Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-09-01
HOW THE CLOCK IS SET.
Old Sol IL No Longer Regarded as the
Worlds Most Reliable Ttme-
keeper.

give us the correct time. Every day at
noon an electric signal is flashed from
the national observatory ut Washing
ton, or from some other observatory to
which this time service" has been as
signed, to all the business centcrs of
the country, and, all clocks and watches
are set directly or indirectly by this
signal. This is a matter OF common
knowledge, but the way in which tho
astronomer sets his own clock is not
known SO generally.
Most persons have a vague notion
that our standard time is obtained
from observation of the sun. They have
In mind the old sun dial, which indi-
Gated the hour at noon by mark that
showed when the sun was on the
meridian, or, in other words, was ex
actly south, and their idea is that the
astronomer can fix the hour of noon
With greatHr precision because he has
the means'of determining with greater
eNactnessrthe instant a which the suns
meridian passage takes place.
The truth is the sun has nothing
whatever to do or to say in this mat
ter of setting the clock. The sun is it
self one of the poorest of timellecpers.
It is almost always either fast or slow,
sometimes to the extent of full quar-
ter of an hour, and is right" on only
four days in the year. 1t is from the
stars, not from the sun, that the as
tronomer gets the time
The stars perform their nightly
march through the heavens, from east
to west, with perfectly regular move
ment, never Fastening and never slack
enlng their pace, which is only another
way of saying that the earth turns on
itstaxis at an unvarying rate Of speed.
a star crosses the meridian, and in SO
hours and So minutes, about, it will
again cross the meridian, and it will
cross this imaginary line in the heavens
again and again, day after day, year in
and year out, with always the same in
terval between two successive. passages.
The times at which all of the brighter
stars cross the meridian have been as
certained from long and careful OBJ
servationeto within q small fraction of
a secondhand catalogues have been pre-
pared invhich these times Of meridian
passage tor transit" are given.
The astronomer charged with the
duty offsetting our clocks has only to
observe4the meridian passage Of one or
more of. these stars in order to obtain
the ex;fct time. The observation is
made by means. Of what is called a
meridian circle, "a small telescope SO
mounted. on horizontal axis that it
can only point to the meridian. The OBJ
server looking through this instrument
can tell the time, at which the star
crosses that line tdwithin less than one
second He uses the observation for
correcting the observatory clock, or
rather for determining how much it Is
IN error. Forexample, tonight the as
tmnomer in Washington will observe
q certain starscross the meridian at 10
hours q minutes 42.5 seconds, we will
say, according. to his clock. From his
catalogue he xill learn that the true
time Of the stars transit is 10 hours &c
minutes 54.37 seconds. The observa.
tory clock wilTSthus be found: to be 4s.1a
seconds fast. He will make a note OF
the fact, whichlwill enable him to-mor-
row at noon to set by telegraphic signal
all the clocks within his range of serv.
ice.
AS to the obse rvatory clock, it will
not be disturbed It may be gaining
slowly, for no clacls yet made is abso.
iutely faultless, bat it will be permitted
to run on. It serves its purpose SO it is
not too far out of,tEe way, and its error
Ii1s checked regularly by the stars
Philadelphia Record.
AT Muncie, In1.. the other day street
cars were used as a. funeral cortege.
The child of Mrs Maggie Miller, OF
Dunkirk. was brought to Mnncie for
burial. and a train of cars waited at
the depot for the coffin and friends, a. d
conveyed the party Through the stree!
70 No. STSl,.