76 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 



spoke C, and the other end of the cord to the next right- 

 hand spoke one foot below the upper end, or on the inner 

 ring; proceed in like manner with every other spoke in 

 succession; and it will be found that, at A, the cord will 

 have the position shown outside the wheel ; while at B, C, 

 and D, it will also take the respective positions, as shown 

 on the outside. The result in this case will be, that all 

 the weights on the side A, C, D, hang to the great or outer 

 circle, while on the side B, C, D, all the weights are sus- 

 pended from the lesser or inner circle. And if we reverse 

 the motion of the wheel, turning it from the right to the 

 left hand, we shall reverse these positions also (the lower 

 end of the cord sliding in a groove towards a left-hand 

 spoke), but without the wheel having any tendency to move 

 of itself." 



But it is quite as likely that the wheel constructed by 

 the Marquis was like one of the "overbalancing" wheels 

 described at the beginning of this article. 



It is upon this " scantling " that has been based the 

 claim that the Marquis really invented a perpetual motion, 

 but to those who have seen much of inventors of this kind, 

 the discrepancy between the suggested claim made by the 

 Marquis and what we know must have been the actual 

 results, is easily explained. The Marquis felt sure that 

 the thing ought to work, and the excuse for its not doing 

 so was probably the imperfect manner in which the wheel 

 was made. Only put a little better work on it, says the 

 inventor, and it will go. 



Caspar Kaltoff, mechanician to the Marquis, probably 

 got the wheel up in a hurry so as to exhibit it on the occa- 

 sion of the king's visit to the tower. If he only had had a 

 little more time he would have made a machine that would 

 have worked. (?) I have heard the same excuse under 

 almost the same circumstances, scores of times. 



The case of Orffyreus was very different. The real 



