Sundials: a simplified approach by means of the equatorial dial

ISBN: 9780212983551

定价: 99.00

内容简介

Foreword
Ever since early man learned to judge the time of day from the
length and direction of shadows??? the Sun has been our primary
standard of time-keeping. The sundial??? first used some thousands
of years ago??? was still in use until well into the eighteenth cen-
tury??? when the first really accurate clocks were made. Before
this time the sundial was all-important. When the melancholy
Jacques met a fool in the forest
~ . . he drew a dial from his poke???1
And looking on it with lack-lustre eye???
Says??? very wisely??? It is ten o clock:
Such portable sundials must have been very common in those
days??? when travel of any kind was a hazardous enterprise and
watches were rare and quite unreliable. Everv church clock would
have a sundial close at hand??? so that the clock could be fre-
quently corrected. Many of these dials have??? alas??? passed away???
but it is always delightful to come across some rare example???
made with skill and artistry by men who took pride in their work.
In these days of mass production we can but admire the crafts-
manship shown in some intricate medieval dial or in the simple
beauty of the great sundial designed bv Henrv Moore in our own
times.
Mr Cousins has provided descriptions and illustrations of manv
kinds of sundial??? and it has been a very real pleasure to read his
thorough study of the subject. He has obviouslv gone to great
lengths to describe the development of the sundial and the various
methods of construction??? and I know of no other book that covers
the subject in such detail??? and with so manv examples of the
kinds of dial which are still left to us.
There is some peculiar fascination about the sundial - our
oldest astronomical instrument - which will never fade. There is
also a beauty in the mathematics of its construction??? and??? indeed???
the art of dialling formed an important branch of mathematics
in the past??? and was the subject of manv textbooks. It is this
aspect of the subject that appeals to me most of all??? and its
1 (.4s you like lt. Act ii Scene 7??? line 20.)