm-yet
Father Time continues on his ceaseIess
journey day and night, in light or dark
ness which for him are alike, but man,
made in Gods image, desires to know
and mark Times fieeting footsteps, ,and
we find that our predecessors as long ago
as 235 years B. @. in Chaldea, in China
and in Egypt invented and used the Clep-
sydra, or water clock, to measure the
flight of time-Clepsydra is compounded
of two Greek words kleptein, to steal;
hudor, water. Originally water was re-
| garded as one Of the four elements which
| pervaded the universe-earth, air, FIRE
and water. By placing water in al prop
erly constructed transparent vase or jar,
with small aperture at it's base, to per-
NIT constant but moderate flow, and
marking it's descent on the outside of the
| vase, the time of the outflow could be
computed approximately in hours and
portions thereof, when the instrument
had been properly tested and marked.
But practically 1t was found that tenn
perature, pressure, shape and height Of
volume modified greatly the velocity and
| hence the uniformity Of the flow, and &C.
| curacy or nicely of the measurement
were despared Of, and the clepsydra, at
! ter having been in use about thousand
years in various nations, gave place to the
hour or sand glass, with which you are
all 30 familiar that no descriptions need
ed as to it's form or construction, simply
| calling your attention to the fact that the
| sand selected is SO fine and mobile that
| it's solid grains in motion become as fluid
and at once took the place OF the water
| clock in measuring the subdivisions Of
''the evening and the morning." which
formed the earliest division of the natur-
I oI n Sr1F T~k% ~ 10 ~
Eden, Palestine, New York, or almost
anywhere in the middle temperate zone
of the earth, where the length of the
days and nights are Of convenient dura-
ton.
Now IL our diagnosis Of the sun dial be
right, and our calculations correct, it
| was invented and in use some nine GEN.
| turtles before the Christian era; that is,
about $500 years ago, it becomes the first
known human instrument for measuring
portions of the natural day into which
time was divided by the line of light and
darknesg-'tAna the evening and the
morning were the first day." Genesis IS.
This original ''evening and the morn
ing'' were subsequently subdivided into
dusk and dawn, into cock-crowing and
''at mid day, oh! King, on. the way to
Damaacus"-you remember the rest of
the passage-def1nite, but very inexact
periods of time il you are anxious to meet
a lightning express train at way sta
ton in the country on your wedding trip,
or desire to catch q debtor who win pay
up If you see him before he leaves the
country.
Hence the necessity of reliable and
accurate horologue or timekeeper. First
came the sun dial, then the clepsydra or
water clock, and sand glass, which were
all superseded by the ingenuity and in
vention of man, in the weight and pendu-
lum clock, and In the wheel and steel
spring chronometer watch Of the present
day, with It's hours and minutes and sec
oRds told and marked thereby.
Thank God that we live now and here |
Not only in Brookfield but in the United
States OF America. But our tender, pal |
plating hearts yearn In sympathetic COM
miseration for our poor antediluyian am
cestors who struggled along for nearly
seventeen hundred years, up to the time
of Noah'a food, when they all miserably
persisted, without ever having heard the
ticking or Yankee clock or the sound
CT the dinner bellat high noon Or the tin
tinabulation Of the tea call at 8 p. N. Or
had az invitation to the banqueting and
The other good things Ii store at the
Bungalow on this bright and
beautiful anniversary os the adoption .of