DIAL DIALECT. 



663 



of moving round its axis A C, so as to assume diffe- 

 rent positions in the sphere. If it move round so as 

 to become vertical, that is, at right angles to its po- 

 sition in the figure, we then obtain an erect south 

 dial. The plane may also be made to incline from 

 the meridian either towards the east or west. Thus 

 we have dials of different kinds dependent on the po- 

 sition of the plane with regard to the first meridian, the 

 position of the hour lines of which are all determined 

 by the meridians of the sphere cutting the plane. 

 These inclinations of the plane cannot go beyond cer- 

 tain limits, which the reader will easily discover by a 

 little reflection. 



We have been considering the earth as the sphere, 

 in our illustration of the nature of dials, but the earth's 

 magnitude is so small compared with the distance of 

 the sun, that no sensible error will follow in con- 

 sidering a small glass sphere similar to that above 

 described, but placed on the surface of the earth, with 

 its axis parallel to that of the earth ; then will the 

 sphere show the hour of the day in the manner before 

 specified. The only tilings absolutely essential for a 

 dial are the axis and the plane, the places of the hour 

 lines having been once determined. Dials may have 

 various forms, many of which are exceedingly cu- 

 rious ; and the reader who is desirous of becoming ac- 

 quainted with them, may consult with advantage the 

 last edition of Brewster's Ferguson's Lectures. 



Many of these forms are very intricate, and re- 

 quire for their construction the application of compli- 

 cated trigonometrical formulae. We shall confine our 

 attention here to the most common, and, at the same 

 time, most useful form, i. e. the plane horizontal dial. 



On the proposed plane,which may be either of marble, 

 slate, or brass, draw the straight line P H S for the 

 meridian or twelve o'clock line, and parallel to this 

 draw 12, h S, leaving a space between them equal to 

 the thickness of the gnomon. 

 The gnomon is a thin trian- 

 gular disk of metal, some- 

 what similar in shape to the 

 figure A E B, the side A B 

 being fixed into the plate of 

 the dial, so that the gnomon 

 shall stand perpendicularly, 

 the line A E being directly 

 north and south. The line A E is called the style, 

 and the angle E A B is equal to the latitude of the 

 place for wliich the dial is constructed. 



We return again to the consideration of figure 2. 

 Draw 6 H 6 perpendicular to 12 H S, and it will be the 

 6 o'clock hour line ; make the angle 12 H F equal to 

 the latitude of place, and draw 12 F perpendicular to 

 H F ; continue S 12 to P, making 12 P equal to 12 F. 

 The line 12 5 is drawn parallel to the line 6 H 6. 

 From the point P draw the lines P 1, P 2, P 3,.&c., 

 terminating in the b'ne 12 5, making angles with the 

 line 12, P at the point P of 15 , 30 , 45 , &c ., in- 



creasing by 15 degrees each line. Next from the 

 centre H draw the lines H 1, H 2, H 3, &c., and thus 

 the hour lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 p. m. will be found. 

 The hour lines on the other side of the style should 

 now be formed by taking a tracing of the side already 

 formed ; the hours are of course numbered differently, 

 and both sides will stand thus, the hour lines of both 

 sides corresponding : 



1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 



12, 



11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. 



Here we have carried the hours beyond 6, which was 

 the extent of the construction ; but to find the hour 

 lines for 4 and 5 in the morning, we have only to pro- 

 duce the hour lines of 4 and 5 hi the evening, and in 

 like manner for the hour lines of 7 and 8 in the after- 

 noon, produce the hour lines of 7 and 8 in the morn- 

 ing. The dial gives solar time, and, therefore, the 

 tune, according to it, will only agree four days in the 

 year with a well-regulated clock. SeeEguation of time. 



The sundial is daily getting more rare in this 

 country ; but notwithstanding the superiority of the 

 clock, why has the dial almost everywhere vanished ? 

 " If its business use," as has been well observed, 

 " be superseded by more elaborate inventions, its 

 moral use, its beauty, might have pleaded for its con- 

 tinuance. It spoke of moderate labours of plea- 

 sures not protracted after sunset of temperance and 

 good hours. It was the primitive clock the horol- 

 oge of the first world. Adam could scarce have missed 

 it in paradise. It was the measure appropriated for 

 sweet plants and flowers to spring by for the birds to 

 apportion their silver warblings by for flocks to pas- 

 ture and be led to fold by. The shepherd carved it 

 out quaintly in the sun, and, turning philosopher by 

 the very occupation, provided it with mottoes more 

 touching than tombstones."* 



DIALECT; a variety of a language. This de- 

 finition is certainly vague, but is necessarily so from 

 the nature of the subject, as it is impossible to de- 

 termine nicely the line where dialects begin to be- 

 come distinct languages. For instance, in some 

 respects, German, Danish, Swedish, Icelandish, may 

 be called dialects of the common Teutonic stock ; 

 yet a German is no more able to understand Swedish 

 than Hebrew, if he has not studied it. It would not 

 be correct, however, to lay it down as a rule, that 

 dialects are such forms of the common language, as 

 may be understood, if not entirely, yet in general, 

 by all who speak one of the varieties of the common 

 language, because a person who never heard or 

 spoke anything but High-German cannot under- 

 stand the people of Lower Germany, speaking to 

 each other in their dialect : a Portuguese, indeed, is 

 generally able to understand Spanisn, without hav- 

 ing learned the language systematically. 



The common meaning of the term dialect, in mo- 

 dern times, is the language of a part of a country, 

 or a distant colony, deviating, either in its grammar, 

 words, or pronunciation, from the language of that 

 part of the common country, whose idiom has been 

 adopted as the literary language, and the medium of 

 intercourse between well-educated people. In an- 

 cient times, when the great difficulties in the way of 

 intercourse and communication between different 

 parts of a country prevented, or at least impeded, 



* " floras non numeronise serenas," (" I only count the 

 hours of sunshine,") was an ancient dial-motto of great 

 beauty and significance. 



Save when the sun's resplendent ray 



May gild the passing hour. 

 To mark the minutes on their way 



1 lose the ready power. 

 So only can that time be blest, 

 And called by man his own, 

 In which the sunbeam of the breast 

 The conscience may have shone I 



