42 MOMENTUM VERSUS MATTER 



superfluous, mutely speculating how the deuce a plate- 

 glass window was to be replaced in a remote corner of 

 western Scotland. For, mark ye, it was in a time of 

 frost, and a keen north wind was blowing through the 

 orifice. Presently my wife exclaimed: 'Here it is, poor 

 thing!' Between a large armchair and the fire-place 

 crouched a hen pheasant, which I caught. It showed no 

 wound or sign of damage, and struggled vigorously to 

 get free. When it was released upon the terrace it flew 

 a short distance, alighted, ran away strongly, and was 

 seen no more. It seems to me very remarkable that a 

 bird should fly uninjured through plate-glass as simply 

 as a circus rider jumps through a paper hoop. One has 

 always been told that any man of ordinary strength can 

 drive his fist through a door panel. The only one whom 

 I ever knew to attempt it succeeded, indeed, but at the 

 cost of a dislocated little finger knuckle. It was explained 

 to him that if he had aimed at a point a foot behind the 

 panel, instead of at the panel itself, his hand would have 

 passed through without a scratch. But who is there of 

 fortitude to put that to the test ? How often has one not 

 cause to wonder at the thickness and strength of an 

 oaken rail through which the slender cannon-bone of a 

 horse may be driven, often without even an abrasion 

 of the skin. The horse is aiming at the field beyond 

 the fence. Eeverse the process; let the horse's leg be 

 stationary, and the oaken rail be driven against it at high 

 velocity, and who can doubt which would be shattered ? 



A signal example of the imperious nature of momentum 

 was given a few years ago, when a horse ran off with its 

 rider in the Mall or Constitution Hill (I forget which), 

 charged the high iron railings in front of Buckingham 



