Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1919 — Sun the Universal Clock. But It Was Always Wrong [ARTICLE]

Sun the Universal Clock. But It Was Always Wrong

From the beginning the sun was the universal clock, and the universal clock was always wrong—that Is to say, twelve o’clock today was not exactly the samp as twelve o’clock yesterday. But the sun had to serve as a clock to most people until little more than a hundred and fifty years ago, when public clocks took the place of sun dials and watches began to be comparatively common. Doubtless one of the earliest forms of getting somewhere near the hour was by length of shadow, an upright stick or spear, or even the erect form of the time teller himself serving as a natural gnomon. Even today, all over the far East, the only clocks In many, and, indeed, in most places, is the .shadow which is obtained after one or other of these methods.