Evening star., 1901-02-02
HISTORY OF SUN-DlALS
ANCIENT AND NATURAL METHOD OF
TELLING THE TINE.
Artistic Patterns and Quaint Notices
Ised In Their COnstructfon-stii
Seen In Many Places.
Fr.In the london STANDARD.

From the London Standard
The weIl-known words, THE shadows
lengthening as the vapors rise. probaoy
express mans earliest notion or measuring
time They indicate the germinal ldea Oh
the sun-dial. The object is full or interest
and leads into many curious bye-paths Oh
learning Who made the first sun-dial is
lost in the mists OF antiquity. Charies
Lamb. perhaps. went too far in saying that
Adam could scarce have missed IL III
paradise" but men must soon have found
out how to use the sun as kind OF Tune
Keeper But the sun-dial was known to the
two most civilized races of ancient times,
rhe ChaIdaean and the Egyptian. Herod-
otus tells us that the Greeks obtained their
knowledge OF the gnomon-viz., of the prln-
ciple of the dial-from the former people.
That Of course, is little help in nxlng an
exact date. for recent discoveries teno 10
nut the origin OF Greek civilization several
centuries earlier than used TO be supposed.
The dial OF AhaZ was probably coped from
Assyria. for wise men or the east uouptss'
watched the stars many a long century oe-
fore the Christian era, and there is no rea-
son why they should not have discovered
the principle of the sun-dial even When the
elder Sargon reigned in Agade, some n1ty-
seven centuries ago. Egyptian monuments
and hieroglyphics. so far as they nave De"h
deciphered are not much more helptui tnan
rha monuments Of Chaldaea. The earnest
dials found in the Nile valley are of Greek
work and little more than nineteen cen
turies old but may feel sure thal Sile
wisdom of the Egyptians lncluueu lair
amount Of practical astronomy, ana that tne
men who could build the pyramids Wouiu
be capable of devising some KIND OF sun
dial.
The dial may be made after more than one
pattern. The Arab, when ne sticks his
spear upright in the sand to learn the time
Of dav from its shadow. illustrates the ru-
dimentary idea. But that, though ready,
in an inexact method. In dials of more sci
entific construc ton, the majority may be
subdivided into those where the shadow
OF the gnomon falls either ON curved sur
face or ON a plane. How the dials are
mounted. provided the position be rightly
aScertained Is secondary matter. Some
times they are quite small, and can be car
fied about Hike a watch; though, OF course,
they are much less easily consulted. and
only accurate in particular latitude. More
commonly they are fixed and OFTEN large TO
some. monumental character Is given py
mounting them on pedestals. often eiaoor-
ateIy designed. but very many are simply
attached 10 the face OF wall we are
Given here illustrations OF several interest
ing examples of the former group, which IN
clildes almost all those of complicated pat
tern, and incidentally indicates the curious
forms which are sometimes assumed. MANY
are mounted on pilars-appropriateiy wnei
we remember the ancient relation or these
to sun worship-and one Is on the slope OF
buttress Some like this, and small cy'
lndrical one carved on the face OF toInD,
stone. are followed out; facet-heaoeu
dials where several plane surfaces. are Gu,
on block OF stone. each OF which ts htteo
with a ynomon are also known; others are
shaped as crosses or stars. In fact, wniit
the principle Is one. the construction ad-
rnits of many notifications. These compli-
Gated sun-dials seem especially character
istic of Scotland and the northern parts OF
England In the former country they are
compa ra tively speaking. frequent, and sew
eral examples are depicted In this volume
Indeed, the Scotch diafs are so remarkable
= as to be allotted special chapter. They
nave however, already received attention
from Messrs. McGibbon and Ross. wht
have described no less than 80 instances II
sheir book on The Castellated Architect
,rre of Scotland" The latter authority
Sakes four independent types OF detache<