The first-sight phenomena of historic time, and the ocular mechanism of historic memory : developing organic principles for the most rapid possible acquisition and affixment of historical knowledge, and forming an elucidatory and illustrative companion to the fifth edition, coloured, of Major Bell's twenty-five royal folio synchrono-historic and biographic tables / by Major James Bell.

  • Bell, James, Major.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first-sight phenomena of historic time, and the ocular mechanism of historic memory : developing organic principles for the most rapid possible acquisition and affixment of historical knowledge, and forming an elucidatory and illustrative companion to the fifth edition, coloured, of Major Bell's twenty-five royal folio synchrono-historic and biographic tables / by Major James Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    60/238 (page 46)
    BARBARISM. trying most determinedly to reconcile those discre- pancies in the minute retrospective reckonings (or assumption of dates) of early time, which we may now boldly affirm to he irreconcilable ? To say nothing of the periods in which mankind kept no time reckonings at all (knowing no dis- tinction of days under proper names, no division into weeks, into months, or into years), we may readily form an idea of the difficulties which rigid chronologers have to contend with even after man- kind did hegin to attempt time reckonings, when we . reflect that they had still neither any one general point to measure from, nor yet any one general standard to measure by. And thus we may easily conceive what an infinite variety of modes they would adopt; among which we may mention, by ■way of example, that one nation would measure day and night by military watches (from which by the way probably originated the appellation of that invaluable little time measurer which we carry in our fobs or our waistcoat pockets), while others would simply designate the day as one undivided space between sunrise and sunset. And when, afterwards, the day began to be divided into hours, still no uniformity was observed in beginning the day. One made the day begin at sun-RiSE, others (like the Jews and Italians to the present day) at sun-SET; and again others (like ourselves, extra- ordinary as it may seem) would begin their day in the middle of the night; added to which there are regions in which there is during one-half of the