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able of these were their clocks and time-keepers, some of which we may shortly advert to.

REMARKABLE CLOCKS AND WATCHES.

The famous astronomical clock of Strasburg, completed by Isaac Habrecht about the end of the sixteenth century, deserves a prominent place in our catalogue. It has been recently renovated by a M. Schwitgue after four years' labour; but its original movements are thus described in Morrison's Itinerary :- Before the clock stands a globe on the ground, showing the motions of the heavens, stars, and planets. The heavens are carried about by the first mover in twenty-four hours. Saturn, by his proper motion, is carried about in thirty years; Jupiter in twelve; Mars in two; the sun, Mercury, and Venus in one year; and the moon in one month. In the clock itself, there are two tables on the right and left hand, showing the eclipses of the sun and moon from the year 1573 to the year 1624. The third table, in the middle, is divided into three parts. In the first part, the statues of Apollo and Diana show the course of the year, and the day thereof, being carried about in one year; the second part shows the year of our Lord, and the equinoctial days, the hours of each day, the minutes of each hour, Easter day, and all other feasts, and the Dominical letter; and the third part hath the geographical description of all Germany, and particularly of Strasburg, and the names of the inventor and all the workmen. In the middle frame of the clock is an astrolabe, showing the sign in which each planet is every day; and there are the statues of the seven planets upon a circular plate of iron; so that every day the planet that rules the day comes forth, the rest being hid within the frames, till they come out of course at their day-as the sun upon Sunday, and so for all the week. There is also a terrestrial globe, which shows the quarter, the half hour, and the minutes. There is also the figure of a human skull, and the statues of two boys, whereof one turns the hour-glass, when the clock hath struck, and the other puts forth the rod in his hand at each stroke of the clock. Moreover, there are the statues of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and many observations of the moon. In the upper part of the clock are four old men's statues, which strike the quarters of the hour. The statue of Death comes out at each quarter to strike, but is driven back by the statue of Christ with a spear in his hand for three quarters; but in the fourth quarter that of Christ goes back, and that of Death strikes the hour with a bone in his hand, and then the chimes sound. On the top of the clock is an image of a cock, which twice in the day crows aloud, and claps his wings. Besides, this clock is decked with many rare pictures; and, being on the inside of the church, carries another frame to the outside of the walls, whereon the hours of the sun, the courses of the moon, the length of the day, and such other things, are set out with great art."

Another clock, celebrated for its curious mechanism and motions, is mentioned by Thompson in his continental travels. It is placed in an aisle near the choir of St John's Cathedral, at Lyons. On the top stands a cock, which every three hours claps his wings, and crows thrice. In a gallery underneath, a door opens on one side, out of which comes the Virgin Mary; and from a door on the other side, the angel Gabriel, who meets and salutes her; at the same time a door opens in the alcove part, out of which the form of a dove, representing the Holy Ghost, descends on the Virgin's head. After this these figures retire, and from a door in the middle comes forth a figure of a reverend father, lifting up his hands, and giving his benediction to the spectators. The days of the week are represented by seven figures, each of which takes its place in a niche on the morning of the day it represents, and continues there till midnight. But perhaps the greatest curiosity is an oval plate, marked with the minutes of an hour, which are exactly pointed to by a hand reaching the circumference, which insensibly dilates and contracts itself during its revolution. This curious piece of mechanism cannot be supposed to be so perfect in all its motions as it was formerly; and yet it has suffered as little as can be expected in a long course of years, through the care and skill of those appointed to look after it. It appears, by an inscription on the clock itself, that it was repaired and improved by one Nourison in 1661; but it was contrived, long before that time, by Nicholas Lipp, a native of Basil, who finished it in 1598, when he was about thirty years of age. The oval minute motion was invented by M. Servier, and is of a later date. The tradition goes that Lipp had his eyes put out by order of the magistrates of Lyons, that he might never be able to perform the like again; but so far from this being the case, the magistrates engaged him to fix at Lyons, by allowing him a handsome salary to take charge of his own machine.

These

There are other celebrated clocks-such, for example, as that of Lunden in Sweden, and of Exeter in our own countrywhich, from the number and complication of their movements and figures, may well vie with those of Strasburg and Lyons. But these we pass over, to notice two which were made some years since by an English artist, and sent as a present by the East India Company to the Emperor of China. clocks, says a contemporary account, are in the form of chariots, in which are placed, in a fine attitude, a lady leaning her right hand upon a part of the chariot, under which is a clock of curious workmanship, little larger than a shilling, which strikes, and repeats, and goes eight days. Upon her finger sits a bird, finely modelled, and set with diamonds and rubies, with its wings expanded in a flying posture, and actually flutters for a considerable time on touching a diamond button below it: the body of the bird (which contains part of the wheels that in a manner give life to it) is not more than the sixteenth part of an

inch. The lady holds in her left hand a gold tube, not thicker than a large pin, on the top of which is a small round box, to which a circular ornament, set with diamonds not larger than a sixpence, is fixed, which goes round nearly three hours in a constant regular motion. Over the lady's head, supported by a small fluted pillar no bigger than a quill, are two umbrellas, under the largest of which a bell is fixed, at a considerable distance from the clock, and seeming to have no connexion with it, but from which a communication is secretly conveyed to a hammer that regularly strikes the hour, and repeats the same at pleasure, by touching a diamond button fixed to the clock below. At the feet of the lady is a dog in gold, before which, from the point of the chariot, are two birds fixed on spiral springs, the wings and feathers of which are set with stones of various colours, and appear as if flying away with the chariot, which, from another secret motion, is contrived to run in a straight, circular, or any other direction. A boy, who lays hold of the chariot behind, seems also to push it forward. Above the umbrella are flowers and ornaments of precious stones; the whole terminating with a flying dragon set in the same manner. These gifts were wholly of gold, curiously chased, and embellished with rubies and pearls.

More interesting, perhaps, than any of these, and yet of the simplest construction, and of the most common material, are the electric clocks lately invented by Mr Bain of Edinburgh. The prime mover of these machines is the electric currents of the earth, brought to bear upon the machinery, as thus described by a party for whom one of the earliest was constructed. "On the 28th of August 1844, Mr Bain set up a small clock in my drawing-room, the pendulum of which is in the hall, and both instruments in a voltaic circle as follows:-On the north-east side of my house, two zinc plates, a foot square, are sunk in a hole, and suspended by a wire, which is passed through the house to the pendulum first, and then to the clock. On the south side of the house, at a distance of about forty yards, a hole was dug four feet deep, and two sacks of common coke buried in it; among the coke another wire was secured, and passed in at the drawingroom window, and joined to the former wire at the clock. The ball of the pendulum weighs nine pounds; but it was moved energetically, and has ever since continued to do so with the self-same energy. The time is to perfection; and the cost of the motive powers was only seven shillings and sixpence. There are but three little wheels in the clock, and neither weights nor spring; so there is nothing to be wound up." Many of these ingenious clocks have been since constructed, and an illuminated one, projected from the front of Mr Bain's workshop in Edinburgh, moves, as the inhabitants can testify, with the utmost regularity. One great advantage of this invention is, that, sup

before referred to, one electric current could keep the whole in motion, and thus preserve the most perfect uniformity of time.

As a sequel to these curious clocks may be mentioned some watches, remarkable either for the minuteness of their proportions or the intricacy of their parts. In the Annual Register for 1764, it is stated that Mr Arnold, a watchmaker in London, had the honour to present his majesty, George III., with a curious repeating watch of his own construction, set in a ring. Its size was something less than a silver twopence; it contained one hundred and twenty-five different parts, and weighed altogether no more than five pennyweights and seven grains.-Another, still more curious, is mentioned by Smith, in his "Wonders," as belonging to the Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg. The whole is about the size of an egg, within which is represented our Saviour's tomb, with the stone at the entrance, and the sentinels upon duty; and while a spectator is admiring this ingenious piece of mechanism, the stone is suddenly removed, the sentinels drop down, the angels appear, the women enter the sepulchre, and the same chant is heard which is performed in the Greek church on Easter eve.

To this list, if our space had permitted, we might have added accounts of some curious clocks constructed by Grollier and others, in which the motions were either hid, or so complicated as to deceive the observer; of some that were made to go by their own weight, or by the hidden power of the magnet; of some that were employed to indicate the force and position of the wind, the vigilance of sentinels, &c.; and of others which were applied to the movement of those intricate and curious instruments known by the name of planetariums and orreries. Had it not been for the same reason, odometers for measuring distances travelled over, and set in motion by the limbs of the traveller, gas-metres, and other self-registering apparatus, might have also come in for a share of description, as not only evincing great skill and ingenuity, but on account of the practically useful purposes to which they are applied.

AUTOMATA.

Automata are self-acting, or apparently self-acting, machines, contrived so as to simulate the conduct of living creatures. Many of them evince the utmost ingenuity and skill on the part of the inventors; and though we can scarcely commend, yet we cannot but admire, the enthusiasm that would devote thirty or forty years to the perfecting of such machinery. To notice a tithe of these inventions would greatly exceed our limits; we shall therefore confine our descriptions to a few of the more remarkable.

Automata made to simulate living actions have been constructed in all ages. Archytas of Tarentum, an able astronomer and geometrician, who flourished four hundred years before the Christian era, is said to have made a wooden pigeon that could

able of these were their clocks and time-keepers, some of which we may shortly advert to.

REMARKABLE CLOCKS AND WATCHES.

The famous astronomical clock of Strasburg, completed by Isaac Habrecht about the end of the sixteenth century, deserves a prominent place in our catalogue. It has been recently renovated by a M. Schwitgue after four years' labour; but its original movements are thus described in Morrison's Itinerary :-" Before the clock stands a globe on the ground, showing the motions of the heavens, stars, and planets. The heavens are carried about by the first mover in twenty-four hours. Saturn, by his proper motion, is carried about in thirty years; Jupiter in twelve; Mars in two; the sun, Mercury, and Venus in one year; and the moon in one month. In the clock itself, there are two tables on the right and left hand, showing the eclipses of the sun and moon from the year 1573 to the year 1624. The third table, in the middle, is divided into three parts. In the first part, the statues of Apollo and Diana show the course of the year, and the day thereof, being carried about in one year; the second part shows the year of our Lord, and the equinoctial days, the hours of each day, the minutes of each hour, Easter day, and all other feasts, and the Dominical letter; and the third part hath the geographical description of all Germany, and particularly of Strasburg, and the names of the inventor and all the workmen. In the middle frame of the clock is an astrolabe, showing the sign in which each planet is every day; and there are the statues of the seven planets upon a circular plate of iron; so that every day the planet that rules the day comes forth, the rest being hid within the frames, till they come out of course at their day-as the sun upon Sunday, and so for all the week. There is also a terrestrial globe, which shows the quarter, the half hour, and the minutes. There is also the figure of a human skull, and the statues of two boys, whereof one turns the hour-glass, when the clock hath struck, and the other puts forth the rod in his hand at each stroke of the clock. Moreover, there are the statues of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and many observations of the moon. In the upper part of the clock are four old men's statues, which strike the quarters of the hour. The statue of Death comes out at each quarter to strike, but is driven back by the statue of Christ with a spear in his hand for three quarters; but in the fourth quarter that of Christ goes back, and that of Death strikes the hour with a bone in his hand, and then the chimes sound. On the top of the clock is an image of a cock, which twice in the day crows aloud, and claps his wings. Besides, this clock is decked with many rare pictures; and, being on the inside of the church, carries another frame to the outside of the walls, whereon the hours of the sun, the courses of the moon, the length of the day, and such other things, are set out with great art."

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