Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/664

 bows to the Madonna, and passes out at another door. The three wise men of the East then come in at one door, bow to the Madonna, and pass out. Two giants strike the hour on a bell, while the winged lion of St. Mark overlooks the whole scene.

We are told of a strange clock that is said to have belonged to a Hindoo prince. A large gong was hung on poles near the dial, and all about, upon the ground, lay a pile of artificial human heads, ribs, legs, and arms. The whole number of bones in the pile was equal to the number of bones in twelve perfect bodies, but the pile appeared to have been thrown together in the greatest confusion. "When the hands of the clock indicated the hour of one, out from the pile crawled first the number of parts needed to form the frame of one man, part coming to part with quick click; and, when completed, the figure sprang up, seized a mallet, and, walking up to the gong, struck one blow. This done, he returned to the pile, and fell to pieces again. When two o'clock came, two men arose, and did likewise; and at the hours of noon and midnight the entire heap sprang up and, marching to the gong, struck one after another his blow, making twelve in all; then returning, fell to pieces as before."

An old traveler writes this description of a clock that he saw in Japan: "This clock, in a frame three feet high and five long, represented a moon landscape of great loveliness. In the fore-ground were plum and cherry trees and rich plants in full bloom; in the rear a hill gradual in ascent, from which flowed a cascade, admirably imitated in crystal. From this point a thread-like stream glided along, encircling rocks and tiny islands in its winding, but presently losing itself in a far-off stretch of woodland. In the sky turned a golden sun, indicating as it passed the striking hours, which were all marked upon the frame below, where a slowly creeping tortoise served as a hand. A bird of exquisite plumage, resting on a plum-tree branch, by its wings proclaimed the expiration of each hour. When the song ceased, a mouse sprang from a grotto near by, and, running over the hill, hastily disappeared."

By far the most famous clock in the world is the one that is hid-den inside the cathedral in Strasburg (Fig. 2). The first clock—with automatic figures—was begun by Bishop Van Bucheck in 1352, and finished by Bishop von Litchenberg in 1354. The present clock was begun in 1547 by Christian Herlin, Nicholas Bruckner, and Michael Herr. The death of the two latter delayed the work, and it was not resumed until Professor Conrad Dasypodius, of the university,