Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1908-01-31
TO SEE EARTH MOVE.
Demonstration al Columbia Uni.
versity TO Prove II Is Round.
NEW CHAPEL WILL BE USED.
Pendulum Ninety one Feet Long Is to
Be Suspended From Dome ef New
York lnstitution--Two Repetitions
Planned OF Fouesult's Noted Test.

Planned OF Fouesult's Noted Test.
II Kore>h. the astronomer who star
tied the world few years ago by an.
nUurcing that the earth Is cOncave and
that We are living inside a sphere i'll
stead of outside, will 20 mp 10 Co
lumbia university iD New York GU Fri
day, Feb. Z, or "Wednesday. Feb, l..
he will get FIRST hand proof that the
earth Is round and that il revolves
around the sun. In these two days
Professor Harold Jacoby. head OF th,
department of astronomy at Columbia.
nnd his assistant. Or. S. A. Mitchell,
will reopen the famous experiment OF
FOucault. the most ingenious of French
physicists. who in 1901 gave the first
actual evidence of the earth's rotary
movement. says the New York Globe.
Most people" said DR.. Mitchell In
explaining the experiment. know that
the earth moves around the sun in
stead of the sun moving around the
earth. But II you ask ninety-nine per
sons out Of hundred why this IS so
they will be unable to answer TO any
one seeing the sun rise in the east.
move through the heavens and disap-
pear In the west 1t would appear as
plausible with those phenomena alone
as a guide to believe that the sun
moves as to believe that the earth
does. In fact, you cannot make chill
dren or aborigines believe otherwise.
"In order that people may see actual
evidence of the revolution of the earth
we are going to repeat the experiment
devised and performed by Foucault
more than fifty years ago. We will
take st. paurs chapel, buit for the uni
yersity last year. and suspend from its
cupola on a wire ninety-one feet long
"A $50 pound unloaded shell. so that 1t
Is but few inches above the floor
This Is held out of vertical by Il
loose band. which Is fixed 10y a piece OF
string ten feet to one side of equilib-
rum. After the ball has been kept In
position for an hour. so that every
thing. even the wire, will he absolute
ly without any disturbing vibration. a
match Is touched to the string. This,
burning. releases the loose band. which,
dropping. let's the ball swing back and
forth like a pendulum In a straight
llue over Il previously ruled straight
line Oh the floor.
Attached TO the bottom Of the ball
is brush wet with ink. At each
swing this marks circular piece of
paper placed beneath it, Although the
pendulum makes a straight line at each
swing, 1t will be observed that each
line is farther TO the right and that no
line crosses another except in the cen
ter of 1.-THE position of the ball II ut
rest
in thirty-six hours this line, If the
would form the radii OF an entire cir
Gle At the north pole, where the ro-
tation of the earth Is faster, il would
take only twenty-four hours.
The reason for the phenomenon Is
that the ball is suspended in space and
the building and the paper on its door
are fixed in a definite spot on the
earth. The building twists around
with the revolution of the earth, while
the ball always swings in the same po-
siton. In time the floor makes COM
plete circle around the pendulum.
"Foucault performed the experiment
for the first time at the Pantheon In
Paris with pendulum 200 feet long.
But we hope TO get as good results
with ninety one feet"
Professor Jacoby when asked wheth-
er he had undertaken the experiment
TO silence astronomers having absurd
theories about the earth's revolution
replied:
mo; we don't try particularly to re-
flute the theories of any crank. We
don't even expect to establish any new
law or record any new observation.
We merely want to demonstrate to the
| university and to the public the proof
| of we'll known principle.
"The experiment has not been made
in the United States for years. Up
here at Columbia we have been handi
capped heretofore by not having any
building with a roof high enough. But
with the erection of the new chapel
this difficulty has been met and there
is no reason why we should not again
demonstrate the reliability of Fou.
cault's evidence"