HOUR-GLASS STAND
367
HOURS
There are two kinds of hours, viz. (1.) the astronom- ical or equinoctial liour, i. e. the twenty-fourth part of a civil day, which, although "known to astronomers, was not used ill the affairs of common life till towards the end of the 4th century of the Christian a;ra" (Smith, Diet, of Classical Antiq. s. v. Ilora); and (2.) the natu- ral hour (such the Rabbis called nT^373T, KaipiKai, or temporales), i. e. the twelfth part of the natural day, or of the time between sunrise and sunset. These are the hours meant in the New Test., Josephus, and the Rabbis (John xi, !); Acts v, 7 ; xix, 31 ; Josephus, Aiif. xiv, 4, 3), and it must be remembered that they perpetually vary in length, so as to be very different at different times of the year. Besides this, an hour of the day would always mean a different length of time from an hour of the night, except at the equinox. From the consequent uncertainty of tlie term there arose the pro- verbial expression "not all hours are equal" (R. Joshua ap. CarjDzov, App. Crit. p. 345). At the equinoxes the third hour would correspond to nine o'clock ; the sixth would ahccujs be at noon. To find the exact time meant at other seasons of the year, we must know when the sun rises in Palestine, and reduce the hours to our reck- oning accordingly (Jahn, Bihlic. Arch. § 101). In an- cient times the only way of reckoning the progress of the (lay was by the length of the shadow — a mode of reckoning which was both contingent on the sunshine, and served only for the guidance of individuals. See Shadow. By what means the Jews calculated the length of their hours — whether by dialling, by the clep- sydra or water-clock, or by some horological contrivance, like what was used anciently in Persia (Josephus, A nf. xi, G), and by the Romans (Martial, viii, Epiff. 67 ; Juv. Sat. X, 214), and which is still used in India (/] sidt. Re- searches, V, 88), a servant notifying the intervals — it is now impossible to discover (see Buttingliausen, Speci- men horarnm Jleb. et Arab. Tr. ad Rh. 1758). Mention is also made of a curious invention called ri"'i:i ^T^-J, by which a figure was constructed so as to drop a stone into a brazen basin every hour, the sound of which Avas heard for a great distance, and annomiced the time (Otlio, Lex. Rab. s. v. Hora).
For the purposes of prayer, tlie old division of the day into four portions was continued in the Temple service, as we see from Acts ii, 15; iii, 1 ; x, 9. The stated pe- riods of prayer were the third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day (Psa. xlv, 17 ; Josephus, A nf. iv, 4, 3). The Jews supposed that the third hour had been consecrated by Abraham, the sixth by Isaac, and tlie ninth by Ja- cob (Kimchi; Schottgen, Ilor. Ilebr. ad Acts iii, 1), It Via probable that the canonical hours observed by the ^Eomanists (of which there are eight in the twenty-four) are derived from these Temple hours (Goodwin, Moses and Aaron, iii, 9). See Hours, Caxoxical.
The Rabbis pretend that the liom-s were divided into 1080 Qipbn (minutes), and 5G,848 n"^r:-| (seconds), whioli numbers were cliosen because they are so easily divisible (Gem. Ilicr. Berachoth, 2, 4; in Reland, Ant. Hehr. iv, 1, § 19). See Tijie.
Hour-glass Stand, a frame of iron for the hour- glass, often placed near the pulpit after tlie Reformation in England. Tliey were almost universally in- troduced in churches during the IGth century, and continued in use until about fifty years ago, to regulate the length of sermons. Some of them are yet to be seen, as at Wolvercot and Beckley, in Oxfordshire, and Leigh Church, in Kent. One was recently set up in the Savov Chapel. — Parker,
T -'V?!;''^ K^'l?*^ f* Glossary of Architecture, v- 127; Leigh Church, Kent. ,,r i J <■/ , , ; oi- ' Vi aXcott, Sac. A i-chceol.yi. ill.
Houris, a designation by Europeans of those imag- inary beuigs whose companj^ in paradise, according to
the INIohammedans' I)clief, is to form the princi])al fe- licity of the believers. The name, derived from hur ul oythi, signifies black-eyed. Tliey are represented in the Koran as most beautiful virgins, not created of clay, like mortal women, but of pure musk, and endowed with im- mortal youth, and immunity from all disease. See the Koran, chap. Iv, Ivi (Sale's translation) ; and the Prd. Disc. s. 4; Brande and Cox, Diet, of Scimce, Liter, and Art, ii, 153.
Hours, Canoxicai., signifies, in ecclesiastical usage, the daily round of prayers and praise in some churches, both ancient and modern. The ancient order of these " hours" is as follows :
1. Nocturns or Matins, a service performed before day- break (properly a night service), called virjils by the Council of Carthage (398), but afterwards the first Iiour after dawn; mentioned by Cyprian as midniglit and matins, and by Athanasius as nocturns and midnight (Psa. cxix, G2-147; Acts xvi, 25). Cassian and Isidore say this season was first observed in the 5th century, in the monastery of Bethlehem, in memory of the nativity.
2. Lauds, a service performed at daybreak, following the matin shortl^v, if not actually joined on to it, men- tioned by Basil and the Apostolical Constitutions.