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These dials, called “ Poke Dials,” or pocket dials—dials which 
could be worn in the pocket—seem to have been common in the 
16th century.* 
Sometimes these dials had a bridge or axis, as well as a little 
ring to hang the dial or hold it up by, like that now exhibited. 
Upon my inserting a letter in the Bristol Times and Mirror, in 
June last (1883), I received several communications respecting 
these dials. 
In one from Bristol the writer says—‘ The ring dial in my 
possession is six inches in diameter, a double ring with a revolving 
centre-piece. One side has 14 letters on it, D. N.O.S8. A. J.J. 
On the opposite side, D. J. F. M. A. M. J. The 12 Signs of the 
Zodiac, and the other side, 8.D. 20. 10 A.E. 10. 20. N.D., 
divided into degrees. The inner side has the hours of the day 
and minutes also, a cycle of 90 degrees. The outer ring has 90 
degrees repeated = 180, and also marked into degrees. 
Another correspondent writes from Twthill, Carnarvon. He 
says—‘“I have had a ring dial for about 40 years, and as it is 
exactly the same as the one mentioned in the Bristol Times and 
Mirror, perhaps it would interest you to have a description of it. 
The description I give is from a paper written I conclude by some 
one supposed to be an authority on the subject,” This is as 
follows :—‘‘ The dial shows the hour of the day in any part of 
the world. It consists of two flat circles from two to six inches 
in diameter and of proportional breadth. The outward ring 
represents the meridian of any place you are at, and consists of 
two divisions of 90° each, diametrically opposite to one another, 
the one serving from the Equator to the North Pole, the other to 
the South Pole. Across the two circles is screwed to the 
Meridian a thin reglet or bridge, with a cursor that slides along 
the middle of the bridge, the cursor has a small hole for the sun 
to shine through. The middle of the bridge is conceived as the axis — 
* See Journal of Arch. Assoc., vol. xix., p. 71, on Pocket Solaria. 
