644 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



are fast-days, holy-days, and feast-days. Above all of these interest- 

 ing things there is a long opening which extends across the width of 

 the base. On each day of the week a different figure appears at one 

 side of this opening, at noon it is in the center, and at night it disap- 

 pears altogether at the side opposite to the one by which it entered in 

 the morning. The figure on Mondays is that of Diana ; on Tuesdays, 

 it is Apollo. Just above these figures, and in the very edge of the 

 platform that forms the top of the base, is the dial of the clock which 

 tells the hour and minute of the day. On either side of the dial sit 

 two Cupids, one of whom strikes the hours and quarters on a bell, and 

 the other reverses an hour-glass as each new hour begins. Above, and 

 on the real body of the clock, is placed a dial containing the signs of 

 the zodiac. Then over this thei-e is a ball which shows the age of the 

 moon — whether it is first quarter, or full, etc. — while overhead are con- 

 cealed the various images, or automatic figures, that appear only at 

 noon. What an eye-witness saw by waiting from eleven o'clock till 

 noon has been thus described : " We viewed this wondrous piece of 

 mechanism for an hour, and witnessed the following movements : At a 

 quarter-past eleven the Cupid near the dial struck one ; then, from one 

 of the upper compartments ran forth a little child with a wand, and 

 as he passed he struck one on a bell, and ran away (Childhood the 

 first quarter). Round whirled the wheels of time, and the second quar- 

 ter chimes ; but this time it is Youth that passes, and taps the bell with 

 his shepherd's staff twined with flowers. After we leave the second 

 quarter, then Manhood strides forth, the mailed warrior, and smites the 

 sonorous bell, ere he leaves the scene, three sounding blows with his 

 trenchant weapon — the third quarter. Once more the hands tremble 

 on the point of noon ; the fourth quarter is here, and Old Age, a feeble, 

 bent figure, hobbles out, pauses wearily at the bell, raises a crutch, and 

 taps four strokes, and totters away out of sight — 'last scene of all' ; 

 when, as a finale, the skeleton figure of Death, before whom all four 

 have passed, slowly raises his baton, which the spectators now discover 

 to be a human bone, and solemnly strikes the hour of twelve upon the 

 bell. While he is engaged in this act, a set of figures above him, rep- 

 resenting the twelve apostles, pass in procession before the Saviour, 

 who blesses each one as he passes before him in turn ; and chanticleer, 

 the size of life, perched upon the pinnacle of one of the side structures, 

 lifts up his voice in three rousing crows, with outstretched neck and 

 flapping wings ; while the Cupid on one side of the dial reverses the 

 hour-glass for the sand to flow back, and the other Cupid strikes 

 the hour with his bell and hammer." 



There are many other wonderful clocks in the world, but they are 

 smaller, and they are not as well known as the Strasburg clock. An 

 old time-piece in England records the age of all the planets by an 

 arrangement which gives the exact revolution of each one. For in- 

 stance, the little ball that represents Mercury goes around the circle 



