MODES OF KEEPING TIME KNOWN AMONG THE CHINESE. 611 
no movements of any kind, but it is said to keep accurate time. The 
Chinese automata so much admired, are in their internal structure imi- 
tations of foreign articles. 
In dialling the Chinese have never accomplished anything, being de- 
ficient in the requisite knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. It 
is true the projection of the shadow of the gnomon was carefully ob- 
served at an early historic period for astronomical purposes. Proper 
sun-dials were unquestionably derived from the West; but they were 
not introduced, as Sir John Davis supposes, by the Jesuits. The Chi- 
nese are probably indebted to the Mohammedans for this instrument, 
although we find an astronomer endeavoring to rectify the clepsydra 
by means of the sun’s shadow, projected by a gnomon, about a century 
earlier than the Hejira. There is one in the Imperial Observatory at 
Peking more than 4 feet in diameter. Smaller ones are sometimes met 
with in public offices, all made under the direction of Romish mission- 
aries or their pupils. 
From remote antiquity a family named Wang, residing in Hiu-ning- 
hien (latitude 29° 53’ N., longitude 118° 17’ E.) in the province of 
Nganhwui, has had the exclusive manufacture of pocket compasses, 
with which sun-dials are often connected. In most of these a thread 
attached to the lid of the instrument serves as a gnomon without any 
adaptation for different latitudes, although they are in use in every 
part of the empire. Another form, rather less rude, used by clock- 
makers for adjusting their timepieces, is marked with notches, one for 
each month of the year, to give the gnomon a different angle every 
month. The one used by the Japanese exceeds that made in China in 
every respect. 
Time is often kept with tolerable accuracy in shops and temples by 
burning incense sticks made of sawdust, carefully, but slightly, mixed 
with glue, and evenly rolled into cylinders two feet long, and divided 
off into hours. When lighted, they gradually consume away without 
flame, burning up in half a day. Hour-glasses are scarcely known in 
China, and only mentioned in dictionaries as instruments employed in 
western countries to measure time. A native writer on antiquities 
says the western priest, hi Ma-tan (M. Ricci), made a clock which re- 
volved and struck time a whole year without error. The clock brought 
out by Ricci, if not the first seen in China, is the earliest of which men- 
tion is made in Chinese history. This subsequently became an article 
of import, and this branch of trade has for a long time been, and is 
still, of considerable value. Clocks and watches of very antique ap- 
pearance are often met with, specimens of the original models scarcely 
to be found in any other country. Some of the latter, by their clumsy 
figure, remind one of their ancient name, ‘‘ Nuremburg eggs,” but their 
workmanship must have been superior to that of most modern ones. or 
they would not be found in operation at this late day. 
