The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-19
The Table Moving Problem.

MIR. Faraday, the great English electrician, Ina.
been experimenting on table-turning, and hal
produced the most satisfactory explanations O
tho problem we have yet seen. The experiments
were made not, he says, ''that they were necessa
ry on his own account, for his conclusion respect
ing Its nature was soon arrived at and has moi
been changed" He publishes the details of his
experiments at great length in the .4thene,sm, but
the following brief statement Of his plan of ex-
perimenting and it's results is all our space will
admit Of:
ssAssumng that the tables were moved by a
quasi involuntary muscular action of the operator,
Faradays first point was to prevent the wind hav-
ing any undue influence over the effects produced
in relati0n to the nature of the substance en-
picyssd s,na, g ,,,., 1850. +
mllboard, glue, glass, plastic clay, tin-foil card
board, gutta-percha, vucanized India-rubber,
wood, and reslnous cement, was therefore made
up and tied together, and being placed on d table
under the hand of turner, did not prevent the
transmission of the power; the table turned, as
before. Hence no objection could be taken to the
use OF these substances in the construction of APP
Paratus. The next point was to determine the
place and source of motion; that is to say, whe-
Their the table moved the hand or the hand the
table. To ascertain this indicators were con-
stYucted. a+t
tOne of these consisted of a light lever, hav-
ing its fulcrum the table, its short attached
to pin fixed on a cardboard, which could slip
the surface of the table, and its long arm pro-
jecting as an index of motion. 1t is evident that
if the cxperimenter willed the table to move to-
wards the left, and it did before the hands
placed at the time the cardboard, then the in
dex would move towards the left, also the fulcrum
going with the table If the hands inyoluntarilv
moved toward the left Without the table, the index
would go toward the right; and, if neither table
nor hands moved, the index would itself remain
immovablc.
ssThe result was, that while the operator saw
the index, 1t remained very steady; when it was
hidden from them, they looked away from it,
it wsvered about though they believed that they
always pressed directly downward; and when the
table did not move there was still, unwttingly, a
resultant of hand force in the direction it was
wanted to make the table move. This resultant
Of hand force increases as the fingers and hands
become stiff, numb, and insensibe by continued
pressure, till it becomes amount sufficient to
move tho table. tt
aut the most curious effect of this test appara-
tins is the corrective power it possesses over the
mind Of the tube-turner. AS soon the index
is placed within view aud the operator perceivcs
that it tolls truly whether he is pressing down
wards only, or obliquey, then all effects of table,
turning cease, even though the operator persevere
till he become weary and worn out. Mr. Fara-
day ndds, in his lsttsf to the Times, from which
the above IL extracted: Permit to say, before
concluding, that have been greatly startled by
the revelation which this purely physical subject
has rnade of the public mind. No doubt there are
MANY persons who have formed a right judgment
or used cautious reserve, but their number is al
most rs sothing to the great body who have be-
l'eyeN ca ss .. So =
( think the system sf education that could leave
the mental condition Of the public body in the
state in which tbs subjsct has found it, mu st have
been greatly, deficient in, some very important
principle.'' ssaase bsfi9 ~ sAn A'A