Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/815

* CHRONICLES. ri7 CHRONOLOGY. the Chronicles from the hitter, however, are Jue in most instances to his religious pragmatism. Everything is done to emphasize the ancient im- portance of the Levites, wlio are introduced at points and on occasions v}iich are most inap- propriate. He is also fond of high figures in enumerating sums and armies. I'lic >peeches introduced by him and put into the mouths of prominent personages aUo relied entirely the Chronicler's peculiar point of view. Taking all this together, it is claimed by many that the historical value of Chronicles, where it varies from the books of Sanuiel and Kings, is small, and, except in some details, which have chiefly an interest as representing perhaps a more or less widespread tradition, there is a reluctance among modern critical scholars to depend upon it in the study of Hebrew history. BiBUOGR-vi'iiY. See the commentaries of Bertheau, Kittel, Keil, Benzinger, etc., and in- troductions to the C)ld Testament of Driver, Wildelioer, Kuenen, Bleek-Wellhausen, Konig, Kautzsoh, etc. CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE. A series of tales by Sir W alter Scott. The first set, including The HiyMund W'idoir. The .Surgeon's Daughter, and Two Urorers, was published in 1827: and the second, containing The Fair Maid of Perth, appeared in the ensuing year. They are supposed to be told by a certain Mr. Chrys- tal Croftangry, who, he informs us, got them from a Mrs. Baliol, See C.4xong.te, The. CHRONICLES OF THE SCHONBERG- COTTA ( shen1)rrK kofta i FAMILY. A novel by Miss Kundell I later Mrs. Andrew Charles), published anonymously in London in 1863, and in Xew York in the following year. It is as 'author' of this work that Mrs. Charles signed her later works. CHRON'OGRAM (from Gk. XP'^"'. ehronos, time + ypafifia. griiiniint, letter, irom ypd(peiv,gru- phein, to write), or Chronograph. A whimsi- cal device of the later Romans, resuscitated dur- ing the Renaissance Period, by which a date is given by selecting certain letters among those which form an inscription, and printing them larger than the others. The principle will be understood from the following chronogram, made from the name of George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham : geobgIVs. DVX. bVCkIxg.4MI.5;. The date MDCX""VI1I. (1028) is that of the year in which the duke was nnirdered by Felton, at Portsmouth. Consult Hilton, Chronograms { 1882 I . CHRON'OGRAPH (Lat. ehronographus, from (k. xP<""'7P0"". chroiiographos, from XP^voi, ehronos, time -|- ypdipeiv, graphein, to write). A term applied to instruments measur- ing very .short intervals of time as well as to in- struments recording such measures. Chrono- graph watches, or pocket chronographs, will meas- ure intervals of time down to fifths of a second, for use at horse races and other occasions where a seconds watch is not exactly suited. Tiiey have an ordinary (piick-train lever movement, carrying hands which move over a dial. One of these is a seconds hand, very peculiarly made. The seconds hand is double, consisting of two distinct hands, one superposed on the other. .As the double .seconds hand revolve.s, it is possible to stop one of its component halves by touching a spring at the side of the case. A record having thus been made of the exact fraction of a second marked by the position of the stopped hand, an- other pressure of the spring makes it lly back to its former position on the moving component. The instrument is then ready for another obser- vation. There are numerous modifications of this form of instrument; they are sometimes called stop-watches, or split-second tly-back watches. The astronomical chronograph is used to re- cord permanently the e.xact instant of time when certain a.stronomical observations are made. Such a time record is of course extremely impor- tant in almost all forms of astronomical work. As usually constructed, the instrument consists of a metal cylinder or drum, ujjon which is wound a sheet of paper to receive the record. The drum is connected with a clockwork appara- tus which makes it turn on its axis once each minute. At the same time, a fountain i)en, or some other form of marking instrument, is pressed against the paper so that a line is traced around the drum as it turns. The pen is attached to an electro-magnet, which in turn is moved very slowly by the clockwork along the axis of the drum. The result of these motions of the drum and pen is to trace a continuous spiral line on the paper around the drum. The electro-magnet is connected with the astronomer's standard clock by wires, and once every second an electric signal is sent automatically by the clock into the magnet. This results in a short interruption or break in the line traced by the pen. Such a break, then, marks the beginning of each second on the chronograiihic time-record. When the as- tronomer wishes to record the exact time of an observation, he has but to tap a telegraphic key held in his hand, and a signal similar to the clock signals will reach the clironograpliic electro- magnet. The result is a break in the record line, similar to those due to the clock. It is then merely necessary to measure the position of the observer's break with reference to the clock breaks, to fi.x the exact fraction of a second cor- responding to the oljservation. There is little difficulty in thus measuring a chronographie rec- ord to the twentieth part of a second of time. Sec Cni!OM)s( Di'i:. CHRONOLOGY ( Fr. chronologic, from Lat. rhronologiii, from (jk. xpo'o^oT'*. chronologia, from xP^'"'. ehronos, time + X670S, logos, ac- count). The branch of science which treats of time as measured, computed, and recorded. Its object is to establish some method of defining time, to compute the intervals between important historical events, and to fix the dates of events uniforndy with reference to some chosen point in the history of the world. The familiar units of time are the year, the month, and the day. These are astronomical, and are determined by recurring celestial phenomena. The epoch universally employed to- day, before which and after which events are said to have occurred, is the birtli of Christ. The years before Christ are marked B.C. and those after a.d. (. no Domini). The astronom- ical units, however, have not always been em- ployed, and the epoch or reckoning point differed among various peoples. Thus in earlv days, such vague periods as generations, or reigns of kini's, were assumed as units; but finally, through tbe