almost all climates the year is marked by the recurrence of contrasting meteorological conditions defining it as measure of time. These arc the " seasons," and by one of them, rather than by any more abstract term, the year is usually spoken of in primitive dialects. Thus with the northern tribes of America the years were counted by winters, whereas in the poetic phraseology of our comfortable life they are spoken of as summers. The ancient Aryans counted also by winters, and had no word for year (Pictet). The divisions of the seasons increased in number as the tribes dwelt nearer the equator and the contrast was less marked between the extremes. Instead of merely winter and summer, there were winter, spring, summer, late summer, and autumn (Grimm). In tracing their migrations this has profitably been called in to ascertain the oldest centre of a group of languages.
Alonths and subdivision of the year, that into months by the waxing and waning of the moon, though not universal is nearly so. Of course, it lacks much of being accurate, and our months—mooneths are far from corresponding to the changes of the earth's satellite. The subdivision of the month into weeks of seven days no doubt was a quadri partite division of the lunar month. It extended over the Old World from the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies, and in the New was familiar to the Cherokees, Peruvians, and perhaps some other nations. The usual American week was of thirteen days, and this too was probably derived from the lunar month by dividing it as nearly as practicable into halves.
Calendars.—On the divisions of time above referred to were constructed the calendars by which nations sought to fix in time the events of their history and to frame a chronology. One of intricate construction, but of considerable accuracy for short periods, was the common property of sev eral Mexican and Central American nations. Neither its origin nor the details of the principles on which it was applied have as yet been fully explained by archmolog,ists. Our own calendar is the net result of a series of approximations extending over several thousand years, and, though sufficiently accurate for practical purposes, is not precisely correct.
Sundials, measurement of time within the space of the day has called forth some of the most admirable results of human ingenuity. The observation that the position of the shadows indicates how far the day has advanced must have been a primitive one, and have suggested the earliest horologe or hour-measurer, giving rise to the sundial. Its origin we do not know, but from the reference to " the degrees on the dial of Ahaz " in 2 Kings xx. i 1, it must have been familiar to the Hebrews in their early days. It is highly probable that the so-called " sun-pillars " and "sun-circles," recurring with singular similarity of structure among the Druidic remains of Western Europe, in Northern Asia, in Peru, and elsewhere, were erected as a sort of standard measure of the motions of the sun both in his daily and yearly journeys.
Clepsydra and improvement on the dial, as allowing the measurement of shorter periods of time, was the clepsydra or water clock, in which the regulated dropping of water from a vase checked off the flight of time. The acting on the same principle, was not introduced until about the beginning of the Christian era. The burn ing of candles was a device of King Alfred for the same purpose; but this and all the other expedients mentioned have given way in modern times to the action of a spring or weight exerted directly on the motion of wheels, or through the regulated motion of a pendulum. The marvellous pitch of exactness to which the recent methods of time-measuring have been brought was the essential condition of many of the most valuable applica tions of modern science.
.Measures of Space.—Beginning with the simplest dimension of space, that of length, we find that the primitive linear measures of all nations were derived from parts of the human body, as our own words " foot," " span," "finger's-breadth," etc. remain to testify. The cubit, measured from the point of the elbow to the tip of the outstretched fingers, equal to 20.63 inches, was the standard for the ancient Egyptians and probably for the early Hebrews. The ell (whence el-bow) was the length of the whole ann, roughly supposed to be double the cubit, and probably measured from the upper edge of the breastbone. It was in use among most of the Teutonic tribes. The distance between the extremities of the outstretched arms was the fathom, calculated as twice the length of the ell. The lower extremity furnished the foot as a measure to many nations, which is still cunent among civilized communities, varying little in length from that in use in Greece and Rome. Applying to it the quinary system of num bers, the Romans reckoned five feet to a step or pace (passus), and a thousand of these to a mile (millia All these and many more measures derived from the human body were found in current use among the natives of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America by the early explorers. They applied them in their architect ure and other arts of life, nor did they, any more than the Egyptians or Romans, rest content with the varying lengths which the proportions of different persons would give, but settled upon a fixed average standard, to which the government forced all to pay respect. In the city of Tenoch titlan—as the ancient city of Mexico was called—and elsewhere, officials were appointed whose duty it was to see that these standards, and no others, were used at the fairs and markets. Their longer measures of distance were estimated by " resting-places ;" and here again was a par allelism with European words and customs, for the "league," equivalent to three miles or thereabout, is from the same root as to lay (German liegen), and refers to the distance after travelling which one should lay himself down and rest.