378 TIME-KEEPING IN GREECE AND ROME. 



iug-. The lengtlieiiiiio- of his own shadow was an always present phe- 

 nomenon, and men mnst have observed shadows almost as soon as they 

 became capable of observing anything. But this kind of observation 

 went on for ages without any attempt to sub-divide the day, and none 

 but the great natural periods marked off by sunrise and sunset were 

 recognized. 



Between this period, marked by the observation of the natural day 

 only, and that in which we live, there have been many steps of progress, 

 the very dates of which may in some cases be quite distinctly observed. 

 We find an era where noon begins to be noted, and the natural day is 

 equally divided by its observation. Then we find an era in which either 

 the entire day or its great natural fractions are again divided into 

 smaller fractions of rather indefinite length, as is now done by some 

 savages and as was done in the earlier history of Greece and Kome. 

 Next to this comes the era in which definite artificial fractions of the 

 day are observed, which may be called the era of hours. It was many 

 centuries after this before men in the ordinary transactions of life 

 counted their time by minntes, but the time when this began is qnite 

 distinctly marked. 



I would not say that these eras are contemporaneous in all nations, 

 nor could I assert that they correspond closely with any recognized 

 stages in civilization and culture ; in fact, the observation of hours of 

 the day does not appear to obtain until civilization is reached. This is 

 true however, — men measure most carefully that which they value most, 

 and the value of time is enhanced just in proportion to the multiplicity 

 of the demands upon it which the existing state of society involves. 

 The man who has engagements at the bank, the custom-house, his own 

 warehouse or factory, and in a court-room, and a dozen or more indi- 

 viduals to meet, each of whom, perhajis, has similar pressing engage- 

 ments, and then must reach an express train at 4:30 in order to dine at 

 6, fifty miles away, must allot his time with the greatest care and meas- 

 ure it with the utmost minuteness. To the savage, the sun rises and 

 sets, and rises again ; — one day is as another ; nothing presses but hun- 

 ger, and that he endures till fortune brings food. He needs no clock to 

 tell him it is dinnertime, for it is always dinner-time when there is food. 

 When people travelled leisurely by stagecoach, walking uj) the hills to 

 rest the horses, stopping at the wayside inns to dine, and w^ell content 

 at the close of the day if 50 or GO miles had been covered, seconds of time 

 and even minutes were of little account; but when trains are run on a 

 complex schedule, and for a whole season in advance it is set down at 

 just what place each train must be at each moment of every day, and 

 the safety of lives and property depends on exact adherence to the pre- 

 scribed order, then the station clocks must be invariable and synchro- 

 nous and the conductor's watch true to the second. Civilization is 

 marked at every step of its progress by the multiplication of the varied 

 relations between men, and since the importance of time is enhanced 



