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tihtatntt. do not
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Tihtatntt. Do Not
tihtatntt . do not
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It moves ! it moves ! A miracle , another miracle in this miraculous age Another new A ^ ent , —another Avatar of the God Electricity , who has now the delegated power of the whole universe , presiding over everything , from the creation of planetary systems to the creation of the Acarus Crossnfrom Cosmic grandeurs to Belgravian Table-movings ! A proud Coriolanus it can say , " Alone I did it ! " Electricity is the throned God of this faithless age . Whatever men do not understand , they attribute to subservient to uch
that great thaumaturge . Electricity has been made s astounding p urposes , that men naturally credit it with the authorship of all astounding phenomena . If , instead of talking so much trash , men would commence by a little serious study of the elementary phenomena known as electrical , would it not be better , think you ? We are haunted by these Table-movings—persecuted by angry credulity worried by correspondents , who superfluously assure us that they " cannot accept" our explanation of Table-moving . We knew they would not , and we said so . We knew the radical incompetency of men untrained in
scientific method ; men who are unaware of what constitutes an experiment , of what is evidence . From a mass of letters we select two ( it is obvious that we cannot print all that are sent ) , which may be called typical letters—one of the wild hypothetical spirit , which the " facts" give play to ; the other of the curious " facts" we are called on to explain . Will you allow me a corner of your columns to state , in a few words , why the letter of Dr . Wyld , and your own paper in the preceding number , fail to satisfy me of the cause of the phenomena of table-turning ? After witnessing numerous experiments , with the details of which I will not trouble you , I formed an hypothesis that the invisible nervous fluid , or whatever we may suppose to be the immediate motor of the muscles , has prohably in itself a rotatory action , and a power of throwing off , like other bodies in motion , a portion of its surplus force .
This hypothesis I want to test ; hut the tests supplied by you and Dr . Wyld are inapplicable , for as we know beforehand that the will acts upon the nervous system , we may easily imag ine that any one who determines " to stand firm , " resist the assumed nervous current , may change its direction , or stop it altogether . This may be illustrated by a hand enriployed to check the eddy or whirling motion of water in a . basin . Of course the weaker energy will always yield to the stronger . The hand will stop the eddy or alter its course ; but the fact does not prove that the eddy was not there . To try these experiments fairly , it is obvious that we must allow the nervous
fluid in our own bodies to obey the impulse given , or which seems to be given , from without , and confine our first tests simply to the question of muscular contraction . If it can "be shown that the finger placed upon the table or hat are invariably stiffened , and flattened against its sides , and that neither the bat nor table will move if they be placed so lightly as to render pressure impossible , we may then certainly suspect involuntary muscular contraction to be the cause ; but my own observations , as far as they have yet extended , have led to quite opposite results , and I cannot bring myself to believe that I have been cheated by a double delusion of sight and touch . Your obedient servant ,
II . Observe , " II . " is unsatisfied with our explanation , because he has formed an hypothesis of his own ; and this hypothesis turns out to be one which in itself outrages every scientific principle . For the £ invisible nervous fluid" is itself an assumption , —an assumption which Physiology cannot countenance , except us a . mere artifice—viz ., as a temporary expression convenient for conducting our reasonings—a mere algebraic formula , therefore . In the next place , granting the " fluid , " wbut wild disregard of philosophic Method is displayed in the sheer assumption that " it lias
probably in itself a rotatory action , and si power of throwing off a portion of its . surplus force ! " "II . " must first prove his fluid ; then prove that the fluid has a rotatory action , and throws oil" some of its surplus force ; having done that , we will ask him to prove tlmt it is the actual force employed in Table-moving . Till he has done so , be is out of court . He must first enter his horse for the nice ; no one can be expected to take the odds for a horse which may turn out not to exist—to be the progeny of a mare ' snest , in fact . l , v . t us now read the second letter selected : —
. Sin , — IVrniit ui (! to call your attention to the undermentioned experiment in tiil > lt ) -nmgnetiHing , which , although probably already known , yet , from the silence , jw far as I know , of the public journals , may assist in the extension of Mm inquiry On Saturday evening last I . sat , down , with / our frionds , round a mahogany table ; nfter waiting about twenty-five iniiml . es , the table began to rotate , turning in the direction , or standing upon the leg indicated by the expressed wish of any of ( he party . Others were ; afterwards admitted into the circle , to whom tlio / able nl , l \ rnl Hhowecl repugnance , refunii » g to turn towards them , but afterwards becoming reconciled to them . Having desisted , we found that two only , myself and another , could move the table at will , by placing one hand upon it . When attracted
towards me , it required considerable muscular force , applied to the other side , to Htay or retard it . When I even wit . upon it it ltfovcd with facility , and when a friend sat with me , being back to back , the table made the greatest endeavours to inovo , which occasioned inn Home pain in the lower part of the Hpirie , which 1 still fool . My friend declared that , he found himself strongly attracted tdwardw mo , ol which I felt nothing . The last trial wan tlio most extraordinary . We formed lines , b e taking hold of en eh other ' s hands , I touching the table only , which moved in conformity with the unexpressed wish of the last pernon , ho that , 1 nerved as an uneoiiHciouH medium . This being successfully repented , Hevernl times , convinced all iw to the truth of the preceding experiments . At the interval of half an hour , 1
called upon some friends , in another part of town , and , placing my hat upon the table , requested those present to form a line , as above described , touching the hat myself , which was also entirely obedient to the thought of the last person , no one but myself having seen any trial of the kind before . The result appears this : that any one can will , under certain circumstances , but that few have direct power , and also that the power does not immediately quit the possessor . Trusting you will excuse that which your known love of science has called forth , I am , Sir , your obedient servant , A . I . HlPKINS . As we were not present , we cannot express an opinion on these cases ; we do not know what are the circumstances which escaped our correspondent ' s notice , and which , if known , would perhaps wholly alter the aspect of these phenomena . But to all persons anxious for a careful experiment , we would suggest the necessity of their first arranging the conditions of the
experiment so as to preclude if possible all sources of error . Thus , for example , if the table be moved by unconscious muscular action consequent upon an expectant emotion , that may be shown by the persons resting their fingers on pieces of paper , the paper rubbed on both sides with French chalk . This paper will slide easily over the polished surface of a table ; if it slide and the table do not move , there will be something like evidence that after all the motion comes from the muscular action of the operators ; if , on the contrary , the table moves—proper precautions being taken—then there will be something like evidence that no muscular action is operating . On the other hand , if any person believes that Electricity can make the table rotate on its axis , let him try j a large battery will prove the absurdity of
his supposition . It may be remembered that two weeks ago we quoted a characteristic passage from the Literary Gazette—characteristic we mean of the rash theorizing so popular on this subject . That journal , repenting of its mistake , endeavours to clear itself as follows : — " Our fast contemporary the Leader , commenting upon the garrulity of a foreign correspondent in this journal on table-moving , has been at considerable trouble to disprove tvhat no really scientific man has ventured to assert , that this
all-absorbing < phenomenon' is the effect of human electricity . The explanation given by our contemporary , namely , that the movement of the hat or table is merely the result of unconscious muscular action arising from fixed expectant attention , has long been , to our knowledge , the opinion of Sir David Brewstcr and other competent authorities , —and toe believe it to be the correct one . Sir David and a few scientific gentlemen interested in the question of ' unconscious tendance au mouvement , ' met last week , at the invitation of the Duke of Argyll , to confer together on the subject , but nothing new was elicited , and no other result could be arrived at . "
We must inform our " slow contemporary" ( tu Vas voulu , Georges Dandin . ' ) that he is completely misinformed in supposing that " no really scientific man has ventured to assert" electricity to be the cause in question . Cahus , of Dresden , and Kaeplin , of France , are scientific . men , and they venture to assert it . Moreover our remarks were not written to convert men of science , the vast majority of whom we could not suspect of belief in the " new agent , " but to convert the unscientific public . If the editor of the Literary Gazette knew that " Sir David Brkwster and other competent authorities , " held the opinion we attempted to demonstrate , and if he believed that opinion to be the correct one , why did he not say so at once ?
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Table-moving does not wholly absorb drawing-room gossip , and we may , therefore , expect to make a diversion to " fresh fields and pastures new , " by announcing that the authoress of Mary Barton has a new story almost ready for publication . It is a revised reprint of what the readers of Household Words will recognise as an old acquaintance . Moreover , by way of announcement , we may mention that Natiianiki , Hawthorn *; has sent over a new book , Tanylewood Tales , which will be published shortly , by Ciiai'Man and Hall , who arc about to reprint , iu their agreeable , and extremely well-selected series , Reading for Travellers , several of Carlylc ' s biographical studies , such as Johnson , Yoi / vmuk , Burns , Diderot , Mikajikau , and others . Good news for slender purses !
Here , however , is an announcement , which , although taken from advertising columns , and not , therefore , such absolute " news , " is , nevertheless extremely welcome intelligence to lovers of poetry—namely , Rohkut Bki-i / s annotated edition of The Euylkh Poets , to be issued in monthly volumes , separate , yet serial . His purpose is not the ordinary one , of simply reprinting the texts , but of first exercising n strict supervision of the text , and next of illustrating it by notes , critical and explanatory , - doing for the mass of our English poetry , what hitherto has only been done for individual writers . A man of the taste , acquirements , judgment , and labor ious courage of Koukut Bki . i ,, is peculiarly fitted for such u task .
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Our wisest and wittiest essayist , in alludin g to his dislike of eorres pondenee , declares that " friendship is apt . to be written -iwav in letter writing ; " may one not also . surmise that Helicons writers have a fearful facility in writing away all their Religion , sec-ing how rabidly intolerant llU'v become—the intolerance being always proportionate to the literature ? The ttme of religious controversy is not simply irreligious , it is disgraceful lhat vnin and foolish man , Bkkw . n ( Jhant , for example , who is , tni . * glmg u . to seumlous notoriety , hi , s to bo rebuked even by his orthodox brethren ; and yet although Letter taste reprove * Bkkw ' . n ( I . ant no better taste ih found to support candour and toleration , us we see in ' forced carnation ol 1 he Advocate , a monthl y paper , conducted with unuaual
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546 T HE LEADER , [ Saturday ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1853, page 546, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1989/page/18/
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