The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-04-04
SEEK BUT NEVER FIND.
MEN WHO HUNT PERPETUAL
NOTION.
There Are . Number Of Frauds Seeking 70
Do the Utterly Impossible, est Assy
More Are Lssaties-N u
VERY Ancient Hobby.

a power furnished by the machine it
self and not from any source outside
OF it. A mill or clock run by the
incessant rise and fall OF the tide Is
not perpetual motion. Neither is q
machine that runs by the power Of
terrestrial or other magnetism. or Of
the wind. or OF variations In the
weight Of the atmosphere. or by cleo
triclty coming from outside OF the ma
chine, or by the force OF heat coming
from the sun. A wheel that could al
ways OF itself keep more weight at
one side than at the other and thus
turn so long as its materials lasted
would be perpetual motion. and such
has been the form OF most OF the ma
chimes invented for the purpose.
1t may be safely said that there are
to-day as many minds afflicted with
this mild form OF insanity as there
have been at any time in the past.
Every city, town and hamlet possesses
its would-be inventor who Is striving
to achieve the end that is to startle
the world Many who will not openly
admit that they believe perpetual
motion is possible are secretly think
ing upon the matter and entertaining
the hope that they, may yet do what so
many have failed 10 doing. No other
fallacy has been so popular or has so
long withstood the light OF reason as
has perpetual motion. Alchemy and
the transmutation OF metals, which for
season SO occupied the minds OF men.
passed. away to return no more. The
philosophers stone and the elixir vitae
were believed In and earnestly sought
after by the really scientific men OF a
few generations. but the search was
finally given up. The phantom OF per-
petual motion, however, will not down,
but beckons men on and on, leading
them all to the same inevitable result
total failure. Men are as far from
the discovery OF the secret to-day as
they were seven centuries ago, and
they will get no nearer to it until
weight placed upon the ground can
lift itself up, or, as the idea is some
times more s,rikingly presented, until
, one can lift himself of the floor by
pulling his boot straps.
More than q century ago the Acad-
emie Royale des Sciences at Paris
passed a resolution that they would no
longer entertain communications about
| n Ia nj
Men had worked for centuries on tn Q
the theory that the discovery OF per-
petual motion was possible, nor did
this authoritative opinion to the con-
trary alter their views. Aud they are
still at it, and probably will to the
end of time. Hundreds of patents
have been granted for machines for
the purpose, and the widespread and
continued existence OF the fallacy is
clearly shown by the scores OF designs
and incomple models in the patent
Office at Washington.
Honecourt flemish architect OF the
thirteenth century, left drawing OF
u wheel that was to solve the problem,
with this memorandum: MANY a
time have skillful workmen tried to
contrve a wheel that shall turn OF
itself. Here is a way to make such a
one. by IN uneven number OF mallets
or by quicksilver" But. unfortunately,
he did not leave the wheel.
From this time on seekers after
perpetual motion have been numerous,
many OF them supposed to be very re-
spectible and intelligent men. Among
tho receivers OF twcnty-six English
and twenty-three French patents
taken out for perpetual motions be-
tween 1860 and 1869 we're a colonial
bishop. professor OF philosophy. one
OF languages, two barons, II knight
Templar. a doctor OF medicine. two
civil engineers, several mechanical
engineers. etc.
Arkwright, the celebrated English
inventor Tin his younger days), and
even Sir Isaac Newton, believed per-
petual motion might be discovered.
All so-called perpetual motion ma
CuluCo tuuJ udNo run nuNo Occu lLD-
positions with secret clockwork or
some other hidden source OF propul.
sion. Fulton one time went to see
perpetual motion" machine. having a
friend with him. After sitting and
listening and looking intently for a
few minutes Fulton's sensitively ac-
curate err and eye told him that the
machinery showed the recurring alter
nation OF comparative speed and slow
ness which always comes from a
crank turned by hand. In spite OF the
opposition OF tie enraged exhibitor.
Fulton and his friend seized the ma
chine, jcrked away the table 1t stood
on, found that n cord lcd through one
leg AMI away under the floor, and fol-
lowing the track into the back yard
they found the .'motion"---a venerable
beggar seated on a stool. munching u
crust and grinding away at n crank.
Aud so IL has been In score OF
other CAGES In which men have pre-
sumed. by the aid Of levers. balls
Ill n A. -