D. J. Macgowan on Chinese Horology. 241 
Art. XXIV.—Note on Chinese Horology: with suggestions on 
the form of Clocks, adapted for the Chinese market. Written 
for the U. 8. Patent Office; by D. J. Maccoway, M.D. 
A request made about two years since by the United States 
Patent Office for information from American citizens resident in 
China, calculated to be useful to home industry, has not received 
that attention which it merits, notwithstanding there exists as 
incentives, on the one hand, the unrenouncable claims of coun- 
clocks can be made an article of extensive import into China. 
For a long period the importation of clocks and watches, chiefly 
he former, into this country from the continent of Europe, was 
little short of half a million of dollars annually. This trade has 
nearly ceased, partly owing, no doubt, to the rapid impoverish- 
ment of the country by the opium traffic, and partly to the fact 
that native manufacturers are able to compete with foreigners. 
Yet clocks are not often met with in China; they are chiefly 
confined to the public offices, where it is common to find half a 
dozen, all inarow. ‘The number annually manufactured cannot 
large, for in the richest cities of China, clock-makers are not 
numerous. At Nankin there are forty shops, at Suchau thirty, 
they make costs $7, Some are worth as much as $100, the 
Most common price being about $25 each. A manufacturer esti- 
mates the number of clocks made at the above places at one thou- 
sand per annum, and probably five hundred more would more 
than cover the whole annual manufacture of the empire. A few 
Stcoxp Sznms, Vol. XIII, No. 38—March, 1852. 31 
