S84 



Experiments oji the Strength of 

 Table. 



To find the strength that each of these men might exert 

 to raise a weight vertically, I made the following experi- 

 ments : 



I took various weights increasing by lolbs. from 150lbs. 

 up to 250 lbs.; all these weights were of lead having cir- 

 cular and equal bases. To use them with success in the 

 proposed experiments I had at the same time a kind of 

 bench made, in the middle of which was a hole of the same 

 size as the base of my weights : this hole was shut by a cir- 

 cular cover when pressed against the bench ; at other times 

 it was kept at about the distance of a foot and a half above 

 the bench, by means of a spring and some iron bars. To 

 prevent the weight with which this cover was loaded du- 

 ring the experiment from forcing down the cover, lower 

 than the level of the surface of the bench, I had several 

 grooves made in the four iron bars, which sustained the 

 cover, and which at the same time served to hold up the 

 cover at any height where it might arrive by the pressure 

 of the springs as soon as the pressure of the weight ceased. 



Afterhaving laid the 150 lbs. weight on the cover, and 

 the other weights in succession increasing by H) lbs. up to 

 250 lbs. I made the foiiovving experiments with the men 

 whose size and weight are given above, by making them 

 lift up the weights as vertically as possible all at once, and 

 by observine; the height to which they were able lo lift 

 them. The following Table gives the heights observed for 

 the different weights marked at the head of the Table. 



Table. 



