The Rhode Island Republican

From a German paper.

Mechanical Genius.—Counsellor Bockman possesses a large astronomical clock, constructed by the Rev. Pastor Hahn, which not only contains the common divisions of time but has likewise divisions of ten, of a hundred, and of a thousand years. The spectator contemplates, with pleasure, the contrasted quick motion of the second hand and the thousand year hand, which turns on a small dial plate, not larger than that of a Parisian watch. The progress of the latter in fifty years is very small, so that its motion is imperceptible. The ten, hundred and a thousand year hands are not a mere display of great use—for, on the large dial plate contains all the lesser, the globes are described, and the progress of the stars denoted; so that the hands, by combining motions, display the variations, positions, and appearances of the earth and the heavenly bodies.

We saw a watch made by Mr. Auch, of Stargard, a scholar of the minister Hahn. He is only six and twenty, yet, in the opinion of some he already surpasses his master. This watch contains the divisions of time, from a second to a century. On the opposite on a clouded azure ground, is seen the course of the sun and moon, with its nodes and eclipses. The artist means to improve this watch and describe the course of Venus, as a morning and evening star.