The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-07-20

FAnADAY, the distinguished electrician
has been experimenting on table turning
and gives the results of his experiments
in the following letter to the London
Times -
Sir-I have recently been engaged in
the investigation OF table.turning
should be sorry that you should suppose
| thought this necessary on my own &c.
count, for my conclusion respecting its
nat ure was soon arrived at, and is not
changed but l have been so often mis-
quoted. and applications to me for an o.
pinion are so numerous, that / hoped, if
| enabled myself by experiment to give
IL strong one, you would consent to con-
vey it to all persons interested in the
matter The effect produced by table,
turning has been referred TO electricity,
to magnetism, to attraction. to some un,
known or hitherto unrecognizcd physical
power, able to affect inanimate bodies
to the revolution of the earth. and eve II
to diabolical or supernatural agency. -
The natural philosopher can investigate
all these supposed causes but the last
that must, to him, be too much connect.
cd with credulity or superstition to re-
quire any attention OH his part.
The investigation would be too long in
description to obtain place in your co.
umns. therefore purpose asking az.
mission for that into the AthcnGunl oil
next Saturday and purpose here to give
the general result. Believing that the
first cause assigned-namely, quasi in
voluntary muscular action flor the effect
is, with many subject to the wish or willy
was the true cause, the first point was
to prevent the mind of the turner having
all undue influence over the effects pro.
duced in relation to the nature of the
substances employed. A bundle of plates,
consisting of sandpaper, millboard, glue,
glass. plastic clay, tinfoil, cardboard
gutta.percha, vulcanized caoutchouc,
wood, and resinous cement, was there.
fore made up and tied together, and be.
ing placed on u table, under the hand of
turner, did not prevent the transmits.
sion of the power the table turned OF
moved exactly as if the bundle bad been
away, to the full satisfaction of all pres.
ent.
The experiment was repeated, with
various substances and persons. aud at
various times, with constant success, and
henccforth no objection could be taken
to the use of these substancesin the con
struction of apparatus. The next point
was to determine the place and source
of notion. c., whether the table NOV
ed the hand or the hand moved the Ia
BILE; and for this purpose indicator,
were constructed. One of these consis
ted of light lever, having its fulcrun
on the table, and its short arm attached
to pin fixed on a card board, whicl
could slip on the surface of the table ,anC
its long arm projecting as an index o
motion. 1t is evident that if the exper
imenter willed the table to move towards
the left, and it did so move beforc tn,
hands, placed at the time on the card
. board, then the index would move to tn,
left also, the fulcrum going with the ia
bic, If the hands invOluntarily moved t,
the left ioithou the table, the index woul,
60 towards the right and, If neither ia
bic nor hands moved, the index woul,
itself remain immoveable. The resul
was, that when the parties saw the indie,
it remained very steady when it wa
hidden from them, or they looked ava,
from it, it wayered about, though thel
: believed that they always pressed direct
: ly downwards; and, when the table die
not move, there was still resultant o.
hand force in the direction in which il
was wished the table should move, which
however was exercised quite unwittingly
by the party operating. This resultant
it is which, in the course of the wasting
time, while the fingers and hands become
stiff, numb, and insensible by continued
pressure,grows up to an amount sufficient
to move the table; or the substances pres
scd upon