Note 95 — Chapter XVII · “THE TWO AMBASSADORS,” 1533

The present writer, although he has made a careful study of Mr. Dickes’ readings of the instruments, has not sufficient scientific knowledge to speak with authority as to the correctness or otherwise of the results he obtains, which, if true, provide by far the most ingenious and, indeed, the only plausible evidence he has brought forward in favour of his theory. This evidence, however, is not always as convincing as he would have us to believe. Thus, the decagonal sundial, which on two of its sides gives the time as 10.30 (the hour of Otto Henry’s birth), very clearly indicates 9.30 on its third and most prominent side, while it almost touches the elbow of the second figure, and so should refer, if to any one, to Philipp. Mr. Dickes gets over this difficulty by the statement that the sundial, “presenting three circles to be read, naturally devotes the two chief dials to the principal person. These are—the dial with the wire stile, in front, and the dial beneath the magnet on the top;” but he offers no suggestion as to whose birth the third and most prominent dial refers.