The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-08
ANCIENT TTME-MARKERs.
Various Ways of Keeping Track Of
Hours Before the Days of Clocks.

] -|AOAE TIC LAY VI SAULn0s
Boston Daily GlobeD
! In the United States the oldest time
| piece is the famous Endicott sundial
/ made in London in 1890 and il was
brought to this country the same year
/ by Governor Endicott at the time he
brought the fleet of ships laden with
emigrants to settle in and around
( Salem.
The dial stood for a great number of
years in front of the EndicOtt mansion
/ in Salem and was in the hands of the
family until sixty or seventy years ago,
when it was placed in the care of the
East India Marine society of Salem
The society held it in trust until 1869,
when it came into the possession Of
/ the Essex institute, where il now rests
in a glass case in the museum.
Being unable to reclaim the original.
members of the family have on differ
ent occasions had replicas made in
bronze and placed near their resi-
dences.
The sUndial of King Ahaz. who lived
/ 142 years before Christ. is the first
dial on record in the world. This dial
was a graduated instrument having
degree marks of some kind which
showed the daily course of the sun.
The Old Testament tells US that it
was known in Jerusalem as early as
seven centuries before Christ and the
manner Of its mention indicates that
it was a novelty in that city at that
time The sUndial took many forms.
The art of dialling involved mathemat-
ical problems of considerable complex
ity- and it is very likely that this con-
tributed to the knowledge of mathe-
MATES which the world possessed at
that early period.
Imperfect sundials were common in
Rome about a century and a half be-
for the Christian era, so common. in
decd. that, as new inventions nova
days afford material for the para
grapher they were targets for the fun
ny men of the period.
The Romans later perfected a sun
dial suitable to their latitude. which
was much more accurate. The dial
was- later adopted and improved by
European nations, and some very ac-
curate ones were made by clockmak-
ers throughout Europe
A dial, or rather a series of dials
Of every conceivable description form
ing a structure, was erected in White
hail. London, in 1869, by order of King
Charles II. 1t was the invention of
Francis Hall, a Jesuit and professor of
mathematics at Liege. Vertical dials,
inclining dials and dials for showing
time, as computed by various nations
at different periods. were all included
and ranged on platforms.
OF these bowls or brackets appear to
be have been the most attractive. One
on the first platform TO show the hour
by fire. consisted of a little glass bOwt
hlled with clear water. This bowl was
about three inches in diameter. and
was placed in the middle of another
sphere. about six inches in diameter, 1
consisting of several rings or circles. !
representing the hour circles in the
heavens.
The hour was known by applying the
hand to these circles when the sun
shone, and that circle where the hand !
felt burned by the sunbeams passing /
through the bowl filien with water
showed the true hour.
King Alfred measured time by burn
ing candles, marked with circular lines I
to indicate the hours. Ingenious de- /.
vices were adopted to prevent draughts /
from striking the flame. and thus, az .
1t were. make time speed on its
flight by melting the tallow of the
candle before it was burned. but this
was very imperfect method of time 1
keeping.
The gnOmOn. the predecessor Of the /
sundial, was probably one Of the ear
lest devices for the reckoning Of time.
and it may reasonably be concluded
that the Egyptian pyramids. with their
great altitude. formed part of a de-
sign for time keeping by the shadow
thrown on the desert sands The ODE
isk' too. in all probability, served the
purpose. for as a matter of history an
)belisk at Rome was actually used for
a sundial in the time of Emperor Au-
yustus.
The rising and setting of the sun and
ne changes of the moon were undOubt-
edly the first records of time kept by
man, the shepherd of the early ages
reckoning time by full moons
The frightening of trees shadow
gave warning that night was re-
preaching, when another day or period
II time would be at an end.
II we could step on board Of
Malay praO we should see floating in a
bucket of water a cocOanut shell hav-
ng a small hole in the bottom through
which the water by slow degrees finds /
Is way into the interior, The hole
n the shell is so prOportioned that the
hell will fill and sink in an hour. when
he man on watch calls the time and
jets it afioat again.
The Chinese have a water clock in
Use at the present time which inven-
ion they ascrihe to Hwangti who lived
recording to their chronology. more
han twenty-five centuries before
'hrist.
water clock, or time-recOrding ma
'hine. very similar to the Chinese in
trument, and named the ciepsydra,
vas used by the ancient Greeks in de-
ermining the amount of time speak / /
rs in court should take to make their ,
arguments. This machine was in the /
orm Of a spherical vessel with min
lie opening al the bottom and a short /
Ieek at the top into which the water
vas poured.
The running out of the water could I
'e stopped by closing the neck. The ]
amlllar association Of this device with :
ne courts of that time is shown in !
many ways. In important cases Of
reat moment to the state each party
vas allowed 10 amphorae. in about |
tty gallons of water, as the time on / 7
which to make their arguments.
DemOsthenes showed the value he 5
laced on the time allotted him to |
peak, for during an interruption in
ne OF his speeches he turned TO q
curt officer with d peremptory. You 7,
here, Stop that water"
The time system of early Rome was }
Z the rudest character. The day and / !