East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-01-09
THE DAYS AND HOURS
ORIGIN OF OUR SYSTEM OF THE
DIVISION OF TIME.


If 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
it 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 1t appears to be but
speck of dust When examined under
a magnifying glass 1t will be seen to
be a perfect screw, having 260 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 1t would
take 10 less number than 100000
similar screws in order to fill an 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 in
stead of by sight, and great rapidity
marks the skillful operator. Some
where about a hundred screws are
placed in each frame, and the frames
are attached to a machine which pol
ishes the heads Of the screws 10000 at
a time.
1t will be seen how marvellous these
screws are, yet one of them forms but
one tiny piece of a 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 /. 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
IA A fhn Nnh wa
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 II
was made for Charles V. of France.
This monarch was surnamed the Wise,
but his education was imperfect in
many respects, and he knew 1t well.
As result he was very obstinate in
his claim to know everything. He
showed this obstlnacy when Wick
brought the new timeplece for his ap-
proval. The king could not find any
fault with its working, so he criticised
the figures on the dial.
He told the maker that he had made
a grievous 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. Il am never
wrong" 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
", as should be the case if the correct
numeration were followed.
How many people have the slightes
notion why sixty seconds make a min
ute and why the hour is divided int
sixty minutes, and so on? Why are
there not ten hours to the day and tel
to the night?
The reason is very simple. 1t is be
, CduSe tue peOple VI pdpy ioh icNhoheN
not only by a decimal system Of nota
ton, but also by sexagesimal sys
TEN. That is to say, they not onl!
reckoned by tens, but also by sixties
The Babylonians were very clever peo
, pie, and they saw that the decimal sys
! TEN was by no means the best.
They knew that no number had s
: many divisors as has sixty.
, How about the division of the da.
, into hours? The Babylonians began b.
= comparing the progress made by tn
> sun on its daily journey to the distanc
covered by good walker, this bein
done at the time of the equinox. Th
$ astronomers divided the suns journe
y Into twenty-four parsangs, whence ou
| hours.
i The Babylonian system was adopte
a by the Greeks. 1t is one of the mos
= remarkable facts of history that tn
y system has survived through ever
change made since the days of Baby
lonia. When the the French revol,
tionized all weights and measures, &
ing so far as to alter the days of th
e week, still they left the old system {
= notation so far as regarded the reckol
k ing Of the flight Of time. Even our ow
II lovers of the decimal notation do NJ
E. suggest that the old sexageslmal met
cd of reckoning time should be alteret