Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-08
Odd WAYS of Tellino Time.


Many We're the devices for recording
the flight of the hours before the COM
ing of the clock. The most famous, OF
, course. was the hour glass which was
made of various sizes and capable of
recording with tolerable accuracy al
most any given interval of time, al
though seldom one greater than an
| hour.
The burning of candles was another
| favorite device. Lines We're drawn al
| different elevations for the fractional
| divisions of the period which the can
| die recorded. There was also an in
| genious water clock, which is ever
| now occasionally seen in museums.
| The sun dial, for marking true time
| was much in use in early days In
| our latitude it would not be strictly
| accurate, except on a few DAYS in the
! year, and its accuracy at other times
| would be of a varying quantity.
| watch or a clock was as rare i'll
| Turkey as an aeroplane is in some
l. countries today. Even at the present
time in the smaller cities and villages
of the Ottoman Empire a timepiece in
the house is a luxury INDUCED in by a
few Of the wealthy class Nature is
the clock of that land, a clock that
never stops or fails to serve it's pur-
pose. The crow of the cock is the SIM
plest, the sun the most dependable and
convenient. and the cats eye the most
difficult and, to Orientals, the most
humorous of timepeces
The cock crows regularly morning
forenoon, afternoon and evening, and
serves the purpose of the striking clock
of a belfry tower. Sometimes a cock
crows at irregular intervals. In that
case he is unfortunate in Turkey, since
superstition demands that his head be
chopped off without delay, for to toler-
ate an ''illcrowing' cock would be to
court DISASTER
Still another method of telling time
employed by the Turks is this. They
hold their thumbs touching one anoth-
er horizontally, and extend the fore
fingers perpendieularly. Then they di-
vide the thumb and forefinger of each
hand into six parts, nominal hour
points, one hand represents the morn
irg and the other the afternoon.
Where the thumbs join it is l.
o'clock, the tip of one forefinger rep
resenting 6 o'clock in the morning and
the tip of the other O'Clock in the
afternoon. BY holding the hands in
the described position toward the sun
the shadow cast by one forefnger upon
the other, will point to the correct
time, as judged by the hours nominal
ly marked in mind. The hour divisions
may be divided into additional parts,
as the quarter hours.
To tell the time by the cats eye
seems an absurd proceeding, but the
Turks do it. The average person is
perhaps not aware that the shape of
the cats eye undergoes changes dur
ing the day. In the morning the pupil
is normally circular, but gradually it
narrows until noon; when only a mar
row streak is left. As the day pro-
crosses it resumes its normal shape,
becoming oval at about O'Clock in
the afternoon. In Turkey it is COM
mon for the old folks to call the cat
to their sides in order to ascertain the
time,
In illustration of the accuracy
whereby time can be measured by the
shadow cast by the sun there may be
cited a trial in Nebraska a year or two
ago, held in the month of January.
The defendant was acquitted of Il
charge of murder by means of the ali
bi established by the shadow of a
church steeple cast upon photograph
that contained the two accusing wit
nesses. These witnesses had testified
that they had seen the defendant be-
tween the hours of and in tile af-
ternoon while returning from church
after the picture was taken
But from the angle formed by the
shadow and the horizontal boards of
the church in the photograph an ex-
pert calculated the time the photo
graph was taken, with the result that
II was ascertained that the exact mo-
ment was during the afternoon at
$500, one hour later than the wit
nesses had testified they had met the
accused
The testimony given by the astron-
omer was so clear and conclusive that
there remained no doubt in the minds
of any one that the accused could not
have committed the crime. 1t was
shown that it would have been impos-
sible for the witnesses to have seen
the accused at the scene of the crime
at the time it was alleged to have been
committed. The accused was acuuit-
ted.-New York Press.
IL