The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1905-10-27
KEEPING TAB ON TIME
METHODS THAT WE'RE USED BEFORE
THE DAYS OF CLOCKS.

of the Water Clock.
Curious 1t seems to find some OF the
most ancient and primitive contrly-
unces for keeping time still in use In
these modern days. In many churches
us well as In monlsteries and converts
the graduated candies whose invention
is popularity attributed. though doubt
less mistakenly, to King Alfred are
even now employed for reckoning the
duration OF prayers, and the same may
be said Of sandglasses, which, for the
matter Of that, are preferred by not
few twentieth century cooks as con
vcu.cut substitute for the clock in tim
ing the boiling of eggs. As for the sun.
dial IL * probable that no timckCcp-
ing Invention dates back to so early an
epoch. It was well known to the pc1.
pie of Babylon, from which great me.
,ropo,s Of the east the first instrument
of the kind was brought TO Jerusalem
about 200 d. G..
II happens that many ancient sand
glasses have been collected by the
Smithsonian institution I'm Washington,
some Of them dating far back in the
I
establishments thinking il worth while
to tc-t them, have discovered that they
IRE very inaccurate, some Of them VA.
ryiug from correctness by ~ much as
seven or eight minutes in the hour one
way or the other. The obvious though
rather curious explanation Of this fact
seems 10 be that when they were nude
they were timed 10y the candle, clocks
not having been us yet invented ana
no better standard being Ohtalnublc.
Such candles. like any others, were
sure to burn more slowly at the begin
ming than later ON, ana hence their lack
Of reliability.
Candles of this sort were shielded
from the wind by II screen Of horn, and
at this very day one may buy them, eN.
acty like those of long ago, in Eng
land and elsewhere in Europe. Curl
ously enough, the savages Of the south
Paci0c employ for the same purpose
device very similar I'm character,
which consists of number of the
oily nuts of the candlcnut tree strung
close together on the midrlb Of palm
leaf. The string thus prepared Is hung
NJ, and, the tOpmost nut being ignited,
II burns slowly downward. Being Of
nearly uniform size. the nuts burn for
lust about ten minutes apiece taking
fire one from another in succession,
and thus six of them ara consumed In
Just about an hour. 1t Is probable that
| this primitive method Of tlm0kecping
| Is quite as accurate as the graduated
candle or the medieval sandglass.
Some of the old fashioned sandglasses
were quite elaborate, being arranged In
| batteries Of half dozen or more, to re-
| cord the passage of an hour, half
| hour, quarter hour, five minutes, and
SO OIL. Vc.y expensive ones were man
| ufacturcd IN Nuremberg. and the FIN
est instruments Of tho kind were own
ed by clerical and other dlgnltaries,
the sand used FOR the purpose being of
a round grained sort, which could be
| counted Oh % GOw easily and with
regularity through tic aperture provid-
| ed. To show that faith In the us2iul-
ness of such coutrivauccs has not even
yet passed away, the writer may men
| ton that IN his own family, only the
other day, newly employed cook, be-
| ing provided with a sandgias for tim
ing eggs, boiled the glass with the
eggs, for no reason that she was able
to explain except that she was as she
understood 1t, "obeyin' orders"
The two oldest things perhaps In the
collection Of ancient tlmekeepers at the
Smithsonian Institution are a time
lamp and a water clock of pattern
almost unheard Of. AS might be sup
posed without explanation, the former
apparatus contains oil, the burning of
which, through the medium Of wick,
marks the passage OF the hours. The
oil, It should be said, is contained In
a small glass receptacle, SO graduated
as to show by the height of the fluid the
quantity that has been consumed, and
| - A. +t,,a chat has Oona nv A