Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1853-07-30
THE TABLE MOVING PROBLEM


clan, has been experimenting on table turn.
ing and has produced the most satisfactory
explanations of the problem we have yet
seen The experiments were made, not, he
says. CHA, they were necessary on his own
account, for his conclusion respecting its ma
ture was soon arrived at and has not been
changed" He publishes the details of his
experiments al great length in the Athen-
eum, but the following brief statement Of
his plan of experimenting and lis results is
all our space will admi, of
Assuming that the tables were moved by
quasi involuntary muscular action OF the
operator, Faraday's first point was 10 preven,
the mind having any undue influence over
the effects produced in relation 10 the nature
of the substance employed.
A bundle of plates, consisting of sand pa
per, milIboard, glue, glass, plastic clay, Tin
foil, card board, guta-percha, vulcanised
India Rubber wood and resinous cement, was
therefore made up and tied together: and
being placed OF table under the hand Of
turner, did not prevent the transmission OF
The power-lhe iuble turned as before
Hence no objection could be taken 10 the
use Of these substances in the construction Of
apparatus. The next point was TO determine
the place and source of motion that is 10
say. whether the table moved the hand or
the hand the table. To ascertain this, indi-
Gators were constructed.
One of these consisted of light lever,
having its lulcrum on The table, its short arm
attached 10 a pin fixed on a card board,
which could slip OH the surface Of the table,
and lis long arm projecting as an index OF
motion. Ii is evident that if the experimenter
wiled The table TO move toward the left
and it did so move before the hands, placed
a, the time on the cardboard, then the index
would move toward the left, also the full
crum going with the table. If the hands in
voluntary movod toward The left ,cithoM the
table, the index would 60 toward the right
and il neither the table nor hands moved
the index would itself remain immovabe.
The result was, that while the operate
ssw the index, it remained very steady
when it was hidden from them, or they look
ed away from il, it wavered about, ,hougl
they believed that they always pressed di
reclly downward and when The table diC
not move there was still, unwittingly, re
sultant of hand force in the direction il wa
wanted TO make the table move. This re
sultan, of hand force increases as the finger
and hands become stih, numb and insensibl
by continued pressure, ill it becomes a
amount sufficient 10 move the table.
But the most curious effect OF this test az
pala,us is the corrective power it possesse
over the mind Of The table.turncr. As 500
as the index is placed within view and III
operator perceives that il tells truly whethe
he is pressing downwatds only, or obliquel,
then all effects Of table-turning cease, eve
though the operator persevere ill he becom
weary and worn out. Mr.. FaTaday adds,
, his letter to The Times, from which tt
above is extracted: "Permii me TO say, b
lore concluding, that have been great
startled by the revelation which this pure
physical subject has made Of the publ
mind. No doubt ihere are many perso
who have formed a right judgement or us'
a cautious reserve, but their number is almc
o as nothing TO the srea, body who have b
. ieved and BONE testimony, as think,
The cause OF error.
| think the system of education ,ha, cou
leave the mental condition of the public /
dy IN the state in which this subject h
found it, must have been greatly deficient
some very impoTtan, principle"