The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-01-03
THE DAYS AND HOURS
ORIGIN OF OUR SYSTEM OF THE
DIVISION OF TIME.

VINO Wero q very clever People,
Was Adopted by the Greeks aud
Has Survived Through All Changes.
IL you pull your watch out Of your
pocket you will have in your hand one
Of the most wonderful pieces Of ma
Chinery ever constructed. Think how
1t works throughout the day and night
and how 1t keeps it up year in, year out.
Think how the SECOND hand points to
5000 divisions OF time during every
hour. 1t never sleeps.
IL 1t Is like the average watch, it will
be built up of no fewer than 10 differ
ent pieces. These pieces will have
passed through more than 2,400 sep
arate operations, each being a distinct
form Of manufacture.
The fourth jewel wheel screw is SO
very small that it is almost invisible.
To the naked eye it appears to be but a
speck Of dust. When examined under
q magnifying glass 1t will be seen to
be a perfect screw, having 2G0 threads
to he inch, each thread being well
cat. Actually the diameter of this
screw Is so little as the four one-thou-
sandth part Of az inch, and 1t would
take no less n number than 100000
similar screws in order to fill III or
binary thimble as used by the ladies.
Each screw has a double head and
has to be hardened. After the harden
Ing process the screws are arranged in
frames, being placed In with the heads
upward. This delicate operation Is
done by the sense Of touch alone i'll
stead Of by sight, and great rapidity
marks the skillful operator. Some
where about a hundred screws are
placed in each frame, and til, frames
are attached to n machine which pol
ishes the heads Of the screws 10000 at
q time.
1t will be seen how marvellous these
screws are, yet ono Of them forms but
one tiny piece of n watch. Still, this
will show the remarkable nature of that
everyday article. When special watches
are considered there Is indeed room for
wonder.
For instance, take the watch which
was presented to Catherine l. on her
coronation as empress OF Russia. This
watch was one of the most remarkably
constructed Instruments eve made.
On the opposite side Of the works OF
this extraordinary ~'timekecpcr there
was an exact representation of the
holy sepulcher, with a carved image
OF. the Roman guard stationed outside
1t. AS soon as the watch case was
opened the imitation rocks would roll
away from the mouth of the scpulchcr,
the soldier would knecl, angels would
appear at opposite sides of the opening,
and sweet strains Of music would be
heard. This remarkable watch took
nine years uninterrupted labor in or
der to construct.
The first clock in any way resem-
bling those In use at present was made
by Henry Wick In the year 1870, and it
was made for Charles V. Of France.
This monarch was surnamed the Wise,
but his education was imperfect in
many respects, and he new 1t well.
AB a result he was very obstinate in
his claim to know everything. lie
showed this obstinacy when Wick
brought the new timepiece for his APP
proval. The king could not find any
fault with it's working, so he criticised
the figures on the dial.
He told the maker that he had made
a grlevous error, as the figures to de-
note the hour of 4 should be four Is.
Poor Wick ventured to tell the king
that he was wrong. 81 am never
wrong!' Numbered the irate monarch.
"Take the clock away and correct the
mistake at once upon pain of my dis
pleasures"
Wick had to do as he was told, with
the result that all our timepieces have
the fourth hour labeled iii instead of
Nv, as should be the case if the correct
Enumeration were followed.
How many people have the slightest
notion why sixty seconds make Il min
ute and why the hour is divided into
sixty minutes, and so on? Why are
| there not ten hours to the day and ten
to the night?
The reason is very simple. 1t is be-
cause the people Of Babylon rcckoned
not only by a decimal system of nota-
ton, but also by Il scXngeSimal SyS-
TEN. That is TO say, they not only
reckoncd by tens, but also by sixties.
The ~Babylonians were very clever pco-
pie, and they saw that the decimal sys-
TEN vas by no means the best.
They knew that no number had so
many divisors as has sixty.
How about the division of the day
into hours? The Babylonians hogan by
comparing the progress made by the
sun or its daily Journey TO the distance
covered by Il good walker, this being
done at the time Of the equinox. The
astronomers divided the suns journey
into twenty-four parsangs, whence our
hours.
The Babylonian system was adopted
by the Greeks. 1t is one Of the most
remarkable facts OF history that the
system has survived through every
change made since the days Of Baby
lonia. When the the French revolu-
tionized all weights and measures, 60
ing so far as to alter the days of the
week, still they left the old system OF
notation SO far as regarded the reckon
ing of the fight OF time. Even our own
lovers Of the decimal notation do not
suggest that the old s~exagcsimal meth
cd OF reckoning time should be altered.
-Pearson's Weekly.
Condensed.