1853.] On Table-turning. 383 



for that into the ' Athenaeum ' of next Saturday, and propose 

 here to give the general result. Believing that the first cause 

 assigned namely, a quasi involuntary muscular action (for 

 the effect is with many subject to the wish or will) was the 

 true cause ; the first point was to prevent the mind of the 

 turner having an undue influence over the effects produced 

 in relation to the nature of the substances employed. A 

 bundle of plates, consisting of sand-paper, millboard, glue, 

 glass, plastic clay, tinfoil, cardboard, gutta-percha, vulcanized 

 caoutchouc, wood, and resinous cement, was therefore made up 

 and tied together, and being placed on a table, under the hand 

 of a turner, did not prevent the transmission of the power ; 

 the table turned or moved exactly as if the bundle had been 

 away, to the full satisfaction of all present. The experiment 

 was repeated, with various substances and persons, and at 

 various times, with constant success ; and henceforth no objec- 

 tion could be taken to the use of these substances in the con- 

 struction of apparatus. The next point was to determine the 

 place and source of motion, i. e. whether the table moved the 

 hand, or the hand moved the table ; and for this purpose indi- 

 cators were constructed. One of these consisted of a light 

 lever, having its fulcrum on the table, its short arm attached to 

 a pin fixed on a cardboard, which could slip on the surface of 

 the table, and its long arm projecting as an index of motion. 

 It is evident that if the experimenter willed the table to move 

 towards the left, and it did so move before the hands, placed 

 at the time on the cardboard, then the index would move to 

 the left also, the fulcrum going with the table. If the hands 

 involuntarily moved towards the left without the table, the index 

 would go towards the right ; and, if neither table nor hands 

 moved, the index would itself remain immoveable. The result 

 was, that when the parties saw the index it remained very steady ; 

 when it was hidden from them, or they looked away from it, it 

 wavered about, though they believed that they always pressed 

 directly downwards ; and, when the table did not move, there 

 was still a resultant of hand force in the direction in which it 

 was wished the table should move, which, however, was exer- 

 cised quite unwittingly by the party operating. This resultant 

 it is which, in the course of the waiting time, while the fingers 

 and hands become stiff, numb, and insensible by continued 



