should be most carefully made, and like the figures should be painted of a colour which shall most powerfully contrast with that of the dial. The hands are almost invariably made of copper strengthened by diaphragms, and poised from the inside. In some old-fashioned clocks in which the hands have been poised from the outside the effect has been produced of a third hand, and numerous mistakes caused thereby. As to the shape of the hands, there is but one simple rule, namely, that the less of ornamentation in them the better. The minute hand should be perfectly plain, with a tapering but not too fine point, extending to the top of the figures; the hour hand should be of equal breadth and plainness, but its point should be more marked by perhaps an arrowhead or heart-shaped tip only reaching to the bottom of the figures. With large hands counterpoises are found necessary, and these should be placed inside the dial if possible, for they are when outside sometimes mistaken for the point of the hour hand. If a counterpoise must be placed outside, it is better to arrange that it shall be as little as possible, and that the inside counterpoise make up the difference, giving to the latter perhaps two thirds, and one third to the former,--but in any case care has to be taken to prevent the counterpoise appearing like a hand. THE FRAME. The old-fashioned clock-frame, known in the trade as the 'bedstead,' is now generally superseded by the horizontal frame originally introduced by the French, which possesses the special advantage of not only being durable and strong, but that it allows of any part of the clock which may have been injured, or may require cleaning, being easily taken out and replaced without interfering with other portions of the mechanism,--any wheel can be separately handled and removed. In the old upright frame which is even now still in use by some of the more ancient firms of clockmakers, if any part of the clock be injured the entire machine must be taken to pieces. THE FIXING