166 GYROSTATIC BALANCE. 
the ‘‘ Scientific imagination,” and tells what it will, and 
what it will not do. 
To the kinetic theory of gases, I had given but little 
attention, and still less to that of solids, but I had given 
a good deal to the laws of gyrating bodies. When I read 
that part of Sir William Thomson’s address, it appeared 
so to conflict with results to which my studies had led 
me, that I determined to put his predictions to the test 
of trial. 
The diagram on the blackboard (Fig. 1) is copied from 
his drawing given in ‘‘Science,”’ Vol. IV, page 205, where 
is also found all that I shall quote from his address. 
The ‘‘ Balance”’ consists, as you see, of four ‘‘ Gyrostats,”’ 
jointed at the four corners of the square, and enclosed in, 
a metallic sheil for the sake of hiding the interior. At 
the upper and lower corners are hooks, the upper one to 
support the apparatus, and the lower to support a 
weight. ‘The index and scale are to enable the experi- 
menter to measure any rise or fall of the weight. 
116 
