442 TlMEHRI. 
also in different longitudes was touched on, together with 
the curious result, consequent on the invention of the 
Telegraph, of often hearing news from eastward countries 
apparently before it happened, and this led to the dis- 
cussion of a late American fad, the question of " Uni- 
versal Time." 
A historical account of the creation of the Calendar 
was given and of the vicissitudes which it has since 
undergone. 
The subject of Artificial or Mechanical Time Measurers 
was then taken up, and it was pointed out that, as 
Nature did not furnish any means of measuring accu- 
rately the smaller divisions of Time, man had to exercise 
his inventive genius to supply the want which the pro- 
gress of civilisation necessitated. The various means 
that have been, or are being used for the purpose were 
thereupon noticed, and the principle of each explained, 
notably : — The Clepsydra, the Sun Dial, the Hour- 
Glass, the Pendulum Clock — Sidereal and Mean-time 
and lastly the Ship's Chronometer. 
Attention was called to the vote of £30,000 by Parlia- 
ment for a good ship's clock, and the fact of the prize 
having been won by an Englishman. Reference was 
made to the rough observations in point of Time in the 
days of Ptolemy as compared with the extraordinarily 
accurate observations of the present day, and an expla- 
nation was given of the indispensableness of the clock in 
connection with the great question of Longitude. 
The Astronomical portion of the leclure was illus- 
trated by diagrams, and the more praclical part by the 
various chronometric instruments referred to. 
