Fergus County Democrat., 1906-01-23
THE DAYS AND HOURS
ORIGIN OF OUR SYSTEM OF THE
DIVISION OF TIME.

Who Were q Very Clever People
Has Survived Through All Changes
II you pull your watch out of your
pocket you will have in your hand on<
Of the most wonderful pieces Of ma.
chinery ever constructed. Think how
1t works throughout the day and night
and how it keeps it up year in, year out
Think how the second hand points to
5000 divisions of time during every
hour. 1t never sleeps.
II it is like the average watch, it will
be built up Of no fewer than 175 differ.
ent pieces. These pieces will have
passed through more than 2,4OO 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
a magnifying glass it will be seen to
be a perfect screw, having 26O threads
to the inch, each thread being well
cut. Actually the diameter of this
screw is so little as the four one-thou-
sandth part Of an inch, and it would
take no less a number than 100000
similar screws in order to fill an or
dinary tA;mble as used by the ladies.
Each screw has double head and
has to lie hardened. After the harden
ing process the screws are arranged in
frames, Icing placed in with the heads
upward This delicate operation is
done by the sense of touch alone in
stead OF by sight, and great rapidity
marks lle skillful operator. Some
where a'out hundred screws are
placed i. each frame, and the frames
are atta"ned to machine which pol
ishes the leads of the screws 10000 at
a time.
It will be seen how marvellous these
screws ,,e, yet one of them forms but
will show the remarkable nature of that
everyday article. When special watches
are cons. Iered there is indeed room for
wonder.
For instance, take the watch which
was presented to Catherine I. on her
coronation as empress Of Russia. This
watch was one Of the most remarkably
constructed instruments ever made
On the opposite side Of the works OF
this extraordinary timekeeper there
was an exact representation Of the
holy sepulcher, with 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 sepulcher,
the soldier would kneel, 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 knew it well.
AS a result he was very obstinate in
his claim to know everything. He
showed this obstinacy when Wick
brought the new timepiece for his ap-
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
grievOus error, as the figures to de-
note the hour Of 4 should be four rs.
Poor Wick ventured to tell the king
that he was wrong. II am never
wr0ng! thundered the irate monarch.
'Take the clock away and correct the
mistake at once upon pain Of my dis
pleasure!'
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
numeration were followed.
How many people have the slightest
notion why sixty seconds make 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. It is be-
cause the people of Babylon reckoned
not only by decimal system of nota-
ton, but also by sexagesimal sys-
tenn. That is to say, they not only
reckoned by tens, but also by sixties.
The Babylonians were very clever peo.
pie, and they saw that the decimal sys.
tenn was 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 began by
comparing the progress made by the
sun on it's daily journey to the distance
covered by good walker, this being
done at the time of the equinox. The
astronomers divided the suns Journey
into twenty-four parsangs, whence oul
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.
unia. When the the French revolu-
tiOnized all weights and measures. go