The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-06-02

A correspondent of La Nature com
municates to that journal description
of a sun-dial to be used as regulator
in the house, the instrument being
placed in the window when it is dc
sired to ascertain the time. 1t con-
sists of three parts, which may be
easily disconnected 10y the removal OF
screws from two of them. The form
which is rurely goo netrical. comprs-
hends the right line, the circle, and the
ellipse. 1t is of the equatorial kind
the ore that is capable Of giving exact
ness. In spite of Its small size, the
hour may bc read on it from minute tc
minute, as on watch. The dividing
lines indicate the even minutes, while
the odd minute is given when the
shadow falls between two divisions
its passage through the internal having
an appreciable duration of only fifteen
seconds. In selecting this form it was
the authors object to obtain sensitive.
ness. The stability Of the style pre-.
vents the instrument from getting out
of order. The inslrum>.l. WAS tried
and found to be exact to 4 quarter OF
4 minute, from seven o'clock in the
morning to noon. The error dimin.
ished on approaching noon, when it be-
came nil. To make use of the appa-
ratus, a window is selected which re-
ccives the sun. Then the exact hour
is obtained from q watch, or other
means, and marked on the dial, account
being taken of the difference between
the true hour and the mean hour, this
being indicated in table glued under
the base. The position is regulated by
means of levelling screws.
The late Mr. George William Childs,
Of Philadelphia, had no doubt the
largest and finest collection of rare and
valuable clocks to be seen in this coun-
try. Among others was one con-
structed by David Rittenhouse, the
astronomer of the Revolution. In
Barton's life of Rittenhouse there is an
account of This clock. In the quaint
language of the author, 1.-THE clock part
of it is contrived to play great va.
riety of music, to comply with the
prevailing taste This curious and
beautiful timepicce, to which is at.
tached the mechanism of musical
clock, in addition to an accurate little
planetarium placed on it's face above
the dial plate, was made for Mr.. Joseph
Potts, who paid six hundred and forty
dollars for it; in the spring of 1774 it
was purchased by Mr.. Thomas Prior
who refused General Sir William
Howe's offer of one hundred and twenty
guineas for it, shortly before the cvac-
uation of Philadelphia, in ITS, and
another offer of the Spanish minister
of eight hundred dollars After Mr..
Prior's death, in 1901, it became the
property of Professor Barton, the biog-
rapher of Rittenhouse, and from him
it passed into the possession of the late
James Swain, and, at the sale of his
effects, into that OF Mr. Childs, in
October, 1872
A resident of Huntington, Pa, has
in his possession clock that would
command perhaps as high price as
any other timepiece in the country. It
was built at Paisley, Scotland, by Eavn
Skeock, in 1860, and was owned by
John Knox. the great Scottish re-
former, from whom Mr.. Woods is a
lineal descendant. John Knox died in
1912. His big clock was handed down
to his family for nearly one hundred
and fifty years, when it finally came
into the hands of John Witherspoon
father of one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. When
John Witherspoon, the son, left Scot
land, in l76S, to take charge of Prince
ton College, he brought the old heir
loom with him, and, when hc was elected
to the Continental. Congress, the old
timepicce was ticking in his parlor,
and indicated the hour Of his departure
to transact his patriotic duties. DR..
Witherspoon priced the clock very
highly. He cleaned it himself at regu-
lar intervals, and took pleasure in
showing it to his friends and the men,
bers of congress. When he died, he
requested that it should remain in his
family and descend to the first-born OF
succeeding generations.-Home Journal.
Agent -"My dear sir, do you know
how much time you lose dipping Il pen
into the ink! Ten dips minute means
six hundred dips an hour, or six thou
sand dips in ten hours, and each dip
cOnsumes-'
Business Man-"Yes. | know; l
have worked it all out"
Agent-"And yet | tin,i you still
writing in the old way"
Business Man-"Ycs, | am using
the fountain pen you sold me about a
month ago-using it in the old way
because it won't write any other way"
Agent-"Beg pardon; I'm in the
wrong office. Good-day.'
Jewelcr-"What name shall | en-
grave on this spoon?'
Customer-"It's already on, thank