SOLIDS DEFYING GRAVITY. 



The most convenient way of winding will be 

 to turn with the right hand by the short pro- 

 jection B, guiding the string with the thumb 

 and first finger of the left hand ; and resting 

 the knob A on a table-edge or other support. 

 When it is wound, lean out of the window, 

 hold the end of the string in the left hand, 

 and the wheel by C in a vertical position. With 

 the string tight between the axle and the left 

 hand, give the wheel a smart turn with the 

 right hand to start it unrolling, and then let 

 it go on unwinding the string as it descends 

 spinning. 



To the surprise of those who have not 

 watched the spinning of the gyroscope, the 

 wheel, though supported only at one end by 

 the string, instead of falling, as might be ex- 

 pected, into a position with the "axis vertical 

 (the string end above and the other end, with 

 the weight of the wheel, beneath), will continue 

 much in the position shown in the figure, spin- 

 ning faster as it descends, until all the string 

 is unwound, when it will continue spinning 

 for some time supported by the wire ring in 

 the nick on the axle, and looking like a visible 

 contradiction of the most widely manifested 

 and best established natural law that of 

 universal gravitation. 



To start the wheel spinning nicely, it is 

 advisable to have the string at the beginning 

 of the spin wound close against the wheel, and 



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