HOUR, a measure of time equal to -Ath part of a day. The division of the day into hours seems to have been known to the Babylonians and Egyptians, from whom, first the Greeks, and then the Romans derived it. But their scheme of division extended only to the natural day (while the sun was above the horizon), which they divided into 12 parts. The consequence of this was that the hour constantly varied in length. This system was introduced into Rome by L. rapirius Cursor about 293 B.C., and during the Punic wars, the Romans adopted the division of the night also into 12 parts. This system continued till about the end of the 4th c., when the present system was adopted. In the British empire, and most continental countries, the day is reckoned from mid night to mid-day 12 hours, and mid-day to midnight 12 hours. In Italy the day is reckoned from sunset to sunset, and the hours are counted from 1 to 24. The Chinese
reckon from an hour (in our time) before midnight till the corresponding time next night, 12 hours, each hour being equal to two of ours. The Japanese still follow the old custom of reckoning from sunrise till sunset. Astonomers reckon from mid-day (ou the previous day) to mid-day, counting from 1 to 24.
31011RA, a t. on the right or w. bank of the Hoogly, stands within the limits of the 24 pergunnahs, in lat. 22° 36' n., and long. 85° 23' east. It is directly opposite to Cal cutta, of which it may, in fact, be regarded as a suburb. The river between them is their common harbor; and Hotira, being inhabited chiefly by ship-builders, bears pretty nearly the same relation to the aggregate metropolis of India as Blackwall bears to Lon don in its largest sense. It is hence that the great railway takes its departure for the n.w. provinces.