The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-03-30
WHoLE No. l35.
THE fRoREssoR m sIf Frs:

9 -,
of publication as a serial i'll Olice'' Op-
Tics n dgdz7ne, appears the following
droll narrative: 81 t5ea1
"a singular illustration of the eX-
tent to which theory often fails in
| practice was furnished by yenerated
professor-a most distinguished math-
ematician, whose works are still used
as text books in many of our institu-
tions-and occurred within the com
pass of our own experience.
"He went to Bethel on his return
he spent the Sabbath at Lewiston.
Monday morning he was told the
horse was sick. Nevertheless, he
started. The horse went few rods.
fell down, and broke both thills. He
then sent his wife home, and also sent
| to Brunswick for another horse and
carriage to take HIM and the broken
chaise home. When the driver came
they lashed the two vehicles together
| and started. All went we'll till they
came to the first long steep hill be-
! tween Lewiston and Brunswick; on
its summit they held q consultation
The professor had an exaggerated idea
of his strength, and said, MIR. Cband-
! Ter, it is too much for the horse to hold
these two carriages on this steep de-
scent; take the horse out; will get
| into the shafts
"Professor,, replied Chandler, sthe
breeching is strong, so is the arm
4 sirth.' @ .r13'l 8oayele5J
"'But the horse, Mr.. Chandler
is too much for the horse. Besides
| being stronger, 1 know how 10 take
advantage of the descent, and manage
it much better than the horse
"1f the horse can't hold it, you
can't o'sNs#2th .o'7 40
".Do you, sir, intend to place me,
in point of intelligence and knowl-
edge of mechanical forces below q
| horse? l have made mathematics the
study of alifetime.'
"I have no intention to be disre.
spectful, sir, but know that q horse
understands his own business-which
is handling a load on hill-bette:
| than all the professors in the United
States. was sent up here by my
employer, who confides in me, to take
care of his property if you will take
the business out of my hands, and be
horse yourself, you must be answera-
BILE for the consequences. a..t. a,,ilss.
"The Professor had habit, when a
little excited, of giving nervous
twitch at the lapel of his coat with
his right hand. ro,S. , ma
"1, he replied with most emphat-
ic twitch, assume all the responsible
ity.' 5,.-. -....,,.,
'Ihe driver, in reality, nothing 10th
to witness the operation, took out the
horse and held him by the bride, and
the Professor, getting into the shafts
took hold of them by the ends. The
forward carriage was just descending
the hill and the hinder one q little
over the summit when the Professor
trod upon rolling stone, which caus-
ed him to plunge forward and increas-
ed the velocity of his load so much
that he was forced to walk faster than
he desired and exchange the slanting
position-With his shoulders thrown
we'll back and feet well braced which
he had at first adopted-for a perpen-
dicular one. At leugth he was push
ee into run; the carriages were go-
ing at fearful rate AT the bottom
of the hill was q brook; OH each side,
precipitous banks. The Professor was
between Scylla and Charybdis, going
nine feet at a leap. In order to cramp
the forward wheel, he turned suddeny
to the right The shafts of the for
ward carriage went two feet into the
bank, breaking both of them short off;
the lashings of the hinder one Slipped,
it ran into the forward one, breaking
the fender and both vehicles turned
over down hill with loud crash, the
gentleman describing a parabola-one
of his favorite figures; and landing
some rods away. He rose from the
earth a dirtier and wiser man: knees.
skinned, pantaloops torn, piece of
skin Knocked off his forehead, and his
best hat fiat as a pancake underneath
the hind carriage and looking round,
he exclaimed, is it possible I could
have been SO much deceived as TO the
momentum? 1t was prodigious.' ~
"1 don't know anything about mo-
mentum,' replied Chandler, but /
knew something about horses. L
know it makes a mighty difference,
about holding back load on steep
hin, whether horse has two legs or
four, and whether he weighs hum
dred and seventy five or twelve hun,
dred pounds '.'' ...'..-.'r se--.5.
ut cost the Professor thirty-seven
dollars and. fifty cents to ascertain
how much horse power he represent
ed"