, he soon became proficient in roughly dividing up the
cycle into sections, which he denominated the hours of the day and of
the night. Primitive at first, his methods were simple, his needs few
and his time abundant. Increase in numbers, multiplicity of duties, and
division of occupation began to make it imperative that a more
systematic following of these occupations should be instituted, and with
this end in view he contrived, by means of burning lights or by
restricting the flowing of water or the falling of weights, to subdivide
into convenient intervals and in a tolerably satisfactory manner the
periods of light.

These modest means then were the first steps toward the exact
subdivisions of time which we now enjoy. Unrest, progress, discontent
with things that be, we must acknowledge, have, from the appearance of
the first clock to the present hour, been the powers which have driven
on the inventive genius of watch and clockmakers to designate some new
and more acceptable system for regulating the course of the movement. In
consequence of this restless search after the best, a very considerable
number of escapements have been invented and made up, both for clocks
and watches; only a few, however, of the almost numberless systems have
survived the test of time and been adopted in the manufacture of the
timepiece as we know it now. Indeed, many such inventions never passed
the experimental stage, and yet it would be very interesting to the
professional horologist, the apprentice and even the layman to become
more intimately acquainted with the vast variety of inventions made upon
this domain since the inception of horological science. Undoubtedly, a
complete collection of all the escapements invented would constitute a
most instructive work for the progressive watchmaker, and while we are
waiting for a competent author to take such an exhaustive work upon his
hands, we shall endeavor to open the way and trust that a number of
voluntary collaborators will come forward and assist us to the extent of
their ability in filling up the chinks.

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED.

The problem to be solved by means of the escapement has always been to
govern, within limits precise and perfectly regular, if it be possible,
the flow of the motive force; that means the procession of the
wheel-work and, as a consequence, of the hands thereto attached. At
first blush it seems as if a continually-moving governor, such as is in
use on ste