Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-08-28
EARTH WABBLINGS.
A WISE MAN MAKES DISCOVERIES
WITH A PENDULUM.


An Unsupported Motion Indicated by Tests
In CoIorado's Elevated Capitol - This
Same Scientist Once Had an Experience
In Switzerland.
tt IS curious old contrivance, this
world of ours. 1t has more motions than
almost any other eccentric body, and
the more it is studied the more motions
it has. First of all, it travels about the
sun; then it takes whirl of its own
accord around itself, like top; then it
wobbles from one end to the other, just
little bit, it is true, but enough to
make motion. Now it has another
quirk, and what that quirk is goodness
only knows The new quirk does not
exist at the equator, but it does at the
north pole. 1t is very slight at sea level.
but up in the mountains it is quite per-
ceptible. Anybody can see it if he wants
to, this newly discovered movement Of
the world
Suspended from the lantern Of the
state capitol building, which is that
tall, thin tower on top of the dome and
reaching into the subbasement is q
wire. 1t is of steel, one-sixteenth Of an
inch thick, and ON the end Of it is q
plumb, filed with wet sand and weigh
ing about 40 pounds A wise man who
once had similar contrivance working
in Switzerland has started this one in
the capitol dome. His observations in
Switzerland got him into no end of
trouble. He said the world made such
and such a movement, or rather that his
pendulum did, and as the big pendulum
did it, then, he argued, the world must
do it amid its many other remarkable
acts. But the astronomers came down
on him like thousand of bricks. They
hauled out their papers and their tele-
scopes, their spectroscopes, their picro-
scopes, their algebras and everything
else they possessed and proved that the
experimenting scientist was not only
wrong, but quite wrong.
He said his pendulum described an
ellipse. The astronomers said it did
nothing Of the kind, if not interfered
with, and the worst of it was they
proved it. Now he has proved it him
self, and although it reverses his former
position he is immensely pleased with
the result of his observations. The ex-
pertinent made in the Alps several years
ago and that just made in the dome of
the capitol is simple and a very beauti-
full one.
The long pendulum was suspended
and the center Of gravity determined
that is, spot was marked which was
exactly beneath the suspensory at the
top Of the lantern. The pendulum was
then carried in a straight line 16 feet to
the north of the center of gravity and
released. This gave full swing of 80
feet. AS any one would suppose, the
pendulum went as a clock pendulum
does, backward and forward, but slowly
it left the straight north and south
course through the center of gravity,
veering toward the west Little by lit
tie the end of the swing, which should
have always swung back to the north,
If it was to keep up the figure described
by clock pendulum, gradually crept
west, until it went through 45 degrees,
when it was swinging from south to
north. Then it crept east and around to
the point of beginning. In 4S hours to
minute almost a complete circle had
been described.
The experiment is said to have been a
complete success. Twice each day the
pendulum was given new impetus, its
own weight and natural laws tending
to stop it. Before grasping it the scien-
lists conducting the experiment would
carefully sight between the two points
on the basement floor it was oscillating
over, and having fixed them to nicely
would seize the plumb, carry it to the
full 16 foot point and release it for an
other 10 hours journey. For six days
this was kept up, and three times did
that pendulum make complete revolu-
tion.
What got the scientist who is now at
work in the capitol into trouble in Swift
zerland was a similar experiment to
that he is now making. He went as near
the top Of a mountain as he could, and
from the projecting bough of tree sus-
pended a 800 foot pendulum. He fol-
lowed there precisely the same methods
he did in Denver last week, but instead
of his plumb travelling in sharp lines
back and forth it described an ellipse-
that is, it made a long O.
This struck the experimenter as be-
ing a marvellous discovery. He wrote
about it in a most learned manner His
pendulum did precisely what it did in
the dome of the capitol. It made its
revolution, but the ellipse was what
caused the immense excitement and
shook up the astronomers. Now the ex-
perimenter has decided that the ellipse
was all occasioned by the give which
the bough of his tree must certainly
have allowed, no matter how stanch
the tree, and his experiment in the cap
itol quite bears him out in this position.
The capitol was selected because it is
over mile above the sea level, it is ab-
solutely stationary, and the interior is
free from all outside interferences, such
as drafts or flying projections.
1t had been stated that the world has
more quirks in it than We're ever dream
ed about, and every time it is tampered
with something new is discovered. The
fact is that it is all the time shaking
like an aspen. A basin of mercury
which Assistant Superintendent Griner
of the capitol keeps in the place, mer-
curry being the most sensitive of all
liquids, shows the capitol to shake very
much. Reduced to common measure
ment, perhaps the oscillation is about
decimal ten naughts and one of an eighth
of an inch, but the shake is there be-
cause the mercury quivers. Denver
Republican.
zscs5In1's memory was lacking III re-
tentiveness, especially in respect to the
names of persons who had been intro
duced to him. This forgetfuhess was
frequently cause of amusement when
ever Rossini was among company. One
day he met Bishop, the English COM
poser. Rossini knew the face well