New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-20

Account Of the Different Styles Of Clocks and
Watches Of the Past in England and Abroad.
BY +. J. Brtten. With Four Hundred lAustra-
lions svo PIP 500 Imported by Charles Scrip
ners Sons.
This is a fascinating book not by reason OF
any special literary skill on the part Of the
author but because Of the inherent interest OF
his subject, the richness OF his material and the
wide range Of his knowledge. He has been
fortunate in being permitted to examine and to
Illustrate some Of the most valuable collections
extant and he has, on the whole, used his lore
with excellent sense Of what would most at
tract a public unacquainted with the technics
of clock making. he begins with the SUNDAYS
and the clepsydr9 Of the ancents-the water
clocks OF many kinds which told the hours TOT
the Egyptians in Chaldea, Judea Babylon and
PhRnicia which Plato introduced ii Greece ana
scipio Nasca in Rome There were occasions.
it is said, in Rome, when scampish H''Ea"'S
would secretly tamper with the flow Of water
in the court clock to cut short or TO proIong the
time allotted to the orators for accusation or
defence There was a revival Of clepsy ore IN
the seventeenth century, and one Of the amuse-
ments Of the boy Isaac Newton was the con-
struction OF such a clock The manufacture Of
weight clocks did not for long time do away
with the water clock. These weight clocks
]
weight. are supposed to have been invented at
the end Of the tenth century by the monk Ger
bert. who afterward became Pope Sylvester u
brt this is more a guess than a certainty
In the period between the twelfth and the four
teenth centuries appeared the mechanical ng-
ures called Jacks" in England which standing
on either side Of the church clock bell struck
the hours on it in alternate rhythm. Dials on
church towers did not come until later, the
earliest ones according TO Violet i Due, were
covered by small projecting roofs and made
either Of wood or lead and decorated in coiors
In the fourteenth century there was an out
burst OF ingenuity ID the making Of clocks -uh-
happily however much more attention was
given to the addition Of mechanism for all man
ner Of queer performances than to good Tune
keeping Little doors opened and smut Tor pro
cessions Of automata, cocks huttered theli wings
and crew. soldiers went through evoluuons ana
knights attacked each other. giving a. many
+ blows as the number Of the hour These Were
considered noble works Of art and the maine
+ rnaticians astronomers and me- hanic'ahS Oh Eu-
+ rope struggled to Guido one another IL pf"uu'
ing them Complicated and picturesque me'h-
/ DDS OF showing the motions OF the hea\ehN
/ bodies were the most praiseworthy oil these au-
ditions to the simple and necessary marking ~
the hours In one Of the oldest OF these CIed
,iore q rIrrim offered al apple to immense
omen mouthed grotesque head "a the hours
struck but quickly withdrew II before the
mouth could be closed All intricate asuoh"h-
cal clock Al Beauvais Cathedral was thirty-slH
feet in height and had fifty dials. Our author
tells Us that by the close Of the sixteenth cen
fury nearly every town in Europe mad Al least
. one public tiInekeeper OF some prelth9i"HS
MANY Of these old clocks are still I'D eNls'th''
I -eraired and sometimes reconstructed. pul NOT
roetamorphosed out Of their original gulse. me
erlendid clock of the Paris Falals De justice.
for example. which was erected IN lo'". sun
maintains its post and its usefulness The De-"
~ which the hours are struck repeated. ii is
cid the signal from st German IAuNerrois
for the massacre Of 81. Bartholomew I'D I''-'
ENGLAND has many interesting old clocks
Tbere is particularly attractive collection al
Windsor Castle among It's treasures pelhs d
-;,blv chased silver gilt clock when was give"
70 Anne Bolevn on her wedding morning 10y
her roval lover. Did there 90 with IL Il dun
nm, gallant speech concerning the chur'"-s'HE
bour2 The leaden weights. cased III copper s"'
and engraved bear on one the initials Oh fieH'S
and Anne and true lovers knots Oh the o'h'i
H A" alone at the top OF each i p'eu ~
, 3-oit " al the bottom. The most happy"
1,,.r,bodv has heard that the synchronous
vibrations Of the lamps suspended by long
chains from the roof OF the cathedral at flSd
,..,.d 70 Calico a method Of using the
/ nenduluu1 as a timekeeper; II l. not however
certain who first emploed the pendulum as a
,,roller for clocks The astronomers son
v,,cent carried out his fathers suggestion IN
$50 hut in the Vienna Treasury i CLOCK
nth O nend1lum dating from the early part oil