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.

Primitive COntrivances, some of
which Are sim In UHe--The Candle,
the sandgIaHH and the Development
OF the water Clock.
Curious It seems TO find some of the
most ancient and primitive contrlv-
ances for keeping time stlll In use In
these modern days. In many churches
as well as In monasteries and converts
the graduated candles 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
venlent substitute for the clock in tim
ing the boiling OF eggs. As for the sun
dial. II Is probable that no umckcep-
ing invention dates back to so early an
epoch. 1t was well known to the poo
pie of Babylon from which great me
,ropols Of the east the first instrument
Of the kind was brought to Jerusalem
about 700 Il. G.
II happens that many ancient sand
glasses have been collected by the
Smithsonian institution in Washington,
some Of them dating far back In the
middle ages, and the scientists OF that
establishment, thinking II worth while
to test them, have discovered that they
are very inaccurate, some Of them va
rying 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 TO be that when they were made
they were timed by the candle, clocks
not having been as yet invented and
no better standard being Obtalnuble.
Such candles, like any others, were
sure to burn more slowly mt the begin
ming than later on, and hence their lack
Of reliability.
Candles of this sort were shielded
from the wPdd by screen OF horn, ana
at this very day one may buy them, eX'
actly like those Of long ago, in Eng
land and elsewhere in Europe. Curl
ously enough, the savages of the south
Pacific employ for the same purpose
device very similar In character,
which consists of a number Of the
oily nuts of the candlenut tree strung
close together on the midrlb OF palm
leaf. The string thus prepared Is hung
up. and, the topmost nut being ignited,
II burns slowly downward. Being OF
nearly Uniform size, the nuts burn for
Just about ten minutes apiece, taking
| fire one from another in succession,
and thus six OF them arc consumed In
| tust about an hour. 1t Is probable that
| this primitive method Of tlm0keeping
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 a dozen or more, to re-
cord the passage of an hour, half
hour quarter hour, five minutes, and
SO on. Very expensive ones were man
ufactured IN Nuremberg, and the I'm
est instruments of the kind were own
ed by clerical and other dignltaries,
the sand used for the purpose being or
a round grained sort, which could be
counted Oh 70 flow easily ana With
regularity through the aperture provid-
ed. To show that faith In the useful
ness Of such contrivances has not even
vet passed away, the writer may men
ton that IN his own family, only the
other day, a newly employed COOK, be-
ing provided with sandgiass 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, "obeyln' orders"
The two oldest things perhaps In the
collection OF ancient tlnekeepers at the
Smithsonian institution are time
lamp and a water clock OF a 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, Il 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
hence the time that has gone by. As
| for the water clock, some mediaeval
Edison must have invented It, so won
derful is the ingenuity Of Its construc-
ton. IL consists OF a hollow metal
cylinder divided into comps itments by
partitions which radiate from the cen
ter and suspended by two strings
wound about the ends Of an axis run
ming through the middle Of the cylin-
der.
The cylinder. which is hung by its
strings from a sort Of arch, Is partly
filled with water and is wound up to
the top OF the arch by revolving II
upon its axis. Then, being released, 1t
would promptly run to the bottom but
for the circumstance that the water It
contains, trlckllng through small noles
from one compartment to another, de-
taiHs It, gravity being opposed by the
weight OF the nuid, which has to be
carried upward and around as the
cylinder revolves. So artful is the ar
| rangement that the cylinder goes round