SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS. 101 



division of the day into day and night by Nature is grounded on an 

 equal duration of the hour, as it continued with the Romans. But 

 the division of the same into equal parts by the passage of the sun 

 through the line of mid-day is sustained by no natural principle which 

 can stand the test of proof. The very name mid-day testifies not to 

 the division of the same into two parts, but only the middle of an un- 

 interrupted whole. It appears to us not entirely improbable that the 

 division of the day into two parts of the like number, specification 

 and duration of hours, has especially found a point of support in the 

 theory that in the infancy of the art of clock-making, the technical 

 means were wanting to the clock-maker to show upon the dial-plate 

 sufficiently and satisfactorily divided one from the other, all the 24 

 difierent hours ; especially with watches. This supposition is strength- 

 ened by the circumstance that in some countries, namely in Italy and 

 Bohemia, even to the latest times, clocks on the towers, of which the 

 larger size permitted all the 24 hours to be shown on their dial plate, 

 had them so marked and with works adapted to the movement. In 

 the present condition of the art the cause for shortening the notation 

 of the hours has entirely passed away, and at the same time the possi- 

 bility presents itself of getting rid of the inconvenience which was 

 called forth by it. If this end be attained in coming time, the 

 Washington Conference from the impulse which it has so far given 

 to it, has rendered a great service to all mankind. 



