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211 
of the world, and its extremities as the Poles. On the side of the 
outer ring are the divisions of 90° or a quadrant of altitude. It 
serves by placing a common pin through the hole to take the 
sun’s altitude, from which the latitude of the place may be 
found.” 
There are no Signs of the Zodiac, nor is there any name on 
the dial. 
The British Museum possesses four or five specimens, all of 
brass, and dated 17th century ; these vary in size from one to two 
inches, The letters round the edge refer to the months, and show 
where the hole in the moveable ring is to be placed according to 
the time of year. In some cases the Signs of the Zodiac are 
engraved instead. 
The earliest sun dials in this country are Saxon, for there is 
considerable doubt as to the Roman origin of that found in Dover. 
Bishopstone, near Eastbourne, Sussex, and Aldborough, near 
Hull, may be instanced as good examples. The name Eadric* 
is carved on the dial at Eastbourne. There is also a Saxon dial 
over the south porch of Kirkdale Church, in the North Riding of 
Yorkshire. These dials are semi-circular discs marked in the 
same manner. as those already described, but the markings are at 
equal distances, which is wrong, there being only one kind of 
sun dial with equal divisions, viz., an equinoctial one, i.¢., one in 
which the gnomon is parallel to the axis of the earth, and the 
face of the dial parallel to the plane of the Equator. All other 
_ forms can be derived from these by projection, and this does not 
seem to have been understood until the revival of mathematics, 
about the time of Newton. 
' The finest example of a sun dial is probably that at Holyrood 
Palace, Edinburgh. 
The only useful forms are— 
1. With the face parallel to the plane of the Equator. 
* See Arch, Journal, vol. xi., p. 60. 
