The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1905-10-27

sci on a balance. every pound indlcat
ing n certain fraction Of an hour. AZ
about the same time there was set up
in the capital city Of Persia on the Ter,
race Of the royal palace a somewhat
similar clock, consisting OF Il balance
containing twelve metal balls, one OF
which fell every hour upon great
gong. This wonderful instrument Is
said to have been sent by the king OF
Persia TO Charlcmagne as gift.
The Chinese, whose ideas on the sub
feet deserve respect by reason of their
priority, do not number the hours as
we do, They have names for them, the
twenty four hour period being divided
by the people OF the middle kingdom
into twelve equal parts, each of which
Is designated In their written language
by character. I'm this point. again,
they were far ahead Of the Europeans,
for whom the invention Of the modern
clock seems actually to have been de-
lnyed some centuries 10y the difficulty
of splitting night or day into even fric'
tlous. To the ancient Greeks and Ro.
mans. for example, this problem APP
pcarcd insupcrable owing to the wab'
Ling Of the earth, which increases the
length Of the day mt one season ana Ill
mlulshcs II at another. For a relative
Is latter day gentleman named HIP
parchus was it reserved TO offer the
suggestion that the time from dawn TO
dawn might he broken into twenty
four equal parts.
This indeed was the keynote Of 'hr
difficulty. the final solution Of which
has uuIcarcd i'm the modern clock, III
it's highest development, chronometer
that Laups time within fraction of a
second per week. ON the main street
IN any city Of the United States bust
ness mon may he seen daily setting
their watches by such lnfalllble time
pieces In the windows Of jewelers.
shops. and even In the China OF today
It IL the custom for q gentleman TO
carry two watches, which he examines
anNfously M frequent intervals, i'm or
der 80 make sure that they agree ex-
actly
And vet even to this day there sur
wives I'm China and Japan, to show the
persistence Of such things, method
generally pursued by the natives OF
keeping time by the burning Of so
called "inccnsc sticks" which will
bum slowly for half a day without
flame. They are divided into lengths
for the hours, aad, being made of saw
dust mixed with a certain proportion
Of gum. may he counted on to resolve
themselves into agrecably scented
smoke at reasonably uniform rate
per inch. Such inceISe sticks are suf-
Gccntly familiar in this country, but,
clocks being plentiful, are not COM
monty utilized for timclpeplng pur-
poses.
The Montagnais Indian of Canada,
VIXEN travelling ahead Of n party, sets
up u tall stick in the snow, making
with his foot mark to show how far
the shadow reaches. BY the change in
the angle of the shadow his friends
on arriving at the spot know exactly
how far ahead is their guide.
To keep time with reasonable accu-
racy must have been one OF the earliest
necessities OF man; hence the re-
markable ingenuity Of many primitive
inventions for this purpose, the utillza-
ton of shadows-an idea which had its
final development in the sun dial-be-
ing probably the earliest, as 1t was the
most obvious. The first sun dad must
have been a tree, which may be said
to have stood at one end Of the path
OF evolution in timekeeping apparatus,
the modern chronometer representing
at the other end the final development
OF such cVntrivances.-New York Her
aid.