of Clock Pendulums. 83 



Whilst I think I have said enough to show that such 

 phenomena as have been described do really exist, and that a 

 more complete and elaborate series of experiments will be of great 

 scientific interest as well as of high practical utility, yet I do not 

 assert that the theory proposed is to be hurriedly admitted. I 

 confess that my own convictions are strongly in favour of the 

 theory of " imperceptible vibrations," for it appears to me not 

 only the most simple and rational of any that can be advanced, 

 but is supported by experiments, so far as they have been carried. 

 Nor is it without analogy. Take the case of Sound for instance. 

 We know that if a musical note be produced near stringed in- 

 struments, those strings capable of producing the same note, will 

 immediately begin to vibrate. Again, we know that ever so 

 slight a disturbance in a sheet of water will propagate undulations 

 sufficient to produce motion, at a remote distance from the point 

 where that disturbance was first effected. 



I can perceive nothing more inconceivable in the dynamical 

 solution of the phenomenon in question than in the existence of 

 the phenomenon itself, and I think the chief matter of surprise is, 

 that the fact is not more generally known ; and that, so far as I 

 can learn, 128 years have passed over without Mr. Ellicott's 

 investigations having been systematically pursued. 



