Measurement of the Day. Time plays a central role in the social organization of all cultures despite the fact that various cultures conceive of time differently. During the Renaissance and Reformation, cultural perceptions of time changed dramatically for urbanites but remained remarkably constant for the bulk of the population that lived outside of cities and large towns. The traditional peasant view of time was based on cyclical rhythms of nature such as spring, summer, fall, and winter, or dawn, noon, and sunset. Precise measurement of the hours in a day was neither available nor useful for the rural and peasant populations. Urbanites, on the other hand, came to understand and then live under a mechanical notion of time during the Renaissance and Reformation. Large urban clocks disciplined the passage of time and served as a constant reminder that it was...