The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-07-19
THE DAILY DISPATCH

IT,. -WoyING PROBLEM MI. ar
.a.s IL creat English Electrician, mas oesn
sSasr;,,ent;ng on table turning and has pro
dacpd the most satisfactory explanations: o. .,s
nrablem we have yet seen. Inc eSpe.s. "I -"
s-sre made. not, he says, shat they "efe nc
s..s.,r IN his own account. for his conclusion
,esnectine It's nature was soon arrived ~ aao
has moi been changed" lie publishes me
details of his experiments at great ieas,n ;"
the Athsrseum. but the following ofie' S.a'e-
ment of his plan of experimenting an" "s
suits is all our space will admit or
Assuming that the tables were Ho'gu "
oacsi invaiuntsTy muscular actioh u 'ne "pe
rator, Faraday's first point was 70 p. ,h. We ~
wind having any undue influence over 'ne s''
,fects produced IN reia''o" W '''~
substance employed. ...,
x.,;lihnard zinc. glass, plastic clay, tin foil,
rara hoard. gutta percha, vuIcanised INDIA
rnhher. wood and resinous cement, was there
fore made up and tied together, and being
nIaced on cable under the hand OF turner,
ia NOT prevent the transmission OF the power
The table turned as before. Hence no ob.
lection could be taken To the use OF these sub.
stances in the construction OF apparatus. The
next po,nt was TO determine the place and
source of motion; that is TO say, whether the
table NOV ed the hand or the hand the table,
To ascertain this, indicators were constructed.
One oil these consisted Of a light lever, hav.
ing its ftlicrum on the table, its short arm at.
Sached TO pin fixed on a card board, which
could slip on the surface Of the table, and its
long arm projecting as an index of motion. Ii
is evident that If the experimenter willed the
table to move toward the left, and il did so
move before the hands, placed at the time on
the caTd board, then the index would move to
ward the left, also, the fulcrum going with the
table. 1.-THE hands involuntary moved toward
the left rith0nt the table, the index would go
toward the right; and. If neither table nor
hands moved, the index would itself remain
immovabie.
The result was that while the operator saw
the index, il remained very steady; when il
was hidden from them, or they looked away
from n, II waversd about, though they believ-
ed that they always pressed directly Down.
ward; and when the table did not move there
was still. unwiitDgly, resuitan' Of hand force
IN the direction il was wanted 10 make The
table move. This resultant of hand force
increases as the fingers and hands become stiff.
numb and insensible by continued pressure, iii
il BECOMES On amount sufficient to move the
table.
But the most curious effect of this test appa
raias IS the corrective power il possesses over
the mind OF The table turner. As soon as the
index is placed within view, and the ope, ator
percelves that il tells truly whether he is press
ing downwards only, or obliquely, then oil eff.
fects OF table turning cease, even though the
operator persevere ill he become weary and
worn ou'. DIR. Fauaday adds, in his letter TO
the Times. from which The above is extracted:
!" Permit me to say, before concluding, that
have been greatly startled by the reyeIaii On
which this purely physical subject has made
OF the public mind. No doubt there are many
persons who have formed right Judgment or
used cautious reserve, but their number is
almost as nothing 10 the great body who have
believed and horne testimony, as think, in the
cause Of error. y
think the system Of education that could
leave the mental condition of The public body in
the state in which this subject has found it,
must have been greatly deficient in some very
important nrinciple."