An hourglass is a device for measurement of time. It consists of two glass flasks, the one over the other. These are connected with a thin tube. The one flask is almost full of fine sand which flows through the thin tube to the flask below. As all sand is clean down, you turn the hourglass upside down, such that one can measure the time again!
The hourglass is a great invention to the world, and you measure time with it, and you always can do with your watch. Everything we done on earth can be dwell with, what we are doing and why, and what we are not doing and why. Every use of time, is a restriction and choice of all choices of different doings.
The first measures of time, of all conceivable measures of time, used the shadow from the sun, so-called sundial, and they did not function when it was night, and when it was cloudy! Measurement of time goes thousands of years back in time, since humans probably have existed on earth for a long time, and we can discuss how many years and why. Every plausible explanation should be filled with speculations, theories and methods. And we can collect data to measure what we are thinking!
We have used many things to measure time in all human history. And some of them were usable and some not usable! But at sea, hourglass was for a long time, the only measure they had to measure time. And when it was ligth, it was a day, and when it went dark, there was night. Such has been the life since the first human! It is speculated about whether the use of hourglass was used already from the 11th century! Glass blowing came to Europe in the 13th century, and Venetians made excellent hourglasses. It was however from the 14th century, that we find evidences for the used of hourglass, and this is coming to time in 1338 through the work: «Allegory of Good Government» by Ambrogio Lorenzetti! Written sources from this period mention hourglass, and such glasses are found in the inventory of ships! One of the earliest records that exists, is a sales receipt to Thomas de Stetesham, intendant of the English ship «La George» in 1345. And we find words and description of this.
Hourglass was one of the first measures of time, and they were the first timers that were reasonably, accurate, robust and durable devices. If we do not have time, we can just guess how much it is, and that can be correct or wrong! From the 15th century, the hourglass has been used at sea, in churches, in industry and by chefs!
The circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan is said to be included 18 hourglasses per ship! And these were used to such that the log was correct! This travelling around the globe was used to measure the time that was used in the implementation of the sailing! Travelling and trade are both dependent on using the time you have with chatting and with movements and with registrations!
Hourglass is not used much in the modern measurement of time today, but some are using them due to practical causes. One example is the using of hourglass in the Parliament of Australia in polls, where 3 hourglasses is used during a poll! Today, you find also the using of hourglass in kitchens and in board games. The hourglass is a symbol for time in past, in presence and in future, and an hourglass in used for the time that is going. The hourglass is a symbol and a metaphor for human existence, and the sand is a symbol for the living life, when it is going. And when the sand has gone through the thin tube, it means the end of life! The American soup opera Days of our Lives from its first episode in 1965 emphasized this symbolism by the means of using an hourglass together with the text: «Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives». Hourglass has been used to spread fear, and we find them in pirate flags, coffins and tombstones!
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Sverre Larsen
Kristiansand, Norway
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