part to the means “from whence the impetus is derived.” So far, there is nothing at all remarkable; nor after the table has been stopped by a sofa is it in any way strange that it should be tilted up after some preliminary straining (which accounts for some cracks and knocks) by the leverage power which I know that the limbs of Mediums can exert. The only thing that sounds even a little out of the ordinary course is the fact, that when its surface forms an inclined plane, at an angle of about 45° or more (how much more we are not told, though the measurement of the angle is most essential), the table should stop in this attitude, as in a state of equilibrium. Of course, if any hand or foot was helping to sustain it, the mystery might be explained in this way. But I do not infer that such was the case here, or even that the legs raised from the ground were supported against the contiguous sofa. The explanation of this attitude on the part of the table depends, then, exclusively on the character and construction of the table itself. There are tables which may be made so to stand partly on one of their massive squarish claws, and partly on the castor; and it is too much to attribute this propensity to spiritual influence, unless the writer had ascertained that the table could not be made to balance itself by ordinary manipulation, all Mediums being absent. The circumstance that nothing slid off or toppled over, but “the vase of flowers, the books, the little ornaments, remained as motionless as if they were fixed in their places,” is really according to ordinary experience, instead of contrary to it. Such objects retained by a velvet cloth, which would neutralise all their tendencies to slide, would remain like “Towers of Pisa,” for precisely the same reason for which the Tower of Pisa itself remains, because a line drawn from its centre of gravity would fall within its base. The accompanying design looks highly improbable, but I know—for I have ascertained by experiment—that it is only the normal position of such objects, whenever they are so retained by the pile of a velvet cloth.
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Fig. 15.
Instead of violating the laws of equilibrium and attraction, the phenomenon is strictly in accordance with both; nor do we see anything extraordinary in the appearance of even a greater obliquity than this, until actual measurements and actual experiments prove to demonstration that it is not of the ordinary course of nature. And even then, when we should have to look for some mechanical contrivance, we shall find nothing so wonderful as Robert Houdin’s hat, or the Wizard of the North’s inexhaustible bottle.
In short, the great impediment to a complete exposure of such delusions is the readiness with which the human inclination to marvels assists the experimenters on human credulity. We are rather self-deceived than deceived by the ingenuity of the Mediums, whose devices are ordinarily of the simplest kind, while the effects produced are for the most part insignificant. It is difficult to induce any one to observe sufficiently the ordinary capacities of matter and of human muscle, and a belief in the miraculous is thus induced by erroneous assumptions. In the majority of instances I assert that the Mediums fail altogether of producing anything that should move an instant’s wonder. In the performances of Mr. Home, which I am about to examine, there is a little more art and a little more adroitness, and though the results are more striking, the machinery, when I have explained it, will be found to be ridiculously simple in proportion to its effects on the bewildered and mystified spectators.
THE FINS AND WINGS OF WAR-SHIPS:
UNDAMAGEABLE PROPELLERS.
There are four modes of propelling vessels on water. One is to float them down a running stream. Another is to haul them by a rope. A third is to propel them by the power of the wind. A fourth to row them, and the rowing admits of much variety. Floating down stream is still practised on the Mississippi, the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, the vessels being a kind of Noah’s Ark to carry commodities, the arks themselves being also commodities to break up and convert into timber or firewood at the river’s mouth. So this primitive method of “going down to the sea in ships” still obtains in the existing world, and is possibly the lowest cost transit. Rope hauling is still practised on canals. The use of the wind involves a very expensive tackle of masts and yards, and shrouds and sails, as in a square rigged vessel, and if simplified by substituting the felucca lateen or latin sail for the square rig, simplicity and beauty is gained, but at an enormous increase of cost in sailors required to manipulate one or more gigantic sails, instead of a greater number of smaller sails, with the advantage on the other hand of managing the lateen sails from the deck by “lubbers” instead of by athletic marine gymnasts, whom we call sailors, mounted on the yards, shrouds, and tackle.
The uncertainty of the wind on short voyages bids fair to put them out of use as a moving power, inasmuch as the coal space required in steamers lessens in compound proportion with the diminution of time. But on long voyages it is probable that clippers will still hold their own against steam, as with the increasing knowledge of the course of the winds, the possibility of obtaining fair winds is every day increasing, and, moreover, we have not yet worked out all that is possible in the speed of wind-moved craft.
