INFLUENCE OF SUSPENSION ON WATCH. 383 



effort to make it take up a mode of vibration 

 opposite to that which it takes up of itself, is liable 

 to make the escapement-wheel trip and run round 

 rapidly, escaping from the control of the balance- 

 wheel and the escapement this disturbance not 

 being produced by any violent action of the hand, 

 but by very gentle touches properly timed. No 

 such derangement can, I believe, ever take place 

 when the watch is hung in the manner described, 

 and left at rest to take up whatever mode of 

 vibrating it will, and no damage to the most 

 delicate chronometer can result. 



The knowledge of those facts may be of 

 advantage first, in pointing out a simple plan 

 for setting a chronometer without touching the 

 hands ; second, in showing how it ought to be 

 supported, in regular use, so that it may go at 

 a uniform rate and keep correct time. It is usual 

 to place ship's chronometers on cushions, at sea, 

 to guard against damage to the works, from 

 tremors of the ship. If the cushion be moderately 

 hard, the chronometer's rate does not (as I have 

 found by trials on board the Great Eastern) differ 



