Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 1051 



effective, he determined to make the figure of stubborn "William III, 

 of England, to bow more humbly than either of the others. A great 

 crowd collected to view the exhibition, and all went well until king 

 "William came forward to make his humble obeisance, when, on the 

 instant, some of the mechanism gave way, and Louis came tumbling 

 heels ovei" head at the feet of the British king. In an hour poor Bur- 

 deau was sitting in the Bastile, trying to find the dividing line 

 between the sublime and the ridiculous. 



The ancient cathedral at Strasburg contains one of the most com- 

 plicated clocks in all Europe. The old cathedral is somewhat com- 

 plicated, too, if we can judge anything by its history. I would like 

 to say something of its many tussles Avith fire, lightning and earth- 

 quakes, but will not put your patience to the test. It was com- 

 menced in 510, on ground once occupied by a temple dedicated to 

 Hercules and Mars. Tradition says that these succeeded a forest of 

 sacred wood in the midst of which rose the Druidical Dolman, and 

 further, that at one time " not less than 100,000 vassals and men, 

 wlio worked for the salvation of their souls," were engaged in the 

 erection of this church. 



The first clock was commenced in 1352, and finished in 1354. I 

 cannot find how long it ran ; but another was commenced in 151:7. 

 I think this was not finished at all, for in 1570 Conrad Dasypodius 

 draw the design of a new one, and the execution of it was confided 

 to Isaac and Josiali Habrecht, two noted meclianicians of the day. 



This so-called master-piece" of the sixteenth century was finished in 

 1574, but it is said to have only ran fifteen years. In 1836 the cor- 

 poration of Strasburg passed a resolution to have the clock repaired, 

 and Mr. Schwilgue, of Strasburg, was intrusted with the work. He 

 began in June, 1838, and completed it at the end of 1842. This new 

 clock differs very little from those that preceded it, and its general 

 features are the same; and although it was built in the nineteenth 

 century, the Strasburg clock really belongs to the latter part 

 of the seventeenth, and it is worthy of description. Stand- 

 ing on the floor three feet from the wall is a great globe of 

 the heavens. This globe turns on its axis in twenty -four hours, while 

 the sun goes through its course in one year, and the moon in one 

 month. On the wall behind this globe is a dial eight feet in diameter, 

 and in the center of the dial is a terrestrial map. On one side of the 

 dial stands Apollo, and on the other Diana, who are said to point to 

 the course of the year and the day thereof. The dial has two sets of 



