40 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



an inflexible straight line like an ordinary lever. 

 Moreover, the head, which forms no inconsiderable 

 portion of the overhanging weight, can be bent at 

 various angles to the neck. We have it therefore in 

 our power not only to diminish the eternal prepon- 

 derance of these members by altering their relative 

 position as described above, but also actually to diminish 

 the distance at which the perpendicular falls outside 

 the basis first, by bending the neck, by which the 

 length of the lever is curtailed ; and still further, by 

 making the head assume more and more acute that 

 is, smaller angles with the line of the neck, whether 

 this latter be straight or curved. 



This is shown by fig. 4, where the natural that is, 



Pig. 4. 



unimproved position of the head and neck makes the 

 perpendicular fall at the distance D N outside the 



