History of the Strasbourg Clock

This famous astronomical clock stands in the south transept of the Strasbourg Cathedral.

It was constructed by Schwilgue, a celebrated Strasbourg mechanic, between the years 1838 and 1842, to replace an older clock made in 1574.

It comprises a number of complicated devices, to show the astronomical changes of the year. It contains a perpetual calendar, which shows also the feasts that vary from year to year on account of their connection with Easter Sunday. The phases of the moon and the eclipses of the sun and moon are calculated for all time. True time and sidereal time are also indicated, besides many other astronomical changes. Precisely at a quarter to twelve, an angel standing on the topmost gallery of the clock strikes the third quarter on a bell. When the hands point to twelve, one of the genii reverses an hour-glass, and Death strikes the hour. Beneath are the figures of Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. Under the first gallery, Saturn, the symbolic deity of the day, steps out from a niche. Then the figures of the twelve apostles come out on the gallery, while two doors flying open reveal the Saviour standing in a little temple. Each of the apostles passes in turn before Him, bowing low as he passes; and over each the Lord raises His hands in blessing. As St. Peter passes, a cock crows thrice, and the Devil looks after him with a hideous grin: this spectacle takes place only at noon. Three clocks of this character have stood in the same place, but this is the most nearly perfect of them all. An interesting legend is connected with the second clock, which was constructed far back in the Middle Ages.

"The maker was an ingenious mechanic, but a very simple-hearted old man. He had a daughter, whose hand was sought by one of the magistrates of the town,--a rich, miserly man: but the heart of the maiden was already given to her father's young apprentice, who had rendered the mechanic great service in the construction of his clock; and the old man had promised that the marriage might take place as soon as the clock was finished. Thus encouraged, the apprentice worked so zealously that the clock was soon completed. The old man wept for joy at the success of his labor. Everybody came to see it, and the city authorities bought it for the cathedral. Then the lovers were married.

"The fame of the clock soon spread far and wide; and the city of Basel, Switzerland, ordered another just like it. This aroused the jealousy of the magistrates; and, sending for the old mechanic, they tried to extort a promise from him that he would never duplicate this masterpiece for any other town. 'I will make no such promise,' said the clock-maker. 'Heaven gave me not my talents to feed your vain ambition.' Then the magistrate who had been rejected by the old man's daughter persuaded his colleagues to put out the old man's eyes. The clock-maker heard the sentence with fortitude, only requesting that his sentence might be executed in the presence of his beloved work. His request was granted: he was carried before the clock, where he stood gazing at it fondly. 'But one touch remains to complete my work,' said the old man; and he busied himself a moment among the wheels of the clock. Then he stepped back, and submitted himself to the executioner, who quickly deprived him of his sight. At the same moment a crash was heard, and the works of the clock fell into a mass of ruins. The old man had removed the mainspring; and the works, suddenly released from control, had destroyed themselves.

"His revenge was complete, for there was no one that could restore the wonderful piece of mechanism.

"The people then turned upon the cruel magistrate, and with blows and curses drove him from the church."

The clock remained a ruin until 1842, when parts of it were used by Schwilgue to construct the present one.

28. GREEK FIRE. (See Gibbon, early sieges of Constantinople, for its use, etc.)

During the reign of Constantine, III., the Saracens besieged the city of Constantinople for five months, but were then obliged to retire.

They returned seven times during as many successive years, but were each time repulsed by Callimachus, who, in 688, invented an inextinguishable fire by which he destroyed their ships.

This Greek or liquid fire was made principally of naphtha or liquid bitumen, mixed with some sulphur and pitch extracted from green firs. Water, instead of extinguishing, quickened this powerful agent of destruction, which nothing but sand, wine, or vinegar could check. For four hundred years the Greeks kept the secret of its composition, but the Mohammedans at length discovered and used it.

This fire remained in use until the middle of the fourteenth century, when it was superseded by gun-powder.