r 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
, 
 
 A 
 
 
f 
 
* z 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPOET 
 
 MADE 
 
 SCIENCE IN EAENEST. 
 
 Tis not enough that Greek and Roman page 
 
 At stated hours the sprightly boy engage ; 
 
 E'en in his pastimes he requires a friend, 
 
 To warn, and teach him safely to unbend ; 
 
 And levying thus, and with an easy sway, 
 
 A tax of profit from his very play, 
 
 To impress a value, not to be erased, 
 
 On moments, squander'd else, and running all to waste. 
 
 COWPER'S Tirocinium. 
 
FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 
 The authenticity of the Vicar's favourite coin is questioned 
 by Major Snapwell. 
 
 See. page. 193. 
 
PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 SCIENCE IN EAENEST 
 
 BEING AN ATTEMPT TO IMPLANT IN THE YOUNG MIND THE FIRST 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY BY THE AID OF 
 
 THE POPULAR TOYS AND SPORTS OF YOUTH. 
 
 EIGHTH EDITION, 
 
 REVISED AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED, WITH SEVERAL ADDITIONAL 
 CHAPTERS, AND A COPIOUS INDEX. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN MUEEAY, ALBEMAELE STEEET. 
 
 1857. 
 
LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. 
 
P3.7? 
 
 TO 
 
 MICHAEL FAKADAY, D.C.L., OXON V F.R.S., 
 
 FCLLERIAN PROFESSOR IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 
 
 <J-c. 4-c., 
 
 THIS VOLUME is INSCRIBED, not only in admiration of his great 
 scientific discoveries, but in grateful acknowledgment of ser- 
 vices more immediately relating to the design and object of the 
 present work that of implanting and cherishing an early love 
 of Science, by enlisting under its banners the curiosity and 
 imagination of the rising generation, a plan which he has 
 greatly promoted by the delivery of " JUVENILE LECTURES," alike 
 remarkable for the happy selection and arrangement of their 
 subjects, the winning familiarity of their style, and the striking 
 and beautiful simplicity of their experimental illustrations : 
 
 By his Friend, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 London, December , 1856. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 TELL me, gentle Eeader, whether thou hast not heard of the 
 box of Pandora, which was no sooner opened by the unhappy 
 Epimetheus, than it gave flight to a troop of malevolent 
 spirits, which have ever since tormented the human race. 
 BEHOLD ! I here present you with a magic casket con- 
 taining a GENIUS alone capable of counteracting their dire- 
 ful spells. Perchance thou mayst say that its aspect but ill 
 accords with the richness of its promised treasure ; so 
 appeared the copper vessel found by the fisherman, as 
 related in the Arabian tale ; but remember, that no sooner 
 had he broken its mystic seal, than the imprisoned genius 
 spread itself over the ocean and raised its giant limbs above 
 the clouds. But this was an evil and treacherous spirit ; 
 mine is as benevolent as he is mighty, and seeks communion 
 with our race for no other object than to render mortals 
 virtuous and happy. To be plain, my young friends, if you 
 have not already unriddled my allegory, his name is 
 PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 In your progress through life, be not so vain as to believe 
 that you will escape the evils with which its path is beset. 
 Arm yourselves, therefore, with the talisman that can, at 
 once, deprive adversity of its sting, and prosperity of its 
 dangers; for such, believe me, is the rare privilege of 
 Philosophy. 
 
 I must now take leave of you for a short time, in order 
 that I may address a few words to your parents and pre- 
 
X TO THE READER. 
 
 ceptors ; but, as I have no plot to abridge your liberties, or 
 lengthen your hours of study, you may listen to my address 
 without alarm, and to my plan without suspicion. Imagine 
 not, however, that I shall so far disregard the admonition 
 of Solomon, as to advocate the dismissal of the cane, or the 
 whip ; on the contrary, I shall insist upon them as necessary 
 and indispensable implements for the accomplishment of my 
 design ; but the method of applying them will be changed ; 
 with the one I shall construct the bow of the kite, with the 
 other I shall spin the top. 
 
 The object of the present work is to inculcate that early 
 love of science which can never be derived from the sterner 
 productions. Youth is naturally addicted to amusement, 
 and in this item his expenditure too often exceeds his 
 allotted income. I have, therefore, taken the liberty to 
 draw a draft upon Philosophy, with the full assurance that 
 it will be gratefully repaid, with compound interest, ten 
 years after date. But to be serious : those who superintend 
 the education of youth should be apprised of the great im- 
 portance of first impressions. From the leaf-bud, as Goethe 
 says, springs the future tree with its crowning flowers and 
 fruit, and unless that be cared for, there is an end of the 
 preordained development. Eousseau has said, that the 
 seeds of future vices or virtues are more frequently sown 
 by the mother than by the tutor ; thereby intimating that 
 the characters of men are often determined by the earliest 
 impressions ; and, of so much moment did Quintilian regard 
 this truth, that he recommends to us the example of Philip, 
 who did not suffer any other than Aristotle to teach 
 Alexander to read. In like manner, those who do not 
 commence their study of nature at an early season, will 
 afterwards have many unnecessary obstacles to encounter. 
 The difficulty of comprehending the principles of Natural 
 Philosophy frequently arises from their being at variance 
 
TO THE EEADER. XI 
 
 with those false ideas which early associations have im- 
 pressed upon the mind ; the first years of study are there- 
 fore expended in wwlearning, and in clearing away the 
 weeds, which would never have taken root in a properly- 
 cultivated soil. " To enter into the kingdom of knowledge," 
 said Lord Bacon, "we must put on the spirit of little 
 children." Nor is it of less importance to disabuse the 
 young mind of the fallacies to which the senses are exposed ; 
 and for that purpose, the several optical and acoustic amuse- 
 ments will prove instructive auxiliaries. 
 
 Writers 011 practical education have repeatedly advocated 
 the advantages of the plan I am so anxious to enforce ; but, 
 strange to say, it is only within a few years that any works 
 have appeared at all calculated to afford the necessary 
 assistance.* In short, previous to the labours of Mrs. 
 Marcet and Miss Edgeworth, the productions published for 
 the purpose of juvenile instruction may be justly charged 
 with the grossest errors ; and must have proved as destruc- 
 tive to the mind of the young reader as the book presented 
 by the physician Douban is said to have been to the Grecian 
 king, who, as the Arabian tale relates, imbibed fresh poison 
 as he turned over each leaf, until he fell lifeless in the pre- 
 sence of his courtiers ; or, to give another illustration, as 
 mischievous as the magic volume of Michael Scott, which, 
 as Dempster informs us, could not be opened without the 
 danger of invoking some malignant fiend by the operation. 
 
 * It is gratifying to learn that so distinguished a philosopher as Sir David 
 Brewster has given his sanction to the plan. In his recently-published work 
 on the ' History of the Stereoscope ' he observes that " Philosophy in Sport " 
 never fails to become " Science in Earnest." The toy which amuses the boy 
 will instruct the sage; and many an eminent discoverer and inventor can trace 
 the pursuits which immortalize them to some experiment or instrument which 
 amused them at school. The soap-bubble, the kite, the balloon, the water- 
 wheel, the sun-dial, the burning-glass, the magnet, &c., have all been valuable 
 incentives to the study of the sciences. 
 
Xll TO THE EEADER. 
 
 " Henceforth let all young men take heed 
 How in a conjuror's book they read."* 
 
 How infinitely superior in execution and purpose are the 
 juvenile works of the present century ! To borrow a 
 metaphor from Coleridge, they may be truly said to resemble 
 a collection of mirrors set in the same frame, each having 
 its own focus of knowledge, yet all capable of converging 
 to one point. 
 
 Allow me, friendly Reader, before I conclude my address, 
 to say a few words upon the plan and execution of the work 
 before you. It is not intended to supersede or clash with 
 any of the elementary treatises to which I have alluded ; 
 indeed its plan is so peculiar, that I apprehend such a 
 charge cannot be brought against it. The author originally 
 composed it for the exclusive use of his children, and 
 would certainly never have consigned it to the press, but at 
 the earnest solicitations of those friends who thought that it 
 might serve the cause of early scientific education, and 
 inaugurate a school of domestic instruction. The success 
 of the plan has exceeded our expectation, and Philosophy in 
 Sport, made Science in Earnest, have become 'Household 
 Words.' Let this be received as an answer to those who, 
 believing that they can recognise the writer, may be induced 
 to exclaim with Menedemus in Terence, " Tantumne est ab 
 re tud otii tibi aliena ut cures, eaque nihil quoe ad te attinent ?""f 
 Its French translator J regrets that he is unable to give the 
 name of the English author ; while, by not withholding his 
 own, he affords me the gratifying opportunity of identifying 
 M. Kichard as the person to whom I am obliged for the 
 
 * Southey's Minor Poems. 
 
 f " Have you such leisure from your own affairs 
 To think of those that don't concern you?" 
 
 J La Science enseignge par les Jeux : imit de 1' Anglais, par T. Richard, 
 Pvofesseur de Mathematiques. Paris, a la Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret 
 Rue Havtefeuille. 
 
TO THE READER. xiii 
 
 ability with, which he has executed a difficult undertaking. 
 Addison, I believe, has said that " a Pun can be no more 
 translated than it can be engraved ;" I can therefore readily 
 pardon the Professor for having lopped off at least three- 
 fourths of my kite's tail, to say nothing of sundry other 
 mutilations ; it is true, indeed, that he has offered compen- 
 sation by the introduction of many clever calembourgs and 
 smart jeux-de-mot. My American Editor had not that diffi- 
 culty to encounter, and I only regret that he did not en- 
 liven some of its passages with the humour so characteristic 
 of the country of Sam Slick. 
 
 In composing a scientific work for elementary instruc- 
 tion, nothing is more difficult than to conceive a standard 
 of information so nicely adjusted as shall explain without 
 being too profound, and instruct without being too super- 
 ficial. Upon such an occasion its author is pretty much in 
 the predicament of an usher when taking his younger 
 pupils on a bathing-excursion ; who has to avoid the brook 
 as too shallow for recreation, and the pool as too deep for 
 safety ; but this difficulty did not press very heavily upon 
 the author of a work, the very structure of which implied 
 a compact between the tutor and his pupil ; whereby the 
 former was ever at hand to clear away any difficulty that 
 might beset the latter. Nor was it unreasonable to hope 
 that his 'fidus Achates? by deviating from the direct road 
 of his ordinary pursuits, might pick up from the untrodden 
 wayside some special novelties to be deposited in his trea- 
 sury of knowledge. 
 
 It is very far from my intention to revive what St. 
 Jerome has termed the 'Prologus Galeatus' the Preface 
 with a helmet and thus, as it were, to hold forth an armed 
 defiance to every critical assailant ; but thus much I may 
 be permitted to say, that from the fact of having for the 
 eighth time passed through the press, this little work must 
 
XIV TO THE READER. 
 
 have disarmed such dissentients as maintained that the 
 public would never tolerate, and still less adopt, an alliance 
 so incongruous and ill-concerted as that between SCIEKCE 
 and SPORT. That should Sport even, in a lucky hour, over- 
 take and apprehend the goddess, he could only hope, in 
 Cinderella fashion, to capture her slipper, or at most to 
 retain in his grasp the mere skirts of her robe, to make 
 himself withal a cap for jingling bells ; she herself vanish- 
 ing in air, even as did Helen in her flight from Faust, 
 leaving nought but her vest and veil behind. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to offer any apology for the con- 
 versational plan of instruction : the success of Mrs. Marcet's 
 dialogues had placed its value beyond dispute. It may, 
 however, be observed, that this species of composition may 
 be executed in two different ways, either as direct conver- 
 sation, where none but the speakers appear, which is the 
 method used by Plato ; or as the recital of a conversation, 
 where the author himself appears, and gives an account of 
 what passed in discourse, which is the plan generally 
 adopted by Cicero. The reader is aware that Mrs. Marcet, 
 in her ' Conversations on Philosophy,' has adopted the 
 former, while Miss Edgeworth, in her * Harry and Lucy,' 
 has preferred the latter method. In composing the present 
 work I have followed the plan of the last-mentioned autho- 
 ress. Its advantage over the more direct conversational 
 style consists in allowing occasional remarks, which come 
 more aptly from the author than from any of the characters 
 engaged ; indeed the formalities of the dialogue are necess- 
 arily opposed to any deviations from an appointed course, 
 and must thereby exclude much useful information, and 
 many instructive anecdotes, that might otherwise be inci- 
 dentally introduced. 
 
 If scientific dialogues are less popular in our times than 
 they were in ancient days, it must be attributed to the 
 
TO THE READER. XV 
 
 frigid and insipid manner in which they have too frequently 
 been executed : if we except the mere external forms of 
 speech, and that one character is made to question magis- 
 terially, and the other to fashion an answer according to 
 order, they are altogether the same as if the author himself 
 had ventriloquized through a set of lay-figures ; instead of 
 amusing with a varied style of conversation, and a display 
 of consistent, and well-sustained characters, with appro- 
 priate incidents, and instructive episodes. The intro- 
 duction of a person of humour, to enliven the discourse 
 is sanctioned by the highest authority. Caesar is thus 
 introduced by Cicero, and Cynthio by Addison. In the 
 introduction of Mr. Twaddleton and Major Snapwell, I 
 am well aware of the criticisms to which I am exposed. 
 I have exercised my fancy with a freedom and latitude 
 for which, probably, there is not any precedent in a 
 scientific work ; and have even ventured so far to deviate 
 from the beaten track as to skirmish upon the frontiers of 
 the Novelist, and to bring off captive some of the artillery 
 of Komance : but if, by so doing, I have enhanced the 
 interest of my work, and furthered the accomplishment of 
 its object, let me entreat that mere novelty may not be 
 urged to its disparagement. The antiquarian Vicar, however, 
 will I trust meet with a cordial reception from the classical 
 student.* As to Ned Hopkins, although he may not bear 
 a comparison with William Summers, the Fool of Henry 
 the Eighth, or with Archibald Armstrong (vulgo Archie), 
 Jester to Charles, or much less with that popular court 
 
 > 
 
 * It is at least satisfactory to know that Miss Edgeworth, no mean authority 
 has expressed her approbation of this character. In a letter addressed to the 
 author, she says, "As you may wish to know what pleased me particularly, I 
 will mention the character of the antiquarian Vicar and Tom Plank, both 
 which are the means of introducing much amusing and useful information in an 
 appropriate manner : and," she adds, " I wish to express my gratitude for the 
 manner in which you have exemplified my father's principles." 
 
XVI TO THE READER. 
 
 Droll, Kichard Tarleton, who " undumphished Queen Elizabeth 
 at his pleasure ;" and although the Nympth of the Dairy may 
 never have bestowed upon Ned Hopkins that 'flattering 
 unction ' she had so gracefully imparted to the unrivalled* 
 Tarleton, by stamping his image on her pats of butter, 
 recalling to the classical mind the idea of ' Oscilla ' and 
 votive tablets, nor "mine host " have displayed his rubicund 
 face on the alehouse sign, as surety for "-Merry entertainment 
 within," yet will I maintain, against all comers, despite the 
 Vicar's censure, that he is a very meritorious personage, 
 brimful of humour an expert minister of fun and frolic to 
 the Major and consequently to our history a very import- 
 ant accessary. Should any of my readers be old enough to 
 remember " Jemmy Gordon," of Cambridge notoriety, they 
 will not consider the character overdrawn ; nor will those 
 who have made acquaintance with the eccentric brother 
 of the artist Gainsborough regard the mercurial genius of 
 Tom Plank as beyond the mark of probability. 
 
 I will only add that, to carry forward a consistent story 
 with success, the ideal characters, as Swift says, should be 
 alive and talking to you, each according to his humour, 
 and should a spice of nonsense be occasionally infused, it 
 will not only be the more natural, but, as Miss Edgeworth 
 thought, might act, like the alloy in our coin, and give to 
 sterling sense a more lasting currency ; and be it moreover 
 observed, that certain details and levities, otherwise perhaps 
 exceptionable, are, in fact, the spells which confer that air 
 of truthful life so necessary to sustain the reader during 
 the progress of a tale, in a rational belief of its realities ; 
 
 * We willingly admit that, in one respect at least, our friend Hopkins 
 rivalled the Elizabethan jester in "speaking by the card" (see p. 337). In 
 allusion to the favours heaped upon Raleigh and Leicester, the court wit 
 imprudently observed that a " Knave always commanded the Queen," and he 
 paid the just penalty of the unmannerly jest by an instant dismissal from the 
 royal presence. 
 
TO THE READER. xvii 
 
 and that however frivolous or irrelevant they may some- 
 times appear on the surface, they will not unfrequently 
 be found to cover a concealed under-current, which is 
 carrying along with it an instructive moral, or some contri- 
 bution to the general stock of historical and scientific in- 
 formation. 
 
 As to the propriety of calling in Allegory as an occa- 
 sional handmaid to Science, I have elsewhere remarked 
 (p. 198), that the genius of fiction very often realises the 
 beneficent doings of the * Good Fairy ' of our infant tales, 
 by serving the student without even his consciousness, 
 much less his participation, and by thus imparting instruc- 
 tion without exacting an equivalent in labour. 
 
 If it be argued that several of my comic representations 
 are calculated, like seasoning, to stimulate the palate of 
 the novel-reader, rather than to nourish the minds of the 
 younger class, for whom the work was written, I answer 
 once for all, that we are not studying in the ' Academia 
 vetus,' in which laughter was forbidden. I might, besides, 
 without seeking shelter under the mantle of Horace,* plead 
 common usage; for does not the director of a juvenile fete 
 courteously introduce a few piquant dishes for the enter- 
 tainment of those elder personages who may attend in the 
 character of chaperone ? and for whom, I think, I can pro- 
 mise that the Christmas-tree shall scatter from its time- 
 honoured branches some flowers worthy of their accept- 
 ance ; but at all events you cannot deny me the full 
 benefit of the precedent I have pleaded and so, gentle 
 Eeader, in full confidence of your favour, I respectfully bid 
 thee Farewell ! 
 
 * Sat. i. 1. 25, and Sat. x. v. 14. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tom Seymour's arrival from school. Description of Overton Lodge. The 
 HOROLOGE OF FLORA. A geological temple. A sketch of the person and 
 character of the Reverend Peter Twaddleton. His antipathy to puns. 
 Mr. Seymour engages to furnish his son with any toy the philosophy of 
 which he is able to explain. Mr. Twaddleton's arrival and reception. His 
 remonstrance against the diffusion of science amongst the village mechanics. 
 A dialogue between Mr. Seymour and the Vicar, which some may dislike, 
 many approve of, and all laugh at. The Crystal Palace. The plan of 
 teaching philosophy by the aid of toys developed and discussed. Play and 
 work. Toys and tasks. Mr. Twaddleton's objections answered. He 
 relents, and engages to furnish an antiquarian history of the various toys 
 and sports - 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A lively prelude to a chapter on gravity. Gravitation. Weight. The 
 velocity of falling bodies. At what attitude a body would lose its gravity. 
 The Tower of Babel. 1 The known velocity of sound affords the means of 
 calculating distances. The sound of the woodman's axe. An excursion to 
 Overton Well. An experiment to ascertain its depth. A visit to the 
 Vicarage. The Magic Gallery . Return to the Lodge - - 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Motion, absolute and relative. Force. Uniform, accelerated, and retarded 
 velocity. The times of ascent and descent are equal. Vis inertias. 
 Friction. Action and reaction are equal and in opposite directions. 
 Momentum defined and explained. The Battering-Ram of Vespasian.- 
 The three great laws of motion - - 49 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A sad accident turned to a good account. One example worth a hundred 
 precepts. Vis inertise. The BANDALORE and its curious reminiscences. 
 An experiment. The centres of magnitude and gravity. The point of 
 suspension. The line of direction. The stability of bodies, and upon what 
 it depends. Method of rinding the centre of gravity of a body. The art 
 of the balancer explained and illustrated. Walking on stilts. Various 
 balancing toys _____-- 65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The CHINESE TUMBLERS, illustrating the joint effects of change in the 
 centre of gravity of a body, and of momentum. Mr. Twaddleton's arrival 
 after a series of adventures. The DANCING BALLS. The PEA-SHOOTER. 
 
 A FIGURE THAT DANCES ON A FOUNTAIN. The FLYING WlTCH. 
 
 Elasticity. Springs. The game of " Ricochet," or duck and drake. 
 The REBOUNDING BALL. Animals that leap by means of an elastic 
 apparatus. The industrious fleas. A new species of puffing, by which 
 the Vicar is made to change countenance 84 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The arrival of Major Snapwell, and the bustle it occasioned. The maiden 
 ladies of Overton perplexed, but not subdued. The Vicar's interview with 
 the stranger. The object of the latter in visiting Overton. A curious 
 discussion. A word or two addressed to fox-hunters. Verbal corruptions. 
 Curious derivations. Some geometrical definitions. An instructive 
 enigma __.-____ 99 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Compound forces. The composition and resolution of motion. Rotatory 
 motion. The REVOLVING WATCH-GLASS. The SLING. The centrifugal 
 and centripetal forces. Theory of projectiles. The trundling of a mop. 
 The centrifugal railway. A geological conversation between Mr. Seymour 
 and the Vicar, in which the latter displays his powers of ridicule 115 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The subject of rotatory motion continued. A ball, by having a peculiar 
 spinning motion imparted to it, may be made to stop short, or to retrograde, 
 though it meets not with any apparent obstacle. The rectilinear path of 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 a spherical body influenced by its rotatory motion. BILBOQUET, or CUP 
 AND BALL. The BOOMERANG. The joint forces which enable the balancer 
 to throw up and catch his balls on the full gallop. The HOOP. The centre 
 of percussion. The WHIP AND PEG Top. Historical notices. The power 
 by which the top is enabled to sustain its vertical position during the act of 
 spinning. The sleeping of the top explained. The force which enables it to 
 rise from an oblique into a vertical position, Its gyration - 133 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRAP AND BALL. Gifts from the Vicar. An antiquarian history of the ball. 
 Tennis. Goff, or bandy-ball. Foot-ball. The game of pall-mall. The 
 SEE-SAW. The mechanical powers. The SWING. TheBANDALORE. The 
 doctrine of oscillation. Galileo's discovery. The pendulum. An interest- 
 ing letter. Mr. Seymour and the Vicar visit Major Snapwell - 148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MARBLES. Antiquity of the game. Method of manufacturing them. Ring- 
 taw. Mr. Seymour, the Vicar, and Tom, enter the lists. The defeat of the 
 two former combatants; the triumph of the latter. A philosophical 
 explanation of the several movements, A gossiping interlude. The rudi- 
 ments of the steam-engine first appeared as a toy. The native children of 
 the Orinoco perform an electrical experiment. A panegyric on toys. 
 Photography and its wonders. The Vicar's apology, of which many grave 
 personages will approve. The subject of reflected motion illustrated 162 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mr. Seymour and his family visit the Major at Osterley Park. A controversy 
 between the Vicar and the Major. The SUCKER. Cohesive attraction. 
 Pressure of the atmosphere. Meaning of the term suction. Certain 
 animals attach themselves to rocks by a contrivance analogous to the 
 sucker. The limpet. The walrus. The Lamprey. Locomotive organs 
 of the house-fly. A terrible accident. A scene in the village, in which 
 Dr. Doseall figures as a principal performer. The Vicar's sensible remon- 
 strance. The density of the atmosphere at different altitudes. The BOTTLE 
 IMPS. The POP-GUN. The AIR-GUN. An antiquarian discussion, in 
 which the Vicar and Major Snapwell greatly distinguish themselves 175 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A short chapter brought to a violent and untimely end. The doings of Dr. 
 Doseall, unlike his steam, admit of condensation. The Vicar's consterna- 
 tion. An explosion. The case of the busy pestle versus the lazy mortar. 
 Verdict for the defendant. Amoral - 195 
 
XX11 CONTEXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The SOAP-BUBBLE. The SQUIRT. The BELLOWS; an explanation of their 
 several parts. By whom the instrument was invented. The sucking and 
 lifting, or common pump. An experiment illustrative of atmospheric 
 pressure. The MAGIC BOTTLE and its wonders - - 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The KITE. Its construction. The tail. An "author's meditations among 
 the catacombs of Paternoster-row. Works in their winding-sheets. How 
 Mr. Seymour strung puns as he strung the kite's tail. The Vicar's dismay. 
 Mr. Seymour's apology. Kites constructed in various shapes. Origin of 
 the name. The kite of Chinese origin. Kite-flying a national pastime. 
 The figure usually adopted to be preferred. The Eolian kite. Reflections 
 occasioned by the musical sounds of telegraphic wires - - 214 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The weather, with the hopes and fears which it alternately inspired. The 
 oracular flowers. Preparations for the flight of the kite. A discourse on 
 the theory of flying. Anatomical errors of the artist in depicting the wings 
 of angels. The structure and action of the wings of the bird. A philo- 
 sophical disquisition upon the forces by which the ascent of the kite is 
 accomplished. The tail of the bird compared with the rudder of a ship. 
 The tail of the kite. The altitude to which the kite can ascend has a 
 defined limit. A series of kites on one string. A kite-carriage. The 
 MESSENGER. The practical uses to which the kite has been applied. The 
 causes, direction, and velocity of wind explained. The FLYING-TOP 227 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A short discourse. The SHUTTLECOCK. Its construction. The solution of 
 two problems connected with its flight. The windmill. The smokejack. 
 A toy constructed on the same principle. The Bow AND ARROW. Archery. 
 The arrival of Isabella Villers ----- 249 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A curious and discursive dialogue between the Vicar and Miss Villers. A 
 passionate appeal in favour of flowers. An enigma. The riddles of Samson 
 and Cleobulus. The myth of Castor and Pollux. Sound. How propagated 
 by aerial vibration. Theory of musical sounds - - - 263 
 
CONTENTS. XX111 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A learned discussion, touching the superior powers of ancient, compared with 
 modern music. Mr. Seymour combats the prejudices of the Vicar, and 
 supports the claims of modern music. The importance of national airs and 
 ballads. Dibdin's songs, and Monk Lewis's ballads. Poetry the sister of 
 Music. The sirens of Homer. The magic of music, a game here described 
 for the first time. The Vicar's performance. Adventures by moonlight. 
 Spirits of the valley, and a spectre at the waterfall. Good-night 277 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Origin of the crescent as the Turkish ensign. Apparitions dispelled, and 
 mysteries solved by philosophy. An interesting illustration by Major 
 Snap well. Fairy-rings. Fairies seen at their gambols. Musical instru- 
 ments classed under three divisions. Mixed instruments. Theory of wind 
 instruments. The JEW'S-HARP. The statue of Memnon. An interest- 
 ing experiment. The flute. The WHIZ-GIG, &c. Echoes. Illusions to 
 which they give rise. The Cornish Piskies. The operation of miners de- 
 tected by sounds during a siege. The myth of Narcissus - 291 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The whispering-gallery in the dome of St. Paul's. The speaking-trumpet. 
 The invisible girl, and the amusement she occasioned. Charades. Other 
 acoustic amusements. Mysterious sounds. Creaking shoes. Orator 
 Henley ; a paradoxical shoemaker. An enigma - 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 An interesting communication, from which the reader may learn that the 
 most important events are not those which absorb the greatest portion of 
 time in their recital. Major Snapwell communicates to Mr. Seymour and 
 the Vicar his determination to celebrate the marriage of his nephew by a 
 fete at Osterley Park. PUNCH and the FANTOCCINI. An antiquarian dis- 
 cussion of grave importance. Origin of the bride-cake. The yule-log. 
 The Christmas-tree. An interview with Ned Hopkins, a character of odd 
 combinations, during which he displayed much shrewdness and humour, 
 and is engaged by the Major as the director of his proposed comic enter- 
 tainment ------ - 322 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The flower-garden. Reasons for placing it near your dwelling. Early passion 
 for flowers endures through life. Advantages arising from their cultivation. 
 Its pleasures enhanced by the applications of science. Contrast, a source 
 of pleasure. Illustrations. Lights and shadows. The philosophy of 
 colours. Complementary, or accidental colours. Experiments with co- 
 loured wafers. Optical fallacies. Reflections in the alcove of the Major's 
 garden. Practical suggestions and conclusions - 344 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A new optical toy invented by the author, and termed the THAUMATROPE. 
 The Vicar's ludicrous alarm at its announcement. It is made the means of 
 epigrammatic amusement, and classical instruction. Explanation of its 
 principle. Retentive power of the retina. Spectral, or accidental colours. 
 The cross of Constantine. Optical illusions. The nimbus. Suggestions 
 for improving the THAUMATROPE. Other toys upon the same optical 
 principle. PHANTASMASCOPE.PH^NAKISTISCOPE. Important conclu- 
 sion of the chapter - 362 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Preparations for the approaching fete. The arrival of the guests. The pro- 
 cession of the bridal party to Osterley Park. The Major and his visitors 
 superintend the arrangements in the meadow. The curious discussions 
 which took place on that occasion. Merryandrews. Buffoons. Mythic 
 origin of the pantomime and its characters. Tragetours, &c. The dinner 
 at the hall. The learned controversy which was maintained with respect 
 to the game of chess - - 389 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The arrival of the populace at Osterley Park. The commencement of the 
 festivities. Dancing on the tight and slack rope. Balancing. An egg 
 poised on its broad and narrow end. Conjuring. Sleight of hand. The 
 game of thimble and pea ; or thimble-rig. A Roman game of chance, with 
 the fingers. The morra, played in Italy, and long practised in China. 
 The trick of the decanter and goblet. The electric telegraph and how it 
 brought into trouble a worthy old lady. A surprising trick by means of 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 the electric battery. The mysterious Lady. The King of the Salamanders. 
 The fire ordeal, Water frozen in a red-hot crucible. Ice set on fire. 
 Optical illusions. Phantasmagoria. Deceptive sounds. Invisible girl. 
 Ventriloquism. The telephonic concert. Various games. The penthalum. 
 Quoits. The banquet. The game of Quintain. Grand display of fire- 
 works. Coloured fires. A tableau in the infernal regions. Conclu- 
 sion ___^____ 408 
 
XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. 
 
 Note. Page. 
 
 1. 443. Horologe of Flora. 
 
 2. 445. Geological Theories. 
 
 3. 446. Gothe an early "destructive." 
 
 4. 446. Weight of the earth and the planets. 
 
 5. 448. Gravity and centrifugal force. 
 
 6. 448. Velocity of light. 
 
 7. 451. Hydromancy. 
 
 8. 452. Coins and medals. 
 
 9. 458. Force, motive power. 
 
 10. 460. Momentum and the mechanical powers. 
 
 11. 461. Centre of gravity. 
 
 12. 462. The Indian blow-pipe. 
 
 13. 464. Pendulum and spring. 
 
 14. 465. Elastic chairs and beds. 
 
 15. 466. Duck and drake. 
 
 16. 467. Vegetable elasticity. 
 
 17. 467. Table-turningspirit-rapping clairvoyance. 
 
 18. 469. A simple orrery. 
 
 19. 469. Conic sections. 
 
 20. 470. Earthquake of Lisbon. 
 
 21. 470. Geology applied to agriculture. 
 
 22. 471. The Rifle. 
 
 23. 473. The boomerang. 
 
 24. 474. Bodies revolve on the shorter axis. 
 
 25. 474. Centre of pei-cussiou. 
 
 26. 475. Spinning of the top. 
 
 27. 476. The cycloid. 
 
 28. 476. Billiards. 
 
 29. 477. Collision of Bodies. 
 
 30. 477. Druidical remains. 
 
 31. 480. Contact necessary to cohesion. 
 
 32. 481. Animal suction. 
 
 33. 483. Accidental discoveries. 
 
 34. 486. Rarefied state of the atmosphere in the higher regions. 
 
CONTENTS. XXVli 
 
 Note. Page. 
 
 35. 487. Weight of the superincumbent ocean. 
 
 36. 488. Cause of iridescence. 
 
 37. 489. Vegetable barometers. 
 
 38. 489. St. Swithin. 
 
 39. 490. The whale. 
 
 40. 491. Flying by artificial wings. 
 
 41. 492. Progressive motion in fishes. Boats impelled by paddling, 
 
 rowing, &c. 
 
 42. 493. Flight of insects. 
 
 43. 494. A geometric proposition 
 
 44. 494. Kite messengers. 
 
 45. 494. Blowing hot and cold. 
 
 46. 495. Winds and storms. 
 
 47. 498. Ancient archery. 
 
 48. 499. Sound heard under water. 
 
 49. 499. Sound conveyed by solids. 
 
 50. 499. Expressive music. 
 
 51. 500. Imaginary forms, or chance resemblances. 
 
 52. 503. Fairy rings. 
 
 53. 504. Resonance. 
 
 54. 506. Great performers on the Jew's-harp. 
 
 55. 507. Verbal telegraph. 
 
 56. 508. Electrical telegraph. 
 
 57. 510. The-yule log, the Christmas-tree, and the mistletoe-bough. 
 
 58. 512. Carrier pigeons. 
 
 59. 513. Obscure origin of popular ceremonies. 
 
 60. 515. Origin of chess. 
 
 61. 516. The egg poised on its end. 
 
 62. 516. The magic wand. 
 
 63. 517. The mysterious lady. 
 
 64. 520. Fire ordeal. Spheroidal state of liquids. 
 523. ADDENDA. 
 
PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TOM SEYMOUR'S ARRIVAL FROM SCHOOL. DESCRIPTION OF OVERTON 
 LODGE. THE HOROLOGE OF FLORA. A GEOLOGICAL TEMPLE. A 
 SKETCH OF THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF THE REVEREND PETER 
 TWADDLETON. HIS ANTIPATHY TO PUNS. MR. SEYMOUR ENGAGES TO 
 
 FURNISH HIS SON WITH ANY TOY, THE PHILOSOPHY OF WHICH HE IS 
 ABLE TO EXPLAIN. MR. TWADDLETON'S ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION. 
 HIS REMONSTRANCE AGAINST THE DIFFUSION OF SCIENCE AMONGST 
 THE VILLAGE MECHANICS. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN MR. SEYMOUR AND 
 THE VICAR, WHICH SOME MAY DISLIKE, MANY APPROVE OF, AND 
 ALL LAUGH AT. THE CRYSTAL PALACE. THE PLAN OF TEACHING 
 PHILOSOPHY BY THE AID OF TOYS DEVELOPED AND DISCUSSED. PLAY 
 
 AND WORK. TOYS AND TASKS. MR. TWADDLE TON'S OBJECTIONS 
 
 ANSWERED. HE RELENTS, AND ENGAGES TO FURNISH AN ANTIQUARIAN 
 HISTORY OF THE VARIOUS TOYS AND SPORTS. 
 
 THE summer recess of Mr. Pearson's school was not more 
 anxiously anticipated by the scholars than by the numerous 
 family of Seymour, who, at the commencement of the year, 
 had parted from a beloved son and brother for the first 
 time. As the season of relaxation approached, so did the 
 inmates of Overton Lodge (for such was the name of Mr. 
 Seymour's seat) betray increasing impatience for its arrival. 
 The three elder sisters, Louisa, Fanny, and Rosa, had been 
 engaged for several days in arranging the little study which 
 their brother Tom had usually occupied. His books were 
 carefully replaced on their shelves, and bunches of roses and 
 jasmines, which the affectionate girls had culled from the 
 finest flower-beds in the garden, were tastefully dispersed 
 through the apartment ; the festoons of blue ribands, with 
 which they were entwined, at once announced themselves as 
 the work of graceful hands impelled by light hearts ; and 
 
 B 
 
2 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 every flower might be said to reflect from its glowing petals 
 the smiles with which it had been collected and arranged. 
 At length the happy day arrived ; a carriage drew up to the 
 gate, and Tom was once again folded in the arms of his 
 affectionate and delighted parents. The little group sur- 
 rounded their beloved brother, and welcomed his return 
 with all the warmth and artlessness of juvenile sincerity. 
 " Well," said Mr. Seymour, " if the improvement of your 
 mind corresponds with that of your looks, I shall indeed 
 have reason to congratulate myself upon the choice of your 
 school. But have you brought me any letter from Mr. 
 Pearson ?" " I have," replied Tom, who presented his father 
 with a note from his master, in which he had dwelt, in high 
 terms of commendation, not only upon the general conduct 
 of his pupil, but upon the rapid progress he had made in his 
 classical studies. 
 
 "My dearest boy," exclaimed the delighted father, "I 
 am more than repaid for the many anxious moments which 
 I have passed on your account. I find that your conduct 
 has given the highest satisfaction to your master ; and that 
 your good-nature, generosity, and, above all, your strict 
 adherence to truth, have insured the love and esteem of 
 your schoolfellows." This gratifying report brought tears 
 of joy into the eyes of Mrs. Seymour; Tom's cheeks glowed 
 with the feeling of merited approbation, and the sisters 
 interchanged looks of mutual satisfaction. Can there be an 
 incentive to industry and virtuous conduct more powerful 
 than the exhilarating smiles of approval which the schoolboy 
 receives from an affectionate parent ? Tom would not have 
 exchanged his feelings for all the world ; and he internally 
 vowed that he would never deviate from a course that had 
 been productive of so much happiness. 
 
 " But come," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " let us all retire 
 into the library. I am sure that our dear fellow will be glad 
 of some refreshment after his journey." 
 
 We shall here leave the family circle to the undisturbed 
 enjoyment of their domestic repast, and invite the reader to 
 accompany us in a stroll about the grounds of this beautiful 
 and secluded retreat. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 3 
 
 We are amongst those who believe that the habits and 
 character of a family may be as easily discovered by the 
 rural taste displayed in the grounds which surround their 
 habitation, as by any examination of the prominences on their 
 heads, or of the lineaments in their faces. How vividly is 
 the decline of an ancient race depicted by the chilling deso- 
 lation which reigns around the mansion, and by the rank 
 weed which insolently triumphs over its fading splendour ; 
 and how equally expressive of the peaceful and contented 
 industry of the thriving cottager, is the w T ell- cultivated patch 
 which adjoins the humble dwelling, around whose rustic porch 
 the luxuriant lilac clusters, or the aspiring woodbine twines 
 its green tendrils and sweetly-scented blossoms ! In like 
 manner did the elegantly-disposed grounds of Overton Lodge 
 at once announce the classic taste and fostering presence of 
 a refined and highly-cultivated family. 
 
 The house, which was in the Ionic style of architecture, 
 was situated on the declivity of a hill, so that the verdant 
 lawn which was spread before its southern front, after 
 retaining its level for a short distance, gently sloped to the 
 vale beneath, and was terminated by a luxuriant shrubbery, 
 over which the eye commanded a range of fair enclosures, 
 beautified by an irregularly-undulating surface, and inter- 
 spersed with rich masses of wood. The uniformity of the 
 smoothly-shorn lawn was broken by occasional clumps of 
 flowering shrubs, so artistically selected and arranged, as to 
 afford all the varied charms of contrast ; while, here and 
 there, a lofty elm flung its gigantic arms over the sward 
 beneath, which enabled the inhabitants of the Lodge, like the 
 philosophers of old, to converse in the shade, or to enjoy the 
 luxury of " lettered ease," even during the heat of a meridian 
 sun. The shrubbery, which occupied a considerable portion 
 of the valley, stretched for some distance up the western 
 part of the hill ; and could Sheiistone have wandered 
 through its winding paths and deep recesses, his own 
 Leasowes might have suffered from a comparison. Here 
 were mingled shrubs of every varied dye : the elegant foliage 
 of white and scarlet acacias was blended with the dark-green- 
 leaved chestnut ; and the stately branches of the oak were 
 
4 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 relieved by the gracefully-pendulous boughs of the birch. 
 At irregular intervals, the paths expanded into verdant 
 glades, in each of which the bust of some favourite poet or 
 philosopher announced the genius to which they were, 
 severally consecrated. From a description of one or two of 
 these sequestered spots, the reader will readily conceive the 
 taste displayed in all. 
 
 After winding, for some distance, through a path so 
 closely interwoven with shrubs and trees, that scarcely a 
 sunbeam could struggle through the foliage, a gleam of light 
 suddenly burst through the gloom, and displayed a beautiful 
 marble figure, which had been executed by a Roman artist, 
 representing Flora in the act of being attired by Spring. It 
 was placed in the centre of the expanse formed by the 
 retiring trees, and at its base were flowering, at measured 
 intervals, a variety of those plants to which LinnaBus has 
 given the name of Equinoctial Flowers, since they open and 
 close at certain and exact hours of the day, and thus by 
 proper arrangement constitute the HOROLOGE or FLOEA 
 (1),* or Nature's timepiece. It had been constructed, 
 under the direction of her mother, by Louisa Seymour. The 
 hour of the day at which each plant opened or closed was 
 represented by an appropriate figure of nicely-clipped box ; 
 and these, being arranged in a circle, not only fulfilled the 
 duty, but exhibited the appearance of a dial. Adjoining the 
 circle stood -a sun-dial, upon the pedestal of which was 
 inscribed a motto, equally applicable to either of these 
 heralds of the sun "fforas non numero, nisi serenas" Under 
 which appeared the following paraphrase : 
 
 " So let us note those hours alone 
 On which the sun of joy has shone, 
 And leave unmark'd the sunless past, 
 O'er which the shade of sorrow's cast." 
 
 From this retreat several winding paths threaded their 
 mazy way through the deep recesses of the wood ; and 
 the wanderer, quitting for a while the blaze of day, was 
 refreshed by the subdued light which everywhere pervaded 
 the avenue, except where the hand of taste had, here and 
 
 * These figures refer to the additional notes at the end of the work. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 5 
 
 there, turned aside the boughs, and opened a sunny vista to 
 bring the village spire into view, or to gladden the sight by 
 a rich prospect of the distant landscape. After having de- 
 scended for some way, the path, losing its inclined direction, 
 proceeded on a level, and thus announced to the stranger 
 his arrival at the bottom of the valley. "What a rich 
 display of woodland scenery was suddenly presented to his 
 view ! A rocky glen, in which large masses of sandstone 
 were grouped with picturesque boldness, terminated the 
 path, and formed an area wherein he might gaze on the 
 mighty sylvan amphitheatre, which gradually rose to a 
 towering height above him, and seemed to interpose an 
 insuperable barrier between the solitude of this sequestered 
 spot and the busy haunts of men ; not a "sound assailed the 
 ear, save the murmur of the summer breeze, as it swept 
 the trembling foliage, or the brawling of a small mountain 
 stream, which gushed from the rock, and, like an angry 
 chit, fretted and fumed as it encountered the obstacles that 
 had been raised by its own impetuosity. This was the 
 favourite retreat of Mr. Seymour, and he had dedicated it 
 to the genius of geology : here had he erected a temple to 
 the memory of Werner, and every pillar and ornament bore 
 testimony to the refined taste of its architect. It consisted 
 of a dome, constructed of innumerable shells and corallines, 
 and surmounted by a marble figure of Atlas, bearing the 
 globe on his shoulders, upon which the name of WERNER 
 was inscribed. The dome was supported by twelve pillars 
 of so singular and beautiful a construction as to merit a 
 particular description : the Corinthian capital of eacli was 
 of Pentelican marble ; the column consisted of a spiral of 
 about six inches in breadth, w r hich wound round a central 
 shaft of not more than two inches in diameter ; upon this 
 spiral were placed specimens of various rocks, of such 
 masses as to fill up the outline, and to present to the eye 
 the appearance of a substantial and well-proportioned pillar. 
 These specimens were arranged in an order corresponding 
 with their acknowledged geological relations ; thus, the 
 Diluvial productions occupied the higher compartments : 
 the Primitive strata the lower ones ; and the Secondary and 
 
6 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 Transition series found intermediate places. The tessellated 
 floor presented the different varieties of marble, so artfully 
 interspersed as to afford a most harmonious combination ; 
 the Unicoloured, variegated, Madreporic, the Lumachella, Cipolino, 
 and Breccia marbles, were each represented by a charac- 
 teristic and well-defined specimen. The alcoved ceiling 
 sparkled with Rock Crystal, interspersed with calcareous 
 Stalactites, and beautiful Chalcedonies. A group of figures in 
 basso relievo adorned the wall which enclosed about a third 
 part of the interior of the temple, and its subject gave 
 evidence of the Wernerian devotion of Mr. Seymour ; -for 
 it represented a contest between Pluto and Neptune, in 
 which the watery god was seen in the act of wresting the 
 burning torch from the hand of his adversary, in order to 
 quench it in the ocean. Mr. Seymour had studied in the 
 school of Freyburg, under the auspices of its celebrated 
 professor ; and, like all the pupils of Werner, as in duty 
 bound, he pertinaciously maintained the aqueous origin of 
 our strata (2). But let us return to the happy party at the 
 Lodge, whom the reader will remember we left at their 
 repast. This having been concluded, and all those various 
 subjects discussed, and questions answered, which the 
 schoolboy, who has ever felt the satisfaction of returning 
 home for the holidays, will more easily conceive than we can 
 describe, Tom inquired of his father, whether his old friend, 
 Mr. Twaddleton, the vicar of Overton, was well, and at the 
 Parsonage. "He is quite well," said Mr. Seymour; "and 
 so anxious has he been to see you, that he has paid several 
 visits, during the morning, to inquire whether you had yet 
 arrived. Depend upon it, that many hours will not elapse 
 before you see him." 
 
 In that wish did Tom and the whole juvenile party 
 heartily concur ; for the vicar, notwithstanding his oddities^ 
 was the most affectionate creature in existence, and never 
 was he more truly happy than when contributing to the 
 innocent amusement of his little "playmates" as he used to 
 coll Tom and his sisters. 
 
 It may be here necessary to present the reader with a 
 short sketch of the character of a person, who will be here- 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 7 
 
 after found to perform a prominent part in the little drama 
 of Overton Lodge. 
 
 The Rev. Peter Twaddleton, Master of Arts, and Fellow 
 of the Society of Antiquaries, for we must introduce him in 
 due form, was about fifty-six years of age, twenty of which 
 he had spent at Cambridge, as a resident Fellow of Jesus 
 College. He had not possessed the vicarage of Overton 
 above eight or nine years ; and although its annual value 
 scarcely exceeded a hundred and eighty pounds, so* limited 
 were his wants, and so frugal his habits, that he generally 
 contrived to save a considerable sum out of his income for 
 the purposes of charity and benevolence : his charity, how- 
 ever, was not merely of the hand, but of the heart ; distress 
 was unknown in his village ; he fed the hungry, instructed 
 the ignorant, nursed the sick, and spoke words of hope and 
 comfort to the unfortunate. His long collegiate residence 
 had imparted to his mind several peculiar traits, and a 
 certain stiffness of address and quaintness of manner which 
 at once distinguish the recluse from the man of the world ; 
 in short, as Shakspeare expresses it, " he was not hackney d in 
 the ways of men. 1 '' 
 
 His habits of thought were peculiar, and he assimilated 
 all the affairs of life to his own ideal abstractions, so that 
 it might be said, he lived and moved, as it were, in a 
 chequered world of his own creation, resenting as unhallowed 
 intrusions all such views and opinions as did not strictly 
 harmonize with its fancifully-imposed obligations. These 
 remarks may serve to reconcile those apparent anomalies 
 and contradictions which the reader will have to encounter 
 as he follows in the track of this singular character, in 
 which were united the cold pedantry of the antiquary, with 
 the warm fancy of the poet, the narrow prejudices of the 
 recluse, with the expansive liberality of the philosopher, and 
 the sobriety of the priest, with the playfulness of the school- 
 boy : guile he -knew not, for, to adopt the expression of his 
 amiable friend Mrs. Seymour, " his heart was as simple, and 
 as open, as the daisy in the morning sun." 
 
 His face was certainly anything but " good-looking," and 
 yet, when he smiled, there was an animation and sweetness 
 
8 PHILOSOPHY IN SPOUT CHAP. I. 
 
 that redeemed the otherwise austere expression of his 
 angular features; so benevolent indeed, and so winning 
 was this smile, as at once to excite those sentiments of 
 respect and admiration which the presence of a superior 
 person is wont to inspire ; but his superiority was rather 
 that of the heart than of the head ; not that we would 
 insinuate any inferiority in intellect, but that his moral 
 excellences were so transcendent as to throw into the shade 
 all those mental qualities which he possessed in common 
 with his class. He entertained a singular aversion to the 
 mathematics, a prejudice which we are inclined to refer to 
 his disappointment in the senate-house ; for, although he 
 was known at Cambridge as one of those " pale beings in 
 spectacles and cotton stockings," commonly called " reading 
 men" yet, after all his exertions, he only succeeded in 
 obtaining the " wooden spoon" an honour which devolves upon 
 the last of the "junior optimes" Whether his failure arose 
 from an exuberant or a deficient genius, or, to speak phreno- 
 logically, from an excess in his number of bumps, or a defect in 
 his bump of numbers, we are really unable to state, never 
 having had an opportunity of verifying our suspicions by a 
 manual examination of his cranium ; he was, however, deeply 
 versed in classical literature, and so passionately devoted to 
 Virgil, that he rarely tost an opportunity of quoting his 
 favourite poet; and, although these quotations, vented in 
 mangled forms, too generally pervaded his conversation, 
 they were sometimes apposite, and now and then even witty. 
 But, notwithstanding the delight which he experienced in a 
 lusus wrborum in a learned language, of such, contradictory 
 materials was he composed, that his antipathy to an English 
 pun was bitter and inveterate, and the indignation it excited 
 very frequently came into ludicrous contrast with the playful 
 glee with which his friend Mr. Seymour was ever ready to 
 encourage and indulge in it. This peculiarity has been 
 attributed, but we speak merely from common report, to 
 a disgust which the vicar contracted for that species of 
 spurious wit, during his frequent intercourse with the 
 Johuians, a race of Cambridge students who have, from time 
 immemorial, been identified with the most profligate class" of 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 9 
 
 punsters ;* be this, however, as it may, we are inclined to 
 believe that a person who resides much amongst those who 
 are addicted to this vice, unless he quickly takes the 
 infection, acquires a sort of constitutional insusceptibility, 
 like nurses, who pass their lives in infected apartments with 
 perfect safety and impunity. His favourite, and we might 
 add his chief pursuit, beyond the circle of his profession, waa 
 the study of antiquities ; he was, as we have already stated, 
 a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries ; had collected a very 
 tolerable series of ancient coins, and possessed sufficient 
 critical acumen to distinguish between Attic cerugo and the 
 spurious verdure of the modern counterfeit. In short, he 
 was a keen archaeological mouser of the genuine breed, 
 rejoicing in dusty nooks and damp mysterious cells. Often 
 had he undertaken an expedition of a hundred miles to 
 inspect the interior of an ancient barrow, or to examine the 
 mouldering fragments of some newly-discovered monument ; 
 indeed, like the connoisseur in cheese, blue-mould and decay 
 were the favourite objects of his taste, and the sure passports 
 to his favour ; for he despised all living testimony, but that 
 of worms and maggots. A coin with the head of a living 
 sovereign passed through his hands with as little resistance 
 as water through a sieve, but he grasped the head of an 
 Antonine or Otho with insatiable and relentless avarice. 
 And yet would he, amidst some dry and dusky disquisition 
 upon an obscure antiquarian question, suddenly startle and 
 enliven you by a birght flash of poetic fancy, suggesting the 
 idea of a gay wild flower springing from the crevices of a 
 G-othic ruin. Mr. Twaddleton's figure exceeded the middle 
 stature, and was so extremely slender as to give him the air 
 and appearance of a tall man. He was usuallydressed in an 
 old-fashioned suit of black cloth, consisting of a single- 
 
 * It is not easy to conjecture the origin of this tradition, nor after con- 
 siderable research can we discover the slightest clue to explain the sobriquet 
 of Hogs, in which the members of Saint John's College have so long rejoiced. 
 If the Johnians, however, are guiltless of the sin of punning, they have 
 certainly been the cause of that sin in others ; for instance, the bridge 
 erected over the CAM-, to connect the new and old courts, has been termed the 
 " Isthmus of Sues " and on the author passing over this bridge with 
 Mr. Coleridge, the latter observed that were a Johnian to hang himself upon 
 it, the jury might well bring in a verdict, " Sits per col." 
 
10 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 breasted coat, with a standing collar, and deep comprehen- 
 sive cuffs, and a flapped waistcoat ; but so awkwardly did 
 these vestments conform with the contour of his person, 
 that we might have supposed them the production of those 
 Laputan tailors who wrought by mathematical principles, 
 and held in sovereign contempt the illiterate fashioners 
 who deemed it necessary to measure the forms of their 
 customers ; although it was whispered by certain censorious 
 spinsters in the village that the aforesaid mathematical 
 artists were better acquainted with the angles of the Seven 
 Dials than with the squares of the west end. They farther 
 surmised that the vicar's annual journey to London, which 
 in truth was undertaken with no other objects than those 
 of attending the anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries, 
 on St. G-eorge's day, and of inspecting the cabinets of the 
 British Museum, and that of his old crony, the celebrated 
 medalist of Tavistock-street, was for the laudable purpose 
 of recruiting his wardrobe. If the aforesaid coat, with 
 its straggling and disproportioned suburbs, possessed an 
 amplitude of dimensions which ill-accorded with the slender 
 wants of his person, this misapplied liberality was more 
 than compensated by the rigid economy exhibited in the 
 nether part of his costume (the innominabiles of Southey), 
 which evidently had not been designed by a contemporary 
 artisan ; not so his shoes, which, for the accommodation of 
 those unwelcome parasites, vulgarly called corns, were con- 
 structed in the form of a battledore, and, like those of the 
 a^niable sloven in Horace,* displayed such an unbecoming 
 quantity of leather, that, as Ned Hopkins, a subaltern wit 
 of the village alehouse, observed, " however economical 
 their parson might appear, he was undoubtedly supported in 
 extravagance." Nor did the natural association between 
 tithes and "corn-bags" escape his observation, but was 
 repeated with various other allusions of equal piquancy, to 
 the no small annoyance of the reverend gentleman, and, as 
 he complained, to the disparagement of his cloth. 
 
 After the social repast had been concluded, Tom proposed 
 
 et male laxus 
 
 In pede calceus haeret." Sat. i. 3. 31. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 1 1 
 
 a ramble through the shrubbery. He was anxious to revisit 
 the scene of his former sports ; and Louisa readily met his 
 wishes, for she was also desirous of showing him the botanical 
 clock, which had been planned and completed during his 
 absence. Mr. and Mrs. Seymour accompanied their chil- 
 dren, and, as they walked across the lawn, Tom asked his 
 father whether he remembered the promise he had made 
 him on quitting home for school, that of furnishing him 
 with some new amusements during the holidays. 
 
 "I perfectly remember," said his father, "the promise to 
 which you allude, and I hope that you equally well recollect 
 the conditions with which it was coupled. When you re- 
 ceived a copy of Mrs. Marcet's instructive Dialogues on 
 Natural Philosophy, I told you that, after you had studied 
 the principles which that work so clearly explains, you 
 would have but little difficulty in understanding the philo- 
 sophy of toys, or the manner in which each produced its 
 amusing effects ; and that, when the midsummer holidays 
 commenced, I would successively supply you with a new 
 amusement, whenever you could satisfactorily explain the 
 principles of those you already possessed. Was not that 
 our compact?" 
 
 " It was," exclaimed Tom with great eagerness ; " and I 
 am sure I shall win a prize, whenever you try me, and 
 I hope my mamma and sisters will be present." 
 
 " Certainly," replied Mr. Seymour ; " and I trust that 
 Louisa and Fanny, who are of an age to understand the 
 subject, will not prove uninterested spectators." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour here remarked that Madame Dacier had 
 acknowledged herself much indebted for her successful 
 career in literature to her having attended the lessons given 
 to her brother in early life. 
 
 " Exactly so," said Mr. Seymour ; " she alluded to the 
 lessons given by her father, M. Le Fevre ; and I hope that 
 John will, in like manner, profit by our scheme ; and since 
 I shall necessarily require, for illustration, certain toys which 
 can scarcely afford any amusement to a boy of Tom's age 
 and acquirements, it is but fair that they should be trans- 
 ferred into younger hands ; our little philosopher, Matthew, 
 
12 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 will also, I am sure, enter into the spirit of our pastimes 
 with equal satisfaction and advantage." 
 
 " Thank you ! thank you ! dear papa," was simultane- 
 ously shouted by several voices ; and the .happy children 
 looked forward to the morrow with that mixed sensation 
 of impatience and delight which always attends juvenile 
 anticipations. 
 
 On the following morning, the vicar was seen approach- 
 ing, when Tom and his sisters immediately ran forward to 
 greet him. 
 
 " My dear boy," exclaimed the- vicar, " I am truly rejoiced 
 to see you ! when did you arrive from school ? How goes 
 on Virgil ? Hey, my boy ? You must be delighted with 
 the great Mantuan bard ; now confess, you little Trojan, 
 can you eat a cheesecake without being reminded of the 
 Harpy's prophecy, and its fulfilment, as discovered by young 
 Ascanius ? 
 
 * Heus ! etiam mensas consumimus ? inquit lulus.' * 
 
 But, bless me, how amazingly you have grown! and how 
 healthy you look ! " Tom took advantage of this pause in 
 the vicar's address, which had hitherto flowed in so uninter- 
 rupted and rapid a stream as to preclude the possibility of 
 any reply to his questions, to inform him that his father 
 was on the lawn, and desirous of seeing him. 
 
 "Mr. Twaddleton," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, "you are 
 just in time to witness the commencement of a series of 
 amusements, which I have proposed for Tom's instruction 
 during the holidays." 
 
 "Amusement and instruction," replied the vicar, "are 
 not synonymous in my vocabulary." 
 
 " Oh, then, I perceive you are not of the school of Anaxa- 
 goras, who invented half-holidays, that the children might 
 have time to learn something" observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "Allow me to ask," said the vicar, "what the word 
 'Amusement' implies, f if it does not denote a temporary 
 
 * " See ! we devour the plates on which we fed." JEn. vii. 116. 
 t See Lectures on the Study of Words, by Richard Chenevix Trench, B.D. ; 
 a work which merits our highest commendation. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 13 
 
 suspension of, or a turning away from, severer studies (a 
 Musis) ; for remember we are told that, with the ancients, the 
 Muses not only symbolized poetry, but also history, geo- 
 metry, and other studies : in like manner the word Diversion 
 expresses the turning aside from the labour in which we are 
 daily engaged." 
 
 " A very sound etymology, no doubt ; but let me remind 
 you," said Mr. Seymour, " that the Muses even, so far from 
 disdaining amusement, as you would imply, actually sought 
 intervals of sportive leisure, to amuse, or perhaps I ought to 
 say, to unixmse themselves : so, at least, the poet tells us 
 
 ' Sunt etiain Musis sua ludicra mista Canncenis 
 Otia sunt ' 
 
 But let that pass for the present. As you have assailed me 
 by a double- worded shot, it becomes my pleasure, in return, 
 to prove how readily two words can put you out of court 
 'CRYSTAL PALACE ! 'wherein the Muses and Graces, 
 while they breathe forth their wisest and softest inspirations, 
 unite in one jocund round of endless recreation ; then never 
 let it be said that instruction and amusement cannot be 
 agreeably and profitably associated, when amidst blossoming 
 flowers, and sparkling fountains, Philosophy can hold her 
 court, and receive from Nature and Art the richest contri- 
 butions for contemplation, and. the choicest gifts for diver- 
 sion. Is not this, my dear vicar, the very symbol of PHILO- 
 SOPHY-US' SPOB.T ? " 
 
 " The problem you would endeavour to solve appears to 
 be this," said the vicar, " how to reconcile the cravings of 
 youth for amusement, with the sterner demands of a grey- 
 beard for instruction. I frankly admit that the ' Crystal 
 Palace ' has been an attempt to bridge over the gulf." 
 
 " Not the ' Pans Asinarum' I hope," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Why as to that," answered the vicar, " I willingly adopt 
 the expression, provided you give it the true academic inter- 
 pretation, as signifying a triumph over a first difficulty ; but 
 I have yet to learn, how subjects so adverse in principle and 
 so utterly discordant in action, as Sport and Science, can 
 with safety be practically brought into juxtaposition that 
 
14 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 is the question but let me hear your fairy scheme, and 
 have done with it." 
 
 " I have long thought," said Mr. Seymour, " that all the 
 first principles of natural philosophy might be easily taught, 
 and beautifully illustrated, by the common toys and games 
 which have been invented for the amusement of youth." 
 
 " A fig for such philosophy !" was the unceremonious 
 and chilling reply of the vicar. "What have boys," con- 
 tinued he, " to do with philosophy ? Let them learn their 
 grammar, scan their hexameters, and construe Virgil ; it is 
 time enough to inflict upon them the torments of science 
 after their names have been entered on the University 
 boards." 
 
 " I differ from you entirely, my worthy friend ; the prin- 
 ciples of natural philosophy cannot be too early inculcated, 
 nor can they be too widely diffused. It is surely a great 
 object to engage the prepossessions on the side of truth, 
 and to direct the natural curiosity of youth to useful 
 objects." 
 
 " Hoity toity ! " exclaimed the reverend gentleman ; " such 
 principles accord not with my creed ; heresy, downright 
 heresy ; that a man of your excellent sense and intelligence 
 can be so far deceived ! But the world has run mad ; and 
 much do I grieve to find, that the seclusion of Overton 
 Lodge has not secured its inmates from the infection. I 
 came here, Mr. Seymour, to receive your sympathy, and to 
 profit by your counsel ; but, alas ! alas ! I have fallen into 
 the camp of the enemy ; * Medios delapsus in hostes,' as Virgil 
 has it." 
 
 "You astonish me what can have happened?" asked 
 Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "There is Tom Plank, the carpenter," said the vicar, 
 " soliciting subscriptions for the establishment of a philo- 
 sophical society a ' Mechanics' Institute,' I believe they 
 call it. I understand that this mania for by what other, 
 or more charitable term can I express such conduct ? has 
 seized this deluded man since his return from London, where 
 he has been informed that all the 'hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water' are about to associate themselves into 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 1 5 
 
 societies for the promotion of science. Preposterous idea ! 
 as if a block of wood could not be split without a knowledge 
 of the doctrine of percussion ; a pail of water drawn from 
 the well without an acquaintance with hydrostatics ; nor a 
 load securely carried without solving a problem to determine 
 its centre of gravity ; but as I am a Christian priest, I 
 solemnly declare that I grieve only for my flock, and raise 
 my feeble voice for no other purpose than that of scaring 
 the wolf from the fold : to be angry, as Pope says, would be 
 to revenge the faults of others upon ourselves ; but I am 
 not angry, Mr. Seymour ; I am only vexed, sorely vexed." 
 
 " Take it not thus to heart, my dear vicar," replied his 
 consoling friend ; "' Solve metus,' as your poet has it. Science, 
 I admit, is both the Pallas and Pandora of mankind ; its 
 abuse may certainly prove mischievous, but its sober and 
 well-timed application cannot fail to increase the happiness 
 of every class of mankind, as well as to advance and improve 
 every branch of the mechanical arts : so thoroughly am I 
 satisfied upon this point, that I shall subscribe to the pro- 
 posed society with infinite satisfaction." 
 
 " Mr. Seymour ! Mr. Seymour ! you little know the mis- 
 chief you would do. "Would you scatter the seeds of in- 
 subordination ? manure the weeds of infidelity ? fabricate a 
 battering-ram to demolish our holy church ? Such, indeed, 
 must be the effect of your Utopian scheme ; for truly may 
 I exclaim with the immortal Maro 
 
 .... 'in nostros fabricata est machina muros/ " 
 
 " Come, come, my good friend, all this is declamation 
 without argument," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Without argument ! Many are the sad instances which 
 I could adduce in proof of the evil effects which have 
 already accrued from this mistaken system. I am not in 
 the habit, sir, of dealing in empty assertion ; already has 
 the aforesaid Tom Plank ventured to question the classical 
 knowledge of his spiritual pastor, and, as I understand, has 
 openly avowed himself, at the sixpenny club, as my rival in 
 antiquarian pursuits." 
 
 * "An engine's raised to batter down our walls." JEn. ii. 46. 
 
16 PHILOSOPHY IX SPOKT CHAP. I. 
 
 " And why should he not ?" said the mischievous Mr. 
 Seymour ; " I warrant you he already possesses many an old 
 saw ; ay, and of a very great age, too, if we may judge from 
 the loss of its teeth." 
 
 During this remonstrance, Mr. Twaddleton had been 
 occupied in whirling round his steel watch-chain with con- 
 vulsive rapidity, and, after a short pause, he burst out into 
 the following exclamation 
 
 " Worthy sir ! if you persist in asserting, that a man 
 whose occupation is to plane deal boards is prepared to dive 
 into the sacred mysteries of antiquity, I shall next expect 
 to hear that " 
 
 " That your friend the carpenter knows a good deal" 
 cried Mr. Seymour, interrupting the vicar ; " that he is a 
 grammarian, for he mends stiles ; a wit, since he is a clever 
 hand at railing; and as to his antiquarian pretensions, 
 compare them with your own ; you rescue saws from the dust, 
 while he obtains dust from his saws." 
 
 " What madness has seized my unfortunate friend ? 
 
 ' Infelix ! quae tanta animum dementia cepit ? ' * 
 
 as Virgil has it ; But let it pass, let it pass, Mr. Seymour ; 
 my profession has taught me to bear with humility and 
 patience the contempt and revilings of my brethren ; I 
 forgive Tom Plank for his presumption, as in that case I 
 alone am the sufferer ; but I say to you, that envy, trouble, 
 discontent, strife, and poverty, will be the evil fruits of the 
 seeds you would scatter. I verily believe, that unless this 
 1 march, of intellect/ as it has been termed, is speedily 
 checked, Overton, in less than twelve months, will become 
 a deserted village ; for there is scarcely a tradesman who 
 is not already distracted by some visionary scheme of 
 scientific improvement, that leads them to the neglect of their 
 occupations, and the dissipation of the honest earnings 
 which their more prudent fathers had accumulated ; ' Meliora 
 pii docuere parentes,' as the poet has it. What think you of 
 Sam Corkington, who proposes to erect an apparatus in the 
 crater of Mount Vesuvius, in order to supply every city on 
 
 * " What fury's seized my friend ?" JEn. v. 465. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 17 
 
 the continent with heat and light ; or of Billy Spooner, who 
 is about to establish a dairy at Spitzbergen, that he may 
 furnish all Europe with ice-cream from the milk of whales ; 
 or of Tom Pipes,* who has actually prepared a prospectus 
 for conveying music into our houses by resonant tubes issuing 
 from a central orchestra, just as water and gas are laid on 
 to our dwellings? Then, again, there is our village school- 
 master, Solomon Speed, not content with bridling the tempers, 
 and fashioning the conduct of his scholars, must needs engage 
 in a wild scheme to reform our climate, and to bring under 
 subjection the ever-varying and fickle state of our atmo- N 
 sphere, so as to enable the farmer, at his own good pleasure, 
 to command any kind of weather that may best suit his 
 convenience. Impressed with the belief that all changes in 
 the weather depend upon adverse electrical states, this 
 usurper of the high prerogative of the ' cloud-compelling ' 
 Jove, proposes to erect throughout the country electrifying 
 towers, provided with batteries which may disperse or 
 discharge streams of electricity through the atmosphere ! 
 ' 0, vivzret Democritus!' >: 
 
 " I readily admit," said Mr. Seymour, " that five-and- 
 twenty years ago I might at once have denounced such 
 schemes as the phantoms of a disordered brain ; but in these 
 'days, when science has realized the fairy wonders of romance ; 
 and the productions of the mechanist and electrician have 
 actually surpassed the wild imaginings of the poet ; when we 
 have engaged the lightning to carry our messages, and the 
 sun to paint our portraits ; w T hen, by * Arts chemical,' we 
 can create fragrant perfumes, and the delicious flavours 
 of the richest fruits of the earth, out of the very drainings 
 of our stables and the refuse of our cow-houses, we surely 
 ought to pause, my dear vicar, before we reject any propo- 
 sition, however startling, as being absurd and imprac- 
 ticable." 
 
 The vicar, however, was not to be so appeased, and was 
 preparing to proceed with an Mneid of woes, when the epic 
 
 * Since the last edition of this work, the above project has been actually 
 realized, and successfully exhibited at the Polytechnic Institution, under the 
 title of the Telephonic Concert, and which will be described in a future part 
 of this work. 
 
18 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 thread was suddenly snapped asunder by the explosion of 
 a most audacious pun, which, although it turned the 
 direction, did not diminish the violence of the vicar's indig- 
 nation. 
 
 "Mr. Seymour," exclaimed the incensed gentleman, "I 
 perceive you are determined to meet my remonstrances 
 with ridicule ; when I had hoped to bring an argument 
 incapable of refutation, * Turn varies illudunt pestes,' as Virgil 
 has it." 
 
 " Pray, allow me to ask," said Mr. Seymour, " whether 
 my puns or your quotations better merit that designation ?" 
 
 " That you should compare the vile practice of punning 
 with the elegant and refined habit of conveying our ideas 
 by classic symbols, does indeed surprise and disturb me. 
 Pope has said that words are the counters by which men 
 represent their thoughts ; the plebeian," continued the 
 vicar, " selects base metal for their construction, while the 
 scholar forms them of gold and gems, dug from the richest 
 mines of antiquity. But to what vile purpose does the 
 punster prostitute such counters ! Not for the interchange 
 of ideas, but, like the juggler, to deceive and astonish by 
 acts of legerdemain." 
 
 " How fortunate is it that you had not lived in the reign 
 of King James!" remarked Mr. Seymour; "for that sin- 
 gular monarch, as you may, perhaps, remember, made very 
 few bishops who had not thus signalized themselves." 
 
 " To poison our ears by quibbles and quirks did well 
 become him who sought to deceive our senses and blind our 
 reason the patron of puns and the believer in witchcraft 
 were suitably united," replied the vicar. 
 
 " Well, as this is a subject upon which it is not likely we 
 should agree, I will pass to another, where I hope to be 
 more successful ; I trust I shall induce you to view with 
 more complacency my project of teaching philosophy by the 
 aid of toys and sports." 
 
 " Mr. Seymour, the proposal of instructing children in 
 the principles of natural philosophy is really too visionary 
 to require calm discussion; and can be equalled only 
 in absurdity by the method you propose for carrying it 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 19 
 
 into effect. Verily thou art a schoolmaster in sheep's 
 clothing." 
 
 " Come, come, my dear vicar, pray chain up your pre- 
 judices, and let your kind spirit loose for half an hour : let 
 me beg that you will so far indulge me as to listen patiently 
 to the plan by which it is my intention to turn sport into 
 science, or in other words, toys into instruments of philo- 
 sophical instruction." 
 
 " And is it then possible," said the kind-hearted vicar, in 
 a tone of supplication, " that you can seriously entertain 
 such a wild, and I might add, kill-joy scheme? Would you 
 pursue the luckless urchin from the schoolroom into the 
 very playground, with your unrelenting tyranny? a sanctuary 
 which the most rigid pedagogue has hitherto held inviolable. 
 Is the buoyant spirit, so forcibly, though perhaps necessarily, 
 repressed, during the hours of discipline, to have no in- 
 terval for its free and uncontrolled expansion ? Your 
 science, methinks, Mr. Seymour, might have taught you a 
 wiser lesson ; for you must well know that the most elastic 
 body will lose that property by being constantly kept in a 
 state of tension." 
 
 " A fine specimen of sophistry, upon my word, which 
 would doubtless raise every nursery-governess and doting 
 grandmother in open rebellion against me ; but let me add, 
 that it ill becomes a man of liberal and enlarged ideas, to 
 suffer his opinions to be the sport of mere words ; for, that 
 our present difference is an affair of words, and of words 
 only, I will undertake to prove, to the satisfaction of any 
 unprejudiced person. Play and work amusement and instruc- 
 tiontoys and tasks are invariably, but most unjustifiably, 
 employed as words of contrast and opposition ; an error 
 which has arisen from the indistinct and very indefinite 
 ideas which we attach to such words. If the degree of 
 mental exertion be said to constitute the difference between 
 play and work, I am quite sure that the definition would be 
 violated in the first illustration ; for let me ask, when do 
 boys exert so much thought as in carrying into effect their 
 holiday schemes ? The distinction might more properly be 
 made to turn upon the irksome feelings which may be sup- 
 
20 PHILOSOPHY TN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 posed to attend the drudgery of study, when its promised 
 objects have no direct sympathies in the imagination of the 
 student ; but this can never happen except from a vicious 
 system of education that excludes the operations of thought ; 
 a school that locks in the body, while it locks out the mind : 
 depend upon it, Mr. Twaddleton, that the human mind, 
 whether in youth or manhood, is ever gratified by the 
 acquisition of information; every occupation soon cloys, 
 unless it be seasoned by this stimulant. . Is not the child 
 idle and miserable in a nursery full of playthings ? and to 
 what expedient does he instinctively fly to relieve his ennui ? 
 Why, he breaks his toys to pieces, as Miss Edgeworth justly 
 observes, not from the love of mischief, but from the hatred 
 of idleness, or rather from an innate thirst after knowledge ; 
 and he becomes, as it were, an enterprising adventurer, and 
 opens for himself a new source of pleasure and amusement, 
 in exploring the mechanism of their several parts.* (3.) 
 Think you then, Mr. Twaddleton, that any assistance or 
 encouragement which might be offered the boy under such 
 circumstances, would be received by him as a task r 
 Certainly not. The acquisition of knowledge then, instead 
 of detracting from, must heighten the amusement of toys ; 
 and if I have succeeded in convincing you of this truth, my 
 object is accomplished. How greatly," continued he, " do 
 parents and preceptors err in mistaking for mischief, or 
 wanton idleness, all the little manoeuvres of young persons, 
 which are frequently practical inquiries to confirm or refute 
 doubts which are passing in their minds ! When the aunt 
 of James Watt reproved the boy for his idleness, and desired 
 him to take a book, or employ himself usefully, and not be 
 taking off the lid of the kettle, and putting it on again, and 
 holding now a cup, and now a silver spoon over the steam, 
 how little was she aware he was initiating inquiries which 
 were destined to lead to the greatest of human inventions !" 
 Thus did Mr. Seymour, like an able general, assail his 
 adversary on his own ground ; he drove him, as it were, 
 into a corner, and, by seizing the only pass through which 
 
 * So exactly does Gothe express the same idea, that it has been thought 
 satisfactory to record the passage in a supplementary note (3). 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 21 
 
 he could make his escape, forced him to surrender at dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 "Why, truly," replied the vicar, after a short pause, "I 
 am ready to admit that there is much good sense in your 
 observations ; and if the scientific instruction upon these 
 occasions be not carried so far as to puzzle the boy, I am 
 inclined to withdraw my opposition." 
 
 " Therein lies the whole secret ; I do not offer you the 
 black and bitter root of the ' MolyJ but its white, sweet, 
 and agreeable flower.* When an occupation agreeably 
 interests the understanding, imagination, or passions of 
 children, it is what is commonly understood by the term 
 play or sport ; whereas that which is not accompanied with 
 such associations, and yet may be necessary for their future 
 welfare, is, properly enough, designated as a task." 
 
 " I like your distinction," observed the vicar. 
 
 " Then may I hope that you will indulge me so far as 
 to listen to the scheme by which it is my intention to turn 
 ' Sport into Science,' or, in other words, Toys into instru- 
 ments of Philosophical Instruction?" 
 
 The vicar smiled and nodded assent. 
 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded " In the first place, I would 
 give the boy some general notions with regard to the pro- 
 perties of matter, such as its gravitation, vis inertise, elas- 
 ticity, &c. What apparatus can be required for such a 
 purpose, beyond some of the more simple toys ? Indeed, 
 I will undertake to demonstrate the three grand laws of 
 motion by a game at ball ; while the composition and 
 resolution of forces may be beautifully exemplified during 
 
 * Thus, while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew 
 Where on th' all-bearing earth unmark'd it grew 
 And shed its nature, and its wond'rous power ; 
 Black was the root, but milky white the flower, 
 Holy the name, by mortals hard to find, 
 But all is easy to th' ethereal mind; 
 
 This Hermes gave Odyss. x. 
 
 Hermes here allea;orically represents Instruction, and Moly the plant of 
 Knowledge whose black and bitter root symbolises the irksome commence- 
 ment of study, or in. the words of Plato, " the beginning of instruction, which 
 is always accompanied with reluctance and pain." 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to apprise the young botanist that this said Mt>ly is 
 to be found only in poetical soil. 
 
22 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 a game of marbles, especially that of ' ring-taw ;' but in 
 order that you may more clearly comprehend the capa- 
 bility of my plan, allow me to enumerate the various 
 philosophical principles which are involved in the opera- 
 tion of the several more popular toys and sports. We will 
 commence with the ball ; which will illustrate the nature 
 and phenomena of elasticity, as it leaps from the ground ; 
 of rotatory motion, while it runs along its surface ; of 
 reflected motion, and of the angles of incidence and reflection , as 
 it rebounds from the wall ; and of projectiles, as it is whirled 
 through the air ; at the same time the cricket-bat may serve 
 to explain the centre of percussion. A game at marbles may 
 be made subservient to the same purposes, and will farther 
 assist us in conveying clear ideas upon the subject of the 
 collision of elastic and non-elastic bodies, and of their velocities 
 .and direction after impact. The composition and resolution of 
 forces may be explained at the same time. The game of 
 Ricochet, or ' Duck and Drake, 1 as it is called, will afford an 
 occasion for considering the elasticity of water, and the 
 parallelogram of forces, by which the projected stone, or 
 shell, is actuated. The nature of elastic springs will require 
 no other apparatus for its elucidation than Jack-in-the-box 
 and the numerous le aping-frogs and cats with which the play- 
 room abounds. The leathern sucker will exemplify the nature 
 of cohesion, and the eifect of water in filling up those inequali- 
 ties by which contiguous surfaces are deprived of their 
 attractive power ; it will, at the same time, demonstrate the 
 nature of a vacuum, and the influence of atmospheric pressure. 
 The squirt will afford a farther illustration of the same views, 
 and will furnish a practical proof of the weight of the 
 atmosphere in raising a column of water. The theory of the 
 pump will necessarily follow. The greater elasticity of air 
 compared with that of water, I shall be able to show by the 
 amusing exhibition of the ' Bottle Imps. 1 ' 
 " Bottle Imps ! ' Acheronta movebis ;' " muttered the vicar- 
 Mr. Seymour continued " The various balancing toys 
 will elucidate the nature of the centre of gravity, point of 
 suspension, and line of direction ; the see-saw, rocking-horse, 
 and the operation of walking on stilts, will here come in aid 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 23 
 
 of our explanations. The combined effects of momentum 
 and a change in the centre of gravity of a body may be 
 beautifully exemplified by the action of the Chinese Tumblers. 
 The Bandalore will exemplify the nature of the momentum of 
 rotatory motion. The Sling will demonstrate the existence and 
 effect of centrifugal force, and humble and finite as the 
 alliance may seem, it will satisfactorily explain the motions 
 of those celestial orbs that revolve to all eternity around a 
 central sun. The Top* and tetotum will prove the power 
 of whirling motion to support the axis of a body in an 
 unaltered position. The trundling of the hoop will accom- 
 plish the same and other objects ; as will also the whirling 
 of the quoit, with the additional advantage of not having 
 its motions impeded by contact with the ground. The 
 game of Ulboquet, or cup and ball, will show the influence 
 of rotatory motion in steadying the rectilinear path of a 
 spherical body, whence the theory of the rifle-gun may be 
 deduced. For conveying some elementary ideas of the 
 doctrine of oscillation, there is the swing. The flight of 
 the arrow will not only elucidate the principles of projectiles, 
 but will explain the force of the air in producing rotatory 
 motion by its impact on oblique surfaces : the revolution of 
 the shuttlecock may be shown to depend upon the same 
 revolution of forces. Then comes the Kite, one of the most 
 instructive and amusing of all the pastimes of youth, the 
 favourite toy of Newton in his boyish days :f its ascent at 
 once develops the theory of the composition and resolution 
 
 * "The motion of the top is a matter of the greatest importance. It is 
 applicable to the elucidation, of some of the greatest phenomena in nature." 
 Airy's Lecture at Ipswich. 
 
 f Sir Isaac Newton is said to have been much attached to philosophical 
 sports when a boy; he was the first to introduce paper kites at Grantham, 
 where he was at school. He took pains to find out their proper proportions 
 and figure, and the proper place for fixing the string to them. He made 
 lanterns of paper crimpled, which he used to go to school by in winter morn- 
 ings with a candle, and he tied them to the tail of his kites in a dark night, 
 which at first frightened the country people exceedingly, who took his candles 
 for comets, while to Hudibras they have served as a light to fire a telescopic 
 squib. Sir David Brewster states, on the authority of Dr. Stukeley, that "he 
 invented diversions above the vulgar kind, in order to please his school- 
 fellows, and allure them from trifling amusements, and teach them to play 
 philosophically." 
 
 Our immured citizen will smile when he is told that Ben Jonson as a boy 
 was seen flying his kite by the windmill in Saint Giles's fields. 
 
24 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. I. 
 
 of forces, and explains various subordinate principles, which 
 I shall endeavour to describe when we arrive at the subject. 
 The see-saw will unfold the general principle upon which the 
 Mechanical Powers are founded ; and the boy may thus be 
 easily led to the theory of the lever, and 'to that of the steel- 
 yard, by being shown how readily he can balance the 
 heavier weight of a man by riding on the longer arm of the 
 plank. The theory of colours may be pointed out to him as 
 he blows his soap-bubbles ;* an amusement which will, at 
 the same time, convince him that the air must exert a 
 pressure equally in all directions. For explaining the 
 theory of sound, there are the whistle, the humming-top, the 
 whiz-gig, the pop-gun, the bull-roarer, and sundry other 
 amusements well-known in the playground : but it is not my 
 intention, at present, to enumerate all the toys and games 
 which may be rendered subservient to philosophical instruc- 
 tion ; I merely wish to convince you that my plan is not quite 
 so chimerical as you were at first inclined to believe. I do not 
 profess to place the head of Laertes on the shoulders of 
 Telemachus, nor, like Friar Bacon, to teach the science of 
 the age in half-a-year : but I do engage to teach the young 
 student those rudiments by which, with diligence and a 
 willing mind, he may ultimately acquire it ; and, above all, 
 to imbue his mind with an early taste for pursuits, which, 
 in this practical age, are daily rising in importance." t 
 
 "Upon my word," said the vicar, "no squirrel ever 
 hopped from branch to branch with more agility, you are 
 the very counterpart of Cornelius Scriblerus ; but I must con- 
 fess that your scheme is plausible, very plausible, and I shall 
 no longer refuse to attend you in the progress of its execution. 
 * Cedo equidem, nee, nate, tibi comes ire recuso,' J 
 
 as Yirgii has it." 
 
 * The colours which glitter on a soap-bubble are the immediate consequence 
 of a principle the most important from the variety of phenomena it explains, 
 and the most beautiful from its simplicity and compendious neatness in the 
 whole science of Optics. fferschefs Preliminary Discourse. In a future part 
 of this work it will be seen that the soap-bubble enabled Faraday to carry out 
 a most important series of magnetical experiments. 
 
 I- Let it be remembered that the state now requires a knowledge of 
 physics from those young men who enter into its service. 
 
 t " I yield, my son, and no longer refuse to become your companion." 
 
 . 704. 
 
CHAP. I. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 25 
 
 Mr. Seymour, however, saw very plainly, that although 
 the vicar thus withdrew his opposition, he was nevertheless 
 very far from embarking in the cause with enthusiasm, and 
 that, upon the principle already discussed, he would per- 
 form his part rather as a task than a pastime. Nor was the 
 line which Mr. Twaddleton had quoted from the ^Eneid 
 calculated to efface such an impression. It was true that, 
 like Anchises, he no longer refused to accompany him in 
 his expedition ; but, if the comparison were to run parallel, 
 it was evident that, like ^Sneas, he would have to carry 
 him as a dead weight on his shoulders. This difficulty, 
 however, was speedily surmounted by an expedient, with 
 which the reader will become acquainted by the* recital of 
 what followed. 
 
 "I rejoice greatly," said Mr. Seymour, "that we have at 
 length succeeded in enlisting you into our service ; without 
 your able assistance I fear that my instruction would be 
 extremely imperfect ; for you must know, my dear sir, that 
 I am ambitious of making Tom an antiquary as well as a 
 philosopher, and I look to you for a history of the several 
 toys which I shall have occasion to introduce, as well as for 
 the allusions made to them in the classics." 
 
 This propitiatory sentence had its desired eifect. 
 
 " Most cheerfully shall I comply with your wishes," 
 exclaimed the delighted vicar ; u and I can assure you, sir, 
 that with regard to several of the more popular toys and 
 pastimes, there is much very curious and interesting lore." 
 
 Mr. Seymour had upon this occasion succeeded in opening 
 the heart of the vicar, just as a skilful mechanic would pick 
 a patent lock ; \vho, instead of forcing it by direct violence, 
 seeks to discover the secret spring to which all its various 
 movements are subservient. 
 
 " To-morrow, then," cried the vicar, in a voice of great 
 exultation, " we will commence our career, and inaugurate 
 the ' Juvenalia ;' from which I anticipate the highest satisfac- 
 tion and advantage ; in the mean time," continued he, " I 
 will refresh my memory upon certain points touching the 
 antiquities of these said pastimes, or, as we used to say at 
 college, get up the subject. I will also press into our service 
 
26 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 my friend and neighbour Jeremy Prybabel, whose etymo- 
 logical knowledge will greatly assist us in tracing the origin 
 of many of the words used in our sports, which is frequently 
 not very obvious." 
 
 Mr. Seymour cast an intelligible glance at his wife, who 
 was no less surprised at the sudden change in the vicar's 
 sentiments than she was pleased with the skill and address 
 by which it had been accomplished. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A LIVELY PRELUDE TO A CHAPTER ON GRAVITY. GRAVITATION. 
 WEIGHT. THE VELOCITY OF FALLING BODIES. AT WHAT ALTITUDE 
 A BODY WOULD LOSE ITS GRAVITY. THE TOWER OF BABEL. THE 
 KNOWN VELOCITY OF SOUND AFFORDS THE MEANS OF CALCULATING 
 DISTANCES. THE SOUND OF THE WOODMAN'S AXE. AN EXCURSION TO 
 OVERTON WELL. AN EXPERIMENT TO ASCERTAIN ITS DEPTH. A VISIT 
 TO THE VICARAGE. THE MAGIC GALLERY. RETURN TO THE LODGE. 
 
 AT about two o'clock, Mr. Twaddleton joined the children 
 and their parents on the lawn. 
 
 " Why, vicar, what on earth is the matter ?" asked Mr. 
 Seymour, who perceived, at a glance, that something had 
 disturbed the usual equanimity of the worthy clergyman. 
 
 " The matter ! why the matter is, that your ' Botanical 
 Horologe ' is sadly out of its reckoning, and that Flora 
 must have cruelly jilted old Time, for, on just now passing 
 it on my way hither, I found the Yellow Goatsbeard had 
 closed long before the hour indicated by its allied figure of 
 Box." 
 
 " Well, there is at all events an acknowledged precedent 
 
28 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 for such irregularity. The old watchman of bygone days, 
 when he should have been telling the hour, was not unfre- 
 quently found asleep in his Box" 
 
 " That Saxon monosyllable, Box,* from its numerous 
 equivocal meanings, has, I verily believe, given rise to more 
 villanous puns and quibbles than any other word to be 
 found in the English language." 
 
 " If so," replied Mr. Seymour, " it must have proved an 
 interminable Box upon the ear." 
 
 "There again! there again!" shouted the vicar ; "oh! Mr. 
 Seymour, if the Box of Pandora ever gave flight to a troop 
 of malevolent spirits, so surely has the Box of the punster 
 let loose a no less pestilent storm, for the annoyance and 
 distraction of every grammatical ear." 
 
 How little was the good vicar aware of the oracular import 
 of a sentiment so soon destined to be verified in the figura- 
 tive construction of the Kite's Tail ! but of that hereafter. 
 
 "Well, well, be pacified, and let it kindly pass," said 
 Mr. Seymour, in a tone of conciliation. " It the points of 
 my jests have acted as spurs to your classical reminiscences, 
 and elicited illustrations so gratifying to yourself, and so 
 amusing to your friends, you, surely, can have but little cause 
 for complaint ; and if my puns have occasionally trenched 
 somewhat rudely upon your prejudices, they have at the same 
 time called into play your more cherished sympathies, and 
 left you well pleased with yourself. Is it not so ? are you 
 ever so happy as when you rebuff a verbal quibble by a 
 classical repartee ? So that these shafts of mine, as it is 
 your good pleasure to call them, carry with them a balm for 
 any scratch they may occasion." 
 
 " Oh, I guess your allusion you would no doubt compare 
 your weapon to the spear of Achilles that wounded Tele- 
 phus, and then, by its own inherent virtue, healed the very 
 wound it had inflicted," observed the vicar. 
 
 " Had I required any further support to my argument, 
 you have now undoubtedly afforded it," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 * With what humour have the 'Twenty significations of the \vordBox' 
 been illustrated by Mr. Mathews ( ' At Home '), in the confusion and dismay of 
 M. Ventriloque! See Mathews' Life, vol. iv. p. 172. 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 29 
 
 " You mistake me, and deceive yourself," retorted the 
 vicar. " It was not, sir, either for pleasure or for triumph, 
 but for shelter from your merciless inflictions, that I took 
 sanctuary in classic ground." 
 
 " I have ever maintained, what I now repeat," said Mr. 
 Seymour, "that however disdainfully you repel a succes- 
 sion of puns, they have ever been the promoters of your 
 liveliness, and the source of a pleasing activity. I can only 
 compare you to the overshot water-wheel, which casts off 
 the stream in useless foam, but not until it has acquired an 
 impetus for its motion and activity. Let us, then, without 
 further ado, proceed." 
 
 " Now, Tom, are you ready to commence the proposed 
 trial ?" asked his father. 
 
 " Quite ready, and impatient to begin," was the boy's 
 answer. 
 
 " Then you must first inform me," said Mr. Seymour, 
 taking the ball out of Bosa's hand, " why this ball falls to 
 the ground as soon as I withdraw from it the support of 
 my hand ?" 
 
 " Because every heavy body that is not supported must of 
 course fall." 
 
 " And every light one also, my dear ; but that is no 
 answer to my question ; you merely assert the fact, without 
 explaining the reason." 
 
 " Oh ! now I understand you ; it is owing to the force of 
 gravity ; the earth attracts the ball, and the consequence is, 
 that they both come together ; is not that right ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; but if the earth attract the ball, it is 
 equally true that the ball must attract the earth ; for you 
 have, doubtless, learnt that bodies mutually attract each 
 other : tell me, therefore, why the earth should not rise to 
 meet the ball ?" 
 
 " Because the earth is so much larger and heavier than 
 the ball." 
 
 " It is, doubtless, much larger ; and since the force of 
 attraction is in proportion to the mass, or quantity of 
 matter, you cannot be surprised at not perceiving the earth 
 rise to meet the ball, the attraction of the latter being so 
 
30 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 infinitely small, in comparison with that of the former, as 
 to render its effect wholly nugatory ; but with regard to 
 the earth being heavier than the ball, what will you say 
 when I tell you that, in the ordinary meaning of the term, 
 it cannot correctly be said to have any weight ?" 
 
 " No weight at all !" 
 
 Tom begged that his father would explain to him how 
 it could possibly be that the earth should not possess any 
 weight. 
 
 " Remember that I qualified the assertion by saying, that 
 ' according to the meaning generally attached to the word weight ; ' 
 which you will readily perceive can only apply to bodies 011 
 the surface of the earth, and is totally inapplicable to the 
 globe itself; for, after all, weight is nothing more than the 
 measure of a resistance opposed to the attraction of a body 
 for the earth ; and how can the earth attract itself ? You 
 have just now very correctly stated that all bodies have a 
 tendency to fall, in consequence of the attraction of gravita- 
 tion ; but if they be supported, and so prevented from 
 falling, whether by the hand, or a dish, called a scale, or by 
 any other means, this tendency will be felt or perceived, 
 and the amount or measure of such resistance is said to be 
 the weight of the body in question. I am, at the same 
 time, bound to admit, that if you could take the earth out of 
 the solar system, release it from all its relations, and regard 
 it as a mere mass in space, subservient, however, to the 
 same law as governs all bodies on its surface, you would 
 then have a right to talk of its weight." 
 
 " And has not this been actually accomplished ?" asked the 
 vicar. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, thanks to Sir Isaac Newton ;* and won- 
 derful as it may seem, the astronomer has not only ascer- 
 tained the weight of the earth, but of that of the planets 
 also, ay, and with as much certainty as the farmer weighs 
 a truss of hay : when our pupils are a little farther advanced, 
 
 * On the monument erected to Sir Isaac Newton, in Westminster Abbey, are 
 sculptured, in bass-relief, youths, bearing in their hands the emblems of his 
 principal discoveries, one of whom is weighing the sun and planets with a 
 steelyard. 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 31 
 
 I shall be happy to tell them the means by which this has 
 been effected (4), but at present it would be imprudent to 
 confuse them by a too rapid influx of ideas, at once so new 
 and startling." 
 
 Tom understood this explanation of weight, and observed, 
 that " since attraction was always in proportion to the 
 quantity of matter, so, of course, a larger body must be more 
 powerfully attracted, or be heavier, than a smaller one." 
 
 " Magnitude, or size, my dear, has nothing whatever to 
 do with quantity of matter : will not a small piece of lead 
 weigh more than a large piece of sponge ? In the one 
 case, the particles of matter may be supposed to be packed 
 in a smaller compass ; in the other, there must exist a 
 greater number of pores or interstices." 
 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded to put another question : " Since," 
 continued he, " you now understand the nature of that force 
 by which bodies fall to the earth, can you tell me the velocity 
 with which they fall ?" 
 
 Tom asserted that the weight of the body, or its quantity 
 of matter, and its distance from the surface of the earth, 
 must, in every case, determine that ; but Mr. Seymour 
 excited his surprise by saying, that it would not be in- 
 fluenced by either of those conditions ; he informed them, 
 for instance, that a cannon-ball, and a marble, would fall 
 through the same number of feet in a given time, and that> 
 whether the experiment were tried from the top of a house, 
 or from the summit of St. Paul's, the same result would be 
 obtained. 
 
 " I am quite sure," exclaimed Tom, " that in the Conver- 
 sations on Natural Philosophy, it is positively stated, that 
 attraction is always in proportion to the quantity of matter" 
 
 " Yes," observed Louisa, " and it is moreover asserted, 
 that the attraction diminishes as the distances increase" 
 
 Mr. Seymour said, that he perceived the very common 
 error under which his children laboured, and that he would 
 endeavour to remove it. " You cannot," continued he, 
 " divest your minds of that erroneous but natural feeling, 
 that a body necessarily falls to the ground without the 
 exertion of any force : whereas, the greater the quantity of 
 
32 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 matter, the greater must be the force exerted to bring it 
 to the earth: for instance, a substance which weighs a 
 hundred pounds will thus require just ten times more force 
 than one which only weighs ten pounds ; and hence it must 
 follow, that both will come to the ground at the same 
 moment ; for although, in the one case, there is ten times 
 more matter, there is, at the same, time ten times more 
 attraction to overcome its resistance ; for you have already 
 admitted that the force of attraction is always in proportion 
 to the quantity of matter. Now let us only for an instant, 
 for the sake merely of argument, suppose that attraction 
 had been a force acting without any regard to quantity of 
 matter, is it not evident that, in such a case, the body con- 
 taining the largest quantity would be the slowest in falling 
 to the earth ?" 
 
 "I understand you, papa,", cried Tom: "if an empty 
 waggon travelled four miles an hour, and were afterwards so 
 loaded as to have its weight doubled, it could only travel at 
 the rate of two miles in the same period, provided that in 
 both cases the horses exerted the same strength." 
 
 " Exactly," said Mr. Seymour ; " and to follow up your 
 illustration, which is not a bad one, it is only necessary to 
 state, that Nature, like a considerate master, always appor- 
 tions the number of horses to the burthen that is to be 
 moved, so that her loads, whatever may be their weight, 
 always travel at the same rate ; or, to express the fact in 
 philosophical instead of figurative language, gravitation, or 
 the force of the earth's attraction, always increases as the 
 quantity of matter, and, consequently, that heavy and light 
 bodies, when dropped together from the same altitude, must 
 come to the ground at the same instant of time." 
 
 Louisa had listened with great attention to this explana- 
 tion ; and although she thoroughly understood the argu- 
 ment, yet it appeared to her at variance with so many facts 
 with which she was acquainted, that she could not give 
 implicit credence to it. 
 
 " I think, papa," said the archly-smiling girl, " I could 
 overturn this fine argument by a very simple experiment." 
 
 " Indeed, Miss Sceptic : then pray proceed ; and I think 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARXEST. 33 
 
 we shall find that the more strenuously you oppose it the 
 more powerful it will become : but let us hear your objec- 
 tions." 
 
 " I shall only," replied she, " drop a shilling and a piece 
 of paper from my bedroom window upon the lawn, and 
 request that you will observe which of them reaches the 
 ground first ; if I am not much mistaken, you will find that 
 the coin will strike the earth before the paper has performed 
 half its journey." 
 
 Tom appeared perplexed, and cast an inquiring look at 
 his father. 
 
 " Come," said Mr. Seymour, " I will perform this experi- 
 ment myself, and endeavour to satisfy the doubts of our 
 young sceptic ; but I must first take the opportunity to 
 observe that I am never better pleased than when you 
 attempt to raise difficulties in my way, and I hope you will 
 always express them without reserve." 
 
 " Here, then, is a penny piece ; and here," said Tom, "is 
 a piece of paper." 
 
 " Which," continued Mr. Seymour, " we will cut into a 
 corresponding shape and size." This having been accom- 
 plished, he held the coin in one hand and the paper disc in 
 the other, and dropped them at the same instant. 
 
 " There ! there !" cried Louisa, with an air of triumph ; 
 " the coin reached the ground long before the paper." 
 
 Mr. Seymour allowed that there was a distinct interval 
 in favour of the penny-piece ; and he proceeded to explain 
 the cause of it. He stated that the result was not contrary 
 to the law of gravitation, since it arose from the interference 
 of a foreign body, the air, to the resistance of which it was 
 to be attributed : and he desired them to consider the 
 particles of a falling body as being under the influence of 
 two opposing forces, gravity and the air's resistance. 
 Louisa argued, that the air could only act on the surface of 
 a body, and as this was equal in both cases (the size of the 
 paper being exactly the same as that of the penny-piece), 
 she could not see why the resistance of the air should not 
 also be equal in both cases. 
 
 "I admit," said Mr. Seymour, "that the air can only act 
 
34 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAI>. II. 
 
 upon the surface of a falling body, and this is the very 
 reason of the paper meeting with more resistance than the 
 coin; for the latter, from its greater density, must contain 
 many more particles than the paper, and upon which the 
 air cannot possibly exert any action ; whereas almost every 
 particle of the paper may be said to be exposed to its resist- 
 ance, the fall of the latter must therefore be more retarded 
 than that of the former body." 
 
 At this explanation Louisa's doubts began to clear off, and 
 they were ultimately dispelled on Mr. Seymour performing a 
 modification of the above experiment in the following manner. 
 He placed the disc of paper in close contact with the upper 
 part of the coin, and, in this position, dropped them from his 
 hand. They both reached the ground at the same instant. 
 
 "Are you now satisfied, my dear Louisa?" asked her 
 father : " you perceive that, by placing the paper in contact 
 with the coin, I screened it from the action of the air, and 
 the result is surely conclusive." 
 
 " Many thanks to you, dear papa ; I am perfectly satisfied, 
 and shall feel less confident for the future." Tom was 
 delighted ; for, as he said, he could now understand why 
 John's paper parachute descended so deliberately to the 
 ground ; he could also explain why feathers, and other light 
 bodies, floated in the air ; and how it happened that a piece 
 of paper, when crumpled up, fell so much more quickly, than 
 when unfolded and flat;- a question that was put to him the 
 other day, but which he was then unable to answer. " "Well 
 then," said Mr. Seymour, " having settled this knotty point, 
 let us proceed to the other question, viz. * that a body will 
 fall with the same velocity, during a given number of feet, 
 from the ball of St. Paul's as from the top of a house.' You 
 maintain, I believe, that, since the attraction of the earth 
 for a body diminishes as its distance from it increases,* a 
 
 * Gravity, or the tendency of a body to approach the earth, is inversely as 
 the square of the distance ; that is, if a body be attracted by the earth at a 
 certain distance, with a certain force, and be afterwards removed to twice the 
 distance, it will now be attracted not half as much, but only one-fourth as 
 much as it was before ; and if it be removed to three times the first distance, 
 it will be attracted, not one-third as much, but one-ninth as much as before; 
 four being the square of two, and nine the square of three ; and so on. 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 35 
 
 substance at a great height ought to fall more slowly than 
 one which is dropped from a less altitude." 
 
 Neither Tom nor Louisa could think otherwise. Mr. 
 Seymour told them that, in theory, they were perfectly 
 correct, but that since attraction acted from the centre, 
 and not from the surface of the earth, the difference of its 
 force could not be discovered at the small elevations to 
 which they conld have access : " for what," said he, " can 
 a few hundred feet be in comparison with four thousand 
 miles, which is the distance from the centre to the surface 
 of our globe? You must therefore perceive that, in all 
 ordinary calculations respecting the velocity of falling bodies, 
 we may safely exclude such a consideration." 
 
 "But suppose," said Tom, "it were possible to make 
 the experiment a thousand miles above the earth, would not 
 the diminished effect of gravity be discovered in that case ?" 
 
 "Undoubtedly; indeed it would be sensible at a much 
 less distance : for instance, if a lump of lead, weighing a 
 thousand pounds, were carried up only four miles, it would 
 be found to have lost two pounds of its weight." (5.) 
 
 " This discussion," observed Mr. Twaddleton, " reminds 
 me of a problem that was once proposed at Cambridge, to 
 find the elevation to which the Tower of Babel could have 
 been raised, before the stones would have entirely lost their 
 gravity." 
 
 " Its solution," said Mr. Seymour, " would require a 
 consideration which Tom could not possibly understand at 
 present, viz. the influence of the centrifugal force" 
 
 " I am fully aware of it," replied the vicar, " and in order 
 to appreciate that influence, it would, of course, be necessary 
 to take into account the latitude of the place ; but, if my 
 memory serves me, I think that under the latitude of 30, 
 which I believe is nearly that of the plains of Mesopotamia, 
 the height would be somewhere about twenty-four thousand 
 miles." 
 
 Mr. Seymour now desired Tom to inform him, since all 
 bodies fall with the same velocity, what that velocity might be. 
 
 " Sixteen feet in a second, papa ; I have just remembered 
 that I had a dispute with a schoolfellow upon that subject, 
 
36 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 and in which, thanks to Mrs. Marcet, I came off" victorious, 
 and won. twelve marbles." 
 
 " Then let me tell you, my fine fellow, that unless your 
 answer exclusively related to the first second of time, you 
 did not win the marbles fairly ; for, since the force of 
 gravity is continually acting, so is the velocity of a falling 
 body continually increasing, or it has what is termed an 
 ' accelerating velocity ;' it has accordingly been ascertained by 
 accurate experiments, that a body descending from a con- 
 siderable height falls sixteen feet, as you say, in the first 
 second of time ; but three times sixteen in the next ; five times 
 sixteen in the third; and seven times sixteen *in the fourth; 
 and so on, continually increasing according to the odd 
 numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, &c. : so that you perceive," con- 
 tinued Mr. Seymour, " by observing the number of seconds 
 which a stone requires to descend from any height, we can 
 discover the altitude, or depth, of the place in question." 
 
 Louisa and Eanny, who had been attentively listening to 
 their father's explanation, interchanged a smile of satisfac- 
 tion, and, pulling Tom towards them, whispered something 
 which was inaudible to the rest of the party. 
 
 " Come, now," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " I perceive by 
 your looks that you have something to ask of me : is Louisa 
 sceptical again ?" 
 
 " Oh dear no," replied Tom ; " Louisa merely observed 
 that we might now be able to find out the depth of the 
 village well, about which we have all been very curious ; for 
 the gardener has told us that it is the deepest in the kingdom, 
 and was dug more than a hundred years ago." 
 
 Mr. Seymour did not believe that it was the deepest in 
 the kingdom, although he knew that its depth was consi- 
 derable ; and he said that if Mr. Twaddleton had no objection, 
 they should walk to it, and make the proposed experiment. 
 
 " Objection ! my dear Mr. Seymour, when do I ever 
 object to afford pleasure to my little playmates, provided 
 its indulgence be harmless ? much less w r hen it is associated 
 with instruction. The old adage tells us, that ' Truth lies 
 at the bottom of a well,' so let us proceed at once to invade 
 her retreat, and extort her secrets ; and on our return I 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 37 
 
 hope you will favour me with a visit at the vicarage : I 
 have some antiquities which I am anxious to exhibit to 
 yourself and Mrs. Seymour." Tom and Rosa each took the 
 vicar's hand, and Mr. and Mrs. Seymour followed with 
 Louisa and Fanny. The village well was about half a mile 
 distant ; the road to it led through a delightful shady lane, 
 at the top of which stood the vicarage-house. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Seymour and her daughters had lingered in their way 
 to collect botanical specimens ; and when they had come up 
 to Tom and the vicar, they found them seated on the trunk 
 of a newly -felled oak, in deep discourse. 
 
 "What interests you, Tom?" said Mr. Seymour, who 
 perceived, by the inquiring and animated countenance of the 
 boy, that his attention had been excited by some occurrence. 
 
 "I have been watching the woodman, and have been 
 surprised that the sound of his hatchet was not heard until 
 some time after he had struck the tree." 
 
 "And has not Mr. Twaddleton explained to you the 
 reason of it ?" 
 
 " He has," replied Tom, " and he tells me that it is owing 
 to sound travelling so much more slowly than light." 
 
 " You are quite right ; and as we are upon an expedition 
 for the purpose of measuring Depths, it may not be amiss to 
 inform you, that this fact furnishes another method of calcu- 
 lating distances." 
 
 The party seated themselves upon the oak, and Mr. 
 Seymour proceeded : " The stroke of the axe is seen at the 
 moment the woodman makes it, on account of the immense 
 velocity with which light travels (6) ; but the noise of the 
 blow will not reach the ear until some time has elapsed, the 
 period varying, of course, in proportion to the distance, 
 because sound moves only at the rate of 1142 feet in a 
 second, or about 13 miles in a minute : so that you perceive, 
 by observing the time that elapses between the fall of the 
 hatchet and the sound produced by it, we can ascertain the 
 distance of the object, by multiplying the given time in 
 seconds by 1142 for the corresponding distance in feet." 
 
 Mr. Seymour fixed his eye attentively on the woodman, 
 and, after a short pause, declared that he was about half a 
 mile distant. 
 
38 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 ""Why, how could you discover that?" cried Louisa; 
 " you had not any watch in your hand." 
 
 " But you might have perceived that I placed my finger 
 on my wrist, and as my pulse beats about 70 strokes in a 
 minute,* I was able to form a, tolerable estimate of the 
 interval, although I confess that it is a very rough experi- 
 ment, but sufficiently accurate for the purpose of illustration. 
 In the same manner we can readily ascertain the distance 
 of a thunder-cloud, or that of a vessel at sea firing a cannon. 
 If we do not hear the thunder till half a minute after we see 
 the lightning, we are to conclude the cloud to be at the dis- 
 tance of six miles and a half. But let us proceed to the well." 
 
 After a walk of a few minutes, the party reached the 
 place of destination. On their arrival Mr. Seymour inquired 
 who would count the time. 
 
 " Be that office mine," said Mr. Twaddleton, as he extracted 
 a large silver timepiece from the dark abyss of his watch- 
 pocket ; " and let Tom," continued he, " find a pebble." 
 
 " Here is one/' cried Louisa. 
 
 "Very well: now, then, how will you proceed?" asked 
 Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I shall drop the stone," replied Tom, " into the well, 
 and observe how many seconds it will be before it touches 
 the water, and I shall then set down the number of feet it 
 will fall in each second, and add up the numbers." 
 
 " That," said Mr. Seymour, "would certainly accomplish 
 your object ; but I can give you a neater, as well as a 
 shorter rule for performing the sum : you shall, however, 
 first work it in your own way ; but you have not yet 
 informed me how you propose to ascertain the moment at 
 which the stone reaches the water." 
 
 " By the sound, to be sure, and you will find that a very 
 loud one will be produced." 
 
 " If the depth of the well be considerable, such a plan 
 will not answer the purpose, since, in that case, there must 
 necessarily be a perceptible interval between the fall of the 
 stone and the sound produced by it, as you have just seen 
 
 * The pulse was the measure of time used by Galileo in his celebrated 
 experiments. At a pulse of 70, we may reckon about a mile for every 
 5 pulsations. 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 39 
 
 exemplified by the woodman, which, unless taken into 
 account, will vitiate the result." 
 
 Tom observed that he had not thought of that difficulty, 
 and did not know how he could get over it. His father told 
 him, that he must look at the surface of the water, and mark 
 the moment it was disturbed by the stone. 
 
 "JS T ow, Mr. Twaddleton," said Mr. Seymour, "are you 
 ready to count the seconds ?" 
 
 " Quite ready." 
 
 " Then drop the stone." 
 
 " One, two, three, four " 
 
 " There," said Tom, " it touched the water." 
 
 " And there, there," cried several voices, " what a noise it 
 made !" 
 
 " Facilis descensus Averni!" exclaimed the vicar ; " the stone 
 descended in four seconds." 
 
 " Now, my boy, make your calculation." 
 
 Mr. Seymour furnished pencil and paper, and Tom pro- 
 ceeded ; "Sixteen feet for the first second, I put that 
 down." 
 
 " Well," said his father, " and three times sixteen for the 
 second ? " 
 
 " Forty -eight" cried Tom. 
 
 " Put it down." 
 
 " Five times sixteen for the third ?" 
 
 "Eighty." 
 
 " Down with it." 
 
 " And sewn times sixteen for the fourth ?" 
 
 " One hundred and twelve" 
 
 "Now, cast up these numbers," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Two hundred and fifty-six feet " cried Tom, "is the depth 
 of the well." 
 
 A shout of delight, from the whole juvenile party, 
 announced the satisfaction which they felt at the success of 
 their first experiment in NATTJKAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Louisa observed, that she could not distinguish any in- 
 terval between the actual contact of the stone with the water 
 and the sound which it produced. 
 
 " At so small a distance as two hundred and fifty-six feet," 
 
40 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 said her father, " the interval could not have exceeded in 
 duration the fourth part of a second, and was, consequently, 
 imperceptible : we might therefore, in the present instance, 
 have accepted the sound as a signal of the stone's arrival at 
 the water, without prejudice to the result of the experiment." 
 
 Mr. Seymour told his son, that the method which he had 
 pursued was unobjectionable when the experiment did not 
 extend beyond a few seconds : but that, if a case occurred 
 in which a greater space of time were consumed, he would 
 find his plan tedious : " Now I will give you a general rule 
 that will enable you to obtain the answer in a shorter time 
 without the details of addition. 'The spaces described by a 
 fatting body increase as the squares of the times increase' I con- 
 clude that you already know that the square of a number is 
 the sum obtained by multiplying the number into itself." 
 
 "Certainly," answered Tom ; " the square of 4 is 16 ; that 
 of 3, 9, and so on." 
 
 " This, then, being the case, you have only to square the 
 number of seconds, and then multiply that product by 16, 
 being the space described by the falling body in the first 
 second, and you will have the required answer : apply this 
 rule to the present case ; the stone fell to the bottom in four 
 seconds ; square this number, 4 X 4 = 16 ; multiply this by 
 16, and we obtain 256." 
 
 " That," said Tom, " is certainly much more simple than 
 my method." 
 
 " And it has the advantage," observed the vicar, " of being 
 more portable for the memory." 
 
 " Should any of the villagers observe us," said -Mrs. 
 Seymour, "they will take us for a party of fortune-tellers." 
 
 " Of fortune-tellers!" repeated Louisa, 'with surprise. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, there is a foolish superstition attached to 
 this, and I believe to many other wells in the neighbour- 
 hood of remote villages, that by dropping pebbles into it, 
 and observing whether they produce a loud, or only a slight 
 sound, and by noticing the number of times they rebound 
 from the sides before they reach the bottom, and other 
 absurd distinctions, a person can predict whether good or 
 evil awaits them." (7.) 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 41 
 
 Mrs. Seymour now proposed the party's return to the 
 Lodge ; but Mr. Twaddleton expressed a hope that they 
 would first favour him with a visit at the vicarage ; to which 
 proposition they readily assented. 
 
 His antiquated residence, mantled in ivy, and shaded hy 
 cypress, stood on the confines of the churchyard, from which 
 his grounds were merely separated by a dwarf hedge of 
 sweet-brier and roses ; so that the vicar might be said to 
 reside amidst the graves of his village parishioners, and the 
 turf-clad heap evinced the influence of his fostering care by 
 a grateful return of primroses and violets. 
 
 Around the house the reverend antiquary had arranged 
 several precious relics, which were too cumbrous for admis- 
 sion within its walls ; amongst these was an ancient cross, 
 raised upon a platform on four steps, which from the worn 
 appearance of the stones had evidently been impressed with 
 the foot of many a wandering pilgrim. These mouldering 
 monuments of ancient days cast a shade of solemnity around 
 the dwelling, and announced its inmate as a person of no 
 ordinary stamp. 
 
 Annette, the vicar's trusty servant, had watched the 
 approach of the squire and his family, and, anticipating the 
 honours of a passing visit, was busily engaged in removing 
 the chequed covers from the cumbrous oaken chairs, and the 
 various other bibs and tuckers with which his curiosities 
 were invested, when the party entered the study. Lucky 
 was it for the vicar's repose, that the notice had been so 
 short, or the tidy housewife would, without doubt, have 
 scoured some of the antique commodities, and destroyed a 
 crop of sacred verdure, which ages could not have replenished. 
 As matters stood, nothing was left for poor Annette, but to 
 defend her character at the expense of her master, who she 
 declared treated her as though she was an old witch, when- 
 ever she was seen with a broom. 
 
 " Why, papa," exclaimed Tom, as he cast his eyes around 
 the study, " all these curiosities have been put up since I 
 went to school." 
 
 " The boy is right," said the vicar ; " I have only just 
 completed their arrangement, and I believe," continued he, 
 
42 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 addressing himself to Mr. Seymour, "that there are several 
 rich morsels of antiquity which you have not yet seen : but 
 I must, in the first place, introduce my young friends to the 
 Avonders of my magic gallery ; wherein they may converse 
 with the spirits of departed emperors, heroes, patriots, sages, 
 and beauties; contemplate, at their leisure, the counte- 
 nances of the Alexanders, Caesars, Pompeys, and Trajans ; 
 behold a legion of allegorical and airy beings, who have 
 here, for the first time, assumed appropriate and substantial 
 forms ; examine the models of ancient temples and triumphal 
 arches, which, although coeval with the edifices they 
 represent, are as perfect as at the first moment of their con- 
 struction, while the originals have long since crumbled into 
 dust. They shall also see volumes of history, condensed into 
 a space of a few inches, and read the substance of a hundred 
 pages at a single glance." 
 
 "How extraordinary!" said Tom : "why, we never read 
 anything more wonderful in our Eairy Tales." 
 
 "And what renders it more wonderful," observed the 
 vicar, " is its being all true." 
 
 So saying, the antiquary took a key of pigmy dimensions 
 from the pocket of his waistcoat, and proceeded to a cum- 
 brous ebony cabinet w r hich stood in a deep recess, and dis- 
 played an antique structure, and curiously-carved allegorical 
 devices by the celebrated Gibbons, in strict unison with 
 that air of mystery with which the vicar had thought proper 
 to invest its contents. It was supported by gigantic eagles' 
 claws ; its keyhole was surrounded by hissing snakes ; while 
 the head of Cerberus, which constituted the handle, appeared 
 as if placed to guard the entrance. The children were upon 
 thetiptoe of expectation and impatience the vicar applied the 
 key with the wonder-stirring exclamation of " OPEN SESAMA!" 
 the lock yielded, and the doors flew open. Disappoint- 
 ment and chagrin were visibly depicted on the countenances 
 of the brothers and sisters. 
 
 " And so," exclaimed Tom, <c this fine magic gallery turns 
 out to be nothing more than a box full of rusty halfpence !" 
 
 " I am sure," said Louisa, " it was quite unnecessary to 
 have engaged Cerberus as a sentinel over such rubbish!" 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIEXCE IX EARNEST. 43 
 
 " Hush !" cried the vicar ; " you talk like one not initiated 
 in the mysteries of enchantment : have you not read, that 
 under its spells the meanest objects have assumed forms of 
 splendour and magnificence ?" * 
 
 " Like the fabled touch of the Phrygian monarch," said 
 Mrs. Seymour, " which we are told transmuted the meanest 
 materials into gold." 
 
 " Or the infatuated brain of Don Quixote, which con- 
 verted the barber's basin into Mambrino's golden helmet," 
 added her husband. 
 
 "In like manner, then, may treasures., of the greatest 
 value, as in the instance before us, appear to ordinary eyes 
 as mean and worthless." 
 
 " This cabinet," continued Mr. Twaddleton, "is under the 
 influence of a potent magician ; by the touch of her wand, it 
 would become irradiated as with magical light, and these 
 rusty coins would be transformed into all those various objects 
 of interest and delight which I had promised to show you." 
 
 Tom and Louisa looked at the coins, then at the vicar, 
 and afterwards at Mr. Seymour, to whom they cast an in- 
 quiring glance. 
 
 "Then pray," exclaimed Tom, "wave this mighty wand 
 of your enchantress, and fulfil your promise." 
 
 "The enchantress," replied the vicar, "is not disposed 
 to grant her favours to those by whom she has not been 
 propitiated." 
 
 " And what ceremony does she require ?" inquired Louisa. 
 
 " The perusal of sundry mystic volumes ; and the consump- 
 tion of a midnight lamp at her altar," replied the vicar. 
 
 "Do you not comprehend the allegory?" said Mr. 
 
 * In the legends of Scottish superstition, the magic power of imposing upon 
 the eyesight was termed Glamour. 
 
 " It had much of glamour might : 
 Could make a ladye seem a knight ; 
 The cobwebs on a dungeon wall 
 Seem tapestry in lordly hall ; 
 A nutshell seem a gilded barge, 
 A sheeling seem a palace large, 
 And youth seem age, and age seem youth : 
 All was delusion, nought was truth." 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto 3, ix. 
 
44: PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 Seymour. " The enchanted gallery is no other than a 
 collection of antique medals; the potent enchantress, 
 ERUDITION, or that classical learning, without which they 
 appear of less value than so many rusty halfpence." 
 
 "You are right," cried Mr. Twaddleton ; "the poetical 
 import of a device can be alone felt and appreciated by 
 those who are acquainted with the classical subjects to 
 which it alludes ; for, as Addison forcibly observes, there is 
 often as much thought on the reverse of a medal as in a 
 canto of Spenser ; besides, how frequently do you meet with 
 hints and suggestions in an ancient poet, that give a com- 
 plete illustration to the actions, ornaments, and antiquities 
 which are found on coins ! In short, the person who 
 examines a collection of medals, without a competent know- 
 ledge of the classics, is like him who would explore a sub- 
 terranean cavern without the aid of a torch." 
 
 " I have already learned one fact," said Louisa, " with 
 which I was certainly unacquainted ; that the ancients 
 possessed a much greater variety of money than modern 
 nations." (8.) 
 
 " Of that, my dear," replied the vicar, " there is some 
 doubt ; the learned are divided upon the question : some 
 authors maintain that every medal, and even medallion, had 
 its fixed and regular price in payments, while others, on the 
 contrary, assert that we are not in the possession of any 
 real money of the ancients, and that the medals never had 
 any currency as coins. The truth probably is between these 
 two extremes." 
 
 " If these medals were not used as money," observed 
 Louisa, "for what purposes could they have been coined?" 
 
 " ' Pro gemmis' as gems. They are the monuments of 
 historic truth, and serve to perpetuate the memory of great 
 actions ; and, faithful to its charge of fame, the medal lias 
 transmitted events, the history of which must, otherwise, 
 have long since perished. Nay, more," exclaimed the vicar, 
 his voice rising as he became warmed by his subject, " the 
 lamp of history has been often extinguished, and the 
 medalist has collected sparks from the -ashes of antiquity 
 which have rekindled its flame. You perceive, therefore," 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 45 
 
 continued the reverend antiquary, " that such collections are' 
 of the highest importance, and if your papa will allow you 
 to pass a morning in their examination, I shall easily bring 
 you to admit, that I have not exaggerated the wonders of 
 my magic gallery. I will convince you that it contains a 
 se'ries of original miniature portraits of the greatest heroes 
 of antiquity ; a compendious chart of history, chronology, 
 and heathen mythology ; a system of classic architecture ; 
 and an accurate commentary upon the more celebrated 
 poems of Greece and Rome. Ayj and I will show you a 
 faithful resemblance of the very ship that carried _3neas to 
 Italy, and of the lofty poop from which the luckless 
 Palinurus fell into the ocean." 
 
 " Of course," said Tom, " you will show us the likeness of 
 your favourite, Virgil." 
 
 " I grieve to confess," replied the vicar, " that the portrait 
 so generally believed to be authentic, has been lately proved 
 to be that of an orphan muse palmed upon us by Ursinus ; 
 as to its paternity, I can only say that it is a gem without 
 an inscription, or even an attribute." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton then favoured Mr. and Mrs. Seymour 
 with a sight of some of those rarer medals, w r hich he con- 
 sidered as constituting the gems of his collection. 
 
 " You do not mean to say," exclaimed Tom, as he seized 
 a small coin, " that this brass piece is of more value than the 
 large coin of gold that lies next to it ?" 
 
 " Mercy upon us !" cried the vicar, in a tone of agony, 
 " how the boy handles it ! restore it to its place gently 
 gently that * little brass piece,' as you call it, is gold, and 
 although it might not have been worth one guinea fifteen 
 hundred years ago, is now valued at a hundred. It is a 
 coin of Ptolemy VIII. of Egypt. On the obverse is the 
 portrait of the king beautifully raised ; on the reverse a 
 cornucopia. I do not believe that the coin was known to 
 Pinkerton when lie wrote his Essay." 
 
 " There is certainly," said Mr. Seymour, " something very 
 inexplicable in the tastes and enthusiastic feelings of you 
 patrons of antiquity." 
 
 " The antiquary," observed the vicar, " does not regard a 
 
46 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. II. 
 
 cabinet of medals as a treasure of money, but of knowledge ; 
 nor does he fancy any charms in gold, but in the figures 
 that adorn it ; it is not the metal, but the erudition, that 
 stamps it with value." 
 
 ' Mr. Twaddleton now passed on to a different compart- 
 ment of his cabinet, observing, that he must exhibit a few 
 of his E-oman treasures. "Behold," said he, "two gems 
 of unappreciable value ; never do I look upon them but 
 with feelings of the purest delight. Let my young friends 
 come nearer and inspect them minutely. This is a large 
 brass coin of Tiberius, and was current when Christ was 
 upon the earth ; next to it lies a silver Denarius of the 
 same Emperor ; its value was about equal to sevenpence 
 of our money, and was the coin that tempted Judas to 
 betray his master." 
 
 "I think," said Mrs. Seymour, "I have heard you speak 
 of some English coins of rarity and interest." 
 
 "True, Madam, very true, but they are in another 
 cabinet : before I close the present one, I will, with your 
 permission, give you a glimpse at my Sulphurs, Paduans, 
 and Beckers." 
 
 " Paduans and Beckers !" exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " and 
 pray what may they be ? I never before heard the terms." 
 
 " ' My poverty but not my will consents/ The antiquary 
 who is poor in purse," observed the vicar, " must needs be 
 contented with being rich in counterfeits, or, I ought rather 
 to have said, in possessing copies instead of originals. 
 Becker was an artist of Frankfort, who excelled in imitat- 
 ing ancient coins, but he never used his skill for the purpose 
 of deception, but honestly sold his productions as avowed 
 copies, which are admitted into the cabinets of the curious 
 under the name of Beckers. The Paduans" the vicar added, 
 " derived their names from two brothers at Padua, celebrated 
 for the accuracy with which they imitated large Homan coins." 
 
 "I suppose we shall soon have Electrotype collections," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; and as such impressions must of necessity 
 be minutely faithful, they will possess a value of their own, 
 which can never attach to modelled copies," observed the vicar. 
 
CHAP. II. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 47 
 
 The antiquary now directed the attention of Mrs. Sey- 
 mour to his English coins. " This," said he, " is a shilling of 
 Henry VII., curious as being the first shilling ever struck : 
 it was presented to me by a college friend some years ago, 
 and I have been lately informed that it is so rare as to fetch 
 twenty-five pounds ; but let me beg you to examine at- 
 tentively this curious little treasure," said the vicar, his 
 eyes twinkling with pleasure as he placed the dainty morsel 
 in the hand of Mrs. Seymour ; " it is," continued he, " a 
 silver groat of Perkin Warbeck ; on one side are the Hoyal 
 arms, but without a name ; they are surmounted, you 
 perceive, with an arched crown, and placed between a fleur- 
 de-lis and a rose." 
 
 " What is the inscription ?" asked Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " Say legend, Madam, if you please ; the words are ' Domine, 
 salvum fac regemj the date 1494. The coin is supposed to 
 have been struck by the order of the Duchess of Burgundy 
 for Perkin Warbeck, when he set out to invade England." 
 
 " Pray," said Tom, " have you got a Queen Anne's 
 farthing?" 
 
 "It is really curious," observed the vicar, "that well- 
 informed persons should still continue to be deceived with 
 regard to the value of this coin. The absurd notion of its 
 being worth 100?. arose from an advertisement of an old 
 lady, who had lost one, stating it to be one of the only 
 three known in the world, and worth at least 100Z. The 
 truth is, I understand from my much-valued friend of 
 Tavistock Street, that these farthings generally fetch from 
 five to twenty shillings each ; there are several different 
 types of them, but the only one intended for currency is 
 that bearing the date of 1714 ; all the others were struck 
 as patterns. This is certainly scarce, in consequence of the 
 death of the Q.ueen taking place before the coinage was 
 finished. The farthing and sixpence of Oliver Cromwell are 
 much more scarce and valuable; the one generally brings 
 10/. the other as much as 251. It appears that, after Oliver 
 bad stamped his head upon them, he was afraid to issue 
 them as current coins, which accounts for the few which 
 have been handed down to us." 
 
48 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 " You remind me," said Mr. Seymour, " of a story J lately 
 heard of a crown-piece of Oliver selling at a public auction 
 for as much as two hundred guineas can it be possible ?" 
 
 "You labour under a mistake," answered the vicar; 
 "the coin you allude to is known amongst collectors by the 
 name of the Petition crown of Charles the Second, and it is 
 undoubtedly a most inimitable piece of workmanship. The 
 story is this : Simon, the artist, had been employed by Oliver 
 Cromwell, and at the Restoration, in order to obtain the 
 patronage of Charles, executed the crown-piece in question. 
 It resembles in its general appearance the common milled 
 five-shilling piece, but on the edging there are two lines of 
 letters beautifully executed. The words are, ' Thomas Simon 
 most humbly prays your Majesty to compare this his tryal piece with 
 the Dutch, and if more truly drawn and embossed, more gracefully 
 ordered, and more accurately engraven, to relieve him. 9 " 
 
 "And what said Charles to it?" inquired Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " Charles," said the vicar, " took no notice of him, on 
 account of his having worked for Cromwell, and the poor 
 artist shortly afterwards died of a broken heart." 
 
 " Well," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " his manes must be 
 surely appeased, if his crowns now sell for two hundred 
 guineas each." 
 
 The party, soon after this exhibition, quitted the vicarage, 
 highly gratified, and returned to the Lodge, where, after the 
 usual ceremonies at the toilet, they sat down to dinner, in 
 the enjoyment of which we will now leave them, and put an 
 end to the present chapter. 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MOTION ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE. FOHCE. UNIFORM, ACCELERATED, 
 AND RETARDED VELOCITY. THE TIMES OF ASCENT AND DESCENT ARE 
 
 EQUAL. vis INERTI/E. FRICTION. ACTION AND REACTION ARE EQUAL 
 
 AND IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. MOMENTUM DEFINED AND EXPLAINED. 
 
 THE BATTERING-RAM OF VESPASIAN. THE THREE' GREAT LAWS OF 
 
 MOTION. 
 
 " THE table-cloth is removed," cried Tom, as he cast a sly 
 glance through the open window of the dining-room. 
 
 "It is, my boy," replied Mr. Twaddleton; " Diffugere 
 nives, as the poet has it." 
 
 " Et redeunt jam gramma campis y " added Mr. Seymour, 
 archly, as he pointed to the verdant luxuries spread over the 
 table. 
 
 " Et decrescentia flumina prcetereunt" continued the vicar, 
 with a smile, as he passed the nearly-exhausted bottle ; 
 " but, psha ! enough of wine and quotation. Come, let us 
 join the children." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, 
 and Louisa, rose from the table, and proceeded to the lawn. 
 
 "The gravitation of Tom's ball," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " furnished an ample subject for our morning's diversion ; 
 let us try whether its other motions will not suggest further 
 objects of inquiry." 
 
 " I well remember," observed Louisa, "that Mrs. Marcet 
 extols that apple, the fall of which attracted the notice of 
 Sir Isaac Newton,* above all the apples that have ever been 
 sung by the poets : and she declares that the apple presented 
 to Venus by Paris ; the golden apples through which Atalanta 
 
 * The story of the fall of the apple having suggested to Newton the nature 
 of universal gravitation has been questioned. It is, however, an historical 
 fact that an apple-tree formerly stood near his house, and that upon its having 
 been blown down, such wa"fe the veneration entertained for its remains, that a 
 chair was constructed out of them. 
 
 E 
 
50 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 lost the race ; nay, even the apple which William Tell shot 
 from the head of his own son, cannot be brought into com- 
 parison with it." 
 
 " Well said ! Mrs. Marcet," exclaimed Mr. Seymour ; 
 " upon my word, had the mother of mankind used but half 
 such eloquence in praise of an apple, we cannot wonder at 
 its influence." 
 
 " What honours then," continued Louisa, " shall we 
 decree to Tom's ball, if it instructs us in the first principles 
 of philosophy ?" 
 
 " We are trifling," observed Mr. Seymour; and, so saying, 
 he took the ball from Tom's hand, and rolling it along the 
 ground, exclaimed, " There it goes, performing, as you may 
 perceive, two different kinds of motion at the same time ; it 
 turns round, or revolves on its axis ; and goes straight for- 
 ward, or, to speak more philosophically, performs a rectilinear 
 motion." 
 
 Tom said that he did not exactly comprehend what was 
 meant by the axis. His father, therefore, informed him that 
 the axis of a revolving body was an imaginary line, which 
 was itself at rest, but about which all its other parts turned, 
 or rotated : " But," continued he, " can you tell me whether 
 you understand what is meant by the word motion ?" 
 
 " If he can," exclaimed the vicar, " he is a cleverer fellow 
 than the wisest philosopher of antiquity, who, upon being 
 asked the very same question, is said to have walked across 
 the room, and to have replied, * You see it, but what it is I 
 cannot tell you.' " 
 
 " Tour ancient acquaintances," observed Mr. Seymour, 
 " entertained some very strange notions touching this said 
 subject of motion. If I remember right, Diodorus denied 
 its very existence ; but we are told that he did not himself 
 remain unmoved, when he dislocated his shoulder, and the 
 surgeon kept him in torture while he endeavoured to convince 
 him, by his own mode of reasoning, that the bone could not 
 have moved out of its place. We have, however, at present, 
 nothing to do with the ancients; the philosophers of our 
 own times agree in defining motion to be ' the act of a body 
 changing its situation icith regard to any other;' and you will 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 5 1 
 
 therefore readily perceive that this may actually happen to 
 a body while it remains absolutely at rest." 
 
 "Well, that beats all the paradoxes I ever heard," cried 
 Tom ; " a body, then, may be in motion while it is at rest ?" 
 
 "Certainly," replied Mr. Se} 7 niour; "it maybe relatively 
 in motion, \vhile it is absolutely at rest." 
 
 " How can a body change its place," said Louisa, "except 
 by moving ?" 
 
 "Very readily," answered her father; "it may have its 
 relative situation changed with respect to surrounding ob- 
 jects. There is your ball, and here is a stone ; has not each 
 of them a particular situation with respect to the other ; and 
 by moving one, do I not change the relative situation of 
 both?" 
 
 " I perceive your meaning," said Tom. 
 
 "To prevent confusion, therefore, in our ideas, it became 
 necessary to distinguish these two kinds of motion from 
 each other by appropriate terms ; and, accordingly, where 
 there has been an actual change of place, in the common 
 meaning of the term, the motion which produced it is termed 
 ABSOLUTE motion ; whereas, on the contrary, when the 
 situation has been only relatively changed, by an alteration 
 in the position of surrounding objects, the body not under- 
 going any change in space, the motion is said to be BE- 
 
 LATITE." 
 
 " Surely, papa," said Louisa, " no person can ever mistake 
 relative for absolute motion ; what then is the use of such fri- 
 volous distinctions ? When a body really moves, we can ob- 
 serve it in the act of changing its place, and no difficulty 
 can arise about the matter." 
 
 " Nothing, my dear, is more fallacious than our vision ; 
 the earth appears motionless, and the sun and stars seem as 
 if they revolved round it ; but it is scarcely necessary for 
 me to inform you that our globe is constantly moving with 
 considerable velocity, while the sun remains at rest. Mr. 
 Sadler, the famous aeronaut," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 " informed me that he was never sensible of the motion of 
 the balloon in any of his excursions, but that as he ascended 
 into the air, the earth always appeared as if sinking 
 
52 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 beneath him, and as he descended, as if rising to meet 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton here observed that he had heard a very 
 curious anecdote, when he was last in London, which fully 
 confirmed the truth of Mr. Sadler's statement. " An aero- 
 naut," said he, " whose name I cannot at this moment re- 
 collect, had recently published a map of his voyage, and, 
 instead of proceeding in any one line of direction, his track 
 absolutely appeared in the form of circles, connected with 
 each other like the links of a chain: this occasioned con- 
 siderable astonishment, and, of course, some speculation, 
 until it was at length discovered that his apparent journey 
 was to be attributed to the rotatory motion of the balloon, 
 which the voyager, not feeling, had never suspected." 
 
 " And what," asked Tom, " could have been the reason 
 of his not having felt the motion ?" 
 
 His father explained to him, that we are only conscious 
 of being in motion when the conveyance in which we are 
 placed suffers some impediment in its progress. " If," said 
 he, " you were to close your eyes, when sailing on calm 
 water, with a steady breeze, you would not perceive that you 
 were moving : for you could not feel the motion, and you 
 could only see it by observing the change of place in the 
 different objects on the shore ; and then it would be almost 
 impossible, without the aid of reason and experience, to be- 
 lieve that the shore itself was not in motion, and that you 
 were at rest. I very lately experienced a similar delusion in 
 a railway carriage, which was stationary, but which all the 
 passengers declared was -in motion, in consequence of the 
 passing of the neighbouring train. I shall, however, be able 
 to explain this subject more clearly by an optical toy which 
 I have in preparation." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour here repeated the following passage from 
 that interesting novel " Anastasius," which she observed was 
 beautifully descriptive of the illusive appearance to which 
 their father had just referred: 
 
 " The gradually-increasing breeze carried us rapidly out 
 of the Straits of Ohio. The different objects on the shore, 
 mountains, valleys, villages, and steeples, seemed in 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 53 
 
 swift succession, first advancing to meet us, then halting an 
 instant alongside our vessel, as if to greet us on our passage, 
 and, lastly, again gliding off with equal speed ; till, launched 
 into the open main, we saw the whole line of coast gradually 
 dissolve in distant darkness." 
 
 " That is indeed a beautiful and very apposite illustration," 
 said Mr. Seymour ; " and I think Louisa will now admit, that 
 it is not quite so easy, as she at first imagined, to distinguish 
 between Absolute and Relative motion." 
 
 As the children now understood what was meant by the 
 term Motion, their father asked them whether they could tell 
 him what produced it. 
 
 "I can make a body move by various means," answered Tom. 
 
 " But they may all be reduced to one," said Mr. Seymour ; 
 " viz. some exertion which is called Force." 
 
 " And what is Force ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " For our present purpose it is sufficient to state that it 
 is a power in Nature capable of producing motion, whether 
 in the masses or particles of matter, which we can no more 
 create than we can create matter ; we find it ready at our 
 hands, emanating from various sources, such as gravity, 
 heat, light, electricity, and life ; and in short, wherever an 
 equilibrium in Nature is disturbed, the reaction, or effort to 
 re-establish it, develops Force. And farther, let me add, 
 that we can no more destroy Force than we can create it : 
 we may evoke it in one form by its consumption in another ; 
 we may accumulate it at the expense of time, and store it up 
 to be doled out on demand ; we may cast it away, but where 
 we dismiss it, there will it do its work. For the present, 
 you must take this for granted; you will, hereafter, have 
 ample opportunities for testing its truth (9). The next im- 
 portant fact to be impressed upon your memory is, that 
 a body always moves in the direction of the force which impels it, 
 and with a velocity or rate of motion which is proportional to its de- 
 gree or impulse ; and were there no other forces in action but 
 that single one which originated the motion, the body would 
 proceed onwards in a right line, and with a uniform velocity 
 for ever." 
 
 " For ever !" exclaimed Louisa. 
 
54 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 " Ay, my dear,/o?^ ever : but we will discuss that question 
 presently ; you must first tell me whether you understand 
 what is meant by uniform velocity." 
 
 " I suppose that uniform velocity is that which is regular, 
 and of an equal rate throughout." 
 
 " Philosophers," replied her father, " call the motion of a 
 body uniform, when it passes over equal spaces in equal 
 times. -Now, Tom, it is your turn to answer a question. 
 Can you describe the meaning of the terms Accelerated and 
 Retarded motion ?" 
 
 " I conclude that motion is said to be accelerated when it 
 moves every moment quicker and quicker ; and to be retarded 
 when it moves slower and .slower." 
 
 " You are perfectly right ; and gravity may either act in 
 occasioning the one or the other : our experiment at the well 
 this morning afforded you an example of gravity producing 
 a regularly-accelerated motion. I did not fully explain the 
 fact at the time, because I was desirous of avoiding too 
 many new ideas at once : we must win our way slowly and 
 cautiously through the mazes of philosophy. I will, however, 
 now endeavour to give you as clear an explanation as the 
 subject will allow. It is, I think, evident, that if, at the 
 moment you dropped the stone from your hand, the force 
 of gravity could have been suspended, it would have descended 
 to the bottom of the well with a uniform velocity ; because 
 there could have been nothing either to accelerate or retard 
 its motion. But this was not the case, for the power of 
 gravity was in constant operation; and, if you keep this 
 fact in mind, you will readily understand how the velocity 
 became accelerated : for suppose the impulse given by gravity 
 to the stone, during the first instant of its descent, be equal 
 to one, the next instant we shall find that an additional 
 impulse gives the stone an additional velocity equal to one, 
 so that the accumulated velocity is now equal to two; the 
 following instant, again, increases the velocity to three, and 
 so on till the stone reaches the bottom." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton observed, the fact might be shortly ex- 
 pressed by saying, that " the effects of preceding impulses 
 must be added to subsequent velocities." 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 55 
 
 . Mr. Seymour then remarked that the same explanation 
 would apply to retarded velocity. "If," said he, "you 
 throw a stone perpendicularly upwards, the velocity will be 
 as much retarded, as it was in the other case accelerated, by 
 gravity ; the consequence of which is, that it will be exactly 
 the same length of time ascending that it was descending." 
 
 " I should have thought the very reverse," cried Louisa, 
 " and that it would have fallen quicker than it rose." 
 
 " You have forgotten to take into account the force with 
 which the stone is thrown upwards, and which is destroyed 
 by gravity before it begins to descend." 
 
 " Certainly," answered Louisa ; " but the force given to 
 a stone in throwing it upwards cannot always be equal to 
 the force of gravity in bringing it down again; for the 
 force of gravity is always the same, while the force given 
 to the stone is entirely optional. I may throw it up gently 
 or otherwise, as I please." 
 
 " If you throw it gently," said her father, " it will not 
 rise high, and gravity will soon bring it down again ; if you 
 throw it with violence, it will rise much higher, and gravity 
 will be longer in bringing it back to the ground. Suppose, 
 for instance, that you throw it with a force that will make 
 it rise only sixteen feet ; in that case, you know, it will fall 
 in one second of time. Now it is proved by experiment, 
 that an impulse requisite to project a body sixteen feet 
 upwards, will make it ascend that height in one second of 
 time ; here, then, the times of ascent and descent are equal. 
 But, supposing it be required to throw a stone twice that 
 height, the force must be proportionally greater. You see, 
 then, that the impulse of projection, in throwing a body 
 upwards, is always equal to the action of the force of gravity 
 during its descent ; and that it is the greater or less distance 
 to which the body rises that makes these two forces balance 
 each other." 
 
 " Thank you, dear papa, for the pains you have taken in 
 explaining this subject to us." 
 
 " Nay," replied Mr. Seymour, " bestow your thanks upon 
 those to whom they are more justly due. Mrs, Marcet is 
 entitled to the merit of this explanation ; for I obtained it 
 
56 PHILOSOPHY TN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 from her ' Conversations/ Before I quit this subject, I 
 would just observe that, when we come to the consideration 
 of the bow and arrow, you will, by the application of the 
 law I have endeavoured to expound, be enabled to ascertain 
 the height to which your arrow may ascend, with the same 
 facility you discovered the depth of the well ; for, since the 
 times of ascent and descent are equal, you have only to 
 determine the number of seconds which intervene between 
 the instant at which the arrow quits the bow to that at 
 which it falls to the ground, and halving them, to make the 
 usual calculation. But let us proceed to another subject. 
 Eoll the ball hither, Tom ; roll the ball hither, I say ! you 
 stand as if you thought it would advance to us of its own 
 accord." 
 
 "I know a little better than that, too," cried Tom; "no 
 body can move without the application of some force." 
 
 " Nor stop either," added Mr. Seymour, " when it is once 
 in motion ; for matter is equally indifferent to both rest and 
 motion." 
 
 " And yet, papa," cried Louisa, " unfortunately for your 
 assertion, the ball stopped just now^ and I am sure that no 
 force was used to make it do so." 
 
 " And pray, Miss Pert, why are you so sure that no force 
 was opposed to its progress ? I begin to fear that my lesson 
 has been thrown away upon you, or you would not, surely, 
 have concluded so falsely." 
 
 The vicar here interposed, observing that, simple as the 
 question might appear to those who had studied it, the fact 
 was so contrary to everything that passed before us, that 
 Mr. Seymour ought not to feel any surprise at the scepticism 
 of his daughter ; he begged to remind him that the truth, 
 apparent as it doubtless now was, lay hid for ages before the 
 sagacity of Galileo brought it to light. 
 
 Mr. Seymour admitted the justice of this remark, and 
 proceeded in his explanation. 
 
 " I think," said he, " you will readily allow that matter 
 .cannot, m itself, possess any power of changing its condition : 
 it can, therefore, no more destroy, than it can originate its 
 own motion ; when it is at rest, it must ever remain so, 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 57 
 
 unless some force can be applied that can impart to it 
 activity ; and when once in motion, it must continue to 
 move until some counteracting force stops it. To believe 
 otherwise you must suppose that matter possesses in itself a 
 power to alter its condition, which is perfectly absurd." 
 
 "And yet," said Tom, "when I see my ball or marble 
 stop of its own accord, how can you blame me for believing 
 it possible ?" 
 
 " Your difficulty arises from your ignorance of the ex- 
 istence of certain forces which act upon the rolling ball or 
 marble. Its progress, as it rolls along, is impeded and 
 ultimately stopped by the rubbing, or friction, occasioned 
 by its passage over the ground ; and this will be greater or 
 less, according to the degree of roughness of the surface ; 
 if it be small, the ball will continue for a longer time in 
 motion: you must have observed that your marble has 
 always rolled much further on a smooth pavement than on 
 a rough gravel walk." 
 
 " Certainly," said Tom, "and I well remember, that when 
 we played at ring-taw last winter on the ice, we were obliged, 
 for this very reason, to extend the usual boundaries." 
 
 " Exactly so ; and your marble, under such circumstances, 
 would run along like the enchanted bowl of the Dervise, in 
 the Arabian Nights. Is it not evident, then, that the 
 motion of a body is stopped by some opposing force ; and 
 that, if this could be entirely removed, the body would 
 continue to move for ever ?" 
 
 " What a provoking thing this friction is !" said Tom ; 
 " it is always interfering with our experiments." 
 
 "Provoking, is it? I fancy," said Mr. Seymour, "that 
 you would be much more provoked by the loss of it : with- 
 out it you could not walk, nor even hold an object in your 
 hands ; and yet everything around you would be in per- 
 petual motion, performing one universal and interminable 
 dance." 
 
 "I can readily understand, from what you have said, 
 that, if friction were removed, motion might continue ; but 
 pray how is it that we should be unable to walk, or to hold 
 anything in our hands ?" inquired Louisa. 
 
58 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 " It is the friction of the ground which, at every step we 
 take, prevents the foot from sliding back, and thus enables 
 us to push the body forwards. Every one must have felt 
 how difficult it is to walk on ice, where the friction is only 
 diminished, not entirely removed," answered her father ; 
 "and as to holding any object," continued he, "it is the 
 friction of the body to which we apply our hands that 
 enables us to hold it firmly." 
 
 "To be sure," exclaimed the vicar: " why, my boy, you 
 must surely remember that in ancient combats it was the 
 custom to rub the body with oil, that the adversary might 
 not be able to keep his grasp." 
 
 " "Well," said Tom, " our houses, I suppose, would remain 
 firm, and we might sit quietly in our chairs, at all events." 
 
 " Not so," replied Mr. Seymour ; " for even granting that 
 you had houses and chairs, which, without the existence of 
 friction would never exist, the stability of the structures 
 could never be secured ; the slightest breath would be suf- 
 ficient to make the stones or bricks slide off from each other, 
 and to reduce your dwellings into dancing ruins." 
 . Tom and Louisa, after some further discussion, both 
 admitted the justness of the argument ; but, at the same 
 time, would have been better satisfied if the fact could 
 have been proved by actual experiment. Mr. Seymour 
 told them that the perpetual revolution of the earth and 
 heavenly bodies, where no friction whatever existed, afforded 
 a proof which ought to satisfy them ; and especially, since 
 it agreed with those views which were proved to be true by 
 an examination of what took place on the surface of our own 
 globe. 
 
 "We will, therefore, with the permission of our readers, 
 consider this point as settled, and proceed with the young 
 philosophers to the investigation of some other topics con- 
 nected with the doctrine of motion. 
 
 " Since a body at rest," said Mr. Seymour, " can only be 
 set in motion, or, when in motion, be brought to rest, by 
 the impression of some force, it must follow, that it can only 
 move in the direction in which such a force may act ; and, 
 moreover, that the degree of motion, or the velocity, must, 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 59 
 
 other things being equal, be in proportion to the degree of 
 force used." 
 
 " Why, truly," cried the vicar, " my young friends must 
 of necessity admit that fact ; for the body, not having any 
 will of its own, as you say, must needs, if it move at all, go 
 the road it is driven." 
 
 " Yes," added Mr. Seymour, " and it must go with a 
 velocity in proportion to the force with which it is driven." 
 
 "Doubtless, doubtless," cried the vicar, "you admit that 
 also ; do you not, my young friends and playmates ?" 
 
 It is hardly necessary to state that the children instantly 
 assented to these propositions. The vicar had placed them 
 in so clear and popular a point of view, as to be intelligible 
 to the lowest capacities. 
 
 " With these admissions, then, my dear children," said 
 their father, '^1 shall have but little difficulty in convincing 
 you of the truth of the other laws by which the direction of 
 moving bodies is governed. At present, however, it is not 
 my intention to enter upon this subject ; you have some 
 preliminary knowledge to acquire before you can under- 
 stand what is termed the Composition and Resolution of 
 Forces" 
 
 " I shall not easily forget," said Louisa, " that matter is 
 perfectly passive, and that it can neither put itself in motion 
 when at rest, nor stop itself when in motion." 
 
 " This indifference to rest or motion," replied Mr. Sey- 
 mour, "has been' termed the Vis Inertice of matter." 
 
 "A very objectionable term, a very puzzling expres- 
 sion," exclaimed the vicar; "to denote a mere state of 
 passive indifference by the term Vis, or power, does appear 
 to me, who, not being a punster, have been in the habit of 
 connecting words with ideas, as excessively absurd." 
 
 "I allow," said Mr. Seymour, "that the simple \vord 
 Inertia would have been preferable ; but we are bound to 
 receive an expression which has been long current. I sup- 
 pose, however, you know that the addition of Vis originated 
 with Kepler, who, like my boy Tom, could not help think- 
 ing that the disposition of a body either to maintain or 
 resist motion, indicated something very like power ; but we 
 
60 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 will not waste our time upon verbal disquisitions, although 
 I cannot part with you, my dear vicar, without reminding 
 you that there is ample classical authority for this appa- 
 rent contradiction of terms. The connecting two ideas, 
 which at first sight appear opposed to each other, consti- 
 tuted a figure of speech much used both by the Greeks .and 
 Romans." 
 
 " Unquestionably," said the vicar : " Euripides delighted in 
 it, and that was a sufficient reason for Aristophanes to satirise 
 it. Horace, too, has given us several examples of it, as 
 ' Insaniens Sapientia,' ' Strenua Inertia ;' and in our own times 
 we hear of lawyers talking of long Briefs ! " 
 
 "It is clear," continued Mr. Seymour, "that matter, 
 at rest, resists being put in motion ; the degree of that 
 resistance is always in proportion to the degree of force 
 applied to put it in motion; or, to speak more philoso- 
 phically, that Action and Reaction are equal, and in opposite 
 directions." 
 
 "You, surely, do not mean to say," exclaimed Tom, "that 
 if I strike my marble, the marble strikes my hand with the 
 same force in return?" 
 
 " Precisely ; that is my meaning." 
 
 " What !" cried Louisa, " if a man strikes another on the 
 face with his hand, do you seriously maintain that both 
 parties suffer the same pain?" 
 
 ".Oh, no, no," said Tom, "papa can never intend to say 
 that ; I am quite sure, if it were the case, Mr. Pearson 
 would not be so fond of boxing our ears." 
 
 Mr. Seymour answered this question, by observing that, 
 if the hand possessed the same degree of feeling as the face, 
 they would both suffer equally under the conflict. "If," 
 continued he, " you strike a glass bottle with an iron ham- 
 mer, the blow will be received by the hammer and the glass ; 
 and it is quite immaterial whether the hammer be moved 
 against the bottle at rest, or the bottle be moved against 
 the hammer at rest, yet the bottle will be broken, though 
 the hammer be not injured ; because the same blow which 
 is sufficient to shiver the glass is not sufficient to break or 
 injure the lump of iron. In like manner, the blow that is 
 
CHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 61 
 
 sufficient to pain your sensitive face, and make your ears 
 tingle, will not occasion the least annoyance to the obtuse 
 hand of your preceptor. The operation of this law," con- 
 tinued Mr. Seymour, " will be exemplified in every step of 
 our progress. When the marble, as it rolls along, strikes 
 any obstacle, it receives, in return, a corresponding blow, 
 which will be found to influence its subsequent direction. 
 The peg of the top, as it rubs on the ground, is as much 
 influenced by the friction, as if a force were actually applied 
 to it when in a state of rest ; and when we consider the forces 
 by which the kite is made to ascend into the air, you will 
 learn, from the same law, the nature of that advantage which 
 you derive from running with it." 
 
 The vicar observed that the subject of Momentum might 
 be introduced, and advantageously explained, upon this 
 occasion. 
 
 " Momentum," said Tom ; " and pray what is that ?" 
 
 " It is a power," replied his father, " intimately connected 
 with motion; and, therefore, as your friend, the vicar, justly 
 remarks, may be very properly introduced before we quit 
 that subject. It is the force with which a body in motion 
 strikes against another body." _ 
 
 " That," observed Tom, " must of course depend upon the 
 velocity of the body's motion." 
 
 " Undoubtedly, my dear ; the quicker a body moves, 
 the greater must be the force with which it would strike 
 against another body ; but we also know that the heavier a 
 body is, the greater also will be its force ; so that momen- 
 tum, you perceive, must have a relation to -both these cir- 
 cumstances, viz. velocity and weight ; or, to speak more 
 correctly, the momentum of a body is composed of its quantity of 
 matter multiplied by its quantity of motion : for example, if the 
 weight of a body be represented by the number 3, and its 
 velocity also by 3, its momentum will be represented by 
 3x3 = 9; so that, in producing momentum, increased velocity 
 will always compensate for deficiency of matter, and a light 
 body may thus be made a more effective force than a heavy 
 one, provided that its velocity be proportionally increased ; 
 thus, a small ball, weighing only two pounds, and moving 
 
G2 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. III. 
 
 at the rate of five hundred feet in a second, will produce as 
 much effect as a cannon-ball of ten pounds in weight, provided 
 it moved only at the rate of one hundred feet, in the same 
 time." 
 
 " Let me see," cried Tom, " whether I understand your 
 statement. We must multiply, as you say, the weight by 
 the velocity ; the weight of the small ball you state at two 
 pounds, and it travels at the rate of five hundred feet in a 
 second ; then its momentum must be a thousand. The 
 weight of the great ball is ten pounds, its velocity only a 
 hundred feet, then its momentum must also be a thousand ; 
 because, in both cases, the sums multiplied into each other 
 will give the same product." 
 
 "Exactly: and thus you perceive that the small ball 
 becomes an exact balance to the larger one ; the first 
 making out in motion what it wanted in matter, while the 
 latter makes out in matter what it wanted in motion. I 
 wish you to keep this law of Momentum in your remem- 
 brance ; upon it depends the action of all the mechanical 
 powers (10), as they are termed ; and which I shall hereafter 
 more fully explain." 
 
 "I have heard," said Louisa, "that a feather might be 
 made to produce as much havoc as a cannon-shot, if you 
 could give it sufficient velocity." 
 
 " Unquestionably : but there is a practical difficulty in 
 the attempt, from the resistance of the air, whicli increases, 
 as you have already seen in the experiment of the paper 
 and penny-piece (p. 33), as the weight of a body decreases ; 
 and which explains the adage, that * Hercules cannot throw a 
 feather farther than a child.' Were it not for this resistance 
 of the air, a hailstone falling from the clouds would acquire 
 such a momentum, from its accelerated velocity, as to descend 
 like a bullet from a gun, and destroy everything before it ; 
 even those genial showers which refresh us in the spring 
 and summer months, would, without such a provision, 
 destroy the herbage they are so well calculated to cherish. 
 Had the elephant possessed the mobility of the beetle, it 
 would have overturned mountains. From this view of the 
 subject of momentum," continned Mr. Seymour, " you will 
 
GHAP. III. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 63 
 
 easily understand why the immense battering-rams, used by 
 the ancients in the art of war, should have given place to 
 cannon-balls of but a few pounds in weight. Suppose, for 
 example, that the battering ram of Vespasian weighed 
 100,000 pounds, and was moved, we will admit, with such a 
 velocity, by strength of hands, as to pass through 20 feet in 
 one second of time, and that this was found sufficient to 
 demolish the walls of Jerusalem, can you tell me with what 
 velocity a 32-pounder must move to do the same execution r" 
 
 " I will try," said Tom, as he took out his pencil and 
 pocket-book, to make the calculation. 
 
 " Stop ; I think you will hardly succeed without my 
 guidance," said his father; "let us therefore work it out 
 together : now you will readily perceive that we must in 
 the first place determine the momentum of the battering- 
 ram, by multiplying its weight by its velocity, or, in other 
 words, by the space which it passes over in a second of 
 time." 
 
 " That I understand." 
 
 " Very well," continued Mr. Seymour, " its weight was 
 100,000 pounds, and its velocity such as to carry it through 
 20 feet in a second of time ; now make the required cal- 
 culation," 
 
 " I have done it it is 2,000,000." 
 
 " You are quite right ; now if this momentum, which 
 must also be that of the cannon-ball, be divided by the 
 weight of that ball, viz. 32 pounds, we shall obtain the 
 velocity required, which is 62,500 feet." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton here observed, that he thought " his 
 young friends and playmates" must have received, for that 
 day, as much philosophy as they could conveniently carry 
 away without fatigue. Mr. Seymour concurred in this 
 observation ; and the more readily, as the path they had to 
 travel was rugged, and beset with difficulties. " I will, 
 therefore," said he, " not impose any further burthen upon 
 them ; but I will assist them in tying, into separate bundles, 
 the materials which they have collected in their progress, 
 in order that they may convey them away with greater 
 ease and security. Know then, my dear children," said the 
 
(54 
 
 PHILOSOPHY Itf SPORT 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 affectionate parent, " that you have this day been instructed 
 in the three great Laws of Motion, viz. : 
 
 I. Tliat every body will continue in a state of rest, until put 
 into motion by some external force applied to it, and if that 
 force be single, the motion so produced will be rectilinear, 
 i. e. in the direction of a straight line. 
 
 II. Change of motion is always proportional to the moving force 
 impressed, and is always made in the direction of the right 
 line in which the force acts. 
 
 III. Action and Reaction are equal in equal quantities of matter, 
 and act in contrary directions to each other." 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A SAD ACCIDENT TURNED TO A GOOD ACCOUNT. ONE EXAMPLE WORTH A 
 HUNDRED PRECEPTS. VIS INERTIA. THE BANDALORE AND ITS CURIOUS 
 REMINISCENCES. AN EXPERIMENT. THE CENTRES OF MAGNITUDE AND 
 GRAVITY. THE POINT OF SUSPENSION. THE LINE OF DIRECTION. THE 
 STABILITY OF BODIES, AND UPON WHAT IT DEPENDS. METHOD OF 
 FINDING THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF A BODY. THE ART OF THE 
 BALANCER EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED. WALKING ON STILTS. 
 VARIOUS BALANCING TOYS. 
 
 JUST as Mr. Seymour was, on the following morning, 
 stepping upon the lawn, with the intention of joining his 
 children, Eosa and Fanny both made their appearance 
 completely drenched with water, and dripping like mer- 
 maids. 
 
 " Heyday !" exclaimed their father, " how has this mis- 
 fortune happened ?" 
 
 " Do not be angry, papa," said Tom ; " indeed, indeed, it 
 was an accident. Fanny, observing the water-cart in the 
 garden, had just begun to wheel it forward, when the water 
 rushed over her like a wave of the sea, and, upon stopping 
 the cart, it flew over with equal force on the opposite 
 side, and deluged poor Eosa, who was walking in front 
 of it." 
 
 " "Well, well, lose no time in changing your clothes, and 
 meet me again in half an hour." 
 
 At the appointed time the children re-assembled on the 
 lawn. 
 
 "And so then," said their father, "I perceive that my 
 philosophical lesson of yesterday has been entirely lost upon 
 
 you." 
 
 The children were unable to comprehend the meaning of 
 this rebuke ; but Mr. Seymour proceeded : 
 
66 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 " I trust, however, that the accident of this morning will 
 serve to impress it more forcibly upon your memory : one 
 example is better than a hundred precepts." 
 
 Tom was more puzzled than ever. 
 
 "You have met with an accident ; I will endeavour to 
 convert it into a source of instruction, by showing you 
 how the principles of natural philosophy may be brought to 
 bear upon the most trival concerns of life. You learned 
 yesterday, that a body at rest offers a resistance to any 
 force that would put it in motion, and that, when in 
 motion, it equally opposes a state of rest; now let us 
 apply this law for the explanation of the accident that has 
 just befallen you. The butt was full of water ; when you 
 attempted to wheel it forward, the water resisted the motion 
 thus communicated to the vessel, and from its vis inertice, 
 or effort to remain at rest, rose up in a direction contrary 
 to that in which the vessel moved, and consequently 
 poured over; by this time, however, the mass of fluid 
 had acquired the motion of the cart, w y hen you suddenly 
 stopped it, and the water, in endeavouring to continue its 
 state of motion, from the same cause that it had just before 
 resisted it, rose up on the opposite side and thus deluged 
 poor Rosa." 
 
 Louisa was quite delighted with this simple and satisfactory 
 application of philosophy, and observed, that she should not 
 herself mind a thorough soaking, if it were afterwards 
 rewarded by a scientific discovery. 
 
 " I will give you, then, another illustration of the same 
 law of motion," said Mr. Seymour, "which instead of ex- 
 plaining an accident, may, perhaps, have the effect of pre- 
 venting one. If, while you are sitting quietly on your horse, 
 the animal starts forward, you will be in danger of falling 
 off backward; but if, while you are galloping along it should 
 stop suddenl) r , you will inevitably be thrown forward over 
 the head of the animal." 
 
 " I clearly perceive," said Louisa, " that such would be my 
 fate under the circumstances you state." 
 
 "Now, then, my dear children, since our friend the vicar 
 cannot attend us at present, suppose we retire to the library, 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 67 
 
 where I have an interesting experiment to perform, and a' 
 new toy ready for your inspection." 
 
 In compliance with their father's wishes, the children 
 cheerfully returned to the library, when Mr. Seymour 
 presented Louisa with a BANDALORE. Most of our readers 
 are, doubtless, acquainted with this elegant toy ; but before 
 we proceed to describe its construction, it may be interesting 
 to learn something of its history. It is of French origin, 
 and in the Memoirs of Mr. Thomas Moore we have the 
 following curious notice of it. " The first instance I can 
 recall of any attempt of mine at regular versicles, was on a 
 certain toy, very fashionable about the year 1789 or 1790, 
 called in French a ' Bandalore] or in English a ' Quiz.' To 
 such a ridiculous degree did the fancy of this toy pervade 
 at that time all ranks and ages, that in the streets numbers 
 of persons of both sexes were playing it up and down, as they 
 walked along, or as my very doggrel described it 
 
 " The ladies, too, when in the STREETS, or walking in the GREEX, 
 Went quizzing on, to show their shapes, and graceful mien.'' 
 
 And Mr. Moore adds, he was informed by Lord Plunket, 
 that the Duke of Wellington (then Captain "Wellesley, or 
 Westley ?) was in 1790, one of the aides-de-camp of the Lord 
 Lieutenant, and a member of the Irish House of Commons, 
 and that during the whole time of the sitting of one of its 
 Committees, he was playing with one of these toys, called 
 Quizzes. It consists of two discs of wood, united to each other 
 by a small axis, upon which a piece of string is affixed. 
 When this string is wound round the axis, and the bandalore 
 is suifered to run down from the hand, the end of the string 
 being held by a loop on the fore-finger, its momentum winds 
 up the string again, and thus it will continue for any length 
 of time to descend from, and ascend to, the hand. It affords 
 a good example of the operation of vis inertice, or what may, 
 with equal propriety, be termed the momentum of rotatory 
 motion. Its action may be compared to that of a wheel, 
 which, running down a hill, acquires sufficient momentum to 
 carry it up another. There are several toys which owe their 
 operation to the same principle, of which we may particularize 
 
68 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 the windmill, whose fliers are pulled round by a string 
 affixed to the axis of the sails. In playing with the bandalore, 
 a certain address is required to prevent the sudden check 
 w r hich the toy would otherwise receive when it arrived at the 
 end of the string, and which would necessarily so destroy its 
 momentum as to prevent its winding itself up again. Mr. 
 Seymour then informed his young pupils that he had an ex- 
 periment to exhibit, w r hich would further illustrate, in a very 
 pleasing manner, the truth of the doctrine of vis inertia. He 
 accordingly inverted a wine-glass, and placed a shilling on 
 its foot ; and, having pushed it suddenly along the table, the 
 coin flew off towards the operator, or in a direction opposite 
 to that in which the glass was moving. He then replaced 
 the shilling, and imparted to the glass a less sudden motion; 
 and, when it had acquired sufficient' velocity, he checked it, 
 and the coin darted forward, leaving the glass behind it. 
 
 Louisa, upon witnessing this experiment, observed that 
 she felt satisfied of the correctness of her father's statement, 
 when he told her that, if the horse suddenly started forward, 
 w r hen she was at rest, she would be thrown off behind, and 
 that if it should suddenly stop on the gallop,- she would be 
 precipated over its head. The children arranged themselves 
 around the table, in order to consider several curious toys 
 which Mr. Seymour had collected for the purpose of explaining 
 the nature of the Centre of Gravity. 
 
 " But, in the first place," said Mr. Seymour, " can you tell 
 me, Tom, what is meant by The Centre of Gravity ?" 
 
 " Its central point," answered the boy. 
 
 " Certainly not ; the central point is termed its centre 
 of magnitude, not that of gravity ; and it is only when a 
 body is of uniform density, and regular figure, that these 
 centres of magnitude and gravity coincide, or fall in the 
 same spot." 
 
 " I now remember that the centre of gravity is that point 
 about which all the parts of a body exactly balance each 
 other." 
 
 " Now you are right ; it is, in other words, that point in 
 which the whole weight, or gravitating influence, of a body 
 is, as it were, condensed or concentrated, and upon which, 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 69 
 
 if the body be freely suspended, it will rest with security ; 
 and consequently, as long as this centre is supported, 
 the body can never fall; while, in every other position, it 
 will endeavour to descend to the lowest place at which it 
 can arrive." 
 
 " Have all bodies, whatever may be their shape, a centre 
 of gravity ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " Undoubtedly." 
 
 m( And you say that every body will fall if this point is 
 not supported?" 
 
 " Infallibly. And now, Tom," said Mr. Seymour, " can 
 you tell me what is meant by the line of direction ?'' 
 
 The young philosopher was unable to answer this ques- 
 tion, and his father, therefore, informed him that, if a 
 perpendicular line were drawn from- the centre of gravity 
 of a body to the centre of the earth, such a line would be 
 termed the line of direction ; along which every body, not 
 supported, endeavours to fall; and he w r as also informed 
 that if this said line fell within the base of a body, such a 
 body was sure to stand ; but never otherwise. 
 
 Louisa observed that she was not quite sure she under- 
 stood her father's meaning, and therefore begged for further 
 explanation. 
 
 "I will exemplify it then," replied Mr. Seymour, "by 
 a drawing. Pig. 10 represents a load of stones in a cart 
 moving upon the sloping road c D E : this load being low 
 down in the cart, B will repre- 
 
 ... >( , 3 Fig. 11. Fig. 10. 
 
 sent its centre oi gravity, and 
 B F its line of direction, which, 
 you perceive, falls much with- 
 in the supporting or lower 
 wheel Gf ; and there cannot, 
 therefore, be any danger of 
 such a cart being overturned ; 
 but in fig. 11 the centre of gra- 
 vity is raised from its former 
 position to H, and H I is now the line of direction ; which, 
 falling without the base, or wheel K, the load will not be 
 supported, and must consequently fall. These figures," 
 
70 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 added Mr. Seymour, " will also explain a fact which you 
 must have frequently observed, that a body is stable or firm 
 in proportion to the breadth of its base ; hence the difficulty 
 of sustaining a tall body, like a walking-stick, upon its 
 narrow base ; or that of balancing a hoop upon its edge, or 
 a top upon its point ; while, on the contrary, it is almost 
 impossible to upset the cone or the pyramid, since, in the 
 latter cases, the line of direction falls within the middle of 
 the base, the centre of gravity of the body being necessarily 
 low." 
 
 "I suppose," observed Louisa, "that this is the reason 
 why carriages, when too much loaded, are so apt to upset." 
 
 " Say, when too much loaded on their tops, and you will 
 be right. As you now, I trust, understand this part of the 
 subject, let us proceed a step further : if you take any 
 body with a view to suspend it, is it not evident, that if it 
 be suspended by that point in which the centre of gravity 
 is situated, it must remain at rest in any position indif- 
 ferently ?" 
 
 "I thought," said Tom, "we had already settled that 
 question." 
 
 " True, my dear boy ; but there is another question of 
 great importance arising out of it, and which you have not 
 yet considered : tell me, should the body be suspended on 
 any other point, in what position it can rest ?" 
 " I do not exactly understand the question." 
 "There are," replied his father, "only two positions in 
 which it could rest, either where the centre of 
 gravity is exactly above, or exactly below, the 
 point of suspension ; so that, in short, this point 
 shall be in the line of direction. Where the point 
 of suspension is Mow the centre of gravity, it is 
 extremely difficult to balance or support a tall 
 body by such a method, because the centre of 
 gravity is always endeavouring to get under the 
 point of support. Look at this diagram, and you 
 will readily comprehend my meaning. K is the 
 centre of gravity of the diamond- shaped figure, 
 which may be supported, or balanced, on a pin 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 71 
 
 passing through it at M, as long as the centre of gravity K 
 is immediately over the point of suspension M ; but if that 
 centre is removed in the slightest degree, either to the right 
 or left of its place K, the body will no longer retain its erect 
 position i K M, but it will Devolve upon M, and place itself 
 in the situation indicated by the dotted lines beneath the 
 point M, and its centre of gravity will now be removed to N, 
 directly under M, and in the line K L, which, as you well 
 know, is the line of direction. Have I rendered myself 
 intelligible?" 
 
 "I understand it perfectly," answered Tom. 
 
 " And do you also, my dear Louisa ?" 
 
 Louisa's answer was equally satisfactory ; and Mr. Sey- 
 mour went on to state that the information they had now 
 acquired would enable them to ascertain the situation of 
 the centre of gravity of any plane surface which was 
 portable, notwithstanding it might possess the utmost irre- 
 gularity of shape. 
 
 "You shall, for example," continued he, "find the centre 
 of gravity in your kite." 
 
 " I cannot say," observed Tom, " how I should set about 
 it." 
 
 "Well, fetch your kite, and I will explain the method." 
 
 Tom soon produced it, and the tail having been removed, 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded as follows : Fig. is. 
 
 " I now," said he, " suspend the kite by the 
 loop at its bow, and since it is at rest, w r e 
 know that the centre of gravity must be exactly 
 below the point of suspension ; if, therefore, we 
 draw a perpendicular line from that point, 
 which may be easily done by a plumb-line, with 
 a weight attached to it, such a line will repre- 
 sent the line o direction (as indicated by A B in 
 %. 13)." 
 
 "It is clear enough," said Tom, "that the 
 centre of gravity must lie in the line A B, but how are we 
 to find in what part of it ?" 
 
 " By suspending the kite, in another direction;" answered 
 Mr. Seymour, who then hung it up in the position repre- 
 
72 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 sented at fig. 14, "and then by drawing another perpen- 
 dicular from the new point of suspen- 
 sion." 
 
 " The centre of gravity," said Louisa, 
 " will in that case be in the line c d, as 
 it was before in that of A B." 
 
 " In both the lines !" exclaimed Tom, 
 with some surprise ; " it cannot be in 
 two places." 
 
 "And therefore," added Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " it must be in that point in which the lines meet 
 and cross each other;" so saying, he marked the spot (/with 
 his pencil, and then told his little scholars that he would soon 
 convince them of the accuracy of the principle. He accord- 
 ingly placed the head of the stick upon the pencil mark, and 
 the kite was found to balance itself with great exactness. 
 
 ' Quite true, " said Tom, " that point must be the centre 
 of gravity, for all the parts of the kite exactly balance each 
 other about it." 
 
 u It is really," observed Louisa, " a very simple method 
 of finding the centre of gravity." 
 
 " It is," said Mr. Seymour ; " but you must remember 
 that it will only apply to a certain description of bodies : 
 when they are not portable, and will not admit of this kind 
 of examination, their centres of gravity can only be ascer- 
 tained by experiment or calculation, in which the weight, 
 density, and situation of the respective materials must be 
 taken into the account. Having proceeded thus far, you 
 have next to learn that the centre of gravity is sometimes so 
 situated as not to be within the body, but actually at some 
 distance from it." 
 
 " Why, papa !" exclaimed Tom, " how can that possibly 
 happen?" 
 
 " You shall hear. The centre of gravity, as you have 
 just said, is that point about which all the parts of a body 
 balance each other ; but it may so happen that there is a 
 vacant space at this point. Where, for example, is the 
 centre of gravity of this ring ? Must it not be in the space 
 which the ring encircles ?" 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE- IN EARNEST. 73 
 
 "I think it must," said Tom; "and yet how can it be 
 ever supported without touching the ring?" 
 
 " That point cannot be supported/' answered his father, 
 " unless the ring be so held that the line of direction shall 
 fall within the base of the support, which will be the case 
 whether you poise the ring on the tip of your finger, or 
 suspend it by a string, as represented in the figures which I 
 have copied from the ' Conversations on 
 Natural Philosophy.' I need scarcely add, 
 that it will be more stably supported in 
 the latter position, because the centre of 
 gravity is below the point of suspension ; 
 whereas in the former the base is ex- 
 tremely narrow, and it will, consequently, require all the 
 address of the balancer to prevent the centre of gravity 
 from falling beyond it. As you are now in possession of 
 all the leading principles upon which the operations of the 
 centre of gravity depend, I shall put a few practical questions 
 to you, in order that I may be satisfied you understand 
 them. Tell me, therefore, why a person who is fearful of 
 falling, as, for instance, when he leans forward, should in- 
 variably put forward one of his feet, as you did the other 
 day, when you looked into Overton well ?" 
 
 " To increase his base," answered Tom ; " whenever I lean 
 greatly forward, I should throw the line of direction beyond 
 it, did I not at the same instant put out one of my feet, so 
 as to extend my base, and thus to cause the line to continue 
 within it." 
 
 " Rightly answered ; and, for the same reason, a porter 
 with a load on his back leans forward to prevent his burthen 
 from throwing the line of direction out of the base behind. 
 So the horse, in drawing a heavy weight, instinctively leans 
 forward, in order to throw the whole of his weight as a 
 counterbalance ; and yet," observed Mr. Seymour, " we are 
 in the habit of ignorautly restraining him by a bearing-rein, 
 in consequence of which he has to call in the aid of his 
 muscles, by which a very unnecessary exhaustion of strength 
 is produced. Thus is it that German and French horses 
 draw heavy weights with apparently greater ease to them- 
 
74 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 selves, because the Germans tie a horse's nose downwards, 
 while the French, more wisely, leave them at perfect liberty. 
 But to proceed. Did you ever observe the manner in which 
 a woman carries a pail of water ?" 
 
 "To be sure," said Tom ; " she always stretches out one 
 of her arms." 
 
 " The weight of the pail," continued Mr. Seymour, " throws 
 the centre of gravity on one side, and the woman, therefore, 
 stretches out the opposite arm, in order to bring it back 
 again into its original situation ; did she not do this, she 
 must, like the English draught-horses, exert her muscles as 
 a counteractiDg force, which would greatly increase the 
 fatigue of the operation : but a pail hanging on each arm is 
 carried without difficulty, because they balance each other, 
 and the centre of gravity remains supported by the feet." 
 
 "I see," said Louisa, "that all you have said about the 
 woman and her pail must be true ; but how could she have 
 learned the principle which thus enabled her to keep the 
 centre of gravity in its proper place ?" 
 
 " By experience. It is very unlikely that she should ever 
 have heard of such a principle, any more than those people 
 who pack carts and waggons, and yet make up their loads 
 with such accuracy as always to keep the line of direction 
 in, or near, the middle of the base. But to proceed to 
 another example : have I not frequently cautioned you 
 against jumping up suddenly in a boat ? Can you tell me 
 upon what principle such an operation must be attended 
 with danger?" 
 
 "I suppose," said Tom, "for the very same reason that a 
 waggon is more likely to be overturned when its top is too 
 heavily laden ; it would elevate the centre of gravity, and 
 thereby render the line of direction liable to be thrown 
 beyond the base, and so upset the boat." 
 
 Mr. Seymour observed, that after this lesson he thought 
 the balancing which Tom and Louisa had witnessed at 
 Astley's Theatre last year would cease to appear so mira- 
 culous. Louisa declared that she had now discovered the 
 whole mystery. 
 
 "You have doubtless perceived," said her father, "that 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 75 
 
 the art entirely consists in dexterously altering the centre 
 of gravity upon every new position of the body, so as con- 
 stantly to preserve the line of direction within the base. 
 Rope-dancers effect this by means of a long pole, the ends 
 of which are loaded by weights, and which they hold across 
 the rope. If you had paid sufficient attention to their 
 movements, you must have perceived how steadily they 
 fixed their eyes on some object near the rope, so as to 
 discover the slightest deviation of their centre of gravity to 
 one or the other of its sides, which they no sooner detect, 
 than they instantly rectify it by a countervailing motion of 
 their pole, and are thus enabled to preserve the line of 
 direction within the narrow base. This very same expedient 
 is frequently practised by ourselves ; if we slip or stumble 
 with one foot, we naturally extend the opposite arm, making 
 the same use of it as the rope-dancer does of his pole. 
 Many birds, also, by means of their flexible necks, vary the 
 position of their centre of gravity in the same manner. 
 When they sleep, they turn it towards the back, and place 
 it under the wing, in order to lay the greatest weight on the 
 point above the feet." 
 
 "What an interesting subject this is," cried Louisa, ^and 
 how many curious things it is capable of explaining !" 
 
 " Indeed is it ; and I shall take an opportunity of pointing 
 out several specimens of art (11) which are indebted for 
 their stability to the scientific application of the principle 
 we have been considering ; but I have now a paradox for 
 you, Tom." 
 
 " Let us hear it, papa." 
 
 " How comes it that a stick, loaded with a weight at the 
 upper extremity, can be kept in equilibrio, on the point of 
 the finger, with much greater ease than when the weight 
 is near the lower extremity, or, for instance, that a sword 
 can be balanced on the finger much better when the hilt is 
 uppermost ?" 
 
 " That is indeed strange. I should have thought," replied 
 Louisa, " that the higher the weight was placed above the 
 point of support, the more readily would the line of direction 
 have been thrown beyond the base." 
 
76 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 " In that respect you are perfectly right ; but the balancer 
 will be able to restore it more easily in one case than in the 
 other ; since, for reasons Avhich you will presently discover, 
 the greater the circle which a body describes in falling the 
 less will be its tendency to fall. Look at the sketch which 
 I have prepared for the explanation of this fact, and I think 
 you will readily comprehend the reason of it. 
 
 " When the weight is at a considerable distance from the 
 point of support, its centre of gravity, in deviating either 
 on one side or the other from a perpendicular direction, 
 describes a larger circle, as at a, than when the weight is 
 very near to the centre of rotation or the point of support, 
 as at b. But, in a large circle, an arc of any determinate 
 extent, such as an inch, for example, describes a curve 
 which deviates much less from the perpendicular than if 
 the circle were less; as may be seen by comparing the 
 positions of the sword at d and e; and the sword at d will 
 
 not have so great a tendency to deviate further from the 
 perpendicular, as that at e ; for its tendency to deviate alto- 
 gether from the perpendicular is greater, according as the 
 tangent to that point of the arc, where it happens to be, 
 approaches more to the vertical position. You see then 
 that it is less difficult to balance a tall, than a shorter pole ; 
 and it is for the same reason that a person can walk with 
 greater security on high than on low stilts." 
 
 " That is very clear," said Louisa, " although, before your 
 explanation, I always associated the idea of difficulty with 
 their height." 
 
 " I suppose," added Tom, " that the whole art of walking on 
 stilts may be explained by the principles you have taught us." 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 77 
 
 " Undoubtedly it may ; for the equilibrium is preserved 
 by varying the position of the body, and thus keeping the 
 centre of gravity within the base." 
 
 " It must be a great exertion," observed Louisa. 
 
 "Before custom has rendered it familiar; after which, 
 there is no more fatigue in walking on stilts than in walk- 
 ing on our feet. There is a district in the south of France, 
 near Bordeaux, called the Desert of Landes, which runs 
 along the sea-coast between the mouths of the Adour and 
 Gironde, where all the shepherds are mounted on stilts ; 
 on which they move with perfect freedom and astonishing 
 rapidity ; and so easily does habit enable them to preserve 
 their balance, that they run, jump, stoop, and even dance, 
 with ease and security."* 
 
 "How very odd!" said Torn ; "what can be their motive 
 for such a strange habit ?" 
 
 "Its objects," replied his father, "are important: to 
 keep the feet out of the water, w r hich, during the winter, is 
 deep on the sands ; and to defend them from the heated 
 sand during the summer, in addition to which, the sphere of 
 vision over so perfect a flat is materially increased by the 
 elevation, and the shepherds are thus enabled to see their 
 flocks at a much greater distance. t They cannot, however, 
 stand perfectly still upon their stilts, without the aid of a 
 long staff, which they always carry in their hands ; this 
 guards them against any accidental trip, and, when they 
 wish to be at rest, forms a third leg that keeps them 
 steady." 
 
 " I suppose," said Louisa, " that the habit of using these 
 stilts is acquired while they are very young." 
 
 " It is, my dear : and it appears that the smaller the boy 
 
 * Stilts also enjoyed for centuries very considerable celebrity in the city of 
 Namur. The frequent inundations of the Meuse and Sambre, which formerly 
 used to flood it, led, doubtless, in the first instance to their employment ; but 
 that which was originally a necessity, became in the course of time an amuse- 
 ment, and one that developed singular features. As far back as the eleventh 
 century may be traced the existence of games on stilts, which gradually assumed 
 a party character ; and the players finally resolved themselves into distinct 
 bodies, ready at all times to do battle against each other, even to the peril of 
 life and limb. Costello's Tour through the Valley of the Meuse. 
 
 f- In Scotland stilts are used to pass rivers. 
 
78 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 is, the higher are his stilts : a fact which affords a practical 
 proof of the truth of what I have just stated." 
 
 " The stork is said, in my work on Natural History, to 
 be always walking on stilts," said Louisa ; " and yet it does 
 not appear to fatigue him." 
 
 "That is very true," replied the father; "but you must 
 remember, that nature has furnished the bird with a pro- 
 vision, by which the legs are kept extended without any 
 exertion of the muscles, in the manner of certain strings ; 
 a structure which enables it to pass whole days and nights 
 on one foot, without the slightest fatigue. If you will visit 
 the cook the next time she trusses a fowl, you will at once 
 perceive the nature and utility of this structure ; iipon 
 bending the legs and thighs up towards the body, you will 
 observe that the claws close of their own accord ; now, this 
 is the position of the limbs in which the bird rests upon its 
 perch, and in this position it sleeps in safety^; for the claws 
 do their office in keeping hold of the support, not by any 
 voluntary exertion, but by the weight of the body drawing 
 the strings tight." 
 
 " But, papa," said Tom, " I have yet some more questions 
 to ask you on the subject of balancing. I am not at all 
 satisfied about many of the tricks that we saw last year ; 
 indeed, I cannot believe, that many of those astonishing 
 feats can be explained by the rules you have just given 
 us." 
 
 "I very well know to what you allude," replied Mr. 
 Seymour. " Many singular deceptions are certainly prac- 
 tised by removing the centre of gravity from its natural 
 into an artificial situation, or by disguising its place ; thus, 
 a cylinder placed upon an inclined surface may be made to 
 run up, instead of down hill. I can even appear to balance a 
 pailful of water on the slender stem of a tobacco-pipe ; 
 but I shall be enabled to explain the nature of these decep- 
 tions by some toys which I have provided for your amuse- 
 ment, and which I must say you are fully entitled to possess, 
 as a reward for the clear and satisfactory manner in which 
 you have this day answered my questions. But see ! here 
 comes Mr. Twaddleton : he would really seem to possess an 
 
CHAP. IV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 79 
 
 instinct that always brings him to the Lodge whenever I 
 am preparing some amusement for you." 
 
 The vicar smiled as he entered the room ; but, unwilling 
 to interrupt the lesson, he placed his fore-finger on his lip, 
 and, with a significant nod, silently took a seat at the table. 
 The children laughed aloud at this cautious demeanour ; 
 and Tom exclaimed, " Why, Mr. Twaddleton, our lesson 
 is over, and we are going to receive some new toys as a 
 reward." 
 
 " I have here," said Mr. Seymour, as he opened 'a large 
 wooden box, " a collection of figures, which will always raise 
 themselves upright, and preserve the erect position; or 
 regain it, whenever it may have been disturbed." 
 
 He then arranged these figures in battalion on the table, 
 and striking them flat by drawing a rod over them, they 
 immediately started up again, as soon as it was removed. 
 " These figures," continued he, "were bought at Paris some 
 years ago, under the title of Prussians." 
 
 " I declare," exclaimed the vicar, " they remind me of 
 the rebellious spirits whom Milton represents as saying 
 that ascent is their natural, and descent their unnatural, 
 motion."* 
 
 "I have seen screens similarly constructed," said Mrs. 
 Seymour, " which always rose up of themselves, upon the 
 removal of the force that had pressed them down." 
 
 " I will explain their principle," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Suppose we first examine the construction of the 
 figure," observed the vicar. "Bless me! why it is like 
 the poet Philotus of Cos, who was so thin and light, that 
 lead was fastened to his shoes to prevent his being blown 
 away."f 
 
 * The vicar here alludes to the speech of Moloch (Paradise Lost, b. ii. 
 1. 75) : 
 
 " That in our proper motion we ascend 
 Up to our native seat : descent and fall 
 To us is adverse." 
 
 f This story is related by JElian, who at the same time discredits it, for, 
 says he, "how could he carry about a sufficient weight to prevent his being 
 blown away, if he were so weak as not to be able to resist the sea-breeze ?" 
 This matter-of-fact way of regarding a humorous fable is exceedingly amusing, 
 and reminds the author of a somewhat similar criticism upon an American 
 story which he had related. A traveller, after a long journey, anxiously 
 
80 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 " The figure/' said Mr. Seymour, " is made of the pith of 
 the elder-tree, which is extremely light, and is affixed to the 
 half of a leaden bullet ; on account, therefore,- 
 of the disproportion between the weight of 
 the figure and that of its base, we may exclude 
 the consideration of the former, and confine 
 our attention to the latter. The centre of 
 gravity of the hemispherical base is, of course, 
 in its axis ; and, therefore, tends to approach 
 the horizontal plane as much as possible, and 
 this can never be accomplished, until the axis 
 becomes perpendicular to the horizon. When- 
 ever the curved surface is in any other position, the centre 
 of gravity is not in the lowest place to which it can descend, 
 /-., as may be seen by the diagram which 
 
 ^ I have just sketched. If the axis a d 
 
 I \, be removed to c d, it is evident that 
 - ^- the centre of gravity will be raised, 
 and that, if left alone, it would immediately descend again 
 into its original position." 
 
 " I understand it perfectly," said Tom. " When the axis 
 a d is perpendicular, the centre of gravity will be in its 
 lowest point, or as near the earth as it can place itself; when, 
 therefore, the figure is pressed down, the centre of gravity is 
 raised, and, consequently, on the removal of that pressure, it 
 will descend to its original position, and thus raise the 
 figure." 
 
 looked about for some inn wherein his jaded horse might have a bait ; but all 
 in vain, no such accommodation was to be found : his next attempt was to 
 find a grassy spot that could afford some pasturage, but in this again he failed. 
 Jn this dilemma his ingenuity suggested a resource, which proves, for the 
 thousandth and first time, the truth of the old adage, that " Necessity is the 
 mother of Invention ;" drawing from his pocket a pair of green glass spectacles, 
 he placed them upon the horse's face, and led him into a carpenter's yard, when 
 the deluded animal immediately commenced his meal upon the shavings of 
 wood and sawdust. The absui'dity of this story necessarily excited a general 
 laugh, but with one exception ; it was evident that one of the company did 
 not sympathise with his companions, and after a few minutes of apparent ab- 
 straction, he exclaimed, with an air of much solemnity, " I must beg your 
 pardon, sir, but I entertain strong doubts as to the truth of your story, for I 
 cannot understand how the spectacles could have been fixed on the horse's 
 nose." So true is the saying, that " the prosperity of a jest lies in the ear of 
 Turn who hears it" 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN T EARNEST. 
 
 81 
 
 " I see you understand it. Here, then," continued Mr. 
 Seymour, " is another toy in further illustration of our sub- 
 ject. It consists of a small figure, sup- 
 ported on a stand by a ball, which is 
 quite loose ; and yet it is made to turn 
 and balance itself in all directions, always 
 recovering its erect position, when the 
 force applied to it is removed. The 
 two weights, in this case, bring the 
 centre of gravity considerably below the 
 point of suspension or support, and 
 therefore maintain the figure upright, 
 and make it resume its perpendicular 
 position, after it has been inclined to 
 either side ; for the centre of gravity 
 cannot place itself as low as possible, without making the 
 figure stand erect." 
 
 " That is very evident," cried Louisa. 
 
 " I shall next exhibit to you," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 "a toy that furnishes a very good solution of a popular 
 paradox in mechanics ; viz. A body having a tendency to fall by 
 its own weight, how to prevent it from falling, by adding to it (i 
 weight on the same side on which it tends to fall." 
 
 "That is indeed a paradox!" exclaimed Louisa. "The 
 next time I see the gardener sinking under the load of a 
 heavy sack, I shall desire him to lighten his burden by 
 doubling its weight." 
 
 " AVill yon indeed, Miss Pert ? I do not think so, after 
 you have seen the operation of 
 the toy I am now about to ex- 
 hibit. Here, you perceive, is a 
 horse, the centre of gravity of 
 which would be somewhere about 
 the middle of its body ; it is, 
 therefore, very evident that, if I 
 were to place its hinder legs on 
 the edge of the table, the line of 
 direction would fall considerably 
 beyond the base, and the horse must be precipitated to 
 
82 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IV. 
 
 the ground; you will, however, perceive that there is a 
 stiff wire attached to a weight which is connected with 
 the body of the horse, and by means of such an addition, the 
 horse prances with perfect security at the edge of the 
 precipice ; so that the figure which was incapable of support- 
 ing itself is actually prevented from falling, by adding a 
 weight to its unsupported end !" 
 
 The children admitted the truth of this statement, and 
 were not immediately prepared to explain it. 
 
 " The weight, indeed, appears to be added on that side ; 
 but, in reality, it is on the opposite side," said the vicar. 
 
 "In order to produce the desired effect," observed Mr. 
 Seymour, " the wire must be bent, so as to throw the weight 
 far back, under the table ; by which contrivance, since the 
 centre of gravity of the whole compound figure is thrown 
 into the leaden weight, the hind legs of the horse thus 
 become the point of suspension, on which the ball may be 
 made to vibrate with perfect security." 
 
 "Now I understand it," cried Tom; "instead of the 
 weight supporting the horse, the horse supports the 
 weight." 
 
 "Exactly so. You perceive, therefore, from these few 
 examples, that the balancer, by availing himself of such 
 deceptions, and combining with them a considerable degree 
 of manual dexterity, may perform feats, which, at first sight, 
 will appear in direct opposition to the laws of gravity. There 
 is also another expedient of which the balancer avails himself, 
 to increase the wonder of his performances, and that is the 
 influence of rotatory motion, which, you will presently see, 
 may be made to counteract the force of gravity." 
 
 " I remember that the most surprising of all the tricks I 
 witnessed was one, in which a sword was suspended on a key, 
 which turned round on the end of a tobacco-pipe ; on the 
 top of the sword a pewter-plate was, at the same time, made 
 to revolve Avith great velocity." 
 
 "I well remember the trick to which you allude. The 
 rotatory motion prevented the sword from falling, just as 
 you will hereafter find the spinning of the top will preserve 
 it in an erect position. There is also another effect pro- 
 
CHAP. IV. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 83 
 
 cluced by rotatory motion, with which it is essential that 
 you should become acquainted. You no doubt remember 
 that momentum, or the velocity of a body, will compensate 
 for its want of matter. A number of bodies, therefore, 
 although incapable of balancing each other when in a state 
 of rest, may be made to do so, by imparting to them dif- 
 ferent degrees of motion. I believe that you are now ac- 
 quainted with all the principles upon which the art of 
 balancing depends ; and I have little doubt, should we again 
 witness a performance of this kind, that you will be able to 
 explain the tricks w r hich formerly appeared to you so 
 miraculous." 
 
84 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP V. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CHINESE TUMBLERS, ILLUSTRATING THE JOINT EFFECTS OF CHANGE 
 IX THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF A BODY, AND OF MOMENTUM. MR. 
 
 TWADDLETON'S ARRIVAL AFTER A SERIES OF ADVENTURES. THE 
 DANCING BALLS. THE PEA-SHOOTER. A FIGURE THAT DANCES ON A 
 
 FOUNTAIN. THE FLYING WITCH. ELASTICITY. SPRINGS. THE GAME 
 
 OF " RICOCHET," OR DUCK AND DRAKE. THE REBOUNDING BALL. 
 AMIMALS THAT LEAP BY MEANS OF AN ELASTIC APPARATUS. THE 
 INDUSTRIOUS FLEAS. A NEW SPECIES OF PUFFING, BY WHICH THE 
 VICAR IS MADE TO CHANGE COUNTENANCE. 
 
 EARLY on Monday morning did the young group assemble 
 in the library : they had been told by Mrs. Seymour that 
 their father had received a new toy of a very interesting and 
 instructive nature, and we can easily imagine the eagerness 
 with which they anticipated the sight of it. 
 
 " I trust," said Mr. Seymour, " that after our late dis- 
 cussion, the subject of the centre of gravity is thoroughly 
 understood by you all. I have also reason to think that 
 the nature and effects of what is termed momentum have been 
 rendered intelligible to you." 
 
 " I certainly understand both those subjects," answered 
 Tom : and so thought the rest of the party. 
 
CHAP. V. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 85 
 
 "Well, then, I will put your knowledge to the test," 
 observed Mr. Seymour, "for you shall explain to me the 
 mechanism of these Chinese Tumblers. 1 " Upon which he 
 produced an oblong box, which, by opening, formed a series 
 of stairs or steps, and took from a drawer at its end two 
 grotesque figures (Clown and Pantaloon), which were con- 
 nected with each other by two poles, which they appeared 
 in the attitude of carrying, pretty much in the way that the 
 porters carry the poles of a sedan-chair. The foremost 
 figure was then placed upon the top step, when, to the great 
 astonishment of the whole party, the figures very deliberately 
 descended the several stairs, each turning over the other in 
 succession. 
 
 " There was a period in our history," observed Mrs. 
 Seymour, "when so marvellous an exhibition would have 
 subjected the inventor to the penalties of sorcery." 
 
 "That," remarked Mr. Seymour, "may be said of most 
 of the other inventions which I have yet in store to illustrate 
 the powers conferred upon us by a knowledge of natural 
 philosophy ; but, as far as mechanical skill is concerned, I 
 doubt whether the ancients did not even surpass us, especially 
 in the art of constructing automata ; and as quicksilver was 
 known in the remotest ages, I think it not improbable that 
 it was one of the agents employed by them on such oc- 
 casions. If I remember right, Aristotle describes a. wooden 
 Venus, which moved by means of ' liquid silver ;' then, again, 
 the moving tripods which Apollonius saw in the Indian 
 temples the walking statues at Antium, and in the temple 
 of Hierapolis, and the wooden pigeon of Archytas,* ought, 
 undoubtedly, to be regarded as evidences of their mechanical 
 resources. But let us reserve these literary questions for 
 the better judgment 01 our worthy friend the vicar, and 
 proceed to consider the mechanism of the toy before us. 
 Tom," continued he, "take the figures in your hand and 
 examine them." 
 
 * Upon this subject, Sir David Brewster's Introductory Letter on Natural 
 Magic will be read with interest and advantage. It has also been very 
 ably investigated by M. C. Magnin, in successive numbers of ' Revue des Deux 
 Mondcs.' 
 
86 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 No sooner had the young philosopher received the figures 
 from the hand of his father than he declared that the tubes 
 were hollow, and that he felt some liquid running backwards 
 and forwards in them. 
 
 " You are quite right, my boy," said Mr. Seymour, " they 
 contain quicksilver." 
 
 " Now then I understand it," cried Tom ; " the quick- 
 silver runs down the tubes and alters the centre of gravity 
 of the figures, and so makes them tumble over each other." 
 
 " "Well, I acknowledge that is no bad guess as a begin- 
 ning, and will certainly explain the first movement ; but you 
 will be pleased to recollect that the instant a new centre of 
 gravity is thus produced the figures must remain at rest, 
 how, then, will you explain their continued motion?" 
 
 "You said something, I think, about momentum; did 
 you not ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; and to its agency the continuance of the 
 motions is to be ascribed ; but I will explain the operation 
 more fully." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then proceeded to point out the mechanism 
 and movements of the toy in a manner which we shall en- 
 deavour to convey to our readers by the aid of the annexed 
 engraving. 
 
 " As soon as the figure A is placed upon the step D, in the 
 position A B, the quicksilver, by running down the inclined 
 tubes, swings the figure B round to C ; and the centre of 
 gravity having been thus adjusted, the whole would remain 
 at rest but for the contrivance to be next described. Besides 
 their connexion with the poles by means of pivots, the 
 figures are connected with each other by silken strings, 
 which keep the figure B steadily in its position, while it 
 traverses the arc until it arrives at C, when their increased 
 tension has the effect of capsizing it, and of thus producing 
 a momentum, which, by carrying its centre of gravity be- 
 yond the line of direction, causes it to descend upon the 
 step E, when the quicksilver, by again flowing to the 
 lowest part of the tubes, places the figures in the same 
 position, only one step lower, as they were at the com- 
 mencement of their action; and thus, by successive repeti- 
 
CHAP. V, 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 87 
 
 tions of the same changes, it is quite evident that the figures 
 must continue to descend as long as any steps remain for 
 their reception." 
 
 " I understand it perfectly," observed Louisa, with a smile 
 of satisfaction. 
 
 " I need scarcely say," continued Mr. Seymour, " that 
 there are some niceties in the adjustment" of the minuter 
 parts of the apparatus, without which the effect could not 
 be accomplished ; the quantity of quicksilver, for instance, 
 . must bear its proper proportion to the weight and dimensions 
 of the figure ; and in order to prevent its too rapid passage 
 along the inclined tubes, strings are stretched across their 
 interior to retard the stream. Then, again, some manage- 
 ment is necessary with regard to the silken strings, in order 
 to insure a necessary degree of tension. I will now show 
 you," said he, "a single tumbler, which will perform the 
 same motions without the assistance of any tubes." 
 
 "But not without quicksilver," observed Tom, "which, 
 
88 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 I suppose, must, in this case, be put into the body of the 
 figure." 
 
 " You are quite right ; and it is made to pass from one 
 extremity of its body to the other through a small orifice, 
 which has the same effect as the strings in the tubes, in 
 breaking the current and preventing its too rapid motion. 
 In all other respects, the principle is the same as in the 
 double figures." 
 
 Just as Mr. Seymour had terminated his exhibition of 
 ' Le petit Culbuteur? the welcome appearance of the vicar 
 infused fresh spirits into the little party. 
 
 " My dear friends," said Mr. Twaddleton, " I have been 
 most provokingly detained by that tiresome etymologist 
 Jeffrey Prybabel. I made many efforts to escape, but I was 
 as a fly in a cobweb." 
 
 " At all events, I am glad to find that you have not been 
 strangled by Mutes. I knew Prybabel well/' observed Mr. 
 Seymour, " when he practised as a Conveyancer in Gray's- 
 Inn, and went by the nickname of the Riot Act ; for, in 
 such horror was he held, that, if a number of persons were 
 congregated, his approach was sure to disperse them." 
 
 The vicar proceeded to inform Mr. Seymour that he 
 had no sooner escaped from the fangs of Prybabel than 
 he encountered Polyphemus. Our readers may, perhaps, 
 wonder who this Polyphemus could have been ; we must, 
 therefore, inform them that Mr. Twaddleton, whose ideas 
 were always tinctured with classical colouring, had bestowed 
 this appellation upon the renowned Dr. Doseall, the Escula- 
 pius of Overton, because, as he said, his practice was like the 
 Cyclops, strong but blind; and Mr. Seymour, declared that 
 the similitude was even more perfect than the vicar had 
 contemplated, for he observed that he certainly fattened 
 upon the unhappy victims who fell within his clutches. 
 
 With all our respect for the liberality of Mr. Seymour 
 and the kind-heartedness of the vicar, we must, in justice 
 to this respectable son of Apollo, express our disapprobation 
 at so unprovoked a sarcasm. We acknowledge that Dr. 
 Doseall, by the aid of low bows and high charges of little 
 ailments and large potions, had contrived to secure a very 
 
CHAP. V. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 89 
 
 comfortable balance on the creditor side of his worldly 
 ledger. We also admit, that, after the example of other 
 celebrated practitioners, he had one sovereign remedy, which 
 he administered in every disease. But what of that ? he 
 was often successful in his cures that is to say, his patients 
 sometimes recovered after they had taken his physic ; and 
 is not that the test conventionally received in proof of the 
 skill or ignorance of greater physicians than Dr. Doseall ? 
 Nor can we persuade ourselves into the belief, that a doctor 
 who faithfully adheres to one single remedy, is less likely 
 to be right than those restless spirits who are eternally 
 coquetting with all the preparations of the Pharmacopoeia 
 without ever remaining steady to any one of them. It has 
 been truly remarked, that the clock which stands still and 
 points stedfastly in one direction, is certain of being right 
 twice in the twenty-four hours, while others may keep going 
 continually, and as continually going wrong. Being- our- 
 selves no doctors, we merely throw out this hint for the 
 consideration of those who are learned in such matters ; but 
 we beg pardon of our readers for this digression. 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Seymour, "I am, at all events, re- 
 joiced to see our Trojan in safety, after such perilous ad- 
 ventures ; and I hope that he is now prepared to set sail 
 again with us, on a new voyage of discovery. I have been 
 engaged," continued he, " in explaining still farther the 
 nature of momentum, and I now propose to exhibit an ex- 
 periment of a different kind, in order to illustrate the same 
 subject. You, no doubt, remember," continued Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " that velocity makes up for weight ; and therefore, 
 although a fluid, as air, or water, may, in a state of qui- 
 escence and equilibrium, be unable to support a body, 
 yet, by giving it a certain velocity, it may acquire a 
 sustaining power; I have here several gilded pith-balls, 
 through one of which I have run two pins, at right angles to 
 each other : the naked points, you perceive, are defended 
 with sealing-wax, to prevent any mischief that might arise 
 from their accidentally coming into contact with your face. 
 By means of this brass tube (the stem of a tobacco-pipe 
 will answer the same purpose), I shall produce a current of 
 
90 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 air by my "breath, and you will observe that the little ball 
 will continue to dance, as if unsupported." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then placed the pith-ball at the end of the 
 pipe, and, inserting its other extremity in his mouth-, blew 
 out the ball, which immediately rose in the air, and con- 
 tinued to float about for several seconds : he then drew 
 in his breath, and caught it with much address on one of its 
 points ; and in this manner, alternately floating and catching 
 it, did he continue to delight the wondering group for 
 several minutes. 
 
 Tom received the tube and ball from 
 the hand of his father, and soon succeeded 
 in playing with it. Observe, gentle reader, 
 the address with which the boy manages it. 
 " This reminds me of my pea-shooter," 
 said Tom, as he removed the tube from 
 his mouth, " with which I have often shot 
 a pea across the playground." 
 
 " Exactly ; and you will now understand 
 the nature of the force b^y which your pea 
 was projected. The air blown from the lungs gains such 
 momentum from the contracted channel in which it flows 
 as to impart considerable velocity to the pea placed within 
 the influence of its current." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour observed, that she had lately read, in 
 "Waterton's " Wanderings in South America," a very in- 
 teresting account of the Indian blowpipe, which the natives 
 of Gruiana employ as an engine for projecting their poisoned 
 arrows, and which owes its power to the principle of which 
 Mr. Seymour had just spoken, and its unerring accuracy to 
 the skilful address of the Indian who uses it. (12.) 
 
 " Mr. Seymour," said the vicar, " I much liks your ex- 
 periment with the pith-balls ; but do tell me the use of the 
 pins that are passed through them." 
 
 11 They are not absolutely necessary for the , success of 
 
 the experiment ; indeed, I ought to have stated, that their 
 
 only use is to insure the elevation of the ball to a certain 
 
 distance above the orifice of the tube, before it is set adrift." 
 
 " ' Ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria wntisj as Virgil has 
 
CHAP. V. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 91 
 
 it. I duly appreciate the contrivance ; but if the ball was 
 set off at a distance from the orifice, such an expedient 
 would be unnecessary." 
 
 " Certainly," answered Mr. Seymour ; " I will soon con- 
 vince you that, tinder the condition you propose, the pins 
 are not essential." 
 
 So saying, he placed the tube in his mouth, and by care- 
 fully holding the ball at a distance of about half an inch 
 from its orifice, he was enabled to consign it at once to a 
 continuous and steady stream of air, which can never be 
 commanded at the point from which the air issues ; and he 
 thus succeeded in sustaining the ball in motion, in the same 
 manner as he did in the preceding experiment. 
 
 " We will now proceed to the orchard," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " where I have prepared another pleasing exhibition of a 
 similar description." 
 
 The party accordingly left the Lodge, and 
 when they had arrived at the fountain, their 
 father produced a small wooden figure, of 
 which the annexed is a sketch. Within its 
 base was fixed a hollow sphere, or ball of 
 thin copper, which when properly adjusted 
 oixa fountain, or jet d'eau, was sustained by 
 the momentum produced by the velocity of 
 the stream ; so that the whole figure was 
 balanced, and made to dance on the fountain, 
 as the pith-ball had been made to play in 
 the current of air. 
 
 The children were much gratified at wit- 
 nessing so curious an exhibition. Mr. 
 Twaddleton laughed heartily at the ludicrous 
 effect it produced, and observed that, although 
 he had never before seen the experiment, 
 he had frequently heard of it ; and he added, 
 that he understood it to be a very common toy in Germany 
 and Holland. 
 
 " I have for some time," said Mrs. Seymour " been trying 
 to construct a light figure of this kind, which shall dance 
 on a current of air; and I believe I have at length 
 
92 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 succeeded. The head I have formed of the seed-vessel of 
 the Antirrhinum, which has a striking resemblance to the 
 traditional face of a witch, and possesses, moreover, the 
 indispensable condition of lightness. The dress is made of 
 silver paper, stretched over a cone of the same material. 
 From its appearance I have named it the Flying Witch." 
 
 " I admire your ingenuity," said Mr. Seymour, " and I 
 have no reason to doubt the success of your enterprise." 
 
 " I found it convenient," continued Mrs. Seymour, " to 
 place a stage of card below the orifice of the tube, in order 
 to steady the figure as she rises, and to receive her as she 
 falls." 
 
 " Tour principal care," observed her husband, " must be 
 to throw the centre of gravity of the figure as low as pos- 
 sible, and which you may readily aceomplish by shot sus- 
 pended by silken strings from the base of the figure." 
 
 On the party returning to the library, Mr. Seymour 
 expressed a- wish that, before they suspended their morning's 
 recreations, they should take into consideration a peculiar 
 property of matter, which they had not yet discussed. 
 
 " And what may that be ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " ELASTICITY," replied her father ; " and I wish to hear 
 whether Tom can explain to us the meaning of the term." 
 
 Tom very well knew what was meant by elasticity ; but 
 he was like many a merchant with a bill of exchange, who, 
 although well acquainted with its value, has not sufficient 
 small change to cash it. Tom wanted words to enable him 
 to furnish a clear definition: his father, therefore, kindly 
 relieved his embarrassment, by informing him that "it 
 was a property inherent in certain bodies, by which they 
 possessed a disposition to have their form altered by force 
 or pressure, arid to recover it on the removal of that pressure, 
 throwing off the striking body with some degree of force : 
 for example," continued he, " the cane which I hold in my 
 hand can be bent to a certain extent, and then, if I let it go, 
 it will immediately return to its former condition with con- 
 siderable force." 
 
 Louisa inquired whether bending and pressing upon a 
 body were the same thing. Mr. Seymour replied, that the 
 
CHAP. V. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 93 
 
 form of an elastic body might be altered either by com- 
 pression or distension, and that bending was, in fact, only 
 a combination of these two methods ; " for," said he, " when 
 a straight body, like my cane, is bent, those particles of it 
 which are on the one side are compressed, while those on 
 the other are distended. But let us proceed with the 
 subject. I have said that elastic bodies, on returning to 
 their original form, throw off the striking body with some 
 degree of force. I have here," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 taking out of his pocket a- wooden image of a cat, " a toy 
 which I intend as a gift to John ; it will serve to illustrate 
 our subject. The tail, you perceive, is moveable, one of 
 its ends being tied to a piece of catgut, which is a highly - 
 elastic substance. When I bend the tail under the body 
 of the animal, I necessarily twist the string ; and by press- 
 ing the other end of the wooden tail upon a piece of wax, 
 I can retain it for a few seconds in that situation." 
 
 Mr. Seymour, having fixed the tail in the manner above 
 described, placed the wooden image on the ground, when, 
 in a few seconds, it suddenly sprang forward, to the great 
 delight of the younger children. 
 
 " Can you explain this action ?" asked Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "The wax," answ r ered Tom, "was incapable of holding 
 the end of the tail longer than a few seconds ; and as soon 
 as it was let loose, the elasticity of the catgut enabled it to 
 return to its former condition ; in doing which the tail 
 struck with force against the ground, which threw off the 
 body of the cat and produced the leap." 
 
 " Very well explained ; and you, no doubt, will readily 
 perceive that the operation of steel springs depends upon 
 the same principle of elasticity : a piece of wire or steel, 
 coiled up, may be made to set a machine in motion by the 
 endeavour it makes to unbend itself. This is the principle 
 of the spring in a watch. When our watches are what is 
 termed down., this steel has uncoiled itself; and the opera- 
 tion of winding them up, is nothing more than that of bend- 
 ing it again for action (13). If the elasticity of a body be 
 perfect," added Mr. Seymour, "it will restore itself with a 
 force equal to that with w r hich it was compressed. As I have 
 
94 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 given John a toy, it is but fair that I should reward you, 
 Tom : open that box, and examine the gift which it contains." 
 
 Tom received the present from his father, and proceeded 
 to open the lid, when to his great astonishment, the figure 
 of an old witch suddenly sprang upwards. Mr. Seymour 
 explained its mechanism, by stating " that the figure con- 
 tained a wire coiled up like a cork-screw, and which, upon 
 the removal of the pressure of the lid which confined it, 
 immediately regained its original form." (14.) 
 
 Tom inquired what kind of bodies was most elastic. He 
 was informed that the air was the most elastic of all known 
 substances, and had, for that reason, been distinguished by 
 the name of an elastic fluid. Hard bodies were so in the 
 next degree ; while soft substances which easily retain im- 
 pressions, such as clay, wax, &c., might be considered as 
 possessing but little elasticity. 
 
 "I should have thought," said Louisa, " that neither clay 
 nor wax had possessed any elasticity." 
 
 " My love, we know not any bodies that are absolutely, 
 or perfectly, either bard, soft, or elastic ; since all partake 
 of these properties, more or less, in some intermediate de- 
 gree. Liquids are certainly the least elastic of all bodies ; 
 and, until lately, water was regarded as being perfectly 
 inelastic ; * but recent experiments have shown it capable 
 of compression, and of restoring itself to its original bulk, 
 as soon as the pressure is removed; it must, -therefore, pos- 
 sess some elasticity. Indeed," said Mr. Seymour, " we 
 might have anticipated such a result from the effects which 
 present themselves in the well-known game of ' Ricochet,' 
 or Duck and Drake." 
 
 " Duck and Drake /" exclaimed Louisa ; " for goodness' 
 sake, what can that game be ?" 
 
 " I dare say your brother will not have any difficulty in 
 explaining it to you." 
 
 Tom informed her that it was a game of water-skim- 
 ming, in which any number of boys threw a stone, an 
 oyster-shell, or a flat piece of tile, into the water ; and that 
 
 * The comparative inelasticity of water will be shown hereafter. 
 
CHAP. V. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 95 
 
 he whose stone rebounded the greatest number of times 
 was the conqueror. 
 
 " It is a very ancient game," said Mr. Seymour, ." and 
 had the vicar been present, we should have heard a learned 
 disquisition upon it ; as he, however, is unfortunately ab- 
 sent, I mast tell you all I know upon the subject. It was 
 called by the Greeks Epostrakismos* and was anciently 
 played with flat shells. Now it is evident that the water 
 must, under certain conditions, possess some degree of elasti- 
 city, or the stone could not rebound (15) ; but I shall have 
 occasion to revert to the subject hereafter. It is one of 
 those games which, like the bow and arrow, brings the eye 
 and hand in accord with each other; and these practical 
 faculties cannot be too early called into play before they get 
 withered by inaction." 
 
 "And are my marbles elastic ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; but not to the same extent as your ball. 
 There," said Mr. Seymour, throwing his ball against the 
 wall, " see how it rebounds !" 
 
 " The return of the ball," observed Tom, "was, I suppose, 
 owing to its elasticity ; and I now understand why one 
 filled with air rebounds so much better than one stuffed with 
 bran or wool." 
 
 " You are quite right ; and the return of the ball, after 
 having struck the wall, affords an example of what is 
 termed reflected motion, upon w r hich I shall have to remark 
 when .we come to the interesting subject of ' Compound 
 Forces ;' but at present, my only wish is to render the 
 property of elasticity intelligible to you. It is a force of 
 very extensive application; there is scarcely a machine 
 wherein the elasticity of one or more solids is not essentially 
 concerned. Nature, also, avails herself of this property to 
 accomplish many of her purposes. Fleas, called by the 
 Arabians ' the father of leapers' and locusts, are enabled to 
 jump two hundred times the height of their own bodies by 
 means of a springy membrane, easily visible by a microscope ; 
 so that, supposing the same relative force to be infused into 
 
 * Pollux, lib. ix. c. 7 ; also in Minucius Felix, Lugd. Bat, 1652, p. 3. 
 
96 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 the body of a man six feet high, he would be enabled to leap 
 three times the height of St. Paul's. The hinder legs of the 
 flea are also much longer than the fore ones : when about to 
 leap, it bends them towards the body, and then, by suddenly 
 extending them, effects the leap. The ' Industrious Fleas J 
 lately exhibited in London, were deprived of this power by 
 having the hinder legs amputated at the knee-joint." 
 
 " I suppose," said Tom, " that it is by some such spring 
 shrimps are enabled to leap to the tops of cataracts, as I have 
 read in my work on Natural History." 
 
 " Many species of fish are thus enabled to leap, by bend- 
 ing their bodies strongly, and then suddenly unbending 
 them with an elastic spring ; and the long-tailed cray-fish, 
 and the common shrimp, leap by extending their tails, after 
 they have been bent under their bodies : but the most 
 striking example of this kind is the leap of the salmon : just 
 under the cataract, and against the stream, he will rush for 
 some yards, and rise perpendicularly out of the spray twelve 
 or fourteen feet ; and, amidst the noise of the water, he may 
 be heard striking against the rock with a sound like the 
 clapping of hands ; if he find a temporary lodgment on the 
 shelving rock, he will lie quivering and preparing for another 
 summerset, until he reaches the top of the cataract ; thus at 
 once exhibiting the elasticity of his bones and the power of 
 his muscles. 
 
 " Nature also avails herself of this property for accom- 
 plishing many purposes in the vegetable kingdom ; the 
 regular dispersion and sowing of the seeds of several plants 
 is effected by a spring, which is wound sometimes round the 
 outside, and sometimes round the inside of the case in which 
 the seeds are contained. (16.) 
 
 " We will now conclude our diversions," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " with an exhibition of a very striking description. Here," 
 cried he, as he removed a small piece of apparatus from a 
 box which stood on the table, " is a toy, at which the frigid 
 features of Crassus might, for the second time in his life, 
 have relaxed into a laugh, and I am equally certain that 
 Heraclitus, of weeping memory, would have un wrinkled his 
 brow, upon such an occasion." He then displayed a small 
 
CHAP. V. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 97 
 
 ball of Indian rubber, on which was painted a not very flat- 
 tering resemblance of the worthy vicar, executed under the 
 direction of Mr. Seymour, by that inimitable artist, George 
 Cruikshank. The ball was connected with an air-syringe, 
 by which it was easily distended. It gradually increased in 
 magnitude, swelling like the gourd of Jonah, as the inflation 
 proceeded ; and the countenance of the vicar progressively 
 enlarged to the size of the full moon, without the least alter- 
 ation in the character or expression of his features. 
 
 "I declare," said Mr. Seymour, "the vicar improves upon 
 acquaintance." 
 
 " It must be acknowledged that you have puffed him into 
 consequence/' observed Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 The countenance had, after a short time, swelled to ten 
 times its original dimensions ; the children deafened Mr. 
 Seymour with their shouts, and the good-humoured clergy- 
 man was actually convulsed with laughter. The stop-cock 
 was now turned; the elastic bladder became smaller and 
 smaller, and the features underwent a corresponding dimi- 
 nution, until they once again assumed their original 
 dimensions. 
 
 " You perceive, my dear Sir, that I make you look small 
 again." 
 
 " That is by no means an unusual effect of your pleasan- 
 try," replied the vicar. 
 
 " Now, Tom," said his father, " it is for you to explain 
 the nature of the exhibition you have just witnessed." 
 Tom proceeded accordingly. 
 
 "The bladder was highly elastic, and therefore readily 
 yielded to the pressure of the air, and became distended. 
 As soon, however, as the pressure was removed, the air 
 was driven out again with force, and the particles of the 
 Indian rubber returned to their former condition. But I 
 observed one circumstance which I do not understand," 
 said Tom ; " when you first turned the stop-cock, the air 
 rushed out with great violence, and the ball diminished very 
 rapidly ; but it gradually slackened, until, at last, the bladder 
 could scarcely be seen to contract." 
 
 " I rejoice to find that you were so observant," said his 
 
 H 
 
93 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. V. 
 
 father: "the effect you noticed depended upon a general 
 law of elasticity. Elastic bodies, in the recovery of their 
 forms from a state of compression, after the removal of the 
 compressing force, exert a greater power at first than at 
 last, so that the whole progress of restoration is a retarded 
 motion." 
 
 The vicar, who had listened with profound attention to 
 the explanation which the boy had offered, rushed forward 
 at its conclusion, and clasping him in his arms, declared, 
 that a first-class man of Trinity could not have succeeded 
 better. 
 
 " But let us now, if you please, Mr. Seymour, suspend our 
 researches : recollect," said the vicar, " that your birds are, 
 as yet, scarcely fledged ; and they will, therefore, make 
 greater advances by short flights frequently repeated, than 
 by uninterrupted progression." 
 
 We heartily concur in this opinion, and shall, therefore, 
 terminate the chapter. 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF MAJOR SNAPWELL, AND THE BUSTLE IT OCCASIONED. 
 THE MAIDEN LADIES OF OVERTON PERPLEXED, BUT NOT SUBDUED. 
 THE VICAR'S INTERVIEW WITH THE STRANGER. THE OBJECT OF THE 
 LATTER IN VISITING OVERTON. A CURIOUS DISCUSSION. A WORD OR 
 TWO ADDRESSED TO FOX-HUNTERS. VERBAL CORRUPTIONS. CURIOUS 
 DERIVATIONS. SOME GEOMETRICAL DEFINITIONS. AN INSTRUCTIVE 
 ENIGMA. 
 
 As the maiden ladies of Overton were regaling themselves 
 with a sociable dish of tea and chat, and like many other 
 cackling old women, discussing the mysteries of ' Table-turn- 
 ing ' and ' Spirit rappingsj (17.) the conversation was abruptly 
 interrupted by the appearance of a chariot-and-four, that 
 passed along the road with luxurious speed, and which, as 
 Miss Kitty Eyland declared, announced, by the dignified 
 suavity of its roll, that the personage it conveyed must be 
 of superior rank. 
 
 " Those," exclaimed she, " who cannot at once distinguish 
 such ' spirit-stirring ' sounds from the discordant rattle of a 
 plebeian chaise, deserve to wear the ears of Midas." 
 
 This extraordinary subtlety of Miss By land's ears is said 
 to have been conferred upon them in her early days, by 
 those universal promoters of bodily vigour, air and exercise, 
 of which they had received the combined advantage by the 
 ingenious habit of listening to whispers through a certain 
 pneumatic apparatus, familiarly termed a keyhole. In farther 
 proof of the fidelity and alertness of her auditory establish- 
 ment, w r e may just state, that, on passing Doseall's shop, 
 she never failed to distinguish, by the sound of the mortar, 
 whether the medicines under preparation were designed for 
 the stomachs of the rich or the poor. The vicar even 
 admitted the correctness of her discrimination, for he had 
 himself observed that the pestle beat dactyls in one case, and 
 spondees in the other. 
 
100 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 While the carriage was passing the window, the maiden 
 companions were breathless with wonder, each catching a 
 glance from the countenance of her neighbour, which 
 heightened as it were, by reflection, the surprise depicted on 
 her own. 
 
 " Overton," exclaimed Miss Noodleton, " is doubtless by 
 this time honoured by the arrival of some distinguished 
 stranger ; but who he is, or what may be the object of his 
 visit, I am at a loss to divine." 
 
 "Pooh!" cried Miss Puttie; "what a fuss is here about 
 a green carriage and four hack horses ! I doubt not but 
 that it has conveyed some visitor to the vicar: had the 
 Seymours expected any company, I must have heard of it 
 yesterday." 
 
 "To the vicar!" exclaimed Miss Phyllis Tapps; "and 
 pray, Miss Puttie, allow me to ask whether you ever heard 
 of the peacock nestling with the crow ?" 
 
 " Or of the eagle taking up its abode in an ivy-bush ? " 
 vociferated Miss "Ryland. 
 
 Conjectures were vain, and the * weird sisters' determined 
 to consult their omens ; prior to which, however, it was 
 judged expedient to see and question Ralph Spindle, w r hom 
 Dr. Doseall employed on the arrival of a stranger, as certain 
 insects are said to use their 'feelers' to discover the approach 
 of any prey that may serve them as food. 
 
 The stranger was soon discovered to be a Major Snap well, 
 a rich and eccentric old bachelor, who had served in various 
 campaigns in different parts of the globe, and received a 
 competent number of wounds in the defence of his king and 
 country. His age was within an easy distance of sixty. 
 His fortune was reported to be large, and it was said that 
 he had not any near relative to enjoy the reversion, since his 
 nephew had perished about two years before by shipwreck. 
 The circumstances that led to this disastrous event were 
 believed to have so affected the veteran, as to have occasioned 
 a very serious illness, and a consequent state of despondency, 
 for which his physicians advised a constant change of 
 scene ; so that he had been rambling about the Continent 
 during the last year and a half, accompanied only by 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 101 
 
 his faithful servant Jacob Watson, who was as much 
 attached to the Major, as was ever a Newfoundland dog to 
 his master. 
 
 Such was the information derived from Annette, the 
 vicar's housekeeper : what proportion of fiction was mingled 
 with its truth, the reader will probably soon be able to dis- 
 cover. It is, however, necessary he should be early informed 
 that this veteran officer received his education at Harrow, 
 and had afterwards extended his cla sical scholarship at 
 Cambridge, where he was remembered as the successful 
 candidate for the Seatoiiian Prize Poem. 
 
 " "Well, Jacob," said the Major, as his trusty but asth- 
 matic valet was leisurely buttoning on the long gaiters of 
 his master the morning after his arrival, " what do you hear 
 about this village of Overtoil ? Are there any sociable 
 neighbours ? I like the country ; it is beautiful, Jacob, 
 and the air appears mild : it promises to be the very place 
 to rekindle the sparks of my expiring constitution; and 
 should you, at the same time, get your broken- winded 
 bellows mended, my vital flame might, perhaps, burn a 
 little brighter. But tell me, what do you hear of it, 
 Jacob?" 
 
 " Why, and please you, Major, I just now met an old 
 crony of mine, Mrs. Annette Brown, at the Devil and the 
 Bag of Nails " 
 
 "And pray, Jacob," exclaimed the Major, "who taught 
 you to speak thus irreverently of the village blacksmith?" 
 
 " The village blacksmith ! Lord love you. Sir, it is the 
 sign of the village alehouse !" 
 
 " Then it is a very odd one ; but go on with your 
 story." 
 
 " As I was saying, Major, I met an old acquaintance who 
 is housekeeper to Mr. Twaddleton, a bachelor gentleman, 
 and the vicar of the parish. She tells me her master is 
 downright adored in the place : though he must needs be a 
 queer mortal, for she says he is so fond of' antics that he 
 won't suffer a mop or broom in his house, lest, I suppose, it 
 should spoil the hopping of the fleas, and put an end to the 
 fly's rope-dance upon a cobweb." 
 
102 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 " Jacob, Jacob, you are a wag, and had better go and 
 offer your services to this merry parson ; although, I fear, 
 your asthmatic pipes would prove but a sorry accompaniment 
 to his capering. But psha ! fiddlestick ! stuff and non- 
 sense ! who ever heard of a vicar being fond of antics ? 
 you are imposed upon, Jacob." 
 
 " I am sure that how Annette told me as much. Ay, and 
 she said he had all sorts of cariosities in his parlour such 
 as grinning faces, dogs with three heads, rusty swords, and 
 I do not know what besides." 
 
 "I see it! see it all plainly!" exclaimed the Major; 
 " and your story has so delighted me that I could almost 
 dance myself. This respectable clergyman," thought he, 
 " is, doubtless, an antiquary, a virtuoso what a delightful 
 companion will he prove! And a bachelor like myself! 
 what tete-a-tetes do I anticipate !" 
 
 "Jacob," exclaimed the Major, "you should have said 
 tliat the vicar was fond of, or, to speak more correctly, 
 devoted to antiques, not to antics. But, tell me whether there 
 are any other agreeable persons in this village ?" 
 
 " There's the squire and his family," answered the valet. 
 
 " The name, the name, Jacob ?" 
 
 " Squire Seymour, and please you, Major." 
 
 "Seymour, Seymour!" repeated the Major; "I seein 
 to know that name let me remember surely he was of 
 Trinity?" 
 
 The Major's cogitations, however, were abruptly cut short 
 by the entrance of the servant-maid, who informed him that 
 Mr. Vicar Twaddleton had called. 
 
 " I beg that Mr. Twaddleton may be admitted. Jacob, 
 place a chair." 
 
 "Mr. Twaddleton," said the Major, as he advanced to- 
 wards the door to meet his visitor, "I feel obliged and 
 honoured by your kind attention. As a perfect stranger, I 
 could scarcely have expected this civility ; but your village, 
 surrounded as it is by all the softer charms of Nature, is 
 calculated to impress the hearts of its inhabitants with a 
 kindred amenity. The inhabitants are, doubtless, much at- 
 tached to their country." 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 103 
 
 " Proverbially so : never was Ulysses more attached to his 
 Ithaca !" 
 
 " JN"or, if I may judge from my kind reception," observed 
 the Major, " was Telemachus more courteous to strangers !" 
 
 "We all rejoice at the arrival of visitors," continued Mr. 
 Twaddleton; "and, as vicar of the parish of Overtoil, I 
 should consider myself criminally deficient in my duty were 
 I to suffer a respectable stranger to depart from us without 
 his having received the mark of my respect, and the tender 
 of my humble but cordial hospitality. I am an old-fashioned 
 person, Major Snapwell, and am well aware that these anti- 
 quated notions do not altogether accord with the cold and 
 studied forms of the present day." 
 
 "Mr. Twaddleton," exclaimed the delighted Major,"! 
 thank thee, most heartily thank thee, in the name of all 
 those whose hearts have not yet been benumbed by worldly 
 indifference. Sit thee down I abhor ceremony and let 
 me beg of you not to take offence at a question to which I 
 am most anxious you should give me an answer. Are you, 
 my dear Sir, as I have just reasons for supposing, an ANTI- 
 QUARY ?" 
 
 " I am undoubtedly attached to pursuits which might 
 have favoured such a report." 
 
 11 1 thought so ; I guessed as much. Then give me your 
 hand ; we must be friends and associates. If there be a 
 pursuit on earth to which I am "devotedly attached, it is to 
 that of antiquities ; and, let me add," continued the Major 
 with increasing animation, for, like bottled beer, he was the 
 brisker for warmth, " that if there be a literary character to 
 whom the professor of arms ought to feel superior gratitude, 
 it is to the antiquary. How many victories, what valiant 
 deeds must have perished in the memory of mankind, but 
 for the kind offices of the virtuoso, under whose vivifying 
 touch the laurels of the victor, thus rescued from the scythe 
 of Time, have bloomed with renovated vigour ; while the 
 splendid trophies of his achievements must have been 
 scattered as dust to the winds, had he not collected their 
 remains, and piously deposited them in his mausoleum for 
 their preservation 1" 
 
104 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 It were difficult to say, whether astonishment at the 
 Major's warmth, delight at the congenial sentiments he had 
 expressed, or admiration at the language in which they had 
 been conveyed, was the feeling predominant in the vicar's 
 mind, nor do we deem it necessary to inquire ; suffice it to 
 say, that, from the conversation of a few minutes, these two 
 gentlemen felt incited to a mutual regard by sympathy and 
 congeniality of soul ; so true is it that, while we may be 
 strangers with the companions of years, we may become 
 friends with the strangers of yesterday ! 
 
 " Major Snap well," said the vicar, " I may truly mark 
 this day in the diary of my life in red letters ; your society 
 will add to my happiness, by extending the sphere of my 
 literary intercourse. When may I expect the pleasure of 
 your company at the vicarage ? I am really impatient to 
 show you my coins and a few dainty morsels of virtu." 
 
 11 1 shall be at your service to-morrow," answered the 
 Major ; " but I must now say something about my plans, 
 for it is possible that you may assist me in carrying them 
 into execution." 
 
 " Command me," said the vicar. 
 
 " For my present purpose, it is only necessary to state, 
 that I have a nephew whom I have adopted as my son ; I 
 superintended his education ; he arrived at manhood, and 
 became an accomplished scholar and a polished gentleman. 
 Naturally anxious to visit the ancient mistress of the world, 
 he readily obtained my approbation of his plan. He embarked 
 at Marseilles ; but meeting with one of those treacherous 
 gales so characteristic of the Mediterranean, he was ship- 
 wrecked in the bay of Genoa. For three years did I mourn 
 him as dead, and it was only by a train of circumstances of 
 the most extraordinary description, involving the plot of a 
 rascally agent, that I at length discovered that he had escaped 
 from the cave of some Calypso, and was in perfect health. 
 I will not now trouble you with the details of this most sin- 
 gular history ; suffice it to say he is well, and about to be 
 married to a young lady for whom he has long entertained the 
 purest attachment. I am in search of a country residence 
 for them, and hearing that a Sir Thomas Sotherby, a resident, 
 
CHAP. VI. . MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 105 
 
 I understand, in your neighbourhood, is most desirous of 
 disposing of Osterley Park, and offers many advantages to 
 any one who will take it off his hands, and as I have both 
 the inclination and the means to become its possessor, I have 
 travelled hither for the purpose of inspecting it. So now 
 you have my history." 
 
 " It is perfectly true," said the vicar, " that Sir Thomas is 
 willing to make a considerable sacrifice in order to obtain an 
 immediate purchaser. The health of her Ladyship is in so 
 precarious a state that her physicians have ordered her to 
 proceed, without delay, to Madeira. Sir Thomas, Major, is 
 a fox-hunter, and I will venture to say that no one will miss 
 him but the doctor and the foxes the one will lose a pro- 
 fitable friend, the other a relentless enemy ' Gaudet equis et 
 canibus,' as the poet has it." 
 
 " Indeed ! but I am no fox-hunter, and I therefore fear 
 that, in the opinion of the country, Osterley Park will not 
 exchange its proprietor to advantage. Pray, vicar, may I 
 ask whether you are addicted to field-sports ?" 
 
 " Addicted to field-sports !" repeated the reverend anti- 
 quary : " I am surprised, mortified ! I I, the Vicar of 
 Overton, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, addicted 
 to field-sports !" 
 
 " Nay, Mr. Twaddleton," observed the Major, " I am 
 really sorry that I should have unintentionally excited your 
 displeasure. I am not aware that there is anything in the 
 innocent pastime to which I have alluded inconsistent with 
 your station and acquirements. As an antiquary, I need 
 hardly remind you that the fathers of the Church were 
 amongst the keenest sportsmen. Do you not remember the 
 amusing portrait which Chaucer has given us of a sporting 
 monastic in the 14th century, and which, by-the-by, was the 
 model from which Sir "Walter Scott drew the character of his 
 Abbot in ' Ivanhoe ?' Need I call to your recollection the 
 fame of Walter, Archdeacon of Canterbury, who was pro- 
 moted to the see of Rochester in 1147, and who is said to 
 have been as keen a sportsman at eighty as he was at twenty 
 years of age ? Then, again, there was Reginald Brian, trans- 
 lated to the see of "Worcester in 1352; and "William de 
 
106 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 Clowne, whom his biographer celebrated as the most amiable 
 ecclesiastic that ever filled the abbot's throne of St. Mary in 
 Leicestershire, the most knowing sportsman after a hare in 
 the kingdom ; insomuch, indeed, that Richard II. allowed 
 him an annual pension for his instructions in the art. As 
 a classical scholar, too, you must be acquainted with the 
 many elegant treatises, both in prose and verse, which have 
 been transmitted to us by the ancients in praise of this 
 recreation, as, for example, those of Xenophon, Oppian, 
 Grotius, and the younger Pliny ; the latter of whom you may 
 remember attributes to it his recovery from a dangerous ill- 
 ness." 
 
 " Major Snapwell, antiquity can no more privilege error, 
 than novelty can prejudice truth," exclaimed the vicar : 
 " besides which, sir, I never could discover the principle upon 
 which the pleasure of this said diversion of Diana can depend ; 
 and yet I do assure you, sir, that I have not failed to submit 
 the question to a logical examination. Thus, for instance : 
 the fox emits from his body certain odorous particles ; that 
 is my major, and I say comedo : very well ; I proceed. The 
 structure of the olfactory organs of the canine species enables 
 them to perceive this said odour : that is my minor, and I say 
 again concedo. But I should much like to be informed how 
 any logician can defend the consequence which is deduced 
 from these 'premises. To speak syllogistic-ally, why am I 
 pleased to put my neck in jeopardy, because my dogs happen 
 to perceive a smell?" 
 
 The Major laughed heartily at the very ludicrous point 
 of view in which the worthy vicar had thought proper to 
 represent the subject, observing that ridicule was the usual 
 resort of those who were beaten in argument ; and he re- 
 minded him that Aristophanes was thus enabled to put 
 down even Socrates,* and that Cervantes, by his Don 
 Quixote, succeeded in suppressing that extravagant passion 
 for chivalrous romances in the 17th century, which had 
 resisted every stern appeal to reason. Their discourse now 
 took a different turn. The Major inquired what might be 
 
 * ' The Clouds:' see the dialogue between Strepsiades aud Socrates. 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 107 
 
 the origin of the singular sign of the village inn " The Devil 
 and the Bag of Nails ?" " Satan," continued the Major, " is 
 unquestionably the patron of the public-house ; but why he 
 should be represented as holding in his hand a bag of nails, 
 I cannot divine, unless, indeed, in reference to the old adage, 
 that ' Every glass of spirit is a nail in your coffin.'' " 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! whimsical enough," cried the vicar ; 
 " but, unfortunately, your explanation is not the true one. 
 The sign," observed Mr. Twaddleton, "is not quite so un- 
 common as you seem to suppose ; it was originally ' Pan and 
 his Bacchanals' but, by a very natural transition, the figure 
 of the sylvan deity, which is certainly terrific * enough to 
 sanction the mistake, has passed into that of the evil tempter; 
 while the word Bacchanals, by one of those verbal corruptions 
 so common in all languages, has been converted into the 
 Bag of nails" 
 
 " Very true," said the Major ; " whenever the vulgar are 
 incapable of understanding the meaning of a word, they are 
 sure to substitute for it some one which has the nearest 
 resemblance to it in sound, and which is more familiar to 
 them. I had but just now an excellent instance of this 
 kind: my blundering servant Jacob insisted upon it you 
 were fond of antics ; and before I left London, on sending 
 him out to purchase a Court Calendar, what do you suppose 
 he brought home ? a quart colander /" 
 
 The vicar was much amused by the absurdity of the mis- 
 take, and took occasion to observe that the Greeks had the 
 same unfortunate turn of reducing every unknown term to 
 some word with which they were better acquainted, and 
 which, according to Jacob Bryant, had produced the great- 
 est confusion in ancient mythology. 
 
 " I lately heard," continued the Major, " of a Welsh 
 squire, who, upon being questioned whether Sodnianism or 
 Arianism prevailed in his district, replied that he could not 
 
 * To the terror-inspiring power of Pan we owe the word " Panic." The 
 classical reader will remember that, at the battle of Marathon, Pan is said to 
 have appeared, like Theseus, on the side of the Greeks, smiting the Persians 
 with that irresistible fear a Panic; in gratitude for which the worship of 
 Pan was introduced at Athens. 
 
108 PHILOSOPHY IN" SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 answer that question, but that lie knew there had been a 
 great deal of Rheumatism" 
 
 " As we are upon this subject," said the vicar, "I must 
 give you an instance of verbal corruption, which my friend 
 and neighbour, Jeremy Prybabel, the etymologist, has dis- 
 covered. Over the entrance of an inn at Hounslow are 
 suspended the arms of one of the City companies, with the 
 motto ' God encompasses usj which has given to the inn the 
 name of the ' Goat and Compasses /' " 
 
 "A similar explanation will apply to the sign of the 
 * Goat in Boots' which," said the Major, " is evidently a 
 corruption of the Dutch legend, ' Mercurias der Goden Boode.' 
 
 4; Many such absurd corruptions might be enumerated," 
 continued the Major, " but I know not one more amusing 
 than the sign of the ' Swan with two necks.' "* 
 
 "You may indeed say so," observed the vicar; "it is 
 one of the best illustrations of a colloquial corruption that 
 I am acquainted with. The swans on the river are marked 
 on the upper mandible to denote their several owners ; two 
 nicks upon this part invest the Vintners' Company with the 
 ownership of the birds so marked. t 
 
 " I have but lately discovered the true interpretation of 
 the ' Green-man and Still :' it denoted," continued Mr. 
 Twaddleton, " the vendor of cordial waters ; the Green-man 
 was the person who furnished the herbs, and the Still signified 
 the process by which their essence was extracted." 
 
 But the good company of the Major and his newly- 
 acquired friend must not detain us any longer from our 
 duty. Mr. Seymour and his young family have re-assem- 
 
 * The two necks of the Spread Eagle in the Imperial Arms of Russia have 
 a different signification, being symbolical of the East and West Empire, and 
 the extension of their power from East to West. 
 
 f To these examples the author will take the liberty of adding another 
 viz., that of the sign of " The Pi] and Whistle," which is a corruption of " Peg 
 and Wassail." In the Wassail-bowl the liquor was divided into equal quan- 
 tities by pegs, placed one above the other, in order to make men drink fairly ; 
 and hence we derive the saying of a person being " a peg too low.'' So, again, 
 the saying of " Please the pigs'' is perfectly unintelligible until we wave 
 the wand of our Etymologist, when, ' Hey, Presto!' the pigs are at once trans- 
 formed into Pyx, the sacred box, in which the Host was kept; and thus is 
 an obscuie exclamation changed into an intelligible adjuration. 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 109 
 
 bled in the library, and it is necessary that we should im- 
 mediately join them. Some of our readers may, perhaps, 
 decline accompanying us upon this occasion ; for the subject 
 to be discussed, however necessary it may be, is certainly 
 not so entertaining as many of those which have engaged 
 our attention. If this be the case, they may make a short 
 cut, and join us again at the beginning of the following 
 chapter. The children had arranged themselves around 
 the table, when their father observed, that it would be ne- 
 cessary for their future progress, to devote an hour or two 
 to the consideration of several mathematical figures and 
 terms. 
 
 " As to' mathematical figures," said Tom, " if you allude 
 to squares, circles, and figures of that description, and to 
 parallel lines, angles, and so on, I can assure you that I 
 am already well acquainted with them ; for the work you 
 have given us 011 PAPYEO-PLASTICS* has fully instructed 
 me in those particulars." 
 
 " If that be the case," replied Mr. Seymour, " you will 
 not have any difficulty in answering my questions ; but we 
 must, nevertheless, go regularly through the subject, for 
 the sake of your sisters, who may not be equally proficient 
 in this elementary part of geometry : tell me, therefore, in 
 the first place, what is meant by a parallelogram ." 
 
 " A four-sided figure," answered Tom. 
 
 " That is true ; but are there not some other conditions 
 annexed to it ?" 
 
 " Yes ; its opposite sides are parallel." 
 
 " And what do you understand by the term parallel ?" 
 
 " Lines are said to be parallel," said Tom, " when they 
 are always at the same distance from each other, and which, 
 therefore, can never meet, though ever so far continued." 
 
 " You are quite right. What is a square ?" 
 
 " A four-sided figure, in which the sides are all equal, 
 and its angles all right angles." 
 
 * " PAPYRO-PLASTICS, or the Art of Modelling in Paper;" from the 
 German, by Boileau. London, 1825. The Author strongly recommends 
 this interesting little work, as opening a new source of instructive amuse- 
 ment. His own children have derived from it many hours of rational re- 
 creation. 
 
110 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 " Good again : but let me see whether you have a cor- 
 rect notion of the nature of an angle." 
 
 " An angle is the opening formed by two lines meeting 
 in a point." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here acknowledged himself perfectly satis- 
 fied with his son's answers, and said, that he should accord- 
 ingly direct his attention more particularly to Louisa and 
 Fanny; and, taking his pencil, he sketched the annexed 
 figure. 
 
 "You perceive, Louisa," said 
 her father, " that the line A c 
 makes two angles with the line 
 } u B D, viz., the angle A c D and the 
 
 \ / angle A c B ; and you perceive 
 
 *V .s' that these two angles are equal 
 
 to each other." 
 
 " How can they be equal?" cried Fanny, "for the lines 
 are of very different lengths." 
 
 " An angle, my dear girl, is not measured by the length of 
 the lines, but by their opening" 
 
 "But surely," said Louisa, "that amounts to the same 
 thing : for the longer the lines are, the greater must be the 
 opening between them." 
 
 " Take the pair of compasses," replied her father, " and 
 describe a circle around these angles, making the angular 
 point c its centre." 
 
 " To what extent am I to open them ?" 
 
 " That is quite immaterial ; you may draw your circle 
 of any magnitude you please, provided it cuts both the lines 
 of the angles we are about to measure. All circles, of 
 whatever dimensions, are supposed to be divided into 360 
 parts, called degrees ; the size, but not the number, of such 
 degrees will therefore increase with the magnitude of the 
 circle. And since the opening of an angle is necessarily 
 a portion of a circle, it must embrace a certain number of 
 degrees ; and two angles are, accordingly, said to be equal, 
 when they contain an equal number of them." 
 
 "Now I understand it," said Louisa: "as the dimensions 
 of an angle depend upon the number of degrees contained 
 
CHAP, VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. Ill 
 
 between its lines, it evidently must be the opening, and not 
 the length of the lines, that determines the measure of the 
 angle." 
 
 " Say, rather, the value of the angle, for that is the usual 
 expression : but I perceive you understand me ; tell me, 
 therefore, how many degrees are contained in each of the 
 two angles formed by one line falling perpendicularly on 
 another, as in the above figure." 
 
 " I perceive that the two angles together are just equal to 
 half the circle ; and since you say the whole circle is divided 
 into 360 degrees, each angle must measure 90 of them, or 
 the two together make up 180." 
 
 " You are quite right, and I beg you to remember that an 
 angle of 90 degrees is called a right angle, and that, when 
 one line is perpendicular to another, it will always form, as 
 you have just seen, a right angle on either side." 
 
 "I now understand," said Louisa, "what is meant by 
 lines being at right angles to each otlier. But, papa," continued 
 she, " what are obtuse and acute angles, of which I have so 
 often heard you speak ?" 
 
 Mr. Seymour replied, that he could better explain their 
 nature by a drawing, than by any verbal 
 description. "Here," said he, "is an 
 acute angle, A ; and here an obtuse one, 
 B : the former, you perceive, is one that contains less than 
 90 degrees : the latter, one which contains more, and is 
 consequently greater than a right angle." 
 
 Louisa fully comprehended the explanation, and observed 
 that she should remember, whenever an angle measured less 
 than a right angle, that it w r as acute, and when more, obtuse. 
 " But you have not yet explained to me," she continued, 
 " the meaning of a triangle." 
 
 " That is a term denoting a figure of three sides and 
 angles. I dare say Tom can describe the several kinds of 
 triangles." 
 
 Tom accordingly took the pencil, and drew a set of 
 figures, of which the annexed are faithful copies. 
 
 " A," said he, " is an Equi-lateral triangle ; its three sides 
 being all equal. B is a Right-angled triangle, having one 
 
112 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 right angle, c represents an Obtuse-angled triangle, it having 
 one obtuse angle. An Acute-angled 
 
 A*j triangle is one in which all the three 
 /\ angles are acute, as represented in 
 X I figure A." 
 
 " As you have succeeded so well in 
 your explanation of a triangle, let us 
 see whether you can describe the nature 
 of a circle." 
 
 " It is a round line, every part of which is equally distant 
 from the centre." 
 
 "And which round line," said Mr. Seymour, "is fre- 
 quently called the circumference. "What is the diameter ?" 
 
 "A straight line drawn through the centre, and termi- 
 nating in the circumference on both sides." 
 " And an arc ?" said Mr. Seymour. 
 "Any portion of the circumference." 
 
 4 "Now let me ask you, what name is given to a line 
 which joins any two opposite angles of a four- sided 
 figure?'' 
 
 " The diagonal" promptly answered the boy. 
 " You are quite right," said Mr. Seymour ; and, turning 
 towards the girls, he desired them to remember that term, 
 as they would frequently hear it mentioned during their in- 
 vestigation into the nature of * Compound Forces.' " I 
 really think," continued their father, " that Tom is as 
 capable of instructing you in these elementary principles 
 as myself; I shall, therefore, desire you, my dear boy, to 
 conclude this lecture during my absence ; remember, that 
 by teaching others we always instruct ourselves : but before 
 I quit you, I will give you a riddle to solve, for I well know 
 that you all delight in an enigma." 
 " Indeed do we," said Louisa. 
 " Pray let us hear it, papa," cried Eanny. 
 Mr. Seymour then recited the following lines, which he 
 had hastily composed; the point having, no doubt, been 
 suggested on the instant by the remark he had just 
 offered : 
 
CHAP. VI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 113 
 
 " Here's a riddle for those who delight in their gold, 
 
 Which they p'rhaps may explain, when my story is told ; 
 
 No treasure's so precious, and yet those who gain me, 
 
 Though they give me away, will always retain me ! 
 
 Indeed, if they wish to increase their rich store, 
 
 By giving away they will only add more ! 
 
 To Fancy's quick eye, in what forms have I risen ! 
 
 And Poets declare that my birth was in heaven ; 
 
 To some as a flame, as a stream, or a fountain, 
 
 To others I seem as a tower or mountain. 
 
 Should these hints not betray me, I only can say, 
 
 You do not possess me I hope that you may." 
 
 " Why," cried Tom, " what can that be, of which the 
 more we give away, the more we have left ?" 
 
 " Ay," added Louisa, " and that we actually increase the 
 store, by giving away a part of it !" 
 
 " It is some word, I think," observed Fanny ; " do you 
 not remember that mamma asked us what that was, from 
 which we might take away some, and yet that the whole 
 would remain ?" 
 
 " To be sure," cried Tom, " I remember it well ; it was 
 the word wholesome" 
 
 Mr. Seymour here assured them, that the enigma they 
 had just heard did not depend upon any verbal quibble : and 
 that as the object of its introduction was to instruct, rather 
 than to puzzle them, he would explain it, and leave them to 
 extract its moral, and profit by its application. 
 
 " It is KNOWLEDGE," said he. 
 
 " ' No treasure's so precious,' " repeated Louisa ; " certainly 
 none; 'and yet those who gain me, though they give me away, 
 will always retain me ;' to be sure," added she. " How could 
 I have been so simple as not to have guessed it ? We can 
 certainly impart all the knowledge we possess, and yet not 
 lose any of it ourselves." 
 
 " By instructing others," said Mr. Seymour, " we are 
 certain, at the same time, of instructing ourselves, and thus 
 to increase our store of knowledge. Let this truth be im- 
 pressed upon your memory, and after our conversations, 
 examine each other as to the knowledge you have gained by 
 them ; you will thus not only fix the facts more strongly in 
 your recollection, but you will acquire a facility of conversing 
 in philosophical language. I hope you have not forgotten 
 
114 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VI. 
 
 how forcibly your good friend the vicar urged the impor- 
 tance of avoiding the use of words that did not, at once, 
 enforce their meaning; he told you that philosophical 
 language was purposely invented to embody, by the fewest 
 possible words, the highest amount of ideas ; and with his 
 usual love of classical illustration, he likened them to that 
 * meaning -crowded ' word, which Andromache so deeply grieved 
 at not having heard from the lips of the dying Hector.* It 
 is undoubtedly well known that the misuse of a word has 
 even led to a false theory in science ; if you ask me for an 
 example, I will remind you of our late discourse regarding 
 the term ' Vis Inertias. ^ It is possible that this conviction 
 of the vicar's mind, may have originally led him to that 
 extravagant abhorrence of puns, which so distinguishes him." 
 
 * yrvxtvov t#o;, Iliad, lib. 22. f Page 59. 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 115 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMPOUND FORCES. THE COMPOSITION AND RESOLUTION OF MOTION. 
 ROTATORY MOTION. THK REVOLVING WATCH-GLASS. THE SLING. THE 
 CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTEIPETAL FORCES. THEORY OF PROJECTILES. 
 THE TRUNDLING OF A MOP. THE CENTRIFUGAL RAILWAY. A GEO- 
 LOGICAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN MR. SEYMOUR AND THE VICAR, IN 
 WHICH THE LATTER DISPLAYS HIS POWERS OF RIDICULE. 
 
 ON the following morning Mr. Seymour proceeded to explain 
 the nature of " COMPOUND FORCES." The young party 
 having assembled as usual, their father commenced his lecture 
 by reminding them that the motion of a body actuated by a 
 single force was always in a right line, and in the direction in 
 which it received the impulse. 
 
 " Do you mean to say, papa, that a single force can never 
 make a body move round, or in a crooked direction ; if so, 
 how is it that my ball or marble will frequently run along 
 the ground in a curved direction ? indeed, I always find it 
 very difficult to make it go straight." 
 
 " Depend upon it, my dear, whenever the direction of a 
 .noving body deviates from a straight line, it has been 
 influenced by some second force." 
 
 " Then I suppose that, whenever my marble runs in a 
 curved line, there must be some second force to make it do 
 so." 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; the inequality of the ground may give it a 
 new direction ; which, when combined with the original force 
 which it received from your hand, will fully explain the 
 irregularity of its course. It is to the consideration of such 
 compound motion that I am now desirous of directing your 
 attention : the subject is termed the * COMPOSITION OF 
 FORCES.' Here is a block of wood, with two strings, as you 
 may perceive, affixed to it : do you take hold of one of these 
 
116 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 strings, Louisa ; and you, Tom, of the other. That is right. 
 Now place the block at one of the corners or angles of the 
 table : and while Tom draws it along one of its sides, do you, 
 Louisa, at the same time, draw it along the other." 
 The children obeyed their father's directions. 
 
 " See !" said Mr. Seymour, " the block obeys neither of the 
 strings, but picks out for itself a path which is intermediate. 
 Can you tell me, Tom, the exact direction which it takes ?" 
 
 " If we consider this table as a parallelogram, I should say, 
 that the block described the diagonal." 
 
 " Well said, my boy ; the ablest mathematician could not 
 have given a more correct answer. The block was actuated 
 by two forces at the same time ; and, since it could not move 
 in two directions at once, it moved under the compound force, 
 in a mean or diagonal direction, proportioned to the influence 
 of the joint forces acting upon it. You will, therefore, be 
 pleased to remember, it is a general law, that where a body 
 is actuated by two forces at the same time, whose directions 
 are inclined to each other, at any angle whatever, it will 
 not obey either of them, but move along the diagonal. In 
 determining, therefore, the course which a body will describe 
 under the influence of two such forces, we have nothing 
 more to do than to draw lines which show the direction and 
 quantity of the two forces, and then to complete the paral- 
 lelogram by parallel lines, and its diagonal will be the path 
 of the body. I have here a diagram which may render the 
 subject more intelligible. Suppose the ball B were, at the 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 117 
 
 same moment, struck by two forces x and Y in the directions 
 B A and B D. It is evident that the ball 
 would not obey either of such forces, but 
 would move along the oblique or diagonal " 
 line B c." 
 
 " But," said Tom, " why have you drawn 
 the line B i) so much longer than B A ?" 
 
 " I am glad you have asked that question. 
 Lines are intended, not only to represent 
 the direction, but the momenta or quantities 
 of the forces : the line B D is, as you observe, 
 twice as long as B A ; it consequently denotes that the force 
 Y acting in the direction B D is twice as great as the force x, 
 acting in the direction B A. Having learned the direction 
 which the body will take when influenced by joint forces of 
 this kind, can you tell me the relative time which it would 
 require for the performance of its diagonal journey ?" 
 
 Tom hesitated ; and Mr. Seymour relieved his embarrass- 
 ment by informing him, that it would pass along the diagonal 
 in exactly the same space of time that it would have required 
 to traverse either of the sides of the parallelogram, had but 
 one force been applied. Thus, the ball B would reach c in 
 the same time that the force x would have sent it to A, or 
 the force Y to D. "I will endeavour to prove this fact 
 beyond all doubt. It is, I think, evident, that the force 
 which acts in the direction B A can neither accelerate nor 
 retard the approach of the body to the line D c, which is 
 parallel to it ; hence it will arrive at c in the same time that 
 it would have done had no motion been communicated to it 
 in the direction B A. In like manner, the motion in the direc- 
 tion B D can neither make the body approach to nor recede 
 from A c ; and it therefore follows, that, in consequence of 
 the two motions, the body will be found both in A c and c D, 
 and will therefore be found in c, the point of intersection." 
 
 Louisa seemed to express by her looks the irksomeness of 
 such demonstrations ; and which did not pass unobserved. 
 
 " This may appear tedious and uninteresting," said Mr. 
 Seymour, "but the information is absolutely essential to 
 our future progress, for there is scarcely a toy or game that 
 
118 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 can be thoroughly understood without it : if you would reap 
 you must sow." 
 
 Tom and Louisa both expressed themselves willing to 
 receive whatever instruction their father might consider 
 necessary ; and they farther declared, that they understood 
 the demonstration he had just offered them. 
 
 " Is it not then evident," proceeded Mr. Seymour, " that 
 the composition of forces must always be attended with loss 
 of power ; since the diagonal of a parallelogram can never, 
 under any circumstances, be equal to two of its sides? and 
 is it not also evident, that the length of the diagonal must 
 diminish as the angles of the sides increase ; 
 so that the more acute the angle at which the 
 forces act, the less must be the loss by compo- 
 sition ? But I shall be better able to explain 
 this law by a diagram. If B A, A c be the sides 
 of a parallelogram representing the direction of 
 two forces, and A D the diagonal path of the 
 D body, is it not evident that the line A D will 
 shorten as the angle B A c increases ?" 
 
 " AVe see that at once," cried Tom, " from the diagram 
 before us." 
 
 " Then we will proceed to another fact 
 connected with the same subject. Look at 
 this diagram ; is not the diagonal A D com- 
 mon to both the parallelograms inscribed 
 about it, viz., of A B c D, and A E F D ?" 
 
 "To be sure it is." 
 " Then it is equally clear that a body may be made to 
 traverse the same path A D, by any pair of forces represented 
 by the adjacent sides of either of such parallelograms. 
 "Undoubtedly." 
 
 " I request you to keep that fact in your recollection." 
 " I have now to inform you," continued he, " that a single 
 force may be resolved into any number of forces, and may, 
 in fact, be regarded as compounded of innumerable oblique 
 ones. In order, however, to render this fact more intelligible, 
 I must refer you to the same figure, from which it will 
 appear that the motion of a body, along the line AD, will be 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 119 
 
 the same whether it arise from one single force acting in 
 that direction, or from two forces impressed upon it in the 
 directions A B, A c, or in those of A E, A F ; and, consequently, 
 although the motion may, in reality, be the effect of a single 
 force, yet it may be considered as compounded of two or 
 more in other directions, since the very same motion would 
 arise from such a composition." 
 
 Tom acknowledged the truth of this statement; and 
 Mr. Seymour assured him, that, when they came to play at 
 ball and marbles, he should be able to give him a practical 
 demonstration of the fact ; for he would show him, that 
 whenever a body strikes a surface obliquely, or in an inclined 
 direction, such a resolution of force will actually take place : 
 " and now, Tom," said his father, " give me a marble ; for 
 I wish to explain the reason why it turns round, or revolves 
 on its axis, as it proceeds forward." 
 
 "I suppose," said Tom, "it depends upon the action 
 which I give to it by my thumb and finger when I shoot it 
 out of my hand." 
 
 " You are undoubtedly capable of thus giving to your 
 marble a certain spinning motion, the effect of which we shall 
 have to consider hereafter ; but I fancy you would be greatly 
 puzzled to make it proceed without revolving, give it what 
 impulse you might by your hand." 
 
 "I have sometimes tried," said Tom, "to make it do so 
 by pushing it along with a flat ruler, but it always rolled in 
 spite of me." 
 
 " Then it is clear, from your own experiment, that its 
 rotation cannot arise from the cause you would assign to it. 
 If you will attend to this dia- 
 gram," continued his father, " I 
 will endeavour to explain the 
 operation. It is evident that, 
 as the marble moves along the 
 ground B D, the motion of the 
 point B will be retarded by the 
 resistance occasioned by its rubbing on the ground ; while the 
 point c, which does not meet with any such resistance, is car- 
 ried forward without opposition, and it consequently must 
 
120 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VII. 
 
 move faster than the point B ; but since all the parts of the 
 marble cohere or stick together, the point c cannot move faster 
 than B, unless the marble revolves from c to E ; and as the 
 several points of the marble which are successively applied to 
 the floor are retarded in their motion, while the opposite 
 points move freely, the marble during its progressive motion 
 must continue to revolve." 
 
 " But you said, papa, that whenever a body moved in any 
 direction, except that of a straight line, it must have been 
 acted upon by more than one force ; and yet the marble not 
 only runs along the ground, but turns round, at the same 
 time, by the simple force of my hand." 
 
 " The revolution of the marble, my dear boy, is brought 
 about by no less than three forces ; look attentively at the 
 diagram, and you will easily comprehend my explanation. 
 There is, in the first place, the rectilinear motion given to 
 it by your hand ; then there is the friction of the ground : 
 since, however, this latter acts in a contrary direction, it 
 merely tends to lessen or counteract the velocity with which 
 the under-surface proceeds, and consequently to give a 
 relatively-increased progressive motion to its upper part; 
 then comes that force by which its several parts cohere, and 
 which may be represented by c H : so that the two forces 
 producing the revolution of the point c are justly expressed 
 
 by the lines c a, c H ; but these are in the direction of the 
 two sides of a parallelogram, the point will therefore move 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 121 
 
 along the diagonal c E. I have here a toy for you, which 
 will serve to explain still further the causes of rotation to 
 which I have alluded." Mr. Seymour produced a watch- 
 glass, in the hollow of which stood a dancing-figure of thin 
 card, as represented in the preceding page. 
 
 He placed it upon a black japanned waiter,* which he 
 held in an inclined position, when it immediately slided 
 down the inclined plane, as might have been expected. He 
 next let fall a drop of water upon the waiter, and placed 
 the watch-glass in it. Under this new arrangement, instead 
 of sliding, the watch-glass began to revolve as soon as an 
 inclination was given to the surface; and it continued to 
 revolve with an accelerated velocity, obeying the inclination 
 and position of the plane, as directed by the hand of the 
 operator. 
 
 " What a very pretty effect is produced by the rapid re- 
 volution of the figure !" observed Louisa. 
 
 "Its use in the arrangement," said her father, "is to 
 render the accelerated motion more obvious." 
 
 " I perceive it revolves faster and faster, or I suppose I 
 ought to say, with an accelerated velocity," said Tom. 
 
 " Certainly," answered Mr. Seymour ; " whenever a force 
 continues to act, the motion produced by it must be acce- 
 lerated for the reason already given youf but let me ex 
 plain the operation of the drop of water, which, as you have 
 just seen, converted the sliding into the revolving motion. 
 In the first place, in consequence of the cohesion of the 
 water to the two surfaces, a new force was introduced, by 
 which an unequal degree of resistance was imparted to dif- 
 ferent portions of that part of the watch-glass in contact 
 with the plane, and, consequently, in its effort to slide 
 down, it necessarily revolved. Now, if you will atten- 
 tively observe the change of figure which the drop of water 
 undergoes during the revolution of the glass, you will 
 perceive a species of vortex ; a film of water, by capillary 
 action, is drawn to the foremost portion of the glass, while, 
 
 * A common plate will answer the purpose ; but the black surface gives the 
 advantage of exhibiting more perfectly the motion of the water during the 
 progress of the experiment. f See page 54. 
 
122 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VII. 
 
 by the centrifugal force, a body of water is thrown under 
 the hinder part of it ; the effect of both these actions is to 
 accelerate the rotatory motion. 
 
 " I shall now dismiss the subject for the present, but on 
 some future occasion I shall probably revert to it ; for it 
 may be made to afford a simple illustration of the rotatory 
 and progressive motions of the earth round the sun ; and it 
 may also give us the means of producing some optical effects 
 of a very curious kind/' (18.) 
 
 Mrs. Seymour here suggested that, as it was past one 
 o'clock, the children should be dismissed to their more active 
 sports in the garden. 
 
 " We will instantly proceed to the lawn," replied Mr. 
 Seymour, " and Tom may try his skill with the sling ; an 
 amusement which I have provided as a reward for his in- 
 dustry, and which will, at the same time, convey some far- 
 ther information concerning the nature of those forces we 
 have just been considering. The sling," continued his 
 father, as he advanced upon the lawn, " consists, as you 
 perceive, of a leathern thong, broadest in the middle, and 
 tapering off gradually towards both ends. To each 
 extremity is affixed a piece of string. I shall now place 
 a stone in the broad part of the leather, and introduce 
 my middle finger into the loop formed in one of the strings, 
 and hold the other extremity between my fore-finger and 
 thumb." 
 
 He then w r hirled it round, and when it had gained suffi- 
 cient impetus, he let go his hold of the string, and the stone 
 instantly shot forth with amazing velocity. 
 
 " See ! see ! there it goes," exclaimed Tom ; " to what 
 a height it ascended !" 
 
 " And to what a distance has it been thrown !" observed 
 Louisa, who had attentively watched its progress and descent. 
 
 " Now, Tom," said his father, " can you explain the 
 operation you have just witnessed ?" 
 
 " Not exactly, papa." 
 
 " Then attend to me. Have you not learned that circu- 
 lar motion is always the result of two forces ?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly," replied Tom ; " of one force which at- 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 123 
 
 tracts it to the centre around which it moves, and of another 
 which drives it off in a right line." 
 
 " Certainly ; the former of these forces is therefore termed 
 the centripetal, because it draws the body towards the centre, 
 while the latter is called the centrifugal force, since its in- 
 fluence disposes the body to fly off from the centre. In 
 circular motion, these two forces constantly balance each 
 other ; otherwise it is evident that the revolving body must 
 either approach the centre or recede from it, according as 
 the one or the other prevailed. When I whirled round 
 the sling, I imparted a projectile force to the stone, but it 
 was prevented from flying off in consequence of the coun- 
 teracting or centripetal force of the string ; but the moment 
 I let go my hold of this, the stone flew off in a right line ; 
 having been released from confinement to the fixed or cen- 
 tral point, it was acted upon by one force only, and motion 
 produced by a single force is, as you have just stated, always 
 in a right line." 
 
 " But," observed Louisa, " the stone did not proceed in a 
 straight, but in a curved line : I watched its direction from 
 the moment it left the sling till it fell to the ground." 
 
 " You are perfectly correct," replied Mr. Seymour, " it 
 described a curve, which is called a parabola ; but that was 
 owing to the influence of a new force which came into play, 
 viz., that of gravity, the effect of which I shall have to 
 explain hereafter." 
 
 " I cannot understand," said Tom, " why the stone should 
 not have fallen out of the sling when you whirled it round 
 over your head." 
 
 " Because, my dear, it was acted upon by the centrifu- 
 gal force, which counteracted that of gravity : but I will 
 render this fact more evident, by a very simple and beau- 
 tiful experiment. I have here a wine-glass, around the 
 rim of which I shall attach a piece of string so as to enable 
 me to whirl it round. I will now fill it with water, and 
 although during one part of its revolution it will be ac- 
 tually inverted, you will find that I shall not spill a single 
 drop of water." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then whirled round the glass, and the 
 
124 PHILOSOPHY IS SPORT CHAP. VII. 
 
 young party were delighted with the confirmation thus 
 afforded to their father's statement. 
 
 "I see," said Tom, "how it happened: when the glass 
 was inverted the water could not fall out, because it was in- 
 fluenced by the centrifugal force which opposed gravity."* 
 
 " Exactly. Have you ever observed what happens during 
 the trundling of a mop? The threads which compose it 
 fly off from the centre, but being confined to it at one 
 end they cannot part from it ; while the water which they 
 contain being unconfined, is thrown off in right lines." 
 
 " I have certainly observed what you state," said Louisa ; 
 " the water flies off in all directions from the mop." 
 
 " Yes," added Tom, "the water was not acted upon by 
 the centripetal force as the threads were, and consequently 
 there was nothing to check the centrifugal force, which 
 carried the water off in a straight line from the centre." 
 
 " You are not quite correct,' ' said Mr. Seymour ; " the 
 water does not fly off in a right line from the s centre, but in 
 a right line in the direction in which it was moving at the 
 instant of its release : the line which a body will always 
 describe under such circumstances, is called a tangent, 
 because it touches the circumference of the circle, and forms 
 a right angle with a line drawn from that point of the 
 circumference to the centre : but I will render this subject 
 more intelligible by a diagram. Suppose a 
 body, revolving in the circle, was liberated 
 at a, it would fly off in the direction a b ; 
 if at c, in that of c d ; and if at e, in that of 
 ef; and so on. Now, if you draw lines 
 from these several points to the centre of 
 the circle, you will perceive that such 
 lines will form, in each case, a right angle. In the experi- 
 ment which you have just witnessed, the surface of the water 
 
 * A more striking but fearful exemplification of this principle "has been 
 lately exhibited in London under the name of the CENTRIFUGAL RAILWAY, in 
 which a car containing a passenger is made to descend from a lofty ceiling 
 down an inclined railway, when, after whirling round in an inverted position, 
 it is carried forward to a corresponding elevation. We would, however, warn 
 our young friends against an experimental trip, unless perchance, like the swan 
 in Lad Lane, they have a neck to spare. 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 125 
 
 must have formed, during its revolution, a right angle with 
 the string, and consequently could not have fallen out of the 
 wine-glass. A knowledge of this law," continued Mr. 
 Seymour, " will explain many appearances which, although 
 familiar, I dare say, have never been understood by you. 
 You may remember accompanying me to the pottery, to see 
 the operation of the turning -lathe ; it was owing to the 
 centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the wheel, that 
 the clay, under a gentle pressure, swelled out so regularly ; 
 from a similar cause, the flour is thrown out of the revolving 
 mill as fast as it is ground ; and I shall presently show 
 you that you are indebted to this same force for the spinning 
 of your top and the trundling of your hoop. But let us quit 
 this subject for the present, and pursue the stone and 
 its course after it is liberated from the sling. Louisa has 
 justly observed that it described a curve ; can you explain 
 why it should deviate from a straight line ?" 
 
 " Let me see," said Tom, thoughtfully ; " it would be 
 acted upon by two forces, one carrying it forward in a 
 right line, the other bringing it to the earth; it would, 
 therefore, not obey either, but describe a diagonal: but 
 why that diagonal should be a curve I cannot exactly 
 explain." 
 
 " Then I will give you the reason," said his father. "A 
 stone projected into the air is acted upon by no less than 
 three forces : the force of projection, which is communicated 
 to it by the hand or the sling; the resistance of the air 
 through which it passes, and which diminishes its velocity 
 without changing its direction ; and the force of gravity, 
 which ultimately brings it to the ground. Now, since the 
 power of gravity and the resistance of the air will always be 
 greater than any force of projection we can give a body, the 
 latter must be gradually overcome, and the body brought to 
 the ground ; but the stronger the projectile force, the longer 
 will those powers be in subduing it, and the farther will the 
 body go before it falls. A shot fired from a cannon, for 
 instance, will go much farther than a stone -thrown from 
 your hand. Had the two forces which acted upon the stone, 
 
126 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 viz., those of projection and gravity, both produced uniform 
 motion, the body must certainly have descended through the 
 diagonal ; but since gravity, as you have already learned, is 
 an accelerating force, the body is made to describe a curve 
 instead of a straight line. This law, however, will require 
 
 the aid of a diagram for its 
 explanation. Let x repre- 
 sent the ball at its greatest 
 altitude, x T the force of 
 gravity drawing it down- 
 ward ; and x z that of pro- 
 \ jection. We have here, 
 y. then, two forces acting in 
 direction of the two 
 sides of a parallelogram. 
 
 In passing on to z, the ball will perform the diagonal x a ; 
 and in the next equal space of time, will descend through 
 three times the distance z a, and will consequently be 
 found at b; while in the next period it will fall through five 
 equal spaces, and pass to c ; and in the next period, again, 
 as it must fall through seven such spaces, it will reach 
 the ground at d, having described the portion of a curve 
 from x to d, or during the time that the two forces 
 were in simultaneous operation. The same principle will 
 explain the curved ascent of the ball, substituting only 
 the laws of retarded for those of accelerated motion; for 
 it is clear, that the body during its ascent w r ill be retarded 
 in the same degree in which it was accelerated during its 
 descent." 
 
 " Tour explanation," said Louisa, " appears very clear and 
 satisfactory." 
 
 " The curve which Projectiles (that is to say, bodies pro- 
 jected into the air) describe, is termed a Parabola (19), 
 although the resistance of the air, which is not recognised in 
 the theory, produces a considerable influence on the practical 
 result. 
 
 " I have only to add," said Mr. Seymour, " that although 
 there exists an immense distance between a stone fastened to 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 127 
 
 a cord, which a boy swings round, and those celestial bodies 
 that revolve to all eternity, yet science proves that the source 
 of their motions is identical." 
 
 The children now proceeded to amuse themselves with 
 the sling. Louisa challenged Tom to a trial of skill. She 
 fancied that she could hurl a stone with greater accuracy than 
 her brother; but after several contests she acknowledged 
 herself vanquished, for Tom had succeeded in striking 
 the trunk of an old tree a considerable distance, while his 
 sister was never able to throw the stone within several yards 
 of the mark. 
 
 " Well done, Tom !" exclaimed Mr. Seymour ; " why, you 
 will soon equal in skill the ancient natives of the Balearic 
 Islands!" 
 
 " And were they famous for this art ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " With such dexterity," replied her father, " did they 
 use the sling, that we are told their young children were 
 not allowed any food by their mothers, except that which 
 they could fling down from the beam where it was placed 
 aloft. I fancy, however, Tom, that you would become 
 very hungry before you could strike an object in yonder 
 poplar." 
 
 " At all events, I will try," said Tom. 
 
 He accordingly whirled round his sling, and discharged its 
 stone, which flew forward with great velocity, but in a direc- 
 tion very wide from the mark at which it was aimed. In 
 the next moment a violent hallooing was heard : it was from 
 the vicar, who had narrowly escaped the boisterous salutation 
 of the falling stone, which, in its anxiety to throw itself at 
 the feet of the reverend gentleman, struck the beaver pent- 
 house that defended his upper story, and, by a resolution of 
 forces, which we have endeavoured to explain, darted off" in 
 the direction of the side of a parallelogram, and was thus 
 averted from the equally-sensitive antipodes of his venerable 
 person his brains and corns. 
 
 "Upon my word, young gentleman!" cried the vicar, 
 "I expected nothing less than the fate of the giant of 
 Oath." 
 
 "My dear Mr. Twaddleton," exclaimed Tom, in a tone 
 
128 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VII. 
 
 of alarm, " I sincerely hope that you have not been 
 struck P" 
 
 " Oh, no ! like the Volscians of old, I bear my shield upon 
 my head ;* so, thanks to my clerical hat, I have escaped the 
 danger which threatened me : but, tell me, what new game 
 is engaging your attention ?" 
 
 Mr. Seymour said that he had been explaining the scientific 
 principle of the sling, and that he hoped the vicar was pre- 
 pared to afford them some information respecting its inven- 
 tion and history. 
 
 "The sling?" repeated the vicar; "why, bless me! I 
 left you discoursing upon elasticity ; you really stride over 
 province after province as rapidly as if you were gifted with 
 the seven-leagued boots of the Ogre: but to the point 
 in question. The art of slinging, or casting stones, is one 
 of the highest antiquity, and was carried to a great degree of 
 perfection amongst the Asiatic nations. It was well known 
 and practised at a very early period in Europe ; and our 
 Saxon ancestors appear to have been very expert in the use 
 of this missile." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton, being desirous of communicating the 
 history of Major Snapwell, begged that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Seymour would allow him a few minutes' conversation ; 
 observing that the attention of the children would be 
 agreeably occupied during their absence by their newly- 
 acquired amusement. 
 
 " We will then, if you please, vicar," replied Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " walk to the Geological Temple, where I have 
 lately deposited some specimens which you have not yet 
 seen." 
 
 " To speak sincerely," said the vicar, " I cannot parti- 
 cipate in that high satisfaction which you appear to feel in 
 collecting such hoards of broken rocks and pebbles : where 
 can lie the utility of such labour ? unless, indeed, in pur- 
 suance of your Utopian plans, you intend to Macadamise all 
 the roads of science." 
 
 " Is it nothing, my dear Mr. Twaddleton, to discover the 
 structure of different countries ?" 
 
 * ,n. lib. ix. 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 129 
 
 " Which the geologist infers," replied the vicar, " from a 
 few patterns, picked up at random on the road-side !" 
 
 " Mr. Twaddleton," said Mr. Seymour, " I will meet 
 you on your own ground : you are an antiquary ; if an 
 ancient monument of art be so inestimable, is not a know- 
 ledge of the antiquity of the globe itself, at least, of equal 
 interest ?" 
 
 " Which you think you can discover by penetrating its 
 caverns, with as much ease as the jockey ascertains the age 
 of a horse by looking into its jaws, or by counting the 
 strata of its mountains to ascertain their age, as Sam Slick 
 did that of his cattle, by the number of wrinkles on their 
 horns." 
 
 " I gratefully adopt your simile," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " for you have undesignedly furnished me with an illustra- 
 tion that will dispense with a world of argument. If the 
 horns of your cattle are successively developed, in accord- 
 ance with an organic law, so have the stratified mountains 
 of our globe been arranged in an order, as to their relations 
 to time, which at once forbids the idea of a chaotic origin, 
 or of their being the result of lawless convulsion ; but you 
 speak too flippantly of a class 6f philosophers who have 
 united their efforts to investigate a sublime subject upon 
 the true principles of science ; but the truth is, you have 
 never directed your attention to it ; you must be initiated 
 in its mysteries under my guidance. I have just procured 
 a little work for my young pupils, a most delightful intro- 
 duction to the study, entitled * Thoughts on a Pebble, or a 
 First Lesson in Geology,' by Dr. Mantell, and I must 
 request you to read it ; for although it does not consist 
 of more than thirty pages, it will expand to your view a new 
 world that will astonish and delight you. I shall afterwards 
 place in your hands the more extended works of this ac- 
 complished author, ' Wonders of Geology,' and ' The Medals 
 of Creation ;' you will then, so far from undervaluing such 
 researches, regard them as amongst the most interesting 
 that can engage the human understanding." 
 
 " Although I may be unknown to your genii of the 
 mountains and caves," observed the vicar, " I am, at all 
 
 K 
 
130 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. VII. 
 
 events acquainted with a kindred class of philosophers, who 
 rival them in industry if not in talents ; and notwithstand- 
 ing the limited range of their observations being confined 
 to the mountainous districts they inhabit I have little 
 doubt but that their labours have proved as acceptable to 
 the world as those of the disciples of Hutton or Werner. 
 I once visited this district, and, although the language of 
 its inhabitants was entirely unknown to me, I soon dis- 
 covered by the aid of a glass, that they were in serious dis- 
 course with each other : and one of the elders of the frater- 
 nity, w r ho was seated on a craggy precipice that overhung 
 an extensive valley covered with rich verdure, appeared, 
 from his gestures, as if pointing out to his fellow-labourers, 
 who were digging in all directions in search of treasure, the 
 danger of an approaching convulsion. While I was yet 
 gazing, the fatal catastrophe actually occurred ; immense 
 masses of the tottering strata rolled with precipitous haste 
 into the valley, involving in its ruin hundreds of its inha- 
 bitants. It was extraordinary to behold the effects of this 
 shock upon those w r ho were beyond the reach of its more 
 destructive influence ; hundreds were seen scaling heights 
 that appeared inaccessible ; others stumbling falling down 
 frightful precipices rising again helping, or pushing each 
 other on the foremost serving as so many stepping-stones 
 to those behind, who, in their turn, hauled up the clusters 
 over whose backs they had so unceremoniously vaulted." 
 
 " How awful !" cried Mrs. Seymour ; " I never heard of 
 any modern catastrophe of such fearful extent ; where did it 
 occur ?" 
 
 " The vicar doubtless alludes to the terrible earthquake of 
 Messina, or perhaps to that of Lisbon." 
 
 " I neither allude to the one nor to the other," cried Mr. 
 Twaddleton ; " and yet in some respects, the catastrophe 
 which I have described resembled that of Lisbon ; for 
 during the dreadful disaster human beings were seen to take 
 advantage of the confusion to murder many of the inhabit- 
 ants, and to pillage their territories, and, what is still more 
 horrible, to devour their remains with a relish worthy of a 
 Cyclops." (20.) 
 
CHAP. VII. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 131 
 
 " For goodness' sake !" cried Mrs. Seymour, " tell us at 
 once where this terrible event occurred." 
 
 " In a fine Cheshire cheese !" exclaimed the vicar, " which 
 had furnished abundant food to the miniature republic of 
 mites that occupied its deep ravines and alpine heights. I 
 think now," continued the reverend gentleman, " I am 
 amply revenged for the allegorical jokes in which Mr. 
 Seymour has so often indulged at my expense." 
 
 " I am well satisfied," said Mr. Seymour ; " for by re- 
 peating your allegory to my children, I shall be enabled to 
 convey a striking lesson of wisdom. They will learn from 
 it that there is not any pursuit, however exalted, that may 
 not be assailed by the weapons of ridicule, especially when 
 wielded by those penurious philosophers whose ideas of 
 utility are circumscribed within the narrow limits of direct 
 and immediate profit." 
 
 "It is too true," cried Mrs. Seymour, "that we are all 
 apt to depreciate those branches of knowledge w r hich do 
 not bear directly upon the comforts or necessities of life ; 
 and the applications of geology are, perhaps, so remote as 
 scarcely to be discovered by the mass of mankind." 
 
 " There I must differ with you," replied her husband : 
 "to say nothing of the practical advantages which have 
 accrued to the miner, the engineer, and the architect, from 
 this study, it has been the means of bringing hundreds of 
 acres into cultivation in districts where never a blade of 
 grass had before grown (21) ; while to the philosopher, 
 engaged in inquiries relative to former conditions of our 
 globe, fossils are like medals to the antiquary, recording 
 on blocks of marble, in hieroglyphics as intelligible as those 
 which Major Hawlinson has deciphered on the slabs of 
 Nineveh, the history of a former world and of that gigantic 
 community with which it pleased the Almighty to people 
 it before the creation of man." 
 
 If the truth may be told, the vicar's geological hostility 
 arose from that science having shaken the faith of the 
 antiquary in the Druidical origin of rock basins and other 
 supposed remains of that mysterious priesthood. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Seymour and the vicar had by this time arrived at the 
 
132 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 AVernerian Temple, where, having discussed several points 
 connected with its objects, Mr. Twaddleton gave an account 
 of Major Snapwell, whose history created considerable 
 interest, and determined Mr. Seymour to call at Ivy 
 Cottage, and invite its inmate to the Lodge. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 133 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SUBJECT OF ROTATORY MOTION CONTINUED. A BALL, BY HAVING A 
 PECULIAR SPINNING MOTION IMPARTED TO IT, MAY BE MADE TO STOP 
 SHORT, OR TO RETROGRADE, THOUGH IT MEETS NOT WITH ANY APPARENT 
 OBSTACLE. THE RECTILINEAR PATH OF A SPHERICAL BODY INFLUENCED 
 BY ITS ROTATORY MOTION. BILBOQUET, OR CUP AND BALL. THE BOOME- 
 RANG. THE JOINT FORCES WHICH ENABLE THE BALANCER TO THROW UP 
 AND CATCH HIS BALLS ON THE FULL GALLOP. THE HOOP. THE CENTRE 
 OF PERCUSSION. THE WHIP AND PEG TOP. HISTORICAL NOTICES. 
 THE POWER BY WHICH THE TOP IS ENABLED TO SUSTAIN ITS VERTICAL 
 POSITION DURING THE ACT OF SPINNING. THE SLEEPING OF THE TOP 
 EXPLAINED. THE FORCE WHICH ENABLES IT TO RISE FROM AN OBLIQUE 
 INTO A VERTICAL POSITION. ITS GYRATION. 
 
 "ToM, do you remember that I told you a few days ago," 
 said Mr, Seymour, "that, by giving a revolving body a 
 peculiar spinning motion, certain effects were produced, 
 which I should on some future occasion, take into coiv 
 sideration?" 
 
 " To be sure I do," replied Tom. 
 
 " Well, then, attend to me." 
 
 Mr. Seymour took a marble, and. placing it on the ground, 
 gave it an impulse forward by pressing his fore-finger upon 
 it ; the. marble darted forward a few paces, after which it 
 rolled back again. 
 
134 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VIII. 
 
 "That is most extraordinary !" cried Tom : "the marble 
 came back to your hand, as it were, of its own accord, and 
 without having met with any obstacle." 
 
 "And you, no doubt," said Mr. Seymour, "regard it 
 as contrary to the well-known law, that a body once put in 
 motion, in any direction, will continue to move in that 
 direction until some foreign cause oppose it." 
 
 " It really would appear so." 
 
 " It is, however, far otherwise ; the force which I im- 
 parted to the marble communicated to it two kinds of 
 motion ; the one projecting it forward, the other producing 
 a rotatory motion round its axis, in a direction opposite to 
 that of its rectilinear course ; and the consequence was 
 simply this, that when the former motion, on account of 
 the friction of the marble on the ground, was destroyed, 
 the rotatory motion continued, and, by thus establishing an 
 action in an opposite direction, caused the marble to retro- 
 grade.* If, however, you will fetch your hoop, I will 
 demonstrate the fact on a larger scale." 
 
 Tom accordingly produced the hoop ; and Mr. Seymour 
 projected it forward, giving to it, at the same instant, a 
 spinning motion in an opposite direction. The hoop pro- 
 ceeded forward to a certain distance, when it stopped, and 
 then ran back to the hand. 
 
 "Let me beg you," said Mr. Seymour, "to treasure 
 this fact in your memory ; you perceive by it how greatly 
 the progressive direction of a body may be influenced by a 
 rotatory motion around its axis ; and, indeed, the theory of 
 the rifle gun (22) is easily deduced from it. It will also 
 explain the effect which a rotatory motion produces in 
 steadying or disturbing the direction of a projectile. It is 
 for such a reason that the balancer constantly whirls round 
 his balls or oranges, as he throws them into the air, with 
 the intention of catching them again ; and that in playing 
 at Bilboquet, or cup and ball, you find it necessary to give 
 a spinning motion to the ball in order to catch it on the 
 spike but we will consider that subject presently. I shall 
 also present you with a new missile which has lately found 
 * This movement is well known to billiard-players. 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 135 
 
 its way into the toyshops, termed the BOOMERANG. It is 
 used by the natives of Australia, and has the curious pro- 
 perty when skilfully directed, after striking the desired 
 object, to return to the thrower (23). I am now desirous 
 of laying down a few propositions upon the subject of 
 rotation, the knowledge of which is essential for the expla- 
 nation of the motions of revolving bodies." 
 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded to state that every body had 
 three principal axes upon which it might revolve, but that 
 the shortest was the only one upon which it could perma- 
 nently and steadily rotate ; that should it, in consequence 
 of the impulse given to it, begin to spin upon any other 
 than the shortest axis, it would, during its revolutions, be 
 constantly showing a tendency to approach it ; whence it 
 followed that, under such circumstances, it would be 
 unsteady and wabbling in its motions. 
 
 In order, however, to make this proposition intelligible 
 to the children, Mr. Seymour performed the following 
 simple experiment. 
 
 Having tied some string to a common curtain ring,* as 
 represented by figure 1, he twisted it round by means of 
 his thumb and finger, until it acquired considerable velo- 
 city, when the ring was seen to rise gradually into the 
 position represented by figure 2. Thus, in the. simplest 
 manner, was a revolving body shown to exchange its longer 
 for its shorter axis. 
 
 * This experiment will be more readily performed by substituting one of 
 those elastic bands, used for tying up letters. 
 
13(5 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The children declared that they perfectly comprehended 
 the subject ; and Tom observed that, in future, whenever 
 he wished to make a ball spin steadily, he should take care 
 to make it turn on its shorter axis. (24.) 
 
 "You are quite right, Tom," said Mr. Seymour; "and 
 the skilful bowler at cricket, in order to give his ball 
 a steady axis of rotation, always holds it with the seam 
 across so that the tips of his fingers may touch, and he 
 takes care to hold it only with such a grasp as may be 
 sufficient to steady it, for by a turn even of the wrist it 
 may be made to proceed unsteadily ; and this leads me to 
 consider another equally important proposition, viz., that 
 the axis of rotation should coincide with the direction in 
 which it is moving forward, or, in other words, with its 
 line of motion. Now, where this is not the case, it is 
 evident that the unequal action of the air will cause the 
 body to deviate from its straight course, since its two sides, 
 having different velocities (the rotatory and progressive 
 motions conspiring on one side, while they are in opposition 
 on the other), will be differently affected by such resist- 
 ance ; the resistance, of course, increasing with the velocity. 
 It is upon this principle," continued Mr. Seymour, " that 
 Sir Isaac Newton has explained the irregular motion of the 
 tennis-ball." 
 
 "But do explain to us, papa," said Louisa, "why it is 
 so necessary to spin the ball in order to catch it on the 
 spike.''* 
 
 " Rotatory motion, my dear, when directed according to 
 the principles I have endeavoured to enforce, will always 
 steady the course of a body. In playing at bilboquet, your 
 object is so to throw up the ball that its hole may descend 
 perpendicularly upon the spike which is held for its recep- 
 tion ; and in order to accomplish this, you make the ball 
 spin upon an axis, at the extremity of which is the hole ; 
 the consequence is obvious." 
 
 Louisa observed, that she well remembered an allusion 
 to this game in Miss Edgeworth's Essays on Education ; 
 and that, unless she was much deceived, the advantage to 
 be gained by spinning the ball was referred to centri- 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 137 
 
 fugal force, and its effect in preserving the "parallelism of 
 motion" 
 
 "I do not recollect the passage," answered her father, 
 " but I will admit that the centrifugal force is indirectly 
 instrumental to the effect, although, in my view of the sub- 
 ject, it is more philosophical to refer it at once to the creation 
 of an appropriate axis of rotation, and to the permanence of 
 that axis maintained by rapid motion." 
 
 "I well remember," observed Tom, "that the rider at 
 Astley's whirled round the oranges as he threw them into 
 the air." 
 
 " And I hope that you are now not only acquainted with 
 the principle which rendered such a rotatory motion neces- 
 sary, but that which must make the shorter the more eligible 
 axis for effecting his purpose ; but can you tell me how it 
 could have happened that the oranges, which were thrown 
 perpendicularly upwards while the horseman was on the full 
 gallop, should have fallen again into his hand ?" 
 
 "Ay," said Louisa, "that puzzled me exceedingly; I 
 should have thought he would have ridden away from 
 them, and that they must have fallen several feet behind 
 him." 
 
 " What say you, Tom, to that ?" inquired Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I suppose that the rider made an allowance for the 
 distance he would pass forward before they could fall, and 
 projected them accordingly." 
 
 "No, indeed; there is no calculation in the case, nor is 
 any art used to throw the oranges in advance : they are pro- 
 jected perpendicularly from the hand ; and if you will only 
 recall to your mind the subject of the ' Composition of 
 Forces,' the mystery will vanish." 
 
 "I see it all clearly," cried Tom: "the orange partakes 
 of the progressive motion of the rider ; when, therefore, he 
 throws it upwards, it is influenced by two forces which are 
 in the direction of the two sides of a parallelogram, and it 
 consequently describes the diagonal." 
 
 " You are quite right ; but you doubtless will perceive 
 that^- instead of a straight line, the orange will describe a 
 parabolic curve." 
 
138 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 " For the same reason, I suppose," said Tom, " that the 
 stone from the sling described a curve ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; but see, I have a diagram which will explain 
 the subject more clearly. 
 
 " The orange, as it is thrown into the air, is influenced 
 by two forces : the one arising from the progressive motion 
 of the rider, the other from the projectile force imparted to 
 it. These two forces are in the direction of the adjacent 
 sides of a parallelogram, and were it not for the operation 
 of gravity, the body would accordingly describe its diagonal 
 in the same space of time as it would have described one of 
 the sides.* The influence of gravity, however, not only 
 deflects it from a right line into a curve, but diminishes its 
 force, so that, instead of arriving at the opposite angle of 
 the parallelogram a, its greatest altitude will be short of 
 that point ; it will then descend through a similar curve ; 
 and, since the time of ascent and descent are equal, f it will 
 reach the hand of the rider at the very moment he is pre- 
 pared to receive it ; for the orange will have traversed the 
 parabolic curve in the same space of time as the horseman 
 required for passing from one extremity of the curve to the 
 other." 
 
 Mr. Seymour, having concluded this explanation, much 
 to the satisfaction of the young party, observed that the 
 
 * See page 117. 
 
 t See page 55. 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 139 
 
 present occasion was an appropriate one for the intro- 
 duction of some remarks on the favourite pastime of the 
 HOOP. 
 
 "It is a classical pastime," exclaimed the vicar, "and was 
 as common with the Greeks and Romans as it is with boys 
 of the present generation." 
 
 "And it has the advantage," added Mr. Seymour, "of 
 sending the tide of life in healthful currents through the 
 veins." 
 
 Tom began to trundle his hoop along the gravel walk. 
 
 "Stop, stop, my dear boy," cried his father; "you seem 
 to have forgotten our compact, that every toy should be 
 fairly won before it was played with. Come upon the 
 lawn, and let me ask you some questions relative to the 
 motions of the hoop. Can you make it stand still upon its 
 
 " Not readily," was Tom's reply. 
 
 " And yet," continued Mr. Seymour, " during its pro- 
 gressive motion it rolls on its edge without any disposition 
 to fall : how happens that ?" 
 
 " It is owing to the centrifugal force, which gives it a 
 motion in the direction of a tangent to the circle, and, con- 
 sequently, overcomes the force of gravity." 
 
 " Your answer is pat," replied his father : " as long as 
 you give your hoop a certain degree > of velocity, the tan- 
 gential, or centrifugal force, overcomes gravity, in the 
 manner you have already witnessed ;* but, when that is 
 slackened, the hoop will fall on its side ; not, however, until 
 it has made several complete revolutions. Now, answer 
 me another question. "Why is it so difficult to make the 
 hoop proceed straight forward, without turning to the right 
 or left ?" 
 
 " I suppose it arises from the same cause as that which 
 altered the direction of my marble as it ran along the in- 
 equality of the ground." 
 
 "That," replied his father, -" would undoubtedly have its 
 influence ; but it is principally to be referred to the impossi- 
 
 * See page 123. 
 
140 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP, VIII. 
 
 bility of your giving constantly a straight blow by the stick. 
 When it is moving forward, a slight inclination towards 
 either side will cause the parts to acquire a motion towards 
 that side, those which are uppermost being most affected by 
 it; and this lateral or sideway motion, assisted sometimes 
 by the irregular curvature of the hoop, causes its path to 
 deviate from a rectilinear direction; so that, instead of 
 moving straight forward, it turns to that side towards which 
 it began to incline ; and, in this position, its tendency to 
 fall is still farther counteracted by the centrifugal force. 
 It is from a similar cause that the bullet, unless rifled, will 
 have a tendency to go to the right or left, from any unequal 
 impulse which it may have received at the moment of its 
 exit from the barrel. I have yet one other question, and, 
 as its answer will lead us into the consideration of a me- 
 chanical subject of some importance, I must beg you to 
 bestow all your attention. In trundling your hoop, have 
 you not often observed that, although the blow inflicted 
 upon it by your stick might have been violent, yet the effect 
 produced by it was comparatively small, in consequence of 
 the hoop having been struck by a disadvantageous part of 
 the stick ?" 
 
 " Certainly. I have frequently observed that, if the 
 hoop is struck by the stick either too near the hand, or too 
 near the end, much of its force is lost; and I have also 
 noticed the same thing in striking the ball with my cricket- 
 bat." 
 
 "The fact is," said Mr. Seymour, "that every striking 
 body has what is termed its centre of percussion, in which all 
 the percutient force of a body is, as it were, collected ; thus, 
 a stick of a cylindrical figure, supposing the centre of motion 
 at the hand, will strike the greatest blow at a point about 
 two-thirds of its length from the wrist. I may, perhaps, at 
 some future time return to this subject, and explain several 
 mechanical effects which are dependent upon it. (25.) Now 
 away with you, and trundle your hoop, or spin your top : as 
 soon as the vicar returns I will rejoin you." 
 
 " Stop a moment," cried the vicar ; " do you not re- 
 member that the sword of Atrides in his conflict with 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 141 
 
 Paris,* as well as that of Turnus in his engagement with 
 ^neas,t broke short and were shivered ? And why so ? 
 Because, as we may suppose, the blow was struck at a point 
 distant from the centre of percussion, and so produced a 
 jarring vibration that shattered the blade." 
 
 " Thus then it would appear, vicar, that the gods were 
 unjustly accused of an unfair interference, and philosophy 
 is again to be charged with clipping the wings of poetic 
 fancy." 
 
 In the course of an hour, Mr. Seymour and his reverend 
 friend returned to the playground, where they found the 
 children busily engaged in their several diversions. 
 
 "I rejoice to find you at so classical a pastime," said the 
 vicar, as he approached Tom, who was busily engaged in 
 spinning his top. " The top, my boy, is a subject which the 
 great Mantuan bard did not consider beneath the patron- 
 age of his muse : but, hey-day ! this is not the ' volitans sub 
 verbere turbo 1 of the immortal Virgil ; the top of antiquity 
 was the whip-top, the peg-top is a barbarous innovation of 
 modern times : a practical proof of the degeneracy of the 
 race. Even boys, forsooth, must now-a-days have their 
 activity cramped by inventions to supersede labour: well 
 may we regard the weapons, which our sturdy ancestors 
 wielded, as instruments rather calculated for giants than 
 men, if such pains be taken to instil into the minds of youth 
 the mischievous spirit of idleness." 
 
 " My dear sir," said Tom, who was always grieved at dis- 
 pleasing the vicar, " if it will gratify you, I will spin my 
 whip-top t for I have an excellent one which my papa has 
 lately given me." 
 
 ""Well said! my dear boy. ' Puer bones spei.' What a 
 pity would it be to damp so noble a spirit ! get your whip- 
 top." 
 
 Tom accordingly placed the Virgilian top upon the ground, 
 and as the boy plied the whip, so did the vicar lash the air 
 
 * ' The brittle sword, unfaithful to his lord, 
 
 Broke short." Iliad 3. 
 + " But all in pieces flies the traitor sword, 
 
 And in the middle stroke deserts his lord." JEn. 12. 
 
142 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. VI J I. 
 
 with his quotation ; running round the top in apparent 
 ecstasy, while he repeated the well-known lines from the 
 seventh ^Eneid : 
 
 " Ille actus habena 
 
 Curvatis fertur spatiis ; stupet inscia turba, 
 Impubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum : 
 Dant animos plages."* 
 
 As Mr. Twaddleton thus gave vent to that fervour which 
 was ever kindled by collision with Virgil, Tom gave motion to 
 his top, which swaggered about with such an air of self- 
 importance, that, to the eye of fancy, it might have appeared 
 as if proudly conscious of the encomiums that had been so 
 liberally lavished upon it. 
 
 " The Grecian boys, as Suidas informs us, played also with 
 this top," continued the vicar. 
 
 "And pray, may I ask," said Mr. Seymour, "whether it 
 was not introduced into this country by the Romans ?" 
 
 " Probably," replied the vicar. " Figures representing 
 boys in the act of whipping their tops first appear in the 
 marginal paintings of the manuscripts of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury ; at which period the form of the toy was the same as 
 it is at present, and the manner of impelling it by the whip 
 can admit of but little if any difference. In a manuscriptf 
 at the British Museum, I have read a very curious anecdote 
 which refers to Prince Henry, the eldest son of James the 
 First : with your permission I will relate it to you." 
 
 Here the vicar extracted a memorandum -book from his 
 pocket, and read the following note : 
 
 " The first tyme that he, the prince, went to the towne of 
 Sterling to meete the king, seeing a little without the gate 
 of the towne a stack of corne, in proportion not unlike to a 
 topp, wherewith he used to play, he said to some that were 
 with him, ' Loe there is a goodly topp :' whereupon one of 
 them saying, ' "Why doe you not play with it then ?' he 
 answered, ' Set it up for me, and I will play with it.' " 
 
 * " The wooden engine flies and whirls about, 
 
 Admired, with clamours, of the beardless rout: 
 
 They lash aloud ; each other thoy provoke, 
 
 And lend their little souls at every stroke." DKYDEN. 
 
 + Marl. lib. i. marked 6391. 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 143 
 
 " Was not that a clever retort of the young prince ?" said 
 the vicar, as he returned the manuscript into his memoran- 
 dum-book ; " and I think it must have confounded the 
 courtier who could have asked so silly a question." 
 
 " Well, Tom," said Mr. Seymour, u let us see whether you 
 can set up your own top, so that it shall stand steadily on its 
 point." 
 
 " I have often tried that experiment," answered Tom, 
 " but could never succeed." 
 
 " And yet, when in rotatory motion, its erect position is 
 maintained without difficulty ; how is that ?" 
 
 " Is it not owing to the centrifugal force ?" asked Tom. 
 
 "Undoubtedly: but as the subject is highly interesting, 
 1 will endeavour to explain it more fully. You must, how- 
 ever, first obtain permission from the vicar to spin your 
 humming-top, for that will better illustrate the phenomena 
 which it is my wish to examine." 
 
 " If your object is the exercise of the body, let us spin the 
 whip-top," replied the vicar ; " but if you wish to exercise 
 the boy's mind, I cannot object to your selecting the top 
 best calculated to fulfil that desire." 
 
 Tom, having accordingly prepared his top, pulled the 
 string, and set the wooden machine spinning and humming 
 on the floor. 
 
 " Now, Tom, I will explain to you the reason of the top 
 being able to sustain its vertical position. You have already 
 learned, from the action of the sling, that a body cannot 
 move in a circular path without making an effort to fly off' in 
 a right line from the centre ;* so that, if a body be affixed 
 to a string and whirled round by the hand, it will stretch it, 
 and in a greater degree according as the circular motion is 
 more rapid." 
 
 " Certainly," said Tom. 
 
 "The top, then, being in motion, all its parts tend to 
 recede from the axis, and with greater force the more rapidly 
 it revolves ; hence ifc follows that these parts are like so many 
 powers acting in a direction perpendicular to the axis ; but, 
 as they are all equal, and as they pass all round with rapidity 
 
 * Page 123. 
 
144 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. VIII. 
 
 by the rotation, the result must be that the top is in equi- 
 librio on its point of support, or on the extremity of the 
 axis on which it turns. But see, your top is down." 
 
 " And what is the reason/' asked Tom, " of its motion 
 being stopped?" 
 
 " I can answer that question, papa," said Louisa , " is it 
 not owing to the friction of the ground ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; that has, doubtless, its influence, but the re- 
 sistance of the air is also a powerful force upon this occasion. 
 A top has been made to spin in vacuo as long as two hours and 
 sixteen minutes.* But come, Tom, spin your top once more. 
 Observe," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " how obliquely the top is 
 spinning. It is now gradually rising out of an oblique posi- 
 tion ; now it is steadily spinning on a vertical axis ; and 
 now its motion is so steady that it scarcely seems to move." 
 
 " It is sleeping^ as we call it," said Tom. 
 
 "Its centre of gravity is now situated perpendicularly 
 over its point of support, which is the extremity of the axis of 
 rotation : but attend to me," continued Mr. Seymour, " for I 
 am about to attempt the explanation of a phenomenon which 
 has puzzled many older and wiser philosophers than your- 
 selves. It is evident that the top, in rising from an oblique to 
 a vertical position, must have its centre of gravity raised ; 
 what can have been the force which effected this change ?" 
 
 " Was it the centrifugal force?" asked Tom. 
 
 * Short on Serson's Horizontal Top/ Phil. Trans, xlvii. 352. 
 
 f " Still humming on, their drowsy course they keep, 
 
 And lash'd so long, like tops, are lashed to sleep." POPE. 
 
 Plain matter-of-fact persons, like you and the author, gentle reader, will 
 be content to regard the term " sleeping " as simply expressive of that quiescent 
 state which the top thus assumes. Not so, however; Mr. Prybabel, while 
 smiling at our simplicity, informs us that the phrase is derived from the Italian 
 word fopo, a mouse, from which the Italian proverb, "Ildormo comme un topo" 
 He sleeps like a dot-mouse has been corruptly translated into, " He sleeps 
 like a top." 
 
 Many similar instances of verbal corruption might be given. We will 
 adduce one which may be interesting to our juvenile readers, as it will 
 explain the true meaning of the glass-slipper of Cinderella. ' Vair,' the skin of 
 the grey squirrel {Peltis gris), was the fur held next in estimation to ermine, 
 in the fourteenth century. It was so called from its variety of colour, the 
 back of the squirrel being grey, the underneath part of its body, white. 
 Cinderella's slipper was of this fur, a ' Pantouffle de vair,' which being 
 wrongly written ' vcrre,' gave rise to the rendering of a glass slipper. 
 (Arts of the Middle Ages, by M. JvL Labarte.} 
 
CHAP. VIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 145 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mr. Seymour, " as I will presently 
 convince you." 
 
 " Then it must have been the resistance of the air," said 
 Louisa. 
 
 " No, nor was it the resistance of the air," replied her 
 father ; " for the same effect takes place in vacua" 
 
 " Then pray inform us by what means the top was 
 raised." 
 
 " It entirely depended upon the form of the extremity of 
 the peg, and not upon any simple effect connected with the 
 rotatory or centrifugal force of the top. I will first satisfy 
 you that, were the peg to terminate in a fine, that is to say, 
 in a mathematical point, the top never could raise itself. Let 
 A B c be a top spinning in an 
 oblique position, having the end of 
 the peg, on which it spins, brought 
 to a fine point. It will continue 
 to spin in the direction in which 
 it reaches the ground, without the 
 least tendency to rise into a more 
 vertical position; and it is by its 
 rotatory or centrifugal force that it is kept in this original 
 position ; for if we conceive the top divided into two equal 
 parts A and B, by a plane passing through the line x c, and 
 suppose that at any moment during its spinning the con- 
 nexion between these two parts were suddenly dissolved, 
 then would any point in the part A fly off with the given 
 force in the direction of the tangent, and any corresponding 
 point in the part B with an equal force in an opposite direc- 
 tion; whilst, therefore, these two parts remain connected 
 together, during the spinning of the top, these two equal and 
 opposite forces A and B will balance each other, and the top 
 will continue to spin on its original axis. Having thus 
 shown that the rotatory or centrifugal force can never make 
 the top rise from an oblique to a vertical position, I shall 
 proceed to explain the true cause of this change, and I trust 
 you will be satisfied that it depends upon the bluntness of 
 the point. Let A B c be a top spinning in an oblique 
 position, terminating in a very short point with a hemi- 
 
146 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. VIII. 
 
 spherical shoulder p a M. It is evident that, in this case, 
 the top will not spin upon a, the end of the true axis 
 x cr, but upon p, a point in the circle p M to which the 
 floor i F is a tangent. Instead, therefore, of revolving upon 
 
 a fixed and stationary point, 
 the top will roll round upon 
 the small circle p M on its 
 blunt point, with very con- 
 siderable friction, the force of 
 which may be represented by 
 
 _ M< ^~ F a line o P at right angles to 
 
 the floor i F, and to the 
 spherical end of the peg of 
 the top : now it is the action 
 of this force, by its pressure 
 on one side of the blunt point of the top, which causes 
 it to rise in a vertical direction. Produce the line o p 
 till it meets the axis c ; from the point c draw the line c T 
 perpendicular to the axis a x, and T o parallel to it ; and 
 then, by a resolution of forces, the line T c will represent 
 that part of the friction which presses at right angles to the 
 axis, so as gradually to raise it in a vertical position ; in 
 which operation the circle P M gradually diminishes by the 
 approach of the point p to a, as the axis becomes more per- 
 pendicular, and vanishes when the point r coincides with the 
 point a, that is to say, when the top has arrived at its vertical 
 position, where it will continue to sleep, without much 
 friction, or any other disturbing force, until its rotatory 
 motion fails, and its side is brought to the earth by the force 
 of gravity." 
 
 " I think I understand it," said Tom, " although I have 
 some doubt about it ; but if you would be so kind as to 
 give me the demonstration in writing, I will diligently 
 study it." 
 
 " Most readily," said Mr. Seymour. " Indeed I cannot 
 expect that you should comprehend so difficult a subject 
 without the most patient investigation ; and, in the present 
 state of your knowledge, I am compelled to omit the relation 
 of several very important circumstances, to which I may, 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 147 
 
 hereafter, direct your attention. AVhen, for instance, you 
 have become acquainted with the elements of astronomy, 
 I shall he able to show you that the gyration of the top 
 depends upon the same principles as the precession of the 
 equinoxes." (26.) 
 
148 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRAP AND BALL. GIFTS FROM THE VICAR. AN ANTIQUARIAN HISTORY OF 
 THE BALL. TENNIS. GOFF, OR BANDY-BALL. FOOT-BALL. THE GAME 
 OF PALL-MALL. THE SEE-SAW. THE MECHANICAL POWERS. THE 
 SWING. THE BANDALORE. THE DOCTRINE OF OSCILLATION. GALILEO'S 
 DISCOVERY. THE PENDULUM. AN INTERESTING LETTER. MR. SEY- 
 MOUR AND THE VICAR VISIT MAJOR SNAPWELL. 
 
 MR. SEYMOTJB, having observed his children busily engaged 
 at the game of Trap aud Ball, determined, as usual, to make 
 it subservient to scientific instruction. With this view he 
 hastily sketched a diagram, and proceeded with it to the 
 scene of sport. 
 
 " Now, Tom, let me see how far you have profited by our 
 late conversation. I have some questions to ask you about 
 the action of your Trap and Ball," said his father. 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 149 
 
 " I do not suppose there is much philosophy in the 
 game," observed Tom. 
 
 " Of that we shall judge presently. Can you tell me the 
 direction which the ball takes after it flies from the spoon 
 of the trap, in consequence of the blow of the bat upon the 
 trigger ?" 
 
 " It flies upwards, to be sure, and allows me to strike it 
 with my bat," answered the boy. 
 
 " Very true ; but at what angle ? I see you hesitate ; 
 look therefore at the diagram I have prepared, and attend 
 to my explanation of it." 
 
 Mr. Seymour produced the sketch which we here present 
 to our readers. 
 
 *' A B represent the spoon and trigger in their quiescent 
 position. Upon striking the end B with the bat, they are 
 brought into the position c D. The spoon will thus have 
 described the small arc A c, when it will be suddenly stopped 
 by the end of the trigger D coming into contact with the 
 shoe. The motion of the ball, however, will not be arrested, 
 and it will consequently be projected forward out of the 
 spoon," 
 
 " Exactly," exclaimed Louisa, " in the same manner as 
 the shilling flew off the wine-glass, or a person on a gal- 
 loping horse would be thrown over the head by its suddenly 
 stopping." 
 
 " I thank you, Louisa ; your memory, I perceive, has 
 not suffered from the drenching you received from the water- 
 
150 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. IX. 
 
 cart;* but can you tell me," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 " the direction which the ball will take after its release from 
 the spoon ?" 
 
 This was a step beyond Louisa's knowledge, and her 
 father, in order to assist her, begged her to consider in what 
 direction it was moving before it left the spoon. 
 
 "You have just told us," said Tom, "that it described 
 an arc, or portion of a circle." 
 
 " Very well," said Mr. Seymour ; " and did not the philo- 
 sophy of your sling teach you that, when a body revolving 
 in a circle is suddenly disengaged, it will fly off in a right 
 line in the direction in which it was moving at the instant 
 of its release ? the ball therefore will describe the tangent 
 CE." 
 
 " It is all clear enough to me now," said Tom, evidently 
 vexed that he had overlooked a principle which had been so 
 lately explained to him by the action of his sling. 
 
 " I now see, too," added Tom, " why the ball seldom flies 
 off at the same angle in every trap." 
 
 " That," said his father, " must of course depend upon 
 the extent of the arc described by the spoon, and which will 
 of course vary in different traps. 
 
 " Before we conclude the subject, let me ask you whe- 
 ther there is not some one point in the bat, at which you 
 can most effectually strike the ball ?" 
 
 " To be sure," answered Tom, " in the same way that 
 there is a point in my hoop-stick at which I can give the 
 strongest blow and that point is termed the Centre of 
 Percussion." 
 
 " Enough," said Mr. Seymour ; " see, here comes the 
 vicar." 
 
 True to the hour appointed, did Mr. Twaddleton make 
 his appearence, just at the conclusion of the discussion 
 above described ; and, as he approached the party, Louisa 
 observed that he was carrying a canvas bag in his hand. 
 
 " What have you there ?" asked Mr. Seymour : " a sack 
 of sugar-plums ?" 
 
 " No, no ; spheres of larger diameter. Here," said the 
 * See page 65. 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 151 
 
 vicar, as he opened his bag, u is a foot-ball for you, Tom ; 
 and here is a hand-ball for you, Louisa." He then pre- 
 sented each of the other children with a similar present, 
 exclaiming 
 
 " ' Nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit,'* 
 
 as Virgil has it." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Mr. Seymour, " you will enhance the 
 value of this favour by giving us an antiquarian history of 
 the ball, which will be very acceptable to us at this time, 
 as we have just concluded a philosophical inquiry upon that 
 subject." 
 
 To this request the vicar readily assented, and proceeded 
 as follows : 
 
 " The Greeks appear to have played with four kinds of 
 ball : viz. the little ball, the great ball., the empty ball (cr^al^a 
 *)'/), which was blown up with air, like our foot-ball, and 
 the leathern ball (*pww), which was suspended from the 
 ceiling, and stuffed with bran or sand, as those who tossed 
 it were robust or aelicate. The Romans," continued the 
 vicar, " had also four kinds of pike, or balls ; the follis, a 
 large ball made of leather and blown up with air, like our 
 foot-ball ; the larger kinds of which were struck with the 
 arm, the smaller ones with the fist. Suetonius tells us that 
 Augustus Caesar greatly delighted in the amusement ; and 
 in truth it was a glorious sport, an exercise equally adapted 
 for the young and old ; or, as Martial has it, 
 ' Folle decet pueros ludere, folle series.' " f 
 
 "And yet," said Mr. Seymour, "neither Horace nor 
 Virgil played at it ; do you not remember the lines in the 
 fifth satire ? 
 
 Lusutn it Maecenas, dormitum ego Virgiliusque ; 
 Namque pil& lippis inimicum et ludere crudis.'"{ 
 
 * " Not one amongst you shall depart without a gift from me." JEn. v. 
 305. t Lib. xiv. epig. 43. 
 
 \ " Maecenas goes to tennis, hurtful game 
 To a weak stomach, and to tender eyes ; 
 So down to sleep with Virgil, Horace lies." FRANCIS. 
 
 Horace suffered from weak eyes, and Virgil from shortness of breath ; so that 
 Maecenas, when sitting between them, used to say that " he was between tears 
 and sighs." 
 
152 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IX. 
 
 " Many thanks, Mr. Seymour, many thanks for brushing 
 up my recollection ; but I am a little doubtful about the 
 game at which Maecenas played at Capua : I have, by-the- 
 by, lately read* an account of a peculiar game of ball for 
 which the city of Sierra is celebrated, and it is supposed to 
 be that referred to by Horace ' It is played in the foss, 
 which has a very high wall, and it is not unlike a tennis- 
 court ; the ball is very large, and appears to be inflated with 
 air ; the arm is defended by a wooden guard or shield ; at 
 certain periods of the game, one of the players runs down a 
 spring-board, and throwing the whole of his weight, momen- 
 tum, and strength upon the ball, as it is thrown towards 
 him, he strikes it to an astonishing distance.' The second 
 kind of ball," continued the vicar, " was termed trigonalis, 
 which is conjectured to have been nearly the same as our 
 tennis-ball. It derived its name from the position of the 
 three persons who played with it ; they were placed in a 
 triangle, and alternately caught and tossed the ball, and he 
 who first let it fall to the ground was the loser. The third 
 kind of ball was the paganica., as being much used in country 
 villages. Some authors state it to have been constructed 
 of leather, and stuffed with feathers, while others conjecture 
 it to have been a large kind of follis. The fourth was the 
 harpastum; a small ball, so called because the gamesters 
 endeavoured to snatch it from each other. The ball was 
 thrown unexpectedly to some one of the players, and he as 
 unexpectedly threw it at another ; hence it caused a variety 
 of anxious and watchful movements." 
 
 " It seems," observed Louisa, 4t to be a sport better adapted 
 to boys than girls." 
 
 " In that supposition you are quite mistaken," replied 
 the vicar ; "on the contrary, the hand-ball would seem to have 
 been originally a female sport, for Homer has restricted the 
 pastime to the princess and young maidens of Corey ra ; at 
 least, he has not mentioned its ever having been practised 
 by the men ; but upon this point critics differ. 
 
 * ' Two Hundred and Nine Days,' or ' The Journal of a Traveller on the 
 Continent,' by Jefferson Hogg. London, 1827. 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 153 
 
 ' O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play, 
 Their shining veils unbound ; along the skies, 
 Toss'd and re-toss'd, the ball incessant flies.' "* 
 
 Mr. Seymour said that, as the vicar had satisfied them of 
 the high antiquity of the bull, he hoped he would now atford 
 them some information respecting its use in England. 
 
 " The game of hand-ball," said the vicar, " called by the 
 French palm-play, because the exercise consisted originally 
 in receiving the ball, and driving it back again with the palm 
 of the hand, w r as formerly a favourite pastime among the 
 youth of both sexes ; and in many parts of the kingdom it 
 was customary for them to play at this game during the 
 Easter holidays for tansy cakes. In ancient times, the 
 mayor and aldermen of Newcastle used to go in state at 
 the feasts of Easter and Whitsuntide, to a little mall of the 
 town, to witness this game. It was originally played with 
 the naked hand ; then with a glove, which in some instances 
 was lined ; afterwards, cords and catgut strings were bound 
 upon the hand to make the ball rebound more forcibly." 
 
 " That custom," observed Mr. Seymour, " doubtless, gave 
 origin to the racket" 
 
 "It did," replied the vicar; "and the places where this" 
 game was played were called tennis-courts, and the game 
 itself obtained the name of tennis, from the French word 
 tenez-\ (take it, hold it), frequently used during the exercise. 
 The pastime, I believe, was introduced amongst our ancestors 
 about the year 1222, the sixth year of Henry III., by persons 
 of superior rank and family, who erected courts or oblong 
 edifices for the performance of the exercise." 
 
 " I long to hear something about foot-ball," exclaimed 
 Tom. 
 
 " That is a pastime," said the vicar, " which was formerly 
 in great vogue in England, but of late years it has 
 
 * Pope's Odyssey, lib. v. 
 
 f This etymology has been disputed, and it has been said that the holding 
 or keeping possession of the ball is no part of the game ; for, during the play, 
 the ball is in continual motion, or passing from one to another. Others seek 
 the etymology of the name, and the origin of the game, in a place in France 
 called Tennois ; or, by a change of one letter, Sennois, in the district of 
 Champagne, where balls were first made, and the game, as it is said, first in- 
 troduced. 
 
154 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. IX. 
 
 fallen into disrepute, having apparently merged in the more 
 popular game of cricket* It derives its name, as you may 
 suppose, from the circumstance of the ball being driven by 
 the foot, in preference to the hand. When a match is made, 
 two parties, equal in numbers, take the field, and stand 
 between two goals, which are placed at the distance of 
 eighty or a hundred yards from each other. The ball, which 
 is commonly a blown bladder, cased with leather, is delivered 
 in the midst of the ground, and the object of either party 
 is to drive it through the goal of their opponents, by which 
 the game is won. The abilities of the performers are best 
 displayed in attacking and defending the goals, whence the 
 pastime is more frequently called a goal, than a game at foot- 
 ball. In this attack and defence, the exercise becomes 
 exceedingly violent ; the players kick each other's shins with- 
 out the least ceremony; and this occasioned James I. to 
 speak of foot-ball as ' meeter for laming than making able the 
 users thereof.' " 
 
 " I believe," said Mr. Seymour, " that the ancient game 
 of goff is still much practised in Scotland." 
 
 " It is,' r replied the vicar. " In the reign of Edward III. 
 the Latin name cambuca, a crooked club, or staff, was applied 
 to this pastime, because it was played with such an instru- 
 ment. The bat was also styled a bandy, from its being bent ; 
 and hence the game itself is frequently called bandy-ball." 
 
 " And how is it played ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " It is played on a smooth common, by driving forward 
 two small hard balls, with the bandy I have just described, 
 into very distant holes in the ground, about a' foot deep, 
 and nine inches over : and the party whose ball is driven 
 into these holes with the fewest strokes is the victor." 
 
 " You have omitted to speak of that favourite game in 
 the reign of Charles II., called Pall Mall" observed Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " I thank you for reminding me : it was a game played 
 in a vista, now bearing the name of the Mall, in St. James's 
 Park, at the end of which stood a pole, with a hoop suspended 
 
 * Cricket, from a Saxon word signifying a stick. 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 155 
 
 from an arm at its top, through which the ball was to be 
 driven, by a mall or mallet." 
 
 "But come," said Mr. Seymour, "it is high time to think 
 of our dinner ; the children must require some refreshment. 
 I am not, my dear vicar, one of those philosophers who 
 believe that play was invented by the Lydians* as a remedy 
 against hunger ; nor do I subscribe to the opinion of the 
 elder Scriblerus, that it was on such an account wisely 
 contrived by Nature, that children who have the keenest 
 appetites should, at the same time, be those who are most 
 addicted to sport." 
 
 " Whether you believe or not that the Lydians invented 
 sports shall not be a subject of contest between us," said 
 the reverend antiquary ; "but," continued he, " one thing is 
 quite certain, that the Lydian games were at first called 
 Lydi by the Romans ; and afterwards by corruption Ludi; 
 a presumption I must needs say in favour of the Lydian 
 claim. But enough of this ; to what do you propose we 
 should next turn our attention ? I doubt not you have some 
 new sport for our recreation as well as our instruction," 
 added the vicar. 
 
 " We will, if you please, attend the children to their see- 
 saw, which the gardener has lately constructed for them," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 The party accordingly walked to the grove, in which a 
 plank had been placed across a wooden post ; and upon 
 which Tom and John had been riding for some time in the 
 earlier part of the morning. The boys again mounted their 
 new hobby ; and, after amusing themselves for some minutes, 
 Mr. Seymour desired them to stop, in order that Tom might 
 explain the principle upon which the see-saw acted. Tom 
 replied, that he was not aware of any principle which could 
 apply to riding on a plank. 
 
 ""Have I not often told you, my dear boy, that the prin- 
 ciples of Natural Philosophy may be brought to bear on 
 the most trivial acts of life ? Listen, therefore, and you 
 
 * Herodotus speaks of the inhabitants of Lydia having successfully had 
 recourse to gaming as a partial substitute for food, during a famine of many 
 years' continuance. 
 
156 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 shall find that your present amusement teems with instruc- 
 tion. You are already well acquainted with the nature and 
 operations of the centre of gravity ; tell me, therefore, 
 whereabouts it lies in the plank upon which you are riding." 
 
 "I should think," replied Tom, " that in this instance 
 the centres of gravity and magnitude must coincide, or be 
 very nearly in the same point." 
 
 " The centre of gravity must, as you say, be very nearly 
 in the middle of the board ; and if that be the case, you 
 will allow that, supposing those who ride upon it are of 
 equal weight, the plank must be supported in the centre to 
 make the two arms equal ; but you and John are of unequal 
 weight, so that you perceive the plank must be drawn a 
 little farther over the prop to make the arms unequal ; and 
 John, who is the lighter, must be placed at the extremity 
 of the longer arm. Thus arranged, you will exactly balance 
 each other ; and as each of you, on your descent, touches 
 the ground with your feet, the reaction affords you a spring, 
 which destroys the equilibrium, and enables you to oscillate 
 in arcs about the centre of motion." 
 
 " Do we then describe the arcs of a circle as we ascend 
 and descend ?" 
 
 *' Undoubtedly you must. Look at this diagram," said 
 Mr. Seymour, " and you will see at once that the plank can 
 only move round its centre of motion ; for how could you 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. ] 57 
 
 rise, or your brother fall, perpendicularly in a straight line? 
 You must, in rising, and he, in descending, describe arcs 
 of your respective circles. It is equally evident that his 
 velocity must be very superior to yours ; for, if you could 
 swing quite round, you would each complete your respective 
 circles in the same time." 
 
 " It would really appear so," said Tom ; " and I have 
 myself observed that the lighter person has the better ride, 
 as he moves both farther and quicker, and I now understand 
 the reason of it ; it is because, being farther from the centre 
 of motion, he describes a larger arc." 
 
 "The greater velocity with which your little brother 
 moves, renders his momentum equal to yours. You have 
 the most gravity, he the greatest velocity ; so that, upon 
 the whole, your momenta are equal : for you, no doubt, re- 
 member that momentum is weight multiplied into velocity.* 
 You have here then a striking instance of mechanical ad- 
 vantage gained by opposing motion to matter, or velocity 
 to weight ; for I think you will readily admit, that, without 
 the aid of the plank, your little brother could never have 
 raised you from the ground." 
 
 " That is clear enough," said Tom. 
 
 " The plank, then, thus arranged," continued his father, 
 " constitutes what has been termed a mechanical power, to 
 which the name of lever has been given ; it is not, however, 
 my intention at present to enter into the history of these 
 powers, of which there are six distinct kinds ; the one pre- 
 sented to you, in the instance of the see-saw, is perhaps the 
 most simple, and not the least important of them." 
 
 "It is very curious," observed the vicar, " to reflect upon 
 what a simple, and apparently trifling fact, the powers of 
 civilized man may be said to depend. The single truth you 
 have just announced, of making velocity a compensation 
 for weight, has supplied his weak arm with the means of 
 controlling the very elements." 
 
 " It is very true," said Mr. Seymour ; " and we might go 
 so far as to say that, had it been the will of the Almighty 
 Creator of. the universe to have withheld from matter that 
 
 * See page 6 1 . 
 
158 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IX. 
 
 property which we have been discussing, man must have 
 remained the most helpless and forlorn of his creatures. I 
 now propose," added Mr. Seymour, "to accompany the 
 children to their swing ; the present is a suitable opportunity 
 for giving them some idea of the doctrine of oscillation, or 
 the theory of the pendulum." 
 
 The children had commenced the sport, and Mr. Seymour 
 informed Tom and Louisa, who were attentively watching 
 the motions of the swing, that its vibrations, like those of 
 the pendulum of a clock, were produced by its effort to fall, 
 from the force of gravity, and its power of ascending through 
 an arc similar and opposite to that through which it had 
 descended, from the momentum acquired during its descent. 
 " Like the bandalore, I suppose," said Louisa. 
 " Exactly, my dear, that is a very good comparison ; for 
 as the bandalore, having descended along the string by its 
 gravity, acquires such a momentum as to enable it to ascend 
 the same string, and thus, as it were, to wind itself up ; so 
 does the pendulum or swing, during its descent, acquire a 
 force that carries it up in an opposite arc to an equal height 
 as that from which it had fallen. But tell me, Tom, 
 whether you have not discovered that the motion of your 
 new swing differs from that which you experienced in your 
 former one?" 
 
 " The ropes of our present swing are so much longer than 
 those which we formerly used, that the motion is much 
 pleasanter." 
 
 " Is that all ?" said Mr Seymour. " Have you not ob- 
 served that you also swing much slower ?" 
 "I have certainly noticed that," said Tom. 
 "It is a law which I am desirous of impressing upon 
 your memory, that the shorter the pendulum, or swing, the 
 quicker are its motions, and vice versa : indeed, there is an 
 established relation between the velocity and the length } 
 which I shall hereafter endeavour to explain to you. Galileo, 
 the celebrated philosopher, and mathematician to the Duke 
 of Florence, accordingly proposed a method of ascertaining 
 the height of the arched ceiling of a church by the vibrations 
 of a lamp suspended from it. The solution of the problem 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 159 
 
 was founded on the law to which I have just alluded, but 
 which involves mathematical considerations, with which it 
 is not my present intention to perplex you. Now it is 
 known that, in the latitude of London, a pendulum, if 39 
 inches and two-tenths in length, will vibrate seconds, or 
 make 60 swings in a minute ; by observing, therefore, how 
 much the pendulous body deviates from this standard, \ve 
 may, by the application of the appropriate rule, find its 
 length ; if the distance from the bottom of the lamp to the 
 pavement be then measured, which may be done by means 
 of a stick, and added to the former result, the sum will give 
 the height of the arch above the pavement ; but I will show 
 you the experiment the next time we go into Overton church : 
 the vicar can tell us the exact height of the roof, and I will 
 try how nearly I can approach the truth, by observing with 
 a stop-watch how many seconds one vibration of the chan- 
 delier continues." 
 
 " But, papa, why surely the duration of its vibration must 
 depend upon the force which you may happen to give to the 
 chandelier?" 
 
 "Not in the least; arid this brings us at once to the 
 consideration of the most curious and important fact in the 
 history of the pendulum, and for a knowledge of which we 
 are also indebted to Galileo.* It is termed the isochronous-^ 
 property, or that by which all its vibrations, whether great 
 or small, are performed in exactly the same period of time : 
 but that you may be better able to comprehend this subject, 
 attend to the diagram which I have prepared for your in- 
 struction. Suppose that the swing 
 or pendulum A B be raised to c, it 
 will, in effect, be raised the perpen- 
 dicular height E c, and in falling 
 will describe the arc c B ; and, c V x 
 in the point B, it will have that E I 
 velocity which is acquired by B 
 
 descending through c B, or by a body falling freely through 
 
 * This discovery was published at Paris, in a treatise called " L' Usage du 
 Cadran, ou de I'Horloge Physique Universelle" in the year 1639 ; from which 
 may be dated the invention of the pendulum. 
 
 f Compounded of the Greek words Jras, equal, and %pove;, time. 
 
 zf 
 
160 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. IX. 
 
 the perpendicular c E. This velocity will be sufficient to cause 
 it to ascend through an equal arc B D, to the same height 
 from whence it fell at c ; and since the times of ascent and 
 descent are equal, it will describe both these arcs in exactly 
 the same space of time. Having lost all its motion at D, it 
 will again begin to descend by its own gravity ; and in the 
 lowest point B it will acquire the same velocity as before, 
 which will cause it to re-ascend to c ; and thus, by ascending 
 and descending, it will perform continual vibrations in the 
 circumference c B D ; and, were it not for the resistance of 
 the air, and the friction at the centre of motion A, the 
 vibrations would never cease ; but from these obstructions, 
 though small, it happens that the velocity of the mass of 
 matter at B is a little diminished in every vibration ; and 
 consequently it does not return precisely to the same points 
 G or D, but the arcs described continually become snorter 
 and shorter, till at length they grow insensible ; and yet the 
 very same time is required for the performance of the shorter 
 as the longer arcs ; for, although in the one case the body 
 passes over less space, still its velocity is proportionally 
 . decreased. You perceive, then, that in an attempt to 
 ascertain the height of a ceiling by the vibrations of a chan- 
 delier, the extent of its swing cannot alter the time which 
 may be required for its completion. And, if you will place 
 your little brother in the swing, you will perceive that he 
 will return to your hand in nearly the same space of time, 
 whether he describes a large or small arc; although this 
 experiment must be considered as extremely rude, since 
 there are many disturbing causes for which the theory 
 cannot possibly make any allowance. I must, moreover, 
 warn you that, where the arc described is very considerable, 
 the difference in the time will be greater ; for in order to 
 insure this property of vibrating through unequal arcs in 
 equal times, it is necessary that the path of the body should 
 describe a peculiar curve, called a cycloid (27), and not the 
 segment of a circle ; at present, however, it is not possible 
 for us to enter into this difficult branch of science, although 
 I trust that at some future period I shall be justified in an 
 attempt to explain it. 
 
CHAP. IX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 161 
 
 " Before taking leave of the pendulum, let me state that 
 in consequence of experiments by M. Foueault, its vibrations 
 have assumed a new and very unexpected interest, no less, 
 indeed, than that of rendering palpable to your vision the 
 rotation of the earth round its axis ; and still farther by the 
 simple adjustment of an hororary circle, over which it is 
 made to swing, to record and exhibit to the eye the rate of 
 its motion ; and all this is seen as distinctly as we see a 
 horse going its rounds in a mill. The explanation is equally 
 simple : The pendulum swinging in space will retain its 
 parallelism of motion, and not deviate from the plane in 
 which it began to oscillate, w r hile the earth will revolve 
 independent of it." 
 
 Mr. Seymour having concluded his lecture, was about to 
 return to the Lodge, when Mrs. Seymour approached the 
 party, carrying in her hands a letter, which the smile on her 
 countenance announced to contain agreeable intelligence. 
 
 " I have just received," said Mrs. Seymour, " a letter from 
 Miss Yillers, whom you must all remember as a most 
 delightful person. I am informed that she is about to be 
 married to the nephew of a gentleman who is at present in 
 our neighbourhood in search of a country residence." 
 
 " Does she mention the gentleman's name ?" inquired the 
 vicar. 
 
 " Mr. Henry Beacham," said Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " The nephew of Major Snapwell, I declare !" exclaimed 
 the delighted vicar. 
 
 The whole party participated in the pleasure which their 
 excellent friend expressed at this discovery, and Mr. Seymour 
 immediately accompanied Mr. Twaddleton to Ivy Lodge, to 
 congratulate the major, and to make such arrangements as 
 might expedite the purchase of Osterley Park, and the 
 consequent introduction of a family into the neighbourhood 
 of Overton, from whose society the Seymours anticipated 
 the highest satisfaction. 
 
 At the same time Mrs. Seymour hastened to despatch a 
 letter to Miss Yillers, in order to solicit her immediate 
 presence at Overton Lodge. 
 
162 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MARBLES. ANTIQUITY" OF THE GAME. METHOD OF MANUFACTURING 
 
 THEM. RING-TAW. MR. SEYMOUR, THE VICAR, AND TOM, ENTER THE 
 
 LIS TS. THE DEFEAT OF THE TWO FORMER COMBATANTS; THE TRIUMPH 
 OF THE LATTER. A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLANATION OF THE SEVERAL 
 MOVEMENTS. A GOSSIPING INTERLUDE. THE RUDIMENTS OF THE 
 
 STEAM-ENGINE FIRST APPEARED AS A TOY. THE NATIVE CHILDREN 
 
 OF THE ORINOCO PERFORM AN ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENT. A PANEGYRIC 
 ON TOYS. PHOTOGRAPHY AND ITS WONDERS. THE VICAR'S APOLOGY, 
 OF WHICH MANY GRAVE PERSONAGES WILL APPROVE. THE SUBJECT 
 OF REFLECTED MOTION ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 IN our last chapter we left Mr. Seymour and his reverend 
 friend on their way to Ivy Cottage : it is only necessary to 
 state that the major received them with that satisfaction 
 and gratitude which the nature of their visit could not fail to 
 produce. Plans were proposed, and arrangements concluded, 
 for the furtherance of the object we have announced: in 
 short, in the brief space of an hour, the major had determined 
 the course of his future life, and had framed schemes of 
 happiness, and visions of domestic peace, which he impatiently 
 sought to realize. The vicar was detained by the major, 
 
CHAP. X. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 163 
 
 but Mr. Seymour quitted Ivy Lodge and returned to his 
 family. He found the children engaged at playing at 
 marbles. Tom was displaying to his sisters many instances 
 of his adroitness and skill in shooting at and hitting marbles. 
 
 " Why, Tom," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " how came you 
 possessed of such a multitude of marbles ?" 
 
 " By luck ; good luck, papa ; I won them all before the 
 holidays ; and I can assure you that my schoolfellows 
 acknowledge me as one of the best players at ring-taw in the 
 school." 
 
 "Justly, then, has your merit been rewarded," said the 
 father. " Have you not read of the skilful Eoman, who 
 could blow peas through a quill, and deposit them with such 
 nicety on the point of a pin, placed at some distance, as 
 rarely to miss his aim ?" 
 
 " And what was his reward ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " A bushel of peas, my boy, w T hich the emperor commanded 
 to be presented to him. But do not misunderstand me : 
 far be it from my wish to disparage your skill ; whatever 
 we undertake, we should endeavour to accomplish; I am, 
 therefore, well pleased to find that you can play at marbles 
 with so much success." 
 
 " I wonder who invented marbles ?" said Tom. 
 
 "That question, my dear, must be addressed to Mr. 
 Twaddleton, who, I have no doubt, will immediately answer 
 it." 
 
 Scarcely had these words been spoken, when their ' Fidus 
 Achates ' appeared on the lawn. Mr. Seymour informed him 
 of the subject of their conversation, and added, that he had 
 just told the children he was sure he would readily answer 
 their question. 
 
 " Not so readily as you may imagine," replied the vicar ; 
 "but I will tell you all I know upon the subject. It 
 appears to be a very ancient game ; for it is stated by 
 Suetonius, that Augustus, when a youth, spent many hours 
 in the day in playing with little Moorish boys * cum nucibus' 
 that is, with nuts, which appear to have been then used in 
 the very way in which you now play with your marbles. 
 In later times, round stones, picked out of gravel, were, 
 
164 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 introduced for this purpose. The marbles which you now 
 hold in your hand are substitutes of still more modern 
 invention. The best of them are imported from Holland, 
 where, as I have been informed, they are manufactured by 
 grinding fragments of alabaster and of other stones, in an 
 iron mill of a peculiar construction, in which there are 
 several partitions furnished with rasps, which turn with 
 great velocity, by means of a stream of water ; and thus, 
 having rounded the stones, project them out of different 
 holes for which their size may adapt them. Thus manufac- 
 tured, they are brought down the Rhine, and from thence 
 dispersed throughout Europe ; immense quantities are also 
 exported to India and China. There are, however, as you 
 well know, inferior kinds, which are of home manufacture, 
 and consist of potter's clay covered with a glaze, and burnt 
 in a furnace." 
 
 "I have often wondered what is the meaning of the words 
 taw and ally" observed Tom. 
 
 " Why, your taw is a brown marble, and your ally, if I 
 remember rightly, a very white one ; is it not so ?" asked 
 the vicar. 
 
 "To be sure," said Tom. 
 
 "Very well, then," said the vicar, "the words are clearly 
 abbreviations of tawny and alabaster." 
 
 " Now, then," said Mr. Seymour, " for a game ; what is it 
 to be, Tom ?" 
 
 " Ring-taw for ever !" cried Tom ; " it is the only game of 
 marbles worth playing at." 
 
 " It is really so long since I left school," observed his 
 father, " that I must beg you to refresh my memory, and 
 give me some instructions about this favourite game of 
 yours." 
 
 " I will tell you all about it. "We must first draw a 
 circle, on which each player is to put a certain number of 
 marbles, to be previously agreed upon ; we then make a 
 mark at some distance, which is called the offing, and from 
 which we are to shoot at the marbles in the ring." 
 
 " That is all very intelligible," observed his father ; " and 
 I suppose the object of the player is to shoot a marble out 
 
CHAP. X. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 165 
 
 of the ring, which not only gives him that marble, but en- 
 titles him to shoot again at another, and so on, until he 
 misses, or all the marbles are won." 
 
 " That is right, papa. " 
 
 " And a good marksman," observed the vicar, " who has 
 the first shot, may easily win the game, before any other 
 player can gain the opportunity of shooting at a single 
 marble." 
 
 "I see that clearly," said Mr. Seymour; "he may strike 
 out a marble from the circle, and then shoot at another, 
 and in this manner traverse the whole ring ; I therefore 
 conclude, that good players will always demand a large 
 ring, or else there would not be much chance for any one, 
 except for him who played first." 
 
 " That is the game ; but I must tell you," said Tom, 
 " that if the player should leave his own marble in the ring, 
 he is at once put out ; and should it be within a certain 
 distance on the outside, an adversary may shoot at it, and, 
 by hitting it, put him also out of the game." 
 
 " I believe that I am now a perfect master of the subject," 
 said Mr. Seymour ; " what say you, vicar ?" 
 
 " I understand it ; and it appears to me to be capable of 
 some scientific calculation ; but the practical results must, of 
 course, differ very widely from the theory, for the unevenness 
 of the ground, and the inaccurate construction of the marble, 
 are circumstances which never can be duly estimated." 
 
 " Certainly not," replied Mr. Seymour : " these difficulties 
 even exist at the game of billiards (28), where the table is 
 smooth and perfectly horizontal : but we do not require per- 
 fect accuracy, an approximation to it will be sufficient for 
 the purposes of illustration ; we will, therefore, if you please, 
 proceed at once to the game, and I will endeavour to point 
 out to Tom the nature and direction of the several forces by 
 which each marble will be influenced." 
 
 Tom, accordingly, like the son of Cornelius Scriblerus, 
 converted his legs into a pair of compasses, and described, 
 with the toe of his shoe, the necessary circle upon the ground. 
 Each party, by agreement, placed two marbles upon the 
 ring, and it fell to the lot of the vicar to open the campaign. 
 
166 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton then advanced, and, with the assumed air 
 of a true knight-errant, approached the ring, exclaiming 
 with a loud voice, and with a gesture of inexpressible drol- 
 lery, " I demand gracious leave that I may be delivered of 
 my vow, and forthwith combat in the lists ;" so saying, he 
 unfurled his red banner, and sounded a trumpet; or, in 
 more humble phraseology, he extracted his handkerchief 
 from his pocket, and applying it to his nasal organs, pro- 
 duced a loud and thrilling blast, which frightened every 
 sparrow from its resting-place. After this preliminary 
 ceremonial, he marshalled his limbs into the most appropriate 
 attitude, and, thrusting one hand behind the exuberant tail 
 of his coat, he, with the other, shot forth his missile at the 
 largest marble opposite to him. His taw faithfully delivered 
 its errand, and inflicted such a blow upon the paunch of his 
 antagonist, that, although nearly twice the size of its as- 
 sailant, like a true bully, it skulked off, and retreated several 
 feet beyond the lists ; but, alas ! the little marble of the 
 vicar, unlucky wight! was so stunned by the operation, 
 that it staggered, and reeled backwards into the ring, and 
 thus, according to the established law of the field, completed 
 by one act the total defeat of its luckless commander. 
 
 "Tour marble is left in the ring!" exclaimed Tom, with a 
 shout of triumph. 
 
 " I see how it happened," said Mr. Seymour ; " the vicar 
 struck the marble plump, or ' played a full ball,' as we say 
 at billiards, and the result easily admits of explanation. 
 You already know that a marble possesses elasticity ; when, 
 therefore, the one in the ring was struck, it went off with a 
 velocity equal to that with which the striking marble 
 approached it, while the latter, in return, received a blow 
 equal to that it gave, which destroyed its motion. "When 
 we go back into the library, I will exhibit- a very pretty 
 experiment in further elucidation of this philosophical 
 truth." (29.) 
 
 It was now Mr. Seymour's turn to enter the lists. He 
 carefully applied his knuckles to the ground, and, taking 
 aim at a little marble which he had selected as his victim, 
 gallantly shot the missile from his thumb and finger ; but, 
 
CHAP. X. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 167 
 
 alas ! alas ! the goddess, whatever may be her name, who 
 presides over this species of tournay, doubtless saw the im- 
 pending fate of her favourite, and after the example of 
 Venus, who turned aside the weapon from ^Eneas, assumed 
 the shape of a small pebble, and thus arrested the fatal 
 course of the marble, and gave it a new direction, which sent 
 it curveting through the ring, without committing one single 
 act of devastation. 
 
 " Bravo ! bravo !" exclaimed Tom ; " it is now my turn." 
 
 The boy, according to the usage of the field, might at 
 once have won the game by striking his father's marble ; 
 but he was too magnanimous to take such an advantage, 
 and too eager to display his own skill, to cut the game 
 short by a manoeuvre : he had determined to win his laurels 
 by hard fighting and generalship. He accordingly pro- 
 ceeded to strike a ring marble ; in effecting which he had, 
 like the vicar, challenged a gigantic knight as his antagonist ; 
 but instead of striking it plump, he struck its upper quarter, 
 so that it was rolled out of the ring, while the striking 
 marble, imparting only a portion of its momentum, continued 
 to move forward after the impact. This course was greeted 
 with the acclamations of Mr. Seymour and the vicar, the 
 latter of whom declared it to have been " nobly run," and 
 gallantly accomplished ; and, extracting a sixpence from his 
 waistcoat-pocket, exclaimed, after the manner of chivalry, 
 " Largesse, largesse, glory to the sons of the brave ! glory to 
 the invincible knight of the taw !" 
 
 The boy had not only struck the marble out of the ring, 
 but he had, at the same time, contrived to place his own 
 marble in the most favourable position for his future opera- 
 tions ; and, indeed, it may be here observed, that in this 
 consists the art of playing the game. It is almost unneces- 
 sary to add that Tom won every marble in succession. 
 
 Mr. Seymour then proceeded to explain the laws of im/- 
 pact, by which the movement of each marble was directed. 
 He observed, that the subject embraced two propositions, 
 viz., the direction of the object marble after having been 
 struck, and that of the striking marble after the stroke. He 
 said that, if a straight line were drawn between the centres 
 
168 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 of the striking and object marbles, it would necessarily pass 
 through their point of contact, and, if continued, would 
 represent' the path of the latter after the blow. In order to 
 find the direction of the striking marble after the shock, he 
 told him that he must imagine a tangent to the path of the 
 object ball drawn from its centre, and then a line parallel to 
 it, from the centre of the striking marble ; the latter of 
 which would be the required path. 
 
 Mr. Seymour now inquired whether there was any other 
 game of marbles at which they could amuse themselves. 
 
 " The game which we call ' lagging out,' " replied the boy, 
 " is amusing enough. It consists in striking your marble 
 against the wall, and making it rebound, so as to hit any 
 other marble that is placed at a certain distance from it, or 
 to come within a span of it." 
 
 " I understand," said his father, " and, like ring-taw, it 
 may be made subservient to our purpose of illustrating the 
 doctrine of forces ; although I think that the principle of 
 reflected motion may be more readily explained by the rebound- 
 ing ball." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here took the elastic ball, and threw it 
 obliquely against the wall, from which it rebounded in an 
 opposite and equally oblique direction. He then sketched 
 the annexed figure, and proceeded as follows : " When I 
 threw the ball against the wall B, in 
 the direction A B, having struck it, it 
 glanced off, making an angle, in its 
 passage back again, equal to that which 
 it made in its approach to the wall. 
 If I draw the perpendicular B D, this 
 fact will be rendered more apparent, 
 and you will perceive that the angle A. B D is equal to 
 the angle c B D ; the former is termed the angle of incidence, 
 the latter the angle of reflection ; and these angles, remember, 
 are always equal, provided the ball under experiment be 
 perfectly elastic." 
 
 "Do you mean to say," asked Tom, "that the more 
 obliquely I throw the ball against the wall, the more obliquely 
 it will rebound ?" 
 
CHAP. X. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 169 
 
 " Exactly ; that is my meaning ; and see whether you 
 cannot explain the fact, for it depends on the composition 
 and resolution of the forces, a subject which I should hope 
 you thoroughly understand." 
 
 Tom pondered for some time over the drawing, and at 
 length observed that there was one difficulty which he could 
 not immediately surmount. 
 
 " State your difficulty," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 He proceeded to observe that the force acting in the 
 direction A B would certainly be resolved into two others, viz. 
 one in the direction F B, and another in that of D B ; "because," 
 continued he, " these lines are the adjacent sides of the 
 parallelogram, of which A B is the diagonal ; and I well know 
 that, whenever a force strikes obliquely, it is thus resolved." 
 
 "That is all very well explained," replied his father; 
 "pray proceed." 
 
 "Now comes the difficulty," continued Tom; "for the 
 force D B will of course be destroyed by the wall, and that 
 represented by E B, which is the only one that can remain, 
 would carry the ball to E." 
 
 "It certainly would do so," answered his father, "if the 
 ball were perfectly devoid of elasticity ; but remember that 
 in consequence of this property, the force D B, will be ex- 
 changed for one in an opposite direction, B D." 
 
 " I had entirely overlooked the elasticity," said Tom ; " I 
 now see my way clearly, for in that case there must be two 
 forces acting in the directions B D, B E, which will, of course, 
 drive the ball down the diagonal B c." 
 
 " Your demonstration is perfectly correct, my boy ; and I 
 think you will now admit that I could not have adduced a 
 more beautiful instance of the composition and resolution of 
 forces ; for, in the first place, you resolve the diagonal force 
 into two others, and then you recompoun"d these to produce 
 another diagonal one." 
 
 " But I think you told us that the angles of incidence and 
 reflection were only equal when the rebounding body was 
 perfectly elastic." 
 
 " Clearly so ; the force D B must be exchanged for an 
 equal one B D, or else the angle A B D cannot be equal to 
 
170 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 the angle DEC; but I will render this fact still farther 
 intelligible by another diagram. Let B, as in the former 
 case, represent the wall upon which the imperfectly-elastic 
 body impinges in the direction A B. The force will of course 
 
 be resolved into two others, viz., 
 into D B and F B ; the force 
 D B, however, instead of being 
 replaced by the opposite one 
 B D, will now be represented 
 by the shorter line B G; or 
 that of B H or B i, according 
 to the degree of elasticity. If 
 
 we, therefore, complete the parallelogram, B c, B K, or B M 
 will be the diagonal path of the body ; making, as you per- 
 ceive, the angle of reflection D B c, greater than that of incidence 
 A B D ; and where the body is perfectly inelastic, the force 
 D B will be wholly destroyed, and, the force B E alone sur- 
 viving, the body will be carried along the line BE. I have 
 now," continued Mr. Seymour, " explained to you the prin- 
 cipal laws which govern those forces by which your ball or 
 marbles are actuated. It is true that in practice you cannot 
 expect the results should accurately coincide with the theory, 
 because, in the first place, you cannot obtain marbles that 
 are of equal density and elasticity, and of true figure ; and in 
 the next, there will be obstacles against which it is impos- 
 sible to guard. The spinning of the marble will also have a 
 material influence on its motion, as we have already disco- 
 vered. In the game of billiards, where every obstacle is 
 removed, as far as art can assist, the theory and practice are 
 often strangely discordant. But we have dwelt sufficiently 
 upon the subject ; we will, therefore, return to the library, 
 where I intend to exhibit an experiment in farther elucidation 
 of the subject of collision." 
 
 The party accordingly proceeded on their return. 
 " I hope," said Mr. Seymour, addressing himself to Mr. 
 Twaddleton, who was walking a few paces before him, " that 
 the maiden ladies have not espied their vicar at a game of 
 marbles ; if they should, what a chuckling would there be at 
 their next tea-party !" 
 
CHAP. X. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 171 
 
 "A fig for the spinsters!" exclaimed the vicar, as he 
 hastily turned roundj and arrested the progress of the party 
 by his gesture. " You really speak, Mr. Seymour, as though 
 it were derogatory to my character to descend from the more 
 austere pursuits to the simple but innocent amusements of 
 youth. Believe me, Sir, that I am not so old as to have for- 
 gotten that I was once young." 
 
 " Once young ! say, ever young. I only lately observed, 
 when you were playing with your ball and marbles, that they 
 appeared to possess the power of restoring the vigour of 
 youth, like the apples of the Scandinavian goddess Iduna," 
 observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "And let me remind you," said the vicar, "that the 
 Persian ambassador found even Agesilaus, the Lacedemonian 
 monarch, riding on a stick." 
 
 " True ; and the ambassadors of Henry the Fourth found 
 him playing on the carpet with his children," said Mr. 
 Seymour. "If you fall back upon authority, I am quite 
 ready to stand as surety for your honourable acquittal. I 
 suppose you remember that Socrates was partial to the 
 recreation of riding on a wooden horse, for which, as 
 Valerius Maximus informs us, his pupil Alcibiades laughed 
 at him." 
 
 " I care not who laughs at me," exclaimed the vicar : 
 " ' the world may laugh again, and I may live to do it kind- 
 ness.' I enjoy the amusements of youth, and am as willing 
 as was old Acestes to join their games.* I entirely agree 
 with Dr. Paley, in regarding the pleasure they afford as a 
 striking instance of the beneficence of the Deity 
 
 * Deus nobis ha?c otia fecit,' 
 
 as Virgil has it." 
 
 The vicar proceeded in a strain of unusual animation 
 " Toys and games, my dear friend, have served to unbend the 
 wise, to occupy the idle, to exercise the sedentary ;f and, let 
 
 * JEn., lib. v., ver. 719. 
 
 f Disraeli mentions, as a * Curiosity of Literature,' a poem on the games of 
 children, written by a Dutchman, of the name of Katz, in which the author 
 attempts to make the sports of youth subservient to moral instruction. 
 
172 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 me add, to unwrinkle the aged, for, by reviving the pleasant 
 recollections of youth, what a cheering glow is cast over the 
 evening of life ! " 
 
 "And," interposed Mr. Seymour, "I hope you will also 
 add, to assist the young in acquiring knowledge, as well as 
 to aid the sage in his labours to extend it ; for I may here 
 inform you that, by means of the soap-bubble, Faraday has 
 succeeded in discovering new laws regarding the magnetic 
 action of different gases ; and you well know that to the kite 
 Franklin was indebted for the consummation of his electrical 
 discoveries." 
 
 " Very true," answered the vicar, " and not only did the 
 kite enable him to discharge the thunder-cloud of its 
 dangers ; but its slender string, along which the light- 
 ning travelled safely to the earth, may be said to have 
 shadowed forth the wonderful invention of the electric tele- 
 graph."* 
 
 " It might also be easily shown that the rudiments of the 
 steam-engine first appeared in the form of a toy," observed 
 the vicar. 
 
 " I suppose you allude to the Eolipyle of Hero of Alex- 
 andria?" 
 
 " Exactly so ; and I have been told that our gas-lights were 
 first suggested by boys filling the bowl of a tobacco-pipe with 
 burning coal, and inflaming the vapour that issued from its 
 tube. ' Sic par vis componere magnets.' " 
 
 Mr. Seymour here remarked that many of our valuable 
 inventions were little else than cleverly-developed toys, 
 separated from each other, he was ready to admit, by no 
 inconsiderable chasm : thus did Humboldt witness on the 
 shores of the Oronoco the native copper-coloured children 
 of the forest amusing themselves by rubbing the dry, flat, 
 shining reeds of some leguminous plant, for the purpose of 
 causing them to attract fibres of cotton, or bamboo ; and 
 he very philosophically exclaims, " How wide is the interval 
 which separates this simple knowledge of electrical excite- 
 
 * Professor Andrews lately announced, in the Chemical Section of the British 
 Association at Glasgow, that he had decomposed water by atmospheric electri- 
 city, obtained by means of a properly-adjusted kite. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 173 
 
 ment by friction from the invention of the metallic conductor, 
 the voltaic pile, and the magnetic telegraph!" 
 
 " All you have thus related," observed the vicar, " at least 
 proves, what I am sure must afford you the highest satisfac- 
 tion, that even these wild children of the forest entertained 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT." 
 
 " Let me farther say, in illustration of my subject," con- 
 tinued Mr. Seymour, " that the wide interval which separates 
 the boyish sport on the shores of the Oronoco from the elec- 
 trical messenger, is not more striking than is the transition 
 from the fleeting shadow of the departing lover, playfully 
 cast on the wall by the secret lamp of the Corinthian maid, 
 to the photographic portrait now permanently stamped, 
 with all the expressions of life, by the subtle and invisible 
 spirit that dwells in the sunbeam." 
 
 " That is certainly a most marvellous invention," said the 
 vicar. " It is just as if you looked into a glass, and left your 
 face behind you : talk not then to me of fairy tales, until 
 you can show that their presiding genii can produce some- 
 thing equally wonderful." 
 
 The foregoing digression having been concluded, the party 
 at once proceeded to the Lodge, where Mr. Seymour pro- 
 duced a piece of apparatus for the purpose of exhibiting the 
 experiment he had promised, in illustration of the doctrine 
 of the collision of elastic bodies. 
 
 "Here are two ivory balls," said he, "suspended by 
 threads ; I shall draw one of them, A, a little on 
 one side ; now I let it go, it strikes, you see, 
 against the other ball, B, and drives it off to a 
 distance equal to that through which the first ball 
 fell; but the motion of A is stopped, because, ^ O 
 when it struck B, it received in return a blow B A 
 equal to that it gave, and its motion was consequently 
 destroyed. To extend the experiment, 
 here are six ivory balls hanging in a 
 row ; I will draw the first out of the 
 perpendicular and let it fall against the 
 second ; see ! see ! none of the balls ap- 
 pear to move except the last, which you perceive flies off as 
 
1 74 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X. 
 
 far as the first ball fell. I should like to hear you explain 
 this." 
 
 Tom observed that, when the first ball struck the second, 
 it received a blow in return, which destroyed its motion ; and 
 that the second ball, although it did not appear to move, 
 must have struck against the third, the reaction of which set 
 it at rest ; that the action of the third ball must have been 
 destroyed by the reaction of the fourth, and so on, until 
 motion was communicated to the last ball, which, not being 
 reacted upon, flew off. 
 
 Mr. Seymour commended Tom for his explanation ; but 
 he begged him to understand that such an effect only 
 occurred when the balls were elastic ; and he proceeded to 
 exhibit the difference between elastic and inelastic bodies by 
 another experiment. " When you raise one of these inelastic 
 balls, made of clay, out of the perpendicular, 
 and let it fall against the other, E, the action 
 and reaction, not being augmented by the force 
 of elasticity, are insufficient to destroy the motion 
 of the former ; only part of the motion D will, 
 therefore, be communicated to E, and the two 
 balls will move together to d e, which are less distant from 
 the vertical line than the ball was before it fell." 
 
 Before we close this chapter, we cannot resist the pleasure 
 of informing our readers that Major Snap well, in company 
 with his legal adviser, had quitted Overton, for the purpose 
 of making such preliminary arrangements as the purchase of 
 an estate must necessarily require. It is not our intention 
 to accompany them ; nor shall we travel over the plains of 
 parchment, nor wade through the rivers of ink, which 
 separate the confines of verbal agreement and legal posses- 
 sion ; but, claiming the prerogative of authors, we shall dip 
 our wing in the cup of inspiration, and, by a single flourish 
 of our feathered talisman, drive away a swarm of buzzing 
 lawyers, and at once put the worthy major in the undisturbed 
 possession of his newly-purchased mansion, and install him 
 in one of Daw's most comfortable elbow-chairs, surrounded 
 by all the luxuries of polished life. 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 175 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MR. SEYMOUR AND HIS FAMILY VISIT THE MAJOR AT OSTERLEY PARK. 
 A CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE VICAR AND THE MAJOR. THE SUCKER. 
 
 COHESIVE ATTRACTION. PRESSURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE. MEANING 
 
 OF THE TERM SUCTION. CERTAIN ANIMALS ATTACH THEMSELVES TO 
 ROCKS BY A CONTRIVANCE ANALOGOUS TO THE SUCKER. THE LIMPET. 
 THE WALRUS. THE LAMPREY. LOCOMOTIVE ORGANS OF THE HOUSE- 
 FLY. A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. A SCENE IN THE VILLAGE, IN WHICH 
 
 DR. DOSEALL FIGURES AS A PRINCIPAL PERFORMER. THE VICAR'S 
 SENSIBLE REMONSTRANCE. THE DENSITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AT 
 DIFFERENT ALTITUDES. THE BOTTLE IMPS. THE POP-GUN. THE AIR- 
 GUN. AN ANTIQUARIAN DISCUSSION, IN WHICH THE VICAR AND MAJOR 
 SNAPWELL GREATLY DISTINGUISH THEMSELVES. 
 
 IN the course of the ensuing week Mr. and Mrs. Seymour 
 proceeded to offer their congratulations to the new pro- 
 prietor of Osterley Park. On being ushered into the library, 
 they were not a little surprised and startled by the loud 
 voice of the major, who, addressing Mr. Twaddleton, ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 " Never will I again suspect the antiquity of your rarities, 
 nor question the rarity of your antiquities." 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Seymour," said the major, "welcome to 
 Osterley Park. You find me, as usual, engaged with our 
 
17G PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 friend in a learned controversy, and I begin to fear that my 
 warmth may have offended him." 
 
 " Offended me !" exclaimed the vicar, " oh no. No, 
 indeed, my dear Major Snap well; a difference of opinion 
 011 an antiquarian subject may excite my regret, and in 
 some cases, as in the present instance, awaken my pity ; 
 but it cannot cffend me ; it can never occasion any feeling 
 like anger : that would be to visit the folly of others upon 
 myself." 
 
 " What is the subject of your difference, gentlemen ?" 
 asked Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " The evidences of druidical rites, as deducible from 
 certain cavities to be found in granitic rocks, and which 
 have received the appellation of rock basins" replied the 
 major. 
 
 " And of which," exclaimed Mr. Twaddleton, " I have a 
 most unquestionable specimen, collected by no less a geo- 
 logist than the curator of the cabinet at Penzance, from 
 that ancient metropolis of the druids, Carn-bre hill" 
 
 " I admit," said the major, " that I never before saw so 
 perfect a specimen ; it is as spheroidal internally as if it had 
 been actually shaped by a turning-lathe." 
 
 " And yet, in spite of such evidence," replied the vicar, 
 " you question its sacred origin, and deny its ever having 
 been used as a pool of lustration !" 
 
 Mr. Seymour here interposed. " Upon a subject of 
 purely historical difficulty, I might feel diffident in offering 
 myself as an umpire between such learned antiquaries; 
 but, as the origin of ' rock basins ' involves a geological 
 question, I will venture to deliver an opinion. Depend 
 upon it. vicar, that you are maintaining a position that 
 cannot be defended ; these uncouth cavities, together with 
 all the fancied statuary of Borlase (30), have never been 
 shaped by any chisel but the tooth of time, nor have any 
 artists but the elements been engaged in their formation." 
 
 " What say you to that, vicar ?" triumphantly exclaimed 
 the major. 
 
 " Oh, impiety, impiety !" cried the vicar ; 
 
 ' Hostis habet muros, ruit alto a culraine Troja,' 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 177 
 
 as Maro has it. That such glorious monuments, which 
 have so long braved the tempests, should fall under the 
 hammer of these Philistines ! Geology, Mr. Seymour, is 
 infidelity in masquerade ; remember the mites in the 
 Cheshire cheese, Mr. Seymour, ' consider their ways and be 
 wise.' " 
 
 "Philistines as we are, in your opinion," replied his 
 opponent, " our forges have served to sharpen your weapons 
 against the attacks of infidelity." 
 
 " Come, come, gentlemen," said Mr Seymour, " the con- 
 tinuance of this discussion can neither amuse nor instruct 
 us. I have, however, some intelligence to communicate 
 which will soothe every feeling of irritation. We have 
 received a letter from Isabella Villers, in answer to an in- 
 vitation to Overton, and she graciously accepts it, and 
 purposes being with us on "Wednesday next." 
 
 The major was delighted, and conversed upon various 
 points connected with the intended union of his nephew 
 with that lady, which we do not think it necessary to relate 
 in this place. The vicar and major shook hands, and it was 
 proposed that they should dine at Overton Lodge the fol- 
 lowing day, and, as a specific overture, that the major should 
 visit the vicarage in his way, and again inspect some of the 
 disputed antiquities of the reverend collector. 
 
 The following morning was occupied with the consi- 
 deration of those different toys which are indebted for their 
 operation to the pressure of the atmosphere. 
 
 " Tom," said Mr. Seymour, " fetch hither your leathern 
 sucker." 
 
 " John is, at this moment, amusing himself in the garden 
 with the one which I brought with me from school," replied 
 Tom. 
 
 " Then you shall construct another for yourself. Here is 
 leather and string." 
 
 "This leather is too stiff; but I may, perhaps, make it 
 answer the purpose by first soaking.it." 
 
 Having allowed it to remain in water for a short time, 
 the leather became sufficiently pliable for his purpose ; he 
 therefore cut it into a circular shape, and affixed a string 
 
178 PHILOSOPHY IN SPOUT CHAP. XI. 
 
 through its centre. The juvenile party now hastened to the 
 lawn, and, having once again dipped his newly-constructed 
 sucker into the water, the ingenious boy placed it upon a 
 stone, pressed down the leather with his foot, and succeeded 
 in making it raise the weight. 
 
 " Well done, my boy ! Now, then, explain the reason of 
 the leather's adhesion to the surface, and of its being thus 
 capable of retaining its hold, notwithstanding the gravity of 
 the stone/' 
 
 "In the first place," answered Tom, "the edges of the 
 wet leather, from being closely pressed, stuck with sufficient 
 firmness to the smooth surface of the stone, to resist the 
 force of the string as I pulled it upwards ; the consequence 
 was, that a hollow was formed in the middle part of the 
 leather; and, as that hollow place cannot contain any air, it 
 is called a vacuum." 
 
 " Very well," replied his father, " so far you are right ; 
 but you have not informed me in what manner a vacuum 
 acts in preventing the stone from quitting the leather." 
 
 " It makes it adhere to it by some kind of suction, but I 
 confess that I do not exactly understand the subject." 
 
 " Then let us proceed cautiously and deliberately in the 
 explanation. In the first place, you have said, and said 
 correctly, that the edges of the leather adhere to the stone ; 
 but what is the nature of the power to which this adhesion 
 is to be referred? I perceive you are puzzled by the 
 question : attend, then, to my explanation. You must know 
 that there exists a tendency in all bodies to adhere together, 
 provided the contact of their surfaces be sufficiently perfect ; 
 this property is termed cohesion, or cohesive attraction, from 
 the Latin word cohcereo, w r hich I need not inform you 
 signifies to stick together. The dry leather will not adhere to 
 a rough surface, because, in that case, the contact cannot 
 be rendered sufficiently perfect ; but, when saturated with 
 water, the interstices of the leather are filled with that fluid, 
 and the inequalities of the surface, which must always 
 prevent close contact, are removed. If two bodies, when 
 placed together, be not sufficiently smooth, or polished, it 
 will be vain to attempt their cohesion; since the particles 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 179 
 
 will, in such a state, touch each other only in a few points ; 
 whereas, if well polished, the number of points of contact 
 will be increased, and the cohesion become evident. It is 
 for this reason that carpenters, when they intend to glue 
 pieces of wood together, plane the surfaces perfectly smooth, 
 before they apply the glue. In like manner, if two leaden 
 bullets, having each a flat surface of a quarter of an inch in 
 diameter, be scraped smooth, and then forcibly pressed 
 together, they will cohere so strongly as to require the 
 force of 100 Ib. to separate them." (31.) 
 
 Tom here acknowledged that he had not before understood 
 the reason of the leather's adhesion to the stone. 
 
 "Having, then, settled this point to your satisfaction," 
 continued Mr. Seymour, " let us proceed. Your idea of a 
 vacuum being formed in the hollow part of the leather is 
 perfectly correct : lor, as you draw up the central part by 
 the string, the hollow thus produced must necessarily be a 
 vacuum, since the air cannot pass through the leather to 
 supply it ; in this state, therefore, the atmosphere presses 
 upon the exterior of the leather, and like any other weight 
 prevents its rising from the stone." 
 
 Fanny and Louisa here expressed some surprise, on 
 hearing of the weight of the atmosphere ; the former ob- 
 served that she did not feel any pressure from it. Their 
 father explained the reason of their not being conscious of 
 the weight, by informing them that their bodies contained 
 air, which, by its elasticity, counteracted the pressure from 
 without ; but that, if it were possible to remove all the air 
 which the body contained, the pressure of the atmosphere 
 would not be counteracted ; and the consequence would be, 
 that we should be flattened like a pancake by its weight, 
 which had been ascertained by experiment to be equal to 
 fifteen pounds upon every square inch of surface, or as 
 much as forty thousand pounds upon the body of a man of 
 ordinary size. 
 
 "Until your explanation," said Tom, "I really believed 
 that the leather adhered to the stone by some kind of 
 suction, just as the back of my hand adheres to my lips 
 whenever I place it to my mouth, and draw in my breath." 
 
180 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 Mr. Seymour here expressed a doubt whether his son 
 was even yet a perfect master of the subject : he told him 
 that there was no such operation in nature as suction ; that 
 it was merely a popular term to denote the action of the air 
 upon a vacuum. " Tour hand," said he, " adheres to your 
 mouth, in consequence of your forming a vacuum within 
 it, by forcibly drawing in your breath, and the resistance 
 which is opposed to its removal arises entirely from the 
 pressure of the atmosphere upon it. Many are the effects 
 which may be explained upon a similar principle. I dare 
 say you well remember the astonishment which you expressed 
 at the force with which the limpets attached themselves to 
 the rocks." 
 
 " O yes, papa," exclaimed Louisa, " I well remember, 
 when we walked on the sea-shore, that, on first touching 
 the limpets, they appeared loose and moveable, but, before I 
 had time to remove them, they fastened themselves as firmly 
 as though they had been a part of the rock upon which they 
 were fixed ; how could that happen p" 
 
 Mr. Seymour replied, that these sea insects possessed the 
 power of converting their whole bodies into suckers ; and he 
 informed them, that many other animals were endowed with 
 a similar faculty. He instanced the claws of the polypus, 
 which are furnished with many such suckers, by means of 
 which the animal is enabled to hold to whatever it attaches 
 itself, with very considerable force. 
 
 " Have you never observed," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 " the security and ease with which flies frequently walk upon 
 a smooth wall, or a pane of glass, or even along the ceiJing, 
 with their bodies downward ?" 
 
 "To be sure," replied Tom; "but are not their legs 
 provided with some sticky matter, which enables them to 
 preserve themselves from falling ?" 
 
 " That is a popular error, my dear : the fact is, that their 
 feet are provided with little cups, or suckers, which they 
 alternately exhaust and fill with air ; by which means they 
 are enabled to walk in every position, over the most slippery 
 surface (32). In like manner, the walrus, or seal, a painting 
 of which you may remember to have seen in the Panorama 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 181 
 
 of Spitzbergen, is capable of climbing the masses of slippery 
 ice with perfect security." 
 
 "While upon this subject," said the vicar, " do not let 
 us forget the lamprey * of classical renown, which, by fasten- 
 ing itself to the helm so impeded the galley of Anthony, as 
 to give to Augustus an advantage, which enabled him to 
 invest the fleet and gain the victory of Actium. The fact 
 is recorded by Pliny, and poetically described by the Greek 
 poet Oppian." 
 
 At this moment Tom's stone fell from the sucker. Louisa 
 inquired how it could have happened. 
 
 " The circumstance is to be easily explained," said her 
 father. " The atmosphere, by its pressure, ultimately forced 
 its way through the edges of the sucker ; its interior therefore 
 became filled with air, and it consequently balanced the 
 external weight, which had before confined it." 
 
 " I think," said the vicar, " that Tom must now surely 
 understand the theory of the leathern sucker ; what say you, 
 my boy ? Cannot you exclaim with Persius, ' Ego te Intus 
 et in Cute novi?'" 
 
 " A quotation which I presume you would apply to the 
 nature of the cavity, and the operation of the leather," 
 observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "Exactly," answered the vicar. 
 
 " Then never more protest against the vice of punning ; 
 for a more atrocious specimen of the lusus verborum was 
 never sported by the most incorrigible Johnian ; but, to 
 your classical fancy, any object inclosed in a Latin shrine 
 appears as a deity." 
 
 The vicar had just drawn up his person into a suitable 
 attitude for combat, and would, no doubt, have defended 
 himself against this unexpected attack with his usual address, 
 had not a circumstance occurred which put an abrupt 
 termination to the discourse. 
 
 " See ! see !" exclaimed Louisa ; " what can have hap- 
 pened ? There is Jerry Styles, with a crowd of villagers, 
 
 * The lamprey has a mouth very like the boy's sucker, within which there 
 is a tongue as rough as a file, with which it works upon any object to which 
 it may attach itself. 
 
182 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 running towards us in the greatest state of agitation and 
 alarm." 
 
 "Jerry Styles? It is, indeed, as you say, my faithful 
 clerk," cried the vicar. " Bless me bless me ! what can 
 have happened? Is the vicarage on fire? Has the old 
 roof at last tumbled into the chancel ?" 
 
 " Oh, sir ! oh, my dear sir !" vociferated the terrified 
 servant of the church, whose blanched cheeks made his red 
 nose appear like a volcano burning amidst a desert of snows, 
 " Poor Tom Plank has blown the roof off his house, and is 
 so dreadfully wounded that it is impossible for him to survive 
 long, if, indeed, he be not already dead." 
 
 " How did it happen ?" exclaimed several voices. 
 
 " Prom a speriment ! a speriment ! it all came from a 
 flossied speriment /" replied the breathless clerk ; " but pray, 
 gentlemen, come directly to the village ; for mercy's sake, 
 gentlemen, don't delay a moment !" 
 
 The vicar and Mr. Seymour instantly proceeded with 
 the terrified Jerry Styles towards the house of the unfortu- 
 nate " planer of deals ;" they had not gone far before they met 
 several other villagers, who informed them that Dr. Doseall 
 was in attendance upon the wounded man, and had pronounced 
 him to be in the greatest danger. 
 
 On their arrival at the house, the roof of which they at 
 once perceived had not suffered in the fray, they learned 
 that Tom Plank had been engaged in some experiments for 
 producing a vacuum, in the prosecution of his new scheme 
 of propelling passengers through a tunnel;* and that, in 
 firing a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases, he had 
 neglected the usual precaution, and blown up his apparatus ; 
 the stop-cock had been unceremoniously expelled through 
 the window, and, in its passage, had ungraciously flown in 
 the face of its master, and left the traces of its indignation 
 in the form of a very slight scratch upon his forehead : this 
 
 * Tom Plank seems to have entertained a project which to a certain extent 
 has been realized in the construction of the Atmospheric Railway, but which 
 was very soon abandoned, since it was found impossible to render the works 
 air-tight, or to prevent rats, toads, and other vermin, from being absorbed 
 and drawn forwards into the machinery of the steam-engine. 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 183 
 
 accident, with a burn of the fingers, was the only personal 
 injury he had sustained. 
 
 "Come, come," said Mr. Seymour, "no mischief has 
 occurred, and the accident will, I trust, teach you more 
 caution for the future. You are not the first adventurer 
 who has burned his fingers by bubble speculations, and in vain 
 attempts to raise the wind.' 1 '' 
 
 Dr. Doseall, however, with a countenance of stern com 
 posure, and a portentous shake of the head, maintained that 
 the accident was by no means so trifling as Mr. Seymour 
 appeared to suppose ; and, in conformity with this view of 
 the case, he had prudently bled his patient largely, and 
 directed sundry mixtures and lotions, together with a 
 quantum sufficit of laudanum, in order, as he said, " to keep 
 down the swelling and puffing of the head ;" although there 
 were those present who were uncharitable enough to hint 
 that the swelling and puffing related rather to the Doctor's 
 bill and character, than to the patient's pericranium. 
 
 After a short interval engaged in answering the numerous 
 inquiries of the anxious spectators, the doctor, with an air 
 of awful solemnity, advanced to the sufferer, and offered 
 him a bolus of no ordinary size, upon the virtues of which 
 he descanted in most touching language. 
 
 "Avaunt!" exclaimed Mr. Seymour; "do you suppose 
 that Tom Plank has the throat of the great dragon which 
 the Indians believe to swallow the moon, and thus to produce 
 the phenomena of lunar eclipses ? Away with thy treacle 
 and pipe-clay ; there cannot be the least pretext for this 
 parade of remedies. I warrant you that Dame Nature, 
 unless she be put out of humour by your officious interference, 
 will heal the scratch before to-morrow's sunrise." 
 
 The doctor, as our readers will readily imagine, was very 
 justly incensed at this ex-professional interference. His 
 first determination was to treat the matter as a joke, and to 
 turn the laugh against the unmannerly intruder; but the 
 abortive smile was strangled in its birth, and suffused the 
 hue of death over his visage. Never did a countenance, in 
 the focus of his blue window bottle, by candlelight, exhibit 
 a more ghastly pallor; and we can scarcely predict what 
 
184 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 might have been the consequence, had he not instantly 
 administered a consoling cordial to his nostrils : for be it 
 known that the doctor took snuff in the same extravagant 
 proportion as his patients took physic. Having by these 
 means recovered his self-possession, he instantly seized his 
 cane, and, waving it with as much dignity as Jove is said 
 to brandish his thunder, he departed in deep dudgeon, 
 which was betrayed by a snarl, not unlike that of a hungry 
 dog who is unexpectedly despoiled of a savoury bone, and 
 by a contortion of the face, similar to that we have observed 
 in a child who had unfortunately mistaken aloes for liquorice. 
 
 No sooner had the man of wrath and phials retreated 
 from the field of blood, than Mr. Twaddleton advanced to 
 the suffering artist, deeming the moment of bodily fear as 
 affording a favourable opportunity for an attempt to reclaim 
 him from the error of his ways. "Tom Plank," said he in 
 a mild tone, " hadst thou given ear to the warning voice of 
 thy spiritual pastor, and, instead of ridiculing his advice at 
 the sixpenny club, hadst, like a true Christian and worthy 
 parishioner, given heed unto it, thou wouldst not, at this 
 time, have been placed in such bodily peril. Mr. Seymour 
 has consoled thee by his opinion ; sincerely shall I pray 
 that his judgment may be confirmed by the result, and that 
 the visitation may have a salutary influence upon thy future 
 conduct. Quit the pursuit of these bubbles, and leave 
 wiser men to investigate the secrets of nature ; let me exhort 
 thee to return to thy craft, sow where thou canst reap ; we 
 cannot have figs from thorns, nor grapes from thistles; 
 remember the proverb, ' An emmet may work its heart out, 
 but can never make honey.' One word more and I have 
 done suffer not the artist whose profit it is to furnish thee 
 with materials, to flatter and cajole thee ' The dog wags 
 his tail, not for thee, but for thy bread.' " 
 
 As the party left the house, they met Mrs. Seymour, 
 with Tom and Louisa, whose looks sufficiently testified the 
 anxiety they had suffered. 
 
 "Is it all over? Is he dead?" asked Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " No, no ; he is quite safe ; it was an extremely slight 
 accident, although Doseall wished us to believe that it was 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 185 
 
 likely to terminate in some dreadful manner. The vicar 
 thinks that it may prove the means of driving science out 
 of Tom Plank's head, and I intend to make it subservient to 
 driving it still farther into ours." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" cried Tom. 
 
 " I mean that it was an extremely apposite accident for 
 illustrating the subject upon which we were engaged at the 
 moment of interruption." 
 
 " This is the second accident, then," observed Louisa, 
 " that will have served us in our scientific studies. What a 
 philosopher," continued she, " must Dr. Doseall become, if 
 he profit by every accident he witnesses !" 
 
 " Knowledge, my dear girl, is not promoted by the 
 opportunity of seeing, but by the faculty of skilfully observ- 
 ing, and reflecting upon what we see ; were it otherwise, 
 the merit of a traveller might be at once estimated by the 
 number of shoes he had worn out. Whenever, therefore, 
 you hear of a discovery having been made by accident, do 
 not, on that account, depreciate the merits of its author. 
 It is certainly true, that many an important truth has been 
 brought to light from some casual observation (33), but the 
 dexterity with which such observation was applied consti- 
 tutes the merit of the discoverer." 
 
 " For that remark I tender you my best thanks," exclaimed 
 the vicar : " if I might be allowed such a figure of speech, 
 I should say that you have dexterously shot your arrow into 
 the bull's-eye, or ' Acu tetigisti,' as Plautus expresses it. If 
 the prosperity of a jest lies in the ear of him who hears it, 
 surely the right comprehension of phenomena must be 
 determined by the faculties of him who observes them." 
 
 "Without doubt," answered Mr. Seymour; "treasures 
 of wisdom, like the wealth of the miser, often lie concealed 
 under the least attractive exterior, and objects which the 
 common herd pass by as valueless are recognised by the 
 observer, whose faculties have been sharpened by discipline, 
 as stores of knowledge." 
 
 " Well, but to show in what manner the accident of Tom 
 Plank bears upon the subject under discussion : He had 
 ignorantly fired a quantity of oxygen and hydrogen gases in 
 
186 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 a tin vessel ; the consequence of the combustion was the 
 immediate formation of a vacuum : and what happened ? 
 Why, the pressure of the external air, not being any longer 
 balanced by elastic matter in the interior of the apparatus, 
 crushed it with violence, as any other enormous weight might 
 have done ; and so ended the accident, which report magni- 
 fied into a most awful catastrophe." 
 
 As the party proceeded on their way home, they con- 
 tinued to discourse on the subject of the air's pressure. 
 
 " If the atmosphere exerts so enormous a pressure, and 
 has so much weight," observed Louisa, "it is strange that 
 it should not fall down on the earth." 
 
 Mr. Seymour replied, " that the air was a peculiar fluid, 
 which, from its elastic properties, was distinguished by the 
 term of an elastic fluid, the particles of which were too 
 far distant from each other to exert any cohesive attraction 
 amongst themselves." 
 
 "But I suppose," said Tom, "that it gravitates or is 
 attracted by the earth; w^hat then can be the reason, as 
 Louisa says, that it does not fall, like any other body, to 
 the ground ?" 
 
 "And so it actually does," replied Mr. Seymour: "the 
 lower stratum of the atmosphere rests upon the ground, 
 but the strata above it do not fall, because they are sup- 
 ported by the particles beneath them, in the same manner 
 as the water at the surface of a basin is supported by that 
 at the bottom : the only difference in these two cases arises 
 from the one being an elastic, and the other an inelastic 
 fluid ; so that the air after compression resumes its original 
 dimensions ; and since the atmosphere, by the action of 
 gravity, is always in a state of compression, so is it always 
 by virtue of its elasticity endeavouring to expand itself." 
 
 " If, then, the force of gravity were diminished," observed 
 Louisa, " the air would become much lighter, and I suppose 
 that is the true reason of its being so much less dense in the 
 upper regions." 
 
 "Scarcely," replied her father. "Have you forgotten 
 the explanation* which I lately gave you, of the dimi- 
 * See page 31. 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 187 
 
 nution in the weight of bodies at a distance from the earth's 
 surface ?" 
 
 " I recollect it perfectly," exclaimed Tom ; " and it 
 explained to us the reason that a marble fell from the top 
 of a house, and from the ball of St. Paul's, with the same 
 velocity." 
 
 "And yet I am quite sure," said Louisa, "that I have 
 lately read an account of the air being so extremely light 
 upon the top of a high mountain as to affect the breath and 
 occasion great uneasiness." (34.) 
 
 " I do not deny the fact, ray dear : I only question your 
 explanation of it. Can it not, think you, be accounted for 
 upon some other principle than that of the diminished force 
 of gravity ?" 
 
 Louisa was unable to suggest any other probable reason. 
 
 " The fact, then," said the father, " is simply this : 
 since the air is elastic, or capable of yielding to pressure, 
 so, of course, the lower parts must be more dense, or in a 
 greater state of compression, than those which are above 
 them. In a pile of fleeces of wool, are not the lower 
 fleeces pressed together by the weight of the superior ones, 
 and do they not lie light and loose in proportion as they 
 approach the uppermost fleece, which receives no external 
 pressure, and is confined merely by the force of its own 
 gravity ?" 
 
 " Clearly," said Louisa. 
 
 "Well, then, we will suppose, for example, that the 
 whole column of the atmosphere was divided into a hun- 
 dred parts, and that each of these parts weighed an ounce ; 
 would not the earth, and all things on its surface, be, in such 
 a case, pressed upon with the whole hundred ounces ?" 
 
 " No- one can deny that," said Tom. 
 
 " The lowest stratum of air," continued Mr. Seymour, 
 " would be pressed upon by the ninety-nine ounces above 
 it ; the next by ninety-eight ; and so on, until we arrived 
 at the ninety-ninth stratum from the bottom, which would, 
 of course, be subjected to no more than one ounce of pres- 
 sure, or to the weight of the last and highest stratum." 
 
 The children were perfectly satisfied with this simple 
 
188 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 explanation ; and Tom inquired whether, for the same 
 reason, the water at the bottom of the sea must not be very 
 dense, and unlike that we are accustomed to observe on 
 the surface : his father, however, corrected this notion, by 
 stating that water, not being, like air, elastic and compres- 
 sible, would not suffer any material diminution in volume, 
 although pressed even by the enormous weight of the 
 superincumbent ocean. (35.) 
 
 " I have before alluded to the relative compressibility 
 of air and water, and the present appears a good oppo- 
 tunity for proving the fact by an amusing experiment. 
 See ! here are the ' Bottle Imps,' vicar, which you may 
 remember I promised to introduce to your respectful no- 
 tice," said Mr. (Seymour. "In this jar of water, carefully 
 closed, as you may perceive, by parch- 
 ment, are two little enamelled figures, 
 which shall be made to rise and fall, by 
 alternately pressing upon and removing 
 the hand from the cover : thus." 
 
 " Why, the spirit of Simon Magus must 
 surely possess thee !" exclaimed the vicar. 
 The children, as may be readily imagined, 
 were much astonished at so singular an 
 effect, and expressed much anxiety to be 
 informed by what mechanism it was pro- 
 duced. Their father accordingly proceeded 
 with the following explanation. 
 
 " I have here," said he, " a figure 
 exactly similar to those in the bottle, 
 which we will now examine. You will observe, that in 
 its centre there is a cavity terminating in a small orifice 
 in the lower part; this cavity may be made to contain 
 any quantity of air, so as to give the required buoyancy 
 to the figure : now mark ! I press my hand upon the 
 parchment cover, and the figure, you perceive, descends ; 
 I now remove the pressure, and see, it immediately re- 
 ascends. The water in the bottle, as I have told you, is 
 incompressible ; when, therefore, I press upon the surface, 
 it rises into the interior of the figure, and, consequently, by 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 189 
 
 compressing the air into a less space, renders it less 
 buoyant ; but no sooner is the hand removed, than the 
 enclosed air resumes its former volume, and expels the in- 
 truding water ; in consequence of which the figure regains 
 its former lightness, and reascends. Do you understand 
 me ?" asked Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Perfectly," said Tom, " and many thanks for the ex- 
 planation :" and in this opinion did the whole party concur. 
 
 "Well, then," continued Mr. Seymour, "you will now 
 understand the use of the air-bladder in fish, for it is con- 
 structed upon a precisely-similar principle. When the fish 
 desires to descend, it presses upon the bladder by means of 
 its muscles, and thus condenses the included air into a 
 smaller volume." * 
 
 " I now also perceive why the water at the bottom of 
 the sea cannot be much more dense than that on the sur- 
 face ; but, if we could dig a pit to the centre of the earth, 
 the air, in that case, would be highly dense, because, unlike 
 water, it is compressible," said Tom. 
 
 " The density of the air," replied his father, " would, 
 undoubtedly, materially increase as we descended. It has 
 been calculated that at the distance of thirty miles below 
 the surface, the air would have the same density as water ; 
 and at the depth of forty-two miles, that of quicksilver ; 
 while at the centre it would be more solid than any sub- 
 stance of which we have an idea, for its density would be 
 thousands of millions of times greater than that of mer- 
 cury." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then informed his young pupils, that after 
 the lesson they had just received they would never again 
 be puzzled by the motions of the barometer, which had so 
 often excited their wonder. 
 
 " As the quicksilver is contained in a closed tube, I do 
 not exactly understand how the air can act upon it; and 
 if the tube were not closed, it would of course run out 
 from its weight," observed Louisa. 
 
 " You are altogether in error," said her father. " In 
 
 * In the cod-fish the air-bladder is familiarly called the sound. 
 
190 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 the first place," he continued, ' k I will show you that the 
 bulb at the lower extremity of the tube is open, in order 
 that the quicksilver may freely communicate with the 
 atmosphere, upon which, indeed, its action entirely depends ; 
 while the upper space is a perfect vacuum, so as to obviate 
 any counteracting pressure. As to the quicksilver run- 
 ning out, have you so soon forgotten that the air presses 
 upon every body on the surface of the earth, in the pro- 
 portion of about fifteen pounds upon every square inch ? 
 Now it is from this circumstance that the column of quick- 
 silver is sustained in the tube, the ascent and descent of 
 which thus indicates the varying pressure of the atmo- 
 sphere ; so that, when the barometer falls, we know the 
 air presses less heavily upon the earth, and the contrary 
 when it rises." 
 
 " That I understand : but what can cause the pressure 
 of the air to vary at different times ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " Cannot you imagine the atmosphere to be an airy 
 ocean, and to be therefore thrown into enormous waves, 
 so that we may sometimes have a longer column of air 
 above us than at other times ? This is one explanation ; there 
 may be other causes not so intelligible," answered Mr. 
 Seymour. " But enough of this for the present. Now, 
 before we quit the subject of the air's elasticity, let 
 us consider the philosophy of the pop-gun ; an amuse- 
 ment with which, I have no doubt, you are well ac- 
 quainted." 
 
 " Indeed I am, papa ; but do you allude to the quill, or 
 to the wooden pop-gun ?" 
 
 "The principle in both is the same: tell' me, therefore, 
 the origin and nature of the force which enables you to 
 shoot your pellet to so considerable a distance." 
 
 " It depends upon the action of the air," replied Tom. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; but your answer is too general ; I 
 wished you to state, in precise terms, the changes which 
 the air undergoes upon this occasion. You first ram in 
 your pellet to the further end of the tube, do you 
 not ?" 
 
 " To be sure ; and then I drive in a second pellet, and, 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST, 191 
 
 on forcing this forward, the first flies out with prodigious 
 force." 
 
 " Very well : now examine what takes place. On pro- 
 pelling forward your second pellet, you condense the air 
 which is enclosed between the two, until its elastic force 
 becomes so great as to overcome the friction of the first 
 pellet ; thus released, the air expands with considerable 
 force, and imparts a rapid motion to the pellet." 
 
 " I have frequently heard of the air-gun," said Louisa ; 
 " I suppose it depends upon a similar principle." 
 
 " It does ; and it affords a very striking example of the 
 surprising force which air is capable of exerting, when con- 
 densed to a considerable degree ; for, by means of this 
 instrument, bullets may be propelled with a force very 
 nearly equal to that of gunpowder." 
 
 " It is a curious fact," observed the vicar, " that, although 
 the air-pump is a modern invention, yet the air-gun, which 
 is so nearly allied to it in the construction of its valves and 
 condensing syringe, should have existed long antecedent to 
 it ; for it is recorded that an air-gun was made for Henry IV. 
 by Marin, of Lisieux, in Normandy, as early as 1408 ; and 
 another was preserved in the armoury at Schmetau, bearing 
 the date of 1474." 
 
 "But the air-gun of the present day," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " is very different from that which was formerly made, and 
 which, like the pop-gun, discharged but one bullet, and that 
 after a long and tedious process of condensation ; while it is 
 now made to discharge five or six without any visible varia- 
 tion of force, and will even act upon a dozen, but with 
 decreasing effect." 
 
 " I feel very curious to learn something more about this 
 air-gun," said Tom. 
 
 " There is a reservoir for the condensed air," replied Mr. 
 Seymour, " which is secured by a nicely-constructed valve, 
 and which is made to open by pulling the trigger of the gun, 
 so that a portion only of the air is disengaged, which, rush- 
 ing into the barrel, gives motion to the ball." 
 
 " But how is the condensed air introduced into the reser- 
 voir ?" asked Tom. 
 
192 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XT. 
 
 " By means of a condensing syringe," replied his father ; 
 " but I will take an opportunity of exhibiting the instru- 
 ment in operation." 
 
 The reader will be pleased to recollect that the major 
 agreed to pay a passing visit to the vicarage : it now 
 becomes our duty to record what happened upon that me- 
 morable occasion ; and we, perhaps, cannot better represent 
 the nature of the discussion that took place than by relating 
 the account, as it was given by the belligerent parties them- 
 selves, in conversation with Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Seymour, " is it peace or 
 war ? I trust you have amicably adjusted all your differences." 
 
 "Upon my word," answered the vicar,"! have just 
 reason to complain of the major's unjustifiable scepticism 
 upon points that are perfectly unquestionable." 
 
 " You continue then to smart under the major's stinging 
 criticisms, ' majore sub hosted There is a Latin pun for your 
 consolation," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "The vicar alludes, I suppose," said the major, "to the 
 doubt I expressed respecting the authenticity of his leathern 
 money ?" 
 
 " That is one of the many subjects upon which, I must 
 say, you have betrayed a deficiency in historical knowledge. 
 Seneca informs us that there was anciently stamped money 
 of leather ; and the same thing was put in practice by 
 Frederick II. at the siege of Milan ; to say nothing of an 
 old tradition amongst ourselves, that, in the confused times 
 of the barons' wars, the same expedient was practised in 
 England." 
 
 "You strangely mistake me," replied the major; "I 
 never questioned the truth of these historical statements ; I 
 know full well that numerous substances have, at different 
 times, and in different countries, been adopted in exchange, 
 as conventional representatives of property. I have already 
 stated that cattle were employed as the earliest measure of 
 value.* We find, for instance, in Homer, that the golden 
 armour of Glaucus was valued at a hundred, and that of 
 
 * Hence Pecunia from Pecus, and Opes quasi Ores. 
 
CHAP. XI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 193 
 
 Diomedes at ten oxen.* Among the Indians, cowrie?, or 
 small shells, are used ; and the Abyssinians employed salt, 
 bricks, and beads for this very purpose. The ancient Bri- 
 tons, according to Caesar, circulated iron rings as money. 
 The Hollanders, we know, coined great quantities of paste- 
 board in the year 1754; and Numa Pompilius certainly 
 made money both of wood and leather." 
 
 "And yet you doubt the authenticity of my leathern 
 money, which I am fully persuaded was coined in 1360, by 
 John, king of France, who, having agreed to pay our Edward 
 the Third the sum of 3,000,000 golden crowns for his 
 ransom, was so reduced as to be compelled to a coinage of 
 leather, for the discharge of his household expenses." 
 
 " I have only questioned the authenticity of that parti- 
 cular specimen which I saw in your cabinet," replied the 
 major ; " and so must any person who views it through a 
 medium unclouded by prejudice. I will stake my whole 
 library to a horn-book that our friend Mr. Seymour will 
 agree with me in pronouncing it a fragment of the heel of 
 an old shoe ; let him observe the perforation, and say, if he 
 can, that it has not been produced by a nail or peg. But 
 really, my dear Mr. Twaddleton, you have forced me, much 
 against my inclination, into this controversy." 
 
 " Very good, sir ! very good ! the heel of an old shoe, 
 forsooth ! But I thank you, Major Snapwell," exclaimed 
 the vicar with some warmth; "I thank you, sir. Tour 
 assertion, while it evinces your own want of historical 
 information, establishes, beyond doubt, the authenticity of 
 my treasure, and the triumph of my opinion." 
 
 "Assuredly," said Mr. Seymour, with a wicked smile. 
 " I dare say there may be numerous holes in this leathern 
 coin; for many have been the antiquaries who have, doubt- 
 less, pinned their faith upon it." 
 
 " Psha, psha!" cried the vicar; "for once, at least, 
 Mr. Seymour, let me entreat you to be serious ; the subject, 
 
 * The term CAPITAL, in its original signification, expressed the rude enu- 
 meration of the stock by the HEADS of the animals of which it was composed. 
 We derive the word ' Calculation,' from that rudimental period, when pebbles 
 (calculi) were used, as now, amongst savages, to facilitate the practice of 
 counting. 
 
 O 
 
194 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XI. 
 
 sir, is important, and merits your respect. It is from that 
 very hole that I am enabled to identify the coin ; yes, 
 major, from that very hole, which you affect to despise, 
 I am enabled to derive its principal claim to antiquity. 
 Are we not expressly informed that the leathern money of 
 John of France had a little nail of silver driven into it ?" 
 
 " "Well, then," continued the major, " what say you to 
 that tell-tale stitch, which I so unfortunately picked out 
 with my penknife ?" 
 
 "Admirable ingenuity! most refined sophistry! pro- 
 voking perversion!" exclaimed the vicar. "It is really 
 amusing to observe the address with which the prejudiced 
 observer distorts every fact to his own advantage. Why, 
 bless me, sir, that stitch is strong enough to drag fifty such 
 opponents out of the slough of unbelief." 
 
 " Do explain yourself," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Explain myself ! the stitch speaks for itself, sir. Were 
 not these leathern coins strung together in different num- 
 bers, to facilitate payments ? For you will admit that it 
 would have been extremely inconvenient to have coined 
 single pieces of leather, of different denominations. But 
 stop, sir, stop ; look at this, look at it, major, with care and 
 attention. That," said the vicar, as he drew a small coin 
 out of his waistcoat pocket with an air of imperturbable 
 gravity and self-satisfaction, "is a current halfpenny, in 
 lead, of James II. ; and if your eyes are not hoodwinked by 
 prejudice, you may probably perceive a piece of copper in 
 its centre, which, we are told, was thus introduced for the 
 purpose of rendering the currency lawful." 
 
 The dinner was announced before the conclusion of the 
 discussion ; and as the reader will probably agree with us in 
 thinking that a question of such grave historical importance 
 ought not to be decided without due care and deliberation, 
 we shall afford the disputants a reasonable time for re- 
 flection, and put an end to the chapter. 
 
CHAP. XII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 195 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A SHORT CHAPTER BROUGHT TO A VIOLENT AND UNTIMELY END.' .THE 
 DOINGS OF DR. DOSEALL, UNLIKE HIS STEAM, ADMIT OF CONDENSATION. 
 
 THE VICAR'S CONSTERNATION. AN EXPLOSION. THE CASE OF THE 
 BUSY PESTLE V6TSUS THE LAZY MORTAR. - VERDICT FOR THE DEFENDANT. 
 
 A MORAL. 
 
 should have supposed, after the instructive accident 
 related in the foregoing chapter, and the excellent advice 
 it had elicited from the vicar, that Tom Plank would have 
 desisted from his experimental vagaries, and that the doctor, 
 at all events, would never have consented to become the 
 subject of them ; but there are those whom experience can 
 never teach, nor failure ever discourage. 
 
 The very next morning after the" catastrophe recorded 
 in our preceding chapter, as the vicar was taking his early 
 
196 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XII. 
 
 walk along Forest-lane, gathering primroses and wild 
 flowers, his placid and contemplative frame of mind was 
 abruptly disturbed by the sudden vision of a dragon, 
 vomiting flames of fire from its jaws, with a troop of dogs 
 barking and yelling at its heels. As it drew nearer, the 
 well-known person of the village doctor presented itself to 
 his perplexed vision, mounted on its back, and shrouded in 
 vapours, which the imagination of the vicar suggested 
 could be no other than the pestilential effluvia from the 
 nostrils of the unknown and frightful monster : but there 
 was little time to allow his reason to correct the fallacies 
 of his senses ; in a moment in the twinkling of an eye 
 an explosion shook the air, while the ground beneath his 
 feet trembled like an aspen-leaf: shot, as thick as hail, but 
 in aspect far less pure, poured down in all directions, while 
 a thunderbolt, whizzing past his ears, safely deposited itself 
 in the adjoining bank. As soon as the fumes had passed 
 away, and the vicar's self-possession been sufficiently re- 
 stored, the prostrate doctor was seen struggling in a mass 
 of mud, like a fly in one of his own electuaries, excepting, 
 of course, a conserve of roses, and who, on removing the 
 " black dose " from his mouth, was audibly heard to denounce 
 the carelessness of his man Spindle, who, as he believed, had 
 either screwed down the safety-valve, or, like the prince on 
 the enchanted horse, in the Arabian tale, had ignorantly 
 turned round the wrong peg in his flying locomotive. The 
 unhappy doctor then, in a strain of humble lamentation, pro- 
 ceeded to state that the carriage, or " steam velocipede" had 
 oeen designed by the ingenious Tom Plank, and that, while 
 it was designed to carry him forward to visit his distant 
 patients, it was, at the same time, so constructed as to ac- 
 tuate a revolving movement for the formation 'of his pills. 
 It was now evident, that the shower of bullets which had 
 followed the explosion, consisted of pills, and that the 
 thunderbolt was no other than the rebellious pestle, which 
 had taken advantage of the general confusion to bolt from 
 its lazy and sleeping partner, the mortar, with whom it 
 had so incessantly, but unfairly laboured, for the benefit of 
 Doseall and suffering humanity. 
 
CHAP. XII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 197 
 
 In recounting this singular scene to the Seymour family, 
 the vicar, although, as he said, he could not overlook the 
 moral it afforded, declared that he was far from wishing to 
 vindicate such an act of rebellion as the pestle had dis- 
 played upon the occasion. " It is, however, no less true," 
 continued he, "that in the intercourse of life, whenever 
 parties associate for mutual benefit, unless the division of 
 labour and responsibility be equitably adjusted, the op- 
 pressed or weaker members, will naturally seize a favour- 
 able opportunity for escaping from the unjust compact." 
 
 " From which remark," said Mr. Seymour, " I presume 
 you appear as counsel in the cause of the absconding 
 pestle versus the inert and lazy mortar if so, I think it 
 will afford my boy Tom an excellent opportunity for apply- 
 ing the science he has lately acquired in justification of 
 the said defendant. He will, I am sure, readily convince 
 you that in the compact between the mortar and pestle there 
 did not exist the least inequality of labour. Now, Tom, 
 have you not learnt that action and reaction are equal, 
 and in opposite directions, and, therefore, that for every 
 blow of the pestle, the mortar responds, and in return 
 gives one equal in force ?" 
 
 " Certainly," replied Tom ; " and if, in the encounter, 
 the one suffers more than the other, as when my master 
 slapped my face, it must arise, as you clearly explained, 
 from the different feeling of the bodies brought into 
 conflict." * 
 
 " But, in the case before us, that plea cannot be sus- 
 tained, for the parties were alike as brazen and unfeeling as 
 any that ever came before a jury ; the mortar, therefore, 
 did, in its quiet way, furnish just as great an amount of 
 labour, and perform the same amount of work, as the more 
 assuming and bustling pestle ; and the verdict must go for 
 the defendant." 
 
 The major was much amused by this whimsical plea- 
 santry, observing that philosophical principles were never 
 more vividly and permanently stamped upon the memory of 
 
 * See page 60. 
 
198 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XII. 
 
 youug persons than by the aids of the imagination ; which 
 may be aptly compared to the good fairy of romance, who 
 voluntarily performed the drudgery of the housewife, with- 
 out her participation, or even her knowledge. 
 
 " I quite concur in that opinion, and have always 
 endeavoured to act upon it," said Mr. Seymour ; " but the 
 late catastrophe also offers an instructive lesson, which we 
 must not pass over without some remarks. It teaches us 
 that a person deeply imbued with a passion for invention is 
 like the gamester, whom losses and misadventure only 
 stimulate to wilder schemes of speculation, while it also 
 proves that the only sure and safe path to the accomplish- 
 ment of a scientific design is to make ourselves intimately 
 acquainted with all the bearings and combinations of those 
 principles upon which we depend for our success." In the 
 instructive case which has called forth these remarks, Tom 
 'Plank had overlooked the fact that water, brought into 
 contact with red-hot iron, undergoes decomposition, and, 
 instead of steam, generates inflammable gas his plan 
 being to produce steam by the projection of a minutely- 
 divided stream of water upon an iron heater, as originally 
 proposed by a person of the name of Payne. The reader 
 has been made acquainted with the failure, and he is now 
 informed as to the reason of it. 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SOAP-BUBBLE.' THE SQUIRT. THE BELLOWS ; AN EXPLANATION OF 
 
 THEIR SEVERAL PARTS. BY WHOM THE INSTRUMENT WAS INVENTED. 
 
 THE SUCKING AND LIFTING, OR COMMON PUMP. AN EXPERIMENT 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. THE MAGIC BOTTLE AND 
 ITS WONDERS. 
 
 " TOM," said his father, " bring me a saucer with some hot 
 water ; a piece of soap, and a tobacco-pipe. I have promised 
 to teach John the art of blowing soap-bubbles." 
 
 Tom immediately proceeded to execute his commission, and 
 shortly rejoined the party on the lawn, bringing with him 
 all the necessary implements for bubble-blowing. John, 
 under the direction of his brother, made the lather ; and Mr. 
 Seymour, turning towards the elder children, asked them 
 whether they understood the philosophy of the operation 
 they had just witnessed; they were, however, unable to 
 return a satisfactory answer, and their father, therefore, 
 proceeded as follows : 
 
 "Most liquids, by agitation, exhibit the appearance of 
 froth in consequence of the escape of the air in small 
 bubbles, which had been forced into them by the operation. 
 If, however, the liquid be viscid and tenacious, like soap and 
 water, the air is, as it were, imprisoned in the mass, pro- 
 ducing the appearance which is commonly called lather'* 
 
 Louisa here inquired " Whether the air did not escape with 
 
200 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 more or less readiness, according to the degree of resistance 
 it met with in the liquid ?" 
 
 "I thank you," said Mr. Seymour, "for having so kindly 
 assisted me in the explanation." 
 
 Louisa smiled at this mark of her father's approbation, and 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded, " It is on that very account that 
 spirit, after it has been shaken, so soon regains its trans- 
 parency : for, in consequence of the superior lightness of 
 that fluid, and the little cohesion which subsists between its 
 particles, the air makes a rapid escape. In like manner we 
 may account for the spongy appearance which gives such 
 superiority to our bread : in that case, the air disengaged 
 during the fermentation of the dough cannot escape through 
 so viscid a mass : it therefore remains, and thus produces the 
 eyes or bubbles, which you may always observe in every 
 well-baked loaf." 
 
 " See, papa !" exclaimed Tom, " the bubbles which John 
 has blown in the lather are not round, but angular figures 
 they appear to be like the hexagons which we used to cut 
 out for our papyro-plastics" 
 
 "They are certainly hexagonal," replied Mr. Seymour; 
 "and the form arises from the pressure of the bubbles 
 upon each other. The same appearance is to be seen 
 in the pith of vegetables, when examined by the micro- 
 scope, and is the result of the general reaction of the solid 
 parts upon each other; but let us proceed to blow some 
 bubbles. Plunge the bowl of the tobacco-pipe into the 
 lather." 
 
 Tom obeyed his father's directions, and blowing through 
 the stem produced a bubble. 
 
 " See ! see !" cried Louisa, " what a "beautiful bubble ! 
 but there is a quantity of soap hanging to its under part." 
 
 " I will take it off with my finger," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " There it goes !" exclaimed Tom. 
 
 " What beautiful colours it displays ! as bright and gaudy 
 as those of the rainbow !" observed his sister. 
 
 " It has burst !" cried Louisa. 
 
 " Ah ! my dear children," murmured the vicar, with an 
 air of pensive gravity, * Tenues secessit in auras,' as the poet 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 201 
 
 has it. Even thus it is with all the full-blown bubbles of 
 our fancy, raised by the breath of hope : the moment they 
 appear most vivid and promising to our imagination, they 
 vanish ' into air, into thin air,' like the gaudy and unsub- 
 stantial soap-bubble you have just witnessed : but proceed 
 to blow another." 
 
 " There is one !" exclaimed Louisa ; " see, it is of an 
 oblong shape, like an egg ! there it goes ! but I declare 
 it is now perfectly round ! ! what can be the reason of its 
 changing its figure ?" 
 
 "I am glad you have asked that question, because my 
 answer will serve to illustrate an important property of air, 
 and which, indeed, is common to all fluids. While the upper 
 part of the bubble was attached to the bowl of the pipe, its 
 gravity, being resisted, drew it into an elliptical form ; but 
 the instant it was detached, the contained air pressed equally 
 in all directions, and the bubble, in consequence, became a 
 perfect sphere." * 
 
 " I do not exactly understand what you mean by ' pressing 
 equally in all directions.' " 
 
 " The expression is surely sufficiently intelligible. Did 
 you not learn in our conversation of yesterday, that air has 
 weight, and exerts a pressure as much upwards as down- 
 wards and laterally ? Were this not the case, how could 
 the air in the interior of our bodies counteract the pressure 
 of the atmosphere ? The form of the bubble proves the 
 
 * A scientific friend observed to the author, that, as the globe possesses less 
 surface than any other figure of equal capacity, it is of all forms that which is 
 best calculated to allow the closest approximation of the particles of soap and 
 water ; and as there must exist amongst such particles a strong cohesive ten- 
 dency, after having been forcibly stretched out, as it were, by the air blown 
 into the bubble, it follows that, did no other cause operate, the bubble would 
 assume the spherical form ; in other words, that the effort of all the several 
 particles of the mass to approach each other as closely as possible must result 
 in the assumption of the spherical form. The same law governs the formation 
 of the drops of water as they fall from the clouds, sparkle from the fountain, 
 or glisten on the dewy foliage ; and to avail ourselves of a beautiful instance 
 of the alliance of science with poetry, we must be allowed to quote the follow- 
 ing charming lines of Eogers : 
 
 " That very law which moulds a tear, 
 
 And bids it trickle from its source 
 That law preserves the earth a sphere, 
 And guides the planets in their course.'' 
 
202 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 same fact in a different way ; for, had the air in its cavity 
 pressed more in any one direction than in another, the 
 bubble could not have been round, or, to speak more cor- 
 rectly, a sphere." 
 
 " What are you musing about ?" cried the vicar, who had 
 observed the attention of the boy riveted upon the bowl of 
 the tobacco-pipe : " I am sure, from your countenance, that 
 some circumstance is puzzling you." 
 
 " You are right, my dear sir. I was just then thinking 
 how it can possibly happen that the bubble should not have 
 a hole in its upper part; for, while I am blowing it up, 
 there must, of course, be a communication between my 
 mouth and its interior, or else how could the air pass into 
 it?" 
 
 '"True," said his father; "but the act of throwing it 
 off from the bowl of the pipe will unite this breach ; for 
 there exists a strong cohesive attraction between the atte- 
 nuated particles of the lather ; you will, therefore, perceive 
 that, on this account, the bubble will be more readily and 
 securely separated by a lateral than a perpendicular motion 
 of the pipe." 
 
 " I wish," said Tom, " that I could discover some method 
 of preventing their bursting so soon, for there is scarcely 
 time to examine them before they vanish. "What can be the 
 cause of their short duration?" 
 
 " Consider, my dear boy, the frailty of their structure, 
 and I think that the precarious tenure of their existence 
 will cease to astonish you ; indeed, the wonder is, that they 
 should endure so long. The film of which they consist is 
 inconceivably thin,* so that the slightest impulse will be 
 apt to rupture it ; besides which, there must be a consider- 
 able evaporation going on from their surface, while the con- 
 traction of the contained air, from change of temperature, 
 must also tend to limit their duration. You must likewise 
 remember ^that the soap-lather will have a tendency to gra- 
 vitate towards the depending part of the bubble, and, con- 
 sequently, by quitting the upper portion, to render it of still 
 
 * Not exceeding the two-millionth part of an inch. 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 203 
 
 greater tenuity. This last effect might, perhaps, be obviated, 
 in some measure, by giving a rotatory motion to the bubble 
 around its axis ; but this, again, would accelerate the eva- 
 poration, which, after all, is the principal cause of the 
 shortness of its duration ; so that, unless this latter effect 
 could be remedied, I despair of suggesting any expedient by 
 which the frail existence of our airy structure could be pro- 
 tracted. You must, therefore, seek, from a succession of 
 bubbles, the prolongation of an amusement which no single 
 one can afford you." 
 
 " And could not the evaporation be prevented ?" asked 
 Tom. 
 
 " If the bubble were blown in a glass vessel, and the 
 latter immediately closed after the operation, it would remain 
 for some time ; I remember having once preserved a bubble 
 in this manner for a very considerable period." 
 
 Tom, however, did not appear to relish this scheme ; as, 
 he said, the great sport arose from watching the movements 
 of the floating bubble ; the boy, accordingly, determined to 
 pursue the amusement in the usual manner. His father, 
 however, observed, that by mixing a solution of isinglass 
 with the soap-lather, larger,* as well as more lasting bubbles 
 might be blown ; and Tom accordingly determined to make 
 the experiment. 
 
 During this dialogue, little John had succeeded, for the 
 first time, in launching the airy bauble. Imagination always 
 tinges the objects of our first efforts with brilliant tints ; no 
 wonder, therefore, that John, with a shout of ecstasy, should 
 have pronounced it to have been the most beautiful bubble 
 he had ever seen : in truth, the sun was shining brightly, 
 and the colours thus produced very justly excited the ad- 
 miration of all present. 
 
 " I cannot understand the cause of these beautiful colours," 
 said Louisa. 
 
 Mr. Seymour expressed' a fear that, in their present state 
 of knowledge, they would be scarcely able to understand the 
 
 * Sir David Brewster states, that by mixing a little sugar with the solution 
 of soap, we may blow bubbles of very large size, and which will exhibit the 
 coloured zones in a very perfect manner. 
 
204 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 explanation he should afford them. " But," said he, " I be- 
 lieve you know that a ray of light is divisible into seven 
 colours, and that, when it passes through certain media, or 
 is reflected from certain surfaces, this division is effected, 
 and the various colours produced (36) : this is remarkably the 
 case Avhere light falls upon a transparent film of great tenuity, 
 which, instead of reflecting white light, sends forth colours 
 of great beauty, which, as they are produced by thinness, are 
 called the ' colours of thin plates.' The film of the soap-bubble is 
 amongst the latter bodies ; but I must refer you, for further 
 information upon this subject, to Sir David Brewster's 
 * Treatise on Optics.' " 
 
 " Now, Tom," said his father, " fetch your squirt, for we 
 have not yet finished our inquiry into the effects of the air's 
 pressure." 
 
 The squirt was produced ; but it was out of repair : for, 
 on attempting to fill it with water, the instrument entirely 
 failed in the performance of its office. 
 
 " I see the defect," said Mr. Seymour, " which a little 
 string will easily remedy." 
 
 A piece of string was instantly produced from that uni- 
 versal depot, the breeches-pocket of a schoolboy. Mr. 
 Seymour said he should bind a portion of it around the end 
 of the piston. 
 
 " What do you mean by the piston ?" inquired Tom. 
 
 " The rod which moves up and down in the cylinder, or 
 tube ; and, unless its end fits so exactly as to prevent the 
 admission of air, it is clear that the squirt cannot draw any 
 water. It was for the purpose of making this part fit 
 tightly that I wanted the string, and you will now perceive 
 that the instrument is ready for use : fetch me a vessel of 
 water." 
 
 Tom soon produced the water, and, on placing it on the 
 ground, requested that he might be allowed to fill the squirt. 
 This he accordingly effected without difficulty, and, on 
 pressing down the handle, he projected a stream of water to 
 a considerable distance. 
 
 "I perceive," said Tom, "that "the stream describes a 
 curve, like my ball." 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 205 
 
 " To be sure ; it is under the joint influence of the same 
 forces, viz., those of projection and gravity. But explain the 
 operation of the squirt." 
 
 " As soon as I raised the piston, an empty space was left 
 11 the lower part of the cylinder, which I suppose would 
 ave remained as a vacuum, had not the water rushed into it." 
 
 " And why did the water rush into it ?" 
 
 Tom hesitated. 
 
 " Was it not, think you, owing to the pressure of the at- 
 mosphere upon the surface of the water ? "When you raised 
 the piston, the air above it was also raised, and ultimately 
 driven out by the force of the ascending piston ; and since 
 the air could not find any entrance from below as long as the 
 point was under the water, the interior of the squirt would 
 necessarily have remained quite empty, or have been a 
 vacuum, had it not been for the weight of the atmosphere, 
 which, not having any counteracting pressure, drove the 
 water into the tube, and thus filled it ; and which, by pressing 
 down the piston, you again expelled with considerable force." 
 
 " Your explanation," cried Louisa, " is so clear and in- 
 telligible, that I feel quite confident I could now explain any 
 machine that owes its action to the exhaustion of the air, 
 and the pressure of the atmosphere." 
 
 " If that be your belief," said Mr. Seymour, " I will not 
 lose a moment in putting your knowledge to the test. Tom, 
 do you run into the house, and fetch hither the kitchen 
 bellows." 
 
 The bellows were produced, and Louisa, having been 
 desired by her father to explain the manner in which they 
 received and expelled the air, proceeded as follows : " Upon 
 raising the upper from the under board, the interior space 
 of the bellows is necessarily increased, and immediately 
 supplied with an additional quantity of air, which is driven 
 into it by the pressure of the atmosphere ; when, by pressing 
 down the upper board, it is again expelled through the iron 
 tube or nosle." 
 
 " To be sure," said Tom, " in the same manner that the 
 water was expelled from my squirt, when I pushed down 
 the handle." 
 
206 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 " So far you are quite correct," said Mr. Seymour ; " but 
 you have not yet told us the use of the hole* in the under- 
 board, and which is covered, as you perceive, with a move- 
 able flap of leather : it is termed a valve, or * wind-clap* " 
 
 " That," replied Tom, " is for the purpose of admitting the 
 air, when we raise up the board." 
 
 " Exactly so ; and also to prevent the air from passing out 
 again, when you press it down. I wish to direct your at- 
 tention particularly to this contrivance, because, simple as it 
 may appear, its action will teach you the general nature of 
 a valve. Without it, the operation of filling the bellows 
 with air would have been so tedious as to have destroyed the 
 utility of the instrument; for the air could, in that case, 
 have only found admission through the nosle, and that, again, 
 would have been attended with the additional disadvantage 
 of drawing smoke and other matter into its cavity ; when, 
 however, you raise up the board, the air, by its external 
 pressure, opens the wind-clap inwards, and thus finds an easy 
 entrance for itself; and when you press the board down- 
 wards, the air, thus condensed, completely shuts the valve, 
 and, its return through that avenue being prevented, it 
 rushes out through the tube." 
 
 The children were much pleased with the simplicity of 
 this invention, and Tom inquired of the vicar who first 
 thought of it. 
 
 "We are informed by Strabo," replied Mr. Twaddleton, 
 "that Anacharsis, the Scythian philosopher, who lived in 
 the time of Solon, about six hundred years before Christ, 
 invented the bellows, as well as the anchor and potter's 
 wheel ; but," he added, " there is some reason to doubt the 
 truth of this statement. The bellows, however, were cer- 
 tainly known to the Greeks ; and the great poet Virgil 
 alludes to them in his fourth Greorgic :f 
 
 Alii taurinis follibus auras 
 
 Accipiunt redduntque.' " 
 
 * A story is told of a young student less intelligent of course than Tom 
 Seymour who, upon being asked the use of this hole, answered, "for the 
 reception of the knee while blowing the fire " f Line 171. 
 
CHAP. XIII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 207 
 
 Mr. Seymour now proposed that they should proceed to 
 consider the structure and operation of the pump. 
 
 " I suppose," said Louisa, " that the pump raises water in 
 the same manner as the squirt ?" 
 
 "Exactly upon the same principle," replied her father; 
 " but the machinery is a little more complicated, since its 
 object is not to force the water out of the pump at the same 
 end of the pipe at which we draw it in. We will, however, 
 proceed to the stable-yard, and examine the pump ; and do 
 you, Tom, provide a piece of chalk, in order that I may 
 make a sketch of some of its principal parts." 
 
 The party immediately proceeded; and as they walked 
 along, Mr. Seymour desired the children to remember that 
 the weight of the atmosphere was estimated as being equal 
 to that of fifteen pounds upon every square inch of surface ; 
 and that the moment the water arrived at such a height 
 as to balance that pressure, it could ascend no higher : he 
 added that the altitude at which such a balance took place 
 was about 32 or 33 feet above the surface. 
 
 "If that be the case," said Louisa, "the pump, of course, 
 can never raise water from any well of greater depth than 
 that which you state." 
 
 "Not without some additional contrivance, which I shall 
 afterwards explain to you," replied Mr. Seymour. 
 
 The party had, by this time, arrived at 
 the pump; its door was opened, and as 
 much of the apparatus exhibited as could 
 be conveniently exposed. Mr. Seymour then 
 chalked the annexed sketch upon the stable- 
 door. 
 
 " Is that a pump ?" asked Tom : " I 
 should certainly never have guessed what 
 you intended to represent." 
 
 "It is not a perspective drawing, my dear, 
 but a representation of the different parts 
 as they would appear were it possible to cut the pump 
 in halves, from top to bottom, without disturbing any of 
 its arrangements. A drawing of this kind, which is fre- 
 
208 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 quently used for the sake of explanation, is termed a 
 section. 11 
 
 Mr. Seymour here took an apple from his pocket, and, 
 having cut it in two, observed that the surface thus exposed 
 presented sections of the fruit. This illustration was un- 
 derstood by all present, and Mr. Seymour continued : " I 
 have here, then, a section of the common household pump. 
 A B is the cylinder or barrel ; p the air-tight piston which 
 moves or works within it by means of the rod ; Q is the 
 i suction,' or ' feeding-pipe, descending into a well or any 
 other reservoir ; s, the valve, or little door, at the bottom of 
 the barrel, covering the top of the feeding-pipe ; and there 
 is a similar valve in the piston, both of which, opening up- 
 wards, admit the water to rise through them, but prevent 
 its returning. As this part of the apparatus is no less 
 ingenious than it is important, I will sketch the valve, 
 or clack, as it is termed by the engineer, on a larger scale." 
 
 Their father then chalked the annexed figure ; from 
 which its construction was rendered perfectly intel- 
 ligible to the children. 
 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded : " When the pump is in a state 
 of inaction, the two valves are closed by their own weight ; 
 but, on drawing up the piston p, from the bottom to the 
 top of the barrel, the column of air, which rested upon 
 it, is raised, and a vacuum is produced between the piston 
 and the lower valves ; the air beneath this valve, which is 
 immediately over the surface of the water, consequently 
 expands, and forces its way through it; the water then 
 ascends into the pump. A few strokes of the handle totally 
 exclude the air from the body of the pump, and fill it with 
 water ; which, having passed through both valves, runs out 
 at the spout." 
 
 "I understand how water may be thus raised to the 
 elevation of 32 feet, but I have yet to learn the manner in 
 which it can be raised above that distance," said Louisa. 
 
 " It is undoubtedly true that, if the distance from the 
 surface of the water to the valve in the piston exceed 32 
 feet, water can never be forced into the barrel ; but you will 
 
CHAP. XIII.- MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 209 
 
 readily perceive that when once the water has passed the 
 piston-valve, it is 110 longer the pressure of the air which 
 causes it to ascend ; after that period it is raised by lifting 
 it up as you would raise it in a bucket, of which the piston 
 formed the bottom ; and water, having been so raised, can- 
 not fall back again, in consequence of the valve, which is 
 kept closed by its pressure. All, therefore, that is neces- 
 sary is to keep the working barrel within the limits of 
 atmospheric pressure ; we have then only to fix a continued 
 straight pipe to the top of the barrel, and to lengthen the 
 piston-rod in the same proportion, and the water will con- 
 tinue to rise at each successive stroke of the pump, until at 
 length it will flow, over the top of the pipe, or through 
 a spout inserted in any part of its side. The common 
 pump, therefore, is properly called the sucking and lifting 
 pump." 
 
 The party expressed themselves fully satisfied ; and Tom 
 inquired who invented the machine. 
 
 "It is an instrument of great antiquity," replied his 
 father : "its invention is generally ascribed to Ctesebes of 
 Alexandria, who lived about 120 years before Christ ; but 
 the principle of its action was not understood for ages 
 after its invention. The ancients entertained a belief that 
 ' Nature abhorred a vacuum ;' and they imagined that, 
 when the piston ascended, the water immediately rushed 
 forward to prevent the occurrence of this much-dreaded 
 vacuum. In the seventeenth century a pump was con- 
 structed at Florence, by which it was attempted to raise 
 water from a well to a very considerable altitude, but it 
 was found that no exertion of this machine could be made 
 to -raise it above 32 feet from its level. This unexpected 
 embarrassment greatly puzzled the engineer, until Gralileo 
 suggested that the pressure on the water below must cause 
 its ascent into the pump, and that, according to this theory, 
 when it had risen 32 feet, its pressure became equivalent 
 to that of the atmosphere, and could not, therefore, rise 
 any higher; and as they did not, at that time, under- 
 stand the construction of the piston-valve, the design was 
 abandoned. 
 
210 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 " Before we quit this subject," added Mr. Seymour, " I 
 wish to show you one or two experiments in farther eluci- 
 dation of the effect of atmospheric pressure ; but for this 
 purpose we must return to the library." 
 
 As soon as the party had reassembled, Mr. Seymour, 
 pointing to the preparations on the table, said they would 
 . readily perceive that he required but a very simple apparatus 
 for the occasion : " Here, for instance, is a common glass 
 tumbler filled with water, and I place over its mouth a piece 
 of paper. I now invert it, and you see the paper does not 
 fall off, nor does a single drop of water escape from the 
 glass. I ask you, Tom, for an explanation." 
 
 U I suppose," answered the boy, "that the pressure of 
 the atmosphere upon the paper kept it in its place." 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; the external pressure of the air was 
 greater than the gravitating force of the water ; and I trust 
 that, after the late explanation of the pump, you will 
 readily perceive that this difference in favour of the atmo- 
 spheric pressure must continue as long as the column of 
 water does not exceed 32 feet." 
 
 " I understand that perfectly ; but still I do not exactly 
 see why the paper cover was necessary to keep the water in 
 the tumbler." 
 
 His father informed him that, from the ample expanse of 
 its mouth, the water, without such a guard, would at once 
 have gushed out, and been replaced by the ascending air ; 
 whereas, had the mouth of the vessel terminated in a narrow 
 neck, the paper might have been easily dispensed with ; 
 since in that case the small column of water would be 
 unable to force a passage for itself through the contracted 
 orifice, without undergoing a dispersion, and to that the 
 cohesion of its particles would oppose an insuperable 
 obstacle. 
 
 " Have you never observed the difficulty of drinking out 
 of a phial ?" asked his father. 
 
 " To be sure ; very often at school, but I was never before 
 able to account for it." 
 
 " We will now proceed to another experiment. I have 
 here a lamp-glass, converted for the occasion, as you may 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 211 
 
 perceive, into a water-bottle, by means of a cork inserted 
 into its lower opening. I now propose, as in my former 
 experiment, to fill it with water, and to place over its mouth 
 a piece of paper, and then to invert it as before observe ! 
 not a single drop of water escapes." 
 
 " Why, that is nothing more than a repetition of your 
 former experiment," exclaimed Louisa. 
 
 " You are impatient, my dear girl ; let me beg that you 
 will wait, and observe what will follow." 
 
 " See ! I now make a hole in the cork with your bodkin, 
 and away pours out the water, sweeping the paper before 
 it like a cataract. Can you explain this?" asked Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " I suppose," said Tom, " that the air, by rushing through 
 the hole you made in the cork, pressed out the water by its 
 weight, just as the pea was shot out of my pea-shooter." 
 
 " You have not answered my question with your accus- 
 tomed consideration," said his father. " Let me ask you, 
 how it is possible that the air thus admitted should possess 
 any such power ? Have you so far forgotten first principles 
 as not to know that its internal pressure will be counter- 
 balanced by the atmosphere on the exterior ; and that, an 
 equilibrium being thus obtained, we may exclude altogether 
 the interfering influence of atmospheric pressure ?" 
 
 " I see it all clearly now by letting the air into the glass 
 you equalized its pressure on the outside," said Tom. 
 
 "And, therefore," added his father, "the water, being 
 thus left to follow an unobstructed course, did, in obedience 
 to the universal law of gravity, flow out of the vessel." 
 
 " With the knowledge then that you have thus acquired, 
 you will readily understand many things of daily occurrence, 
 which might otherwise appear unaccountable ; thus, for in- 
 stance, the vent-peg or spigot must be raised before the 
 beer will flow out of the barrel. I allude more particularly 
 to this example, as it will afford the simplest explanation of 
 a very curious conjuring toy I have just obtained, and which 
 I shall presently exhibit before you." 
 
 The children, as may be readily supposed, were much 
 delighted by so exciting an announcement ; nor were the 
 
212 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIII. 
 
 vicar and Major Siiapwell less curious to learn the nature of 
 the proposed exhibition. 
 
 Mr. Seymour having rung the bell, a servant entered with 
 a black pint bottle, and sundry small glasses, duly arranged 
 on a waiter. " 1 now propose to supply each of my guests, 
 from the same magical bottle, with a glass of any wine he 
 may call for," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 The vicar preferred port, and received it ; the major re- 
 quired sherry, and his wish was gratified ; Tom asked for 
 some sweet wine, and he obtained it ; and thus did Mr. 
 Seymour proceed, successively filling five glasses, each with 
 a different wine, from the same identical bottle. 
 
 "Bless my heart!" exclaimed the major; "I hope Mr. 
 Seymour has not formed an unholy alliance with the Prince 
 of Darkness ; for it must be confessed he rivals the magic of 
 Mephistopheles in the wine-vaults of Leipsig.* At all 
 events, let us beware how we spill a drop, lest it should turn 
 to flame and consume us." 
 
 " Be not alarmed, my good and pious friends ; as soon as 
 I shall have described the ingenious construction of my 
 bottle, its mysterious influence will be explained, and I shall 
 be restored to your good opinion." 
 
 " This bottle," said Mr. Seymour, " is made of tin-plate, 
 so japanned as to resemble a common wine-bottle. In its 
 interior there are five compartments, each terminating in 
 a small tube in the neck, with an orifice on the outside. 
 These air-holes, having a connection with the cavities within, 
 act like the vent-peg of the barrel, to which I have lately 
 alluded. When, therefore, they are covered by the fingers, 
 it is evident that the liquid contents of the respective 
 compartments cannot flow out of the bottle ; but by raising 
 each finger successively, we can command, at pleasure, 
 the flow of any one of the liquids, in the manner you have 
 witnessed." 
 
 Major Snapwell observed that he had frequently heard ot 
 this conjuring trick, as being one of the most surprising and 
 successful efforts of M. Eobin ; whose wonderful art had 
 
 * Goethe's Faust. 
 
CHAP. XIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 213 
 
 lately elicited such general approbation from the sightseers 
 of London. 
 
 We must now conclude the philosophic amusements of 
 this day. To-morrow we hope to enter upon the interesting 
 subject of the KITE. 
 
214 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IX SPOKT 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE KITE. ITS CONSTRUCTION. THE TAIL. AN AUTHOR'S MEDITATIONS 
 
 AMONG THE CATACOMBS OF PATERNOSTER ROW. WORKS IN THEIR 
 WINDING-SHEETS. HOW MR. SEYMOUR STRUNG PUNS AS HE STRUNG 
 THE KITE'S TAIL. THE VICAR'S DISMAY. MR. SEYMOUR'S APOLOGY. 
 KITES CONSTRUCTED IN VARIOUS SHAPES. ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 
 
 THE KITE OF CHINESE ORIGIN. KITE-FLYING A NATIONAL PASTIME. 
 
 THE FIGURE USUALLY ADOPTED TO BE PREFERRED. THE EOLIAN 
 KITE. REFLECTIONS OCCASIONED BY THE MUSICAL SOUNDS OF TELE- 
 GRAPHIC WIRES. 
 
 THE children were summoned into the library, and informed 
 by their father that he was at leisure to explain the philosophy 
 of the kite ; a subject with which Tom had repeatedly ex- 
 pressed some impatience to become acquainted. 
 
 " It is a beautiful day," exclaimed the boy joyously ; " and 
 there is such a delightful breeze, that I should really call it 
 a complete kite-day.' 1 
 
 " G-ently, my fine fellow," replied Mr. Seymour : " the 
 bird must be fledged ere it can fly. We have not, as yet, 
 any kite ; for you know that the one you possess is shattered 
 beyond the possibility of repair." 
 
 " True ; but could not Robert just step into the village 
 and buy one ? I saw several kites in the shop of Peg Bobsoii 
 yesterday." 
 
 " I do not doubt it, my boy ; but the kites which are to be 
 
CHAP. XIV. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 215 
 
 found in the toyshop are made to sell, rather than to fly ; 
 we must, therefore, construct one for ourselves ; and see ! I 
 have accordingly prepared all the necessary materials for the 
 purpose. I have here, as you perceive, a straight lath of 
 deal, about three-quarters of an inch wide, and less than a 
 quarter of an inch thick, and about four feet in length ; this 
 is quite ready for forming the standard, or lack-bone of the 
 kite : and now for the bow. The cooper has complied with 
 my directions, and sent an unbent hoop as free as possible 
 from knots ; you observe that it is about the same length 
 as the lath, but it will be necessary to pare it down a little 
 at each end, in order to make it bend more readily to the 
 -required shape." 
 
 This having been accomplished, Mr. Seymour proceeded 
 to form the framework of the kite in the following manner. 
 He first ascertained the central point of the bow, by balancing 
 it on his fore-finger ; he then affixed that point, by means of 
 string, to the lath at c, about an 
 inch and a half from its upper ex- 
 tremity; a notch was next cut in 
 each end of the hoop, or bow, a d ; 
 having fixed the string in the notch, 
 a, he drew it through another, e, 
 previously cut in the bottom of the 
 lath, and carried it to the opposite 
 end of the bow d ; the skeleton now 
 presented the usual form of the kite. 
 The next point, therefore, was to 
 ascertain whether the two sides of 
 the bow were in equilibrio, which he 
 determined by balancing the lath on 
 the finger, and observing whether it 
 remained horizontal, or dipped on either side. This adjust- 
 ment having been accomplished, Mr. Seymour next continued 
 the string from d across the skeleton to the opposite notch a, 
 giving it one turn round the lath in its way ; from a it was 
 carried to /, and wound round the top of the lath, and then 
 again fastened at c?; from d it was extended rather more 
 than midway down the lath, and having been secured at &, 
 
210 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 was finally carried to, and secured in the notch a. The 
 framework was now pronounced by Mr. Seymour to be com- 
 plete.* 
 
 The next part of the process was to cover it with paper. 
 Mr. Seymour observed, that the best kind which could be 
 employed for this purpose was that known among sta- 
 tioners by the name of fan-paper, so called from its being 
 manufactured for the use of the fan-maker ; its merits, he 
 said, depended upon the size of its sheets, as well as upon 
 the thinness and firmness of its texture : this, however, was 
 not at hand ; he was therefore obliged to rest satisfied 
 with its best substitute, viz., folio sheets of large thin post. 
 
 The party now went "ding-dong" to work; paper, 
 paste, and scissors were immediately put in requisition. 
 Sheets of paper were laid smooth on the table, and so 
 arranged that each sheet overlapped its neighbour about 
 half an inch. The skeleton of the kite was then placed 
 upon them, and the paper was cut to its figure ; a margin, 
 of about three-quarters of an inch, having been left around 
 it, except over the bow, where the margin" was extended to 
 an inch in width : this arrangement was for the purpose of 
 allowing the paper to turn over the framework, when 
 pasted to it. This part of the work having been completed, 
 and a sufficient time allowed for the drying of the paste, 
 Mr. Seymour proceeded to fix the string, usually termed 
 the belly-band: for this purpose two holes were drilled 
 through the lath, at equal distances from its edges ; the 
 upper one about a fifth part of the length of the kite from 
 the top, the lower hole rather more than the same distance 
 above its extremity. 
 
 The last, and by far the most important point, was to 
 make the loop in the belly-band. If the kite be accurately 
 
 * The author has been thus minute, in order to afford his young friends 
 clear directions for constructing a kite, and which, as far as he knows, are 
 not to be found in any work hitherto published ; and he will also avail 
 himself of this opportunity to state, that the thin glazed linen of various 
 colours, commonly known to haberdashers by the name of lining, has been 
 found to be the best material as a covering for the kite. It is not only more 
 durable than paper, defying the most boisterous wind, but superior to it as 
 being secure from the effects of a shower of rain. 
 
CHAP. XIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 217 
 
 .constructed, its proper place may be easily found by ex- 
 tending the band, right or left, on the surface of the kite, 
 and then marking the string at a point which lies in a line 
 drawn from one end of the bow to the other ; the loop must 
 be made a little above such a point. If the kite be now 
 suspended by this loop, the two ends of the bow ought to 
 preserve a balance, and the lower extremity should dip 
 below the upper part of the kite. 
 
 As Louisa observed the extreme care with which her 
 father adjusted this part of the machine, she inquired into 
 its use. 
 
 "I was myself about to put the same question," said 
 her mother; "for its adjustment would appear to require 
 as much accuracy as that of the sash of a girl of sixteen/' 
 
 Mr. Seymour informed them, they would hereafter find 
 that the steady ascent of the kite into the air entirely 
 depended upon such accuracy. " Have you not seen, 
 Tom,'* asked he, " a kite rise sideways, or plunge, as it is 
 called?" 
 
 Tom said he had often experienced that difficulty at 
 school, but that he had attributed it to some defect in 
 the tail. 
 
 " An error in the construction of the tail may, cer- 
 tainly, be occasionally the cause of such an accident, but 
 it is more generally referable to an improper position of 
 the loop : if the kite plunges, you may conclude that this 
 loop is placed too high ; and should it whirl round in the air, 
 you may infer that it is too low." 
 
 During this conversation Mr. Twaddleton entered the 
 apartment. Tom was anxious to show him his newly- 
 constructed kite, and while the party were asking him 
 numerous questions, Mr. Seymour observed, that the vicar 
 would be more profitably employed in making bobs for the 
 string of the tail, than in finding answers for their string 
 of questions. 
 
 Mrs. Seymour and her daughters, with Tom and the 
 vicar, were, accordingly, placed round the table, for the 
 purpose of carrying this project into effect, by a suitable 
 division of labour. It was arranged that Mrs. Seymour 
 
218 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 should cut the paper, the vicar fold it, and Mr. Seymour tie 
 it on the string. 
 
 " How long ought the tail to be ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " And of what shape should the papers be cut ?" inquired 
 Louisa. 
 
 " And at what distances are they to be placed from each 
 other on the string ?" said Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 "I will answer all your queries," replied the father, "by 
 giving you a dissertation upon this part of our machine." 
 
 " We shall now have an harangue," exclaimed the vicar, 
 "as long as the tail itself; ' ut pueris placeas, et dedamatio 
 fias'* as Juvenal has it but pray proceed." 
 
 " The tail should never be less than twelve, and should 
 it even amount to twenty times the length of the kite, its 
 appearance in the air will be more graceful : this, however, 
 must be regulated by the weight of the string, and by the 
 length and thickness of the pieces of paper of which the 
 tail is composed. The length of each ought to be about 
 three inches and a quarter, and an inch and a half in 
 breadth, and it should be folded four times longitudinally ; 
 each of these bobs, as they are called, must be placed at 
 regular intervals of three inches." 
 
 " And with respect to the size of the wings ?" asked the 
 vicar. 
 
 " I should not recommend any wings ; if the kite be well 
 made, there cannot be any advantage from such appendages ; 
 except it be to impart to it, when in the air, the appearance 
 of a bird, gracefully balancing itself by the aid of wings. 
 Having now answered your several questions, let us proceed 
 with our work." 
 
 " But where is the paper ?" asked Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " Apropos !" answered her husband ; " the box in which 
 the London toys were packed contains a quantity that will 
 be buoyant enough, provided, indeed, there be no stationary 
 amongst it." 
 
 The box was accordingly placed on the table. 
 
 " Why, what a most extraordinary miscellany !" cried the 
 
 * " That you may please the boys, and afford them a theme for declama- 
 tion." Juv. x. 167. 
 
CHAP. XIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 219 
 
 vicar ; " the army of Mithridates could not have consisted of 
 a more incongruous mixture. I perceive," added he, as his 
 inquiring eyes glanced from sheet to sheet, " we have here 
 fragments of the works of the living, as well as of the dead." 
 
 " The market," observed Mr. Seymour, " is supplied with 
 waste paper from the catacombs of Paternoster How, which 
 may be truly said to ' level all distinctions/ and over which 
 I could really soliloquize like another Hamlet." 
 
 " Say, rather like a Mezentius," exclaimed the vicar, " since 
 you are about to tie together the living and the dead." 
 
 " Well," continued Mr. Seymour, " without intending 
 any offence by a pun, my good vicar, what a tale will this 
 box unfold. I never open a magazine of this waste paper, 
 without feeling a deep sympathy for the melancholy fate of 
 authors : to see the strange transmigrations, and vile pur- 
 poses, to which their works are destined, is really heart- 
 rending. That the lights of science should be consigned to 
 the tallow-chandler ! the works of the moralist to the soap- 
 seller ! and unbought eulogies to the butterman ! and 
 moreover, that * Laennec on the Chest,' with all his Cases 
 in the bargain, should be packed off to the trunk-maker, 
 are events which cannot fail to furnish food for .serious 
 contemplation." 
 
 "Oh! most shameful conduct !" exclaimed the vicar ; "I 
 know not its parallel, except it be the heartless conversion 
 of the statue of Sejanus into pans and patters, so graphically 
 described by Juvenal. I fully participate in your indignation. 
 It was only the other day can you believe it possible ? 
 that I actually received a green cheese encased in 
 ' Kitchener's Chart of the Moon,' and , a box of Homeopathic 
 globules in an act of ' Mitch Ado about Nothing.' " 
 
 "Ay! but that must have been some of the waste from 
 the press ; for, believe me that Shakspeare holds a charm 
 against all such desecration," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " It may be so, but be pleased to remember," observed the 
 vicar, " that Persius anticipated the same immunity on the 
 score of popularity j* and yet, who shall say to what fish 
 
 * " Nee Scombros metuenda Carmina." 
 Nor Verses in awe of the Mackerel. 
 
220 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 purposes he might not have been consigned, had he not 
 taken shelter under the mantle of Juvenal!* Nor can I 
 forget how pointedly Martial has expressed his fears, lest his 
 epigrams might afford paper for serving up the Tunny.-\ 
 And, indeed, my dear friend, between ourselves, I have 
 occasionally been visited by certain misgivings as to the 
 fate of my own sermons." 
 
 " Impossible ! what ! that your valuable discourses should 
 be torn up, to become the surplices of fish ? Oh, never, 
 never, vicar ; depend upon it that the days of Saint Anthony 
 have for ever passed away ; never more will the fishy race 
 flock around the preacher, nor be again rapt up in his 
 discourses." 
 
 " You strangely mistake me," said the vicar ; " I have no 
 particular dread of fish cookery, but pf having my spiritual 
 discourses profanely turned to temporal purposes." 
 
 " Such, for instance, as for the lining of a Box" slyly 
 suggested Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Oh ! may the plague of Nemesis rest upon that Box ; 
 never more assail my ears with that word of ill omen, unless 
 you wish to close its lid over my mortal remains." 
 
 "Let us then, at once, dispel all such unpleasant fore- 
 bodings, and proceed with our more cheerful occupation." 
 
 "If you compose the tail of your kite with these 
 papers," observed the vicar, " it will certainly vie with 
 that of Scriblerus himself; you will have a knot of divinity, 
 knot of physic, a knot of logic, a knot of philosophy , 
 knot of poetry, and a knot of history." 
 
 "Never mind, my dear vicar, if the knots be only as 
 binding and consistent as that which is said by Horace to 
 unite the Graces 
 
 '/Segnesque nodum solvere Gratia ;' 
 
 we can surely desire nothing more ; and I will undertake to 
 
 * The Satires of Persius are generally printed together with those of 
 Juvenal. 
 
 f " Ne nigrum cito raptus in culinam 
 
 Cordylas madida tegas papyro.* 
 + " The Graces slow to loose the knot that binds them." 
 
 fforat. Od,, in., 21. 
 
CHAP. XIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 221 
 
 prove their consistency, by showing in each page, with which 
 you may present me, an apposite allusion to the tail of which 
 it is to form a part." 
 
 " Apposite allusion ! impossible ; as well might you 
 attempt to connect the scattered leaves of the Sibyl." 
 
 "You will, nevertheless, very soon perceive that I shall 
 be able, not only to bring them into consistent connection 
 with each other, but to give them to the winds without the 
 slightest apprehension of any Sibylline dispersion," said Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " I say it is not possible, but am quite willing to abide 
 the issue. Here, for example, is an Epitome of the Roman 
 History." 
 
 "Very well," said Mr. Seymour, "and pray is not that 
 
 The vicar dropped the paper in dismay ; the treacherous 
 design of his friend now, for the first time, flashed across 
 his brain with a painful conviction, and he hastily retreated 
 to a distant corner of the library, or "turned tail" as 
 Mr. Seymour jocosely expressed it, in order that he might 
 find shelter from the pelting of a pitiless storm of puns, 
 which he saw, too clearly, was about to burst on his devoted 
 head ; and all from that everlasting Box ! 
 
 On the vicar's retiring from the table, Mrs. Seymour 
 approached the fatal box, observing, " that it was now her 
 turn to explore the Sibylline cave/' 
 
 "Here," said she, "is a list of the prices of some newly- 
 published works." 
 
 " That," replied her husband, as he cast a sly glance at 
 the vicar, " is retail : pray proceed." 
 
 " We have next, I perceive, a prospectus for publishing 
 all the speeches in the late parliament." 
 " That is Retail" 
 
 Here a deep groan from Mr. Twaddleton arrested the 
 progress of the proceedings, and threw the whole party into 
 a fit of laughter. As soon as tranquillity was restored, 
 Mrs. Seymour again dipped her hand into the box, and 
 drew forth the fragments of a work on ' The Descent of 
 Beal Property.' 
 
222 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 " That," said Mr. Seymour, " is entail ; pray cut it of, and 
 give it to me, so that it may pass into a different line of 
 succession." 
 
 " We have here," continued the lady, " the Memoirs of an 
 Italian Bandit." 
 
 " Then prepare him for his fate ; I have a noose quite 
 ready for his reception." 
 
 " Here is a poem, entitled Waterloo." 
 
 " I will patronise it," said her husband ; " and I 
 warrant you that, under my auspices, the Muse will soar 
 to a greater height than she ever could otherwise have 
 attained." 
 
 " Here comes a puzzle for your ingenuity," said Mrs. 
 Seymour ; " a proposal for uniting the Boards of Customs 
 and Excise."" Well, and what is that but doveto7 ?" re- 
 sponded her husband. 
 
 " We have next a pamphlet ' On Medical Reform' what 
 say you to that?" 
 
 "That I have lost my wager, and been fairly beaten," ex- 
 claimed Mr. Seymour, " for I defy the power of man to make 
 either head or tail of it." 
 
 Thus did Mr. and Mrs. Seymour proceed ; the one 
 cutting paper, the other cutting jokes ; nor did the former 
 cease stringing puns until he had finished stringing the 
 tail. 
 
 " I must now conclude by making a knot that shall not 
 be in danger of becoming untied in the breeze," said Mr. 
 Seymour : " but stop, stop one moment ! I still require 
 one more piece of paper to complete my task, and let it be 
 double." 
 
 " Here then is a piece of paper, which, from its texture, 
 appears to be well adapted to your purpose. Let me see, 
 what is it? I declare it is the title-page of an Essay on 
 Matrimony." 
 
 "Capital!" cried her husband; "a strange coincidence, 
 truly ; you have, indeed, furnished me with a knot that 
 cannot be easily untied, however stiff may be the breeze ; 
 hand it over to me, for it will afford a very legitimate finish, 
 and is generally the conclusion of every tale ; but where is 
 
CHAP. XIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 223 
 
 the vicar ? What, ho ! Mr. Twaddleton, vicar of Overton, 
 come into the court." 
 
 " Upon my word," exclaimed the reverend gentleman, as he 
 pushed aside the screen, behind which he sat ensconced, 
 " your volatility, Mr. Seymour, is wholly inconsistent with 
 the gravity of a scientific guide, and a sage instructor of 
 youth. I am ashamed of you." 
 
 " But at present," replied Mr. Seymour, " I am the manu- 
 facturer of a kite's tail; and, surely, upon such an occasion, 
 fiightiness ought not to be urged to my disparagement; 
 besides, my good friend, let me remind you of what I have 
 before stated,* that the Muses occasionally cast off their 
 reserve, and delight in intervals of merriment ; and since 
 we agreed to construct the kite's tail on the principle of 
 that union and consistency of which they are the approved 
 model surely we may, like them, diversify the monotony of 
 our labour, by an occasional sally of humour and a spice of 
 pleasantry." 
 
 The classical spell, thus ski] fully worked, speedily did its 
 bidding ; the waters of strife were tranquillised the vicar 
 was appeased. 
 
 "Pray, Tom," quietly asked the vicar, "can you tell me 
 whence the name of the kite originated ?" 
 
 " Prom the bird of that name, I suppose," answered the 
 boy ; " for being a bird of prey, he soars to a great height, 
 and in that respect, at least, my paper kite may be said to 
 resemble him." 
 
 "That is a very good explanation," said the vicar ; "or it 
 may, perhaps, have derived its name from the circumstance 
 of its having been originally constructed in the shape of a 
 bird of this description. In China the flying of kites is much 
 more practised than in this country ; and I understand that 
 their shape is always that of some bird." 
 
 " In the London toyshops you may constantly meet with 
 them in such forms, as well as in many other fantastic 
 shapes," observed Mr. Seymour ; " and," continued he, " I 
 remember to have seen, some years ago, a kite which 
 
 * See pao-e 13. 
 
224 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 resembled a man. It was made of linen cloth, cut, and 
 painted for the purpose, and stretched on a light frame, so 
 constructed as to resemble the outline of the human figure. 
 It stood upright, and was dressed in a sort of jacket. Its 
 arms were disposed like handles on each side of its body, 
 and its head being covered with a cap, terminating in an 
 angle, favoured the ascent of the machine, which was twelve 
 feet in height ; but to render it easier to be transported, it 
 could be folded double, by means of hinges adapted to the 
 frame. The person who directed this kind of kite was able 
 to raise it, though the weather was calm, to the height of 
 nearly five hundred feet ; and, when once raised, he main- 
 tained it in the air by giving only a slight motion to the 
 string. The figure, by these means, acquired a kind of 
 libration, like that of a man skaiting on the ice. The 
 illusion, occasioned by this spectacle, did not fail, as 
 you may readily suppose, to attract a great number of 
 spectators." 
 
 " I believe, however," observed the vicar, " that the 
 figure commonly adopted is the one best calculated for the 
 purpose." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," replied Mr. Seymour, " and for obvious 
 reasons ; the curvature of the bow enables it to escape the 
 resistance of the air as it rises ; which, after having struck 
 it, slides off, just as the current is more effectually turned 
 aside by the gently-curved prow, than by that which has a 
 sharp outline. This shape of the kite, moreover, presents 
 the largest surface at the point upon which the wind can 
 act with the greatest effect, while the whole is lightened by 
 the removal of parts that would obstruct its action. The 
 tail has also a greater control over a figure of such a descrip- 
 tion." 
 
 Mr. Seymour asked the vicar, whether he could explain 
 the origin of the French term for the kite, viz.,cerf volant, or 
 flying stag. " I never can believe," continued he, " that the 
 kite could ever have been constructed in the shape of that 
 animal." 
 
 " I am unable to clear up the difficulty," replied the vicar ; 
 " and yet I have bestowed some pains upon the subject. The 
 
CHAP. XIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 225 
 
 earliest notice of the kite, which I have been able to discover, 
 is in a short English and French Dictionary, by Miege, 
 which was published in the year 1690, and it is there 
 described under the name of cerf volant." 
 
 " I wonder," cried Tom, " who invented the kite ?" 
 " In that again," answered Mr. Twaddleton, " I am unable 
 to furnish you with any satisfactory information. Strutt 
 tells us that its introduction into England cannot be dated 
 farther back than about a hundred and fifty years. It is, 
 however, supposed that we are indebted for it to the Chinese, 
 in which country the pastime would seem to be of very 
 ancient date, and from which it was probably introduced 
 into Europe.* In the present day kite-flying is a very 
 popular game" amongst these] extraordinary people, and they 
 excel as well in the curious construction of their kites as in 
 the height to which they make them ascend. The ninth day 
 of the ninth moon is a holiday especially devoted by them to 
 this national pastime ; on which day, numbers may be seen 
 repairing to the hills for that purpose. They also, by 
 means of round holes, supplied with vibrating cords, make 
 them produce a loud humming noise, like that of the 
 top." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here remarked, that he had lately read, in 
 * Abbot's Journey to Moscow and St. Petersburgh,' of a kite 
 so constructed that every passing breeze gave a vibration to 
 a tight cord, which being communicated to the highly sono- 
 rous frame of the kite, produced an effect most musical and 
 melancholy an aerial music warbling through the air, like 
 the wild sounds of the Eolian Harp ; the same whispering 
 
 * It is a curious fact that the toys and games, so familiar to the English, 
 should be found in most distant and various parts of the world. Dr. Hooker, 
 in his Himalayan Journal, tells us that he was amused by watching a child 
 playing with & pop-gun made of bamboo, similar to that of quill, with which 
 most English children are familiar, and that on the plains of India men may 
 be often seen, for hours together, flying kites. Chess, dice, draughts, battle- 
 dore and shuttlecock, are all Indo-Chinese or Tartarian ; but it is still more 
 extraordinary to find the kite mentioned in Sir George Grey's ' Polynesian 
 Mythology.' In the legend of Ratu, we there read " of one Whatakau, a 
 little lad, whose amusement was flying kites;" and in the legend of the im- 
 migration of Turi to New Zealand, the boys are related as whipping their 
 tops and whirling their whizgigs. 
 
 Q 
 
226 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIV. 
 
 breeze now awakening joyous notes, and anon, sad and pen- 
 sive wailings.* 
 
 " Even so," said the vicar, " even so, my dear Mr. Seymour, 
 is it ever with the human heart : in the midst of gaiety there 
 is always sadness, since the chords of pleasure are so inter- 
 woven with those of melancholy, that it is difficult to touch 
 the one without causing the vibration of the other." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour here observed that the eifect must be 
 exceedingly fine, since she understood that numbers of such 
 musical kites were kept constantly flying during the night. 
 
 * Under a favourable breeze, the wires of the Electric Telegraph will 
 yield the same unbidden strains, which are rendered more audible by placing 
 the ear against the pole, and thus obtaining the aid of resonance. It is im- 
 possible, under any circumstances, to view, without emotion, these widely - 
 extended wires, with the consciousness that human thoughts are rapidly 
 passing along them : but should the wind, at the same time, excite them to 
 Eolian sounds, our reason is fairly taken captive by fancy; and so readily do 
 we pass from the real to the ideal, that it is scarcely possible to evade the 
 question which spontaneously arises in the mind, as to their possible sympathy 
 with the intelligence they are transmitting, or, on the contrary, whether the}' 
 may not be directly antagonistic with it; whether, in short, their pensive 
 waitings may not be the soft whisperings of love, or their gay syren notes the 
 throbbings of anguish, and the notes of despair? Mr. Willis, in his ' Out- 
 doors at Idlewild,' has indulged in some such reflections with much poetical 
 fancv. 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WEATHER, WITH THE HOPES AND FEARS WHICH IT ALTERNATELY 
 INSPIRED. THE ORACULAR FLOWERS. PREPARATIONS FOR THE FLIGHT 
 OF THE KITE. A DISCOURSE ON THE THEORY OF FLYING. ANATOMI- 
 CAL ERRORS OF THE ARTIST IN DEPICTING THE WINGS OF ANGELS. 
 
 THE STRUCTURE AND ACTION OF THE WINGS OF THE BIRD. A 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL DISQUISITION UPON THE FORCES BY WHICH THE 
 ASCENT OF THE KITE IS ACCOMPLISHED. THE TAIL OF THE BIRD 
 COMPARED WITH THE RUDDER OF A SHIP. THE TAIL OF THE KITE. 
 
 THE ALTITUDE TO WHICH THE KITE CAN ASCEND HAS A DEFINED 
 LIMIT. A SI:RIES OF KITES ON ONE STRING. A KITE CARRIAGE. 
 THE MESSENGER. THE PRACTICAL USES TO WHICH THE KITE HAS 
 BEEN APPLIED. THE CAUSES, DIRECTION, AND VELOCITY OF WIND 
 
 EXPLAINED. THE FLYING TOP. 
 
 ON the following day, before the wings of the lark had 
 brushed away the morning dew, Tom and his sisters, buoy- 
 ant with expectation, had descended into the garden, in 
 order to ascertain the state of the weather and the direction 
 of the wind ; but the sky was sullen and calm ; not a breath 
 disturbed the susceptible leaves of the aspen ; all was repose 
 " a dread repose." 
 
 " No kite-day this/* sighed Tom, with a countenance as 
 lowering as the morning clouds. 
 
 "Have patience," said Louisa; "the wind may yet rise; 
 it is only just six o'clock." 
 
 Thus did the minds of the children continue to hover 
 between hope and despair, until after breakfast, when they 
 determined to seek the gardener, and hold a grave con- 
 sultation with that acknowledged judge of the elements ; he 
 told them that showers might be expected, but he thought 
 it probable that the wind might rise after mid-day. " I will, 
 however," said he, " consult my oracles (37) ; after which, 
 I shall be able to give you a satisfactory opinion." So say- 
 
228 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 ing, he left them ; and, on his return, observed that " as the 
 Siberian sow-thistle had closed itself the preceding evening, 
 and the African marigold continued shut after seven o'clock 
 in the morning, he had thought there would be rain; but," 
 he added, " that upon inspecting the poor man's weatherglass, 
 the Anagallis arvensis, or red pimpernel, two hours ago, he had 
 found it open, from which he concluded that the day would 
 have been fine." 
 
 " There, Louisa ; it will be a fine day after all," exclaimed 
 her delighted brother. 
 
 " No, indeed," continued the gardener ; " on returning 
 just now to the flower, which never deceives us, I found it 
 had closed itself; so that rain is inevitable." 
 
 Nor was this opinion erroneous ; for before the brother 
 and sister could reach the lodge, the heavy clouds began to 
 discharge their watery burthen, and the rain continued in 
 one incessant shower for more than two hours; it then 
 gradually abated, and the children, who had been anxiously 
 watching it at the library window, were suddenly relieved 
 from their anxiety by the appearance of the vicar, whom 
 they espied slowly winding his way through the dripping 
 shrubbery. 
 
 " ' Heu ! quianam tanti cinserunt aethera nimbi?' 
 
 as Virgil has it," exclaimed the vicar, as he approached the 
 portico, w r here Mr. Seymour and his family had assembled to 
 salute him. 
 
 " We are under the influence of St. Swithin, vicar," said 
 Mrs. Seymour, " and I fear there is but slender hope of its 
 becoming fair." 
 
 "Psha! who cares for St. Swithin? (38) My barometer 
 is rising rapidly, and I place more confidence in that clas- 
 sical deity, Mercury, than in a saint of so very questionable 
 a character." 
 
 At this moment, Phoebus, as if delighted by the compli- 
 ment thus bestowed upon his heathen brother, cast a sly glance 
 from behind a dark cloud, and illumined the spot upon which 
 the vicar was standing. In short, after the lapse of half an 
 hour, the sun broke through the gloom, and a brisk gale fol- 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 229 
 
 lowed ; the countenances of the children sympathised with 
 the face of the heavens, and the expression of hope lighted 
 them up, in proportion as the sun illumined the departing 
 clouds with its radiance. 
 
 " It is now quite fair, papa," cried Tom, in a voice of 
 triumph, "and there is a most delightful wind ; shall we not 
 proceed at once to the common ?" 
 
 " Presently," answered his father : " the ground is jet 
 extremely wet." 
 
 In the course of an hour this objection had been removed, 
 and the party prepared to set oif on their kite-flying expe- 
 dition. 
 
 " Bring me the kite, and let me sling it properly over 
 Tom's shoulder," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I will carry the string," exclaimed Louisa ; " how nicely 
 it is wound round the stick J " 
 
 On the arrival of the party at Overton Heath, the weather 
 was found propitious to their adventure ; the kite impatiently 
 fluttered in the breeze, while Torn was eagerly engaged in 
 unwinding its streaming tail, and preparing the paper machine 
 for ascent. 
 
 "Is the string fixed to the belly-band?" asked Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " All is ready," replied the vicar ; " and I will hold it up, 
 while Tom runs with it against the wind. Had King Eric 
 set his cap for us, we could not have had a more favourable 
 breeze." 
 
 " There is not the least occasion to raise the kite from the 
 ground," observed Mr. Seymour: " let its point rest on the 
 grass, and place its tail in a straight line in front of it ; I 
 warrant you it will rise, as soon as Tom begins to run." 
 
 Tom immediately set off, and the kite rose majestically into 
 the air. 
 
 " Grive it string give it string gently, gently now 
 stop ; there is no occasion for your running any farther, but 
 let out the cord, as long as the kite carries it off vigorously, 
 and keeps it fully stretched ; but wind it up the moment its 
 tension is relaxed." 
 
 "It is rising very fast," cried the breathless boy, "but 
 
230 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 the striog burns my hand as it passes through it ; I shall not 
 be able to endure the heat." 
 
 " Be patient, and let it pass more slowly ; put on your 
 glove," said his father. 
 
 " Ay, ay ; put on your glove," repeated the vicar ; " even 
 Xenophon himself, who declaimed so warmly against the 
 effeminacy of the Persians for wearing gloves, would 
 scarcely have refused his consent to their use on such an 
 occasion." 
 
 "Nor did the old Grecian warrior, Laertes, disdain the 
 protection of gloves against the thorns and thistles, while 
 working in his garden,"* added Mr. Seymour, to the no small 
 satisfaction of his classical friend. 
 
 "What is it that produces so much heat?" inquired 
 Louisa. 
 
 " The friction of the string," replied her father : " do you 
 not know that carriages frequently catch fire from the fric- 
 tion of their wheels, unless it be prevented by the application 
 of grease?" 
 
 " Yes," said Tom ; "and I have heard that the natives of 
 some countries kindle their fires by rubbing pieces of wood 
 together." 
 
 "The original inhabitants of the new world," observed 
 his father, " throughout the whole extent from Patagonia 
 to Greenland, procured fire by rubbing pieces of hard and 
 dry wood against each other, until they emitted sparks, or 
 burst into flame ; some of the people to the north of Cali- 
 fornia produced the same effect by inserting a kind of pivot 
 in the hole of a very thick plank, and causing it to revolve 
 with extreme rapidity : the same principle will explain how 
 immense forests may have been consumed ; for it is evident, 
 that the violent friction of the branches against each other 
 from the agitation, of the wind, would be fully adequate to 
 the production of such an effect." 
 
 "You have also an excellent example of the effect of 
 
 friction in producing heat," said the vicar, " in the history of 
 
 the whale fishery; for, in harpooning the fish, unless the 
 
 sailors observe the greatest caution in letting out the rope, 
 
 * Odyss. 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 231 
 
 its friction upon the side of their boat will be sure to set it 
 on fire." 
 
 " And how do they manage it ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 "As soon as the whale dives (39), after having been 
 wounded, it draws out the line or cord of the harpoon, 
 which is coiled up in the boat, with very considerable velo- 
 city. In order, therefore, to prevent any accident from the 
 violence of this motion, one man is stationed with an axe to 
 cut it asunder, if it should become entangled ; while another, 
 with a mop, is constantly cooling with water the channel 
 through which it passes." 
 
 " The kite is now at a considerable height," observed Tom ; 
 " but look at the string, how bent it is ! I have repeatedly 
 endeavoured to pull it straight, but without success." 
 
 " How could you have expected to succeed in the 
 attempt ? Consider the weight of such a long line of 
 string." 
 
 " Then it is not the pressure of the atmosphere which 
 gives it that curved form ?" 
 
 " Assuredly not : have you so soon forgotten that the 
 air presses equally in all directions, and would therefore 
 tend to straighten, as much as to give a curved direction to 
 the string ? But, as you now appear to have let out the 
 w r hole of your string, suppose you allow the kite to enjoy its 
 airing, while we proceed to consider the philosophy of its 
 ascent, and the nature and direction of those forces by which 
 it is effected." 
 
 "The kite pulls so amazingly hard," cried Tom, "that 
 unless I fix the string securely round the tree, we shall run 
 the chance of losing it." 
 
 "I am well aware of the force it exerts," replied his 
 father. " Dr.- Franklin has said, that, with a good kite, a 
 man unable to swim might be sustained in the water, so as 
 to pass from Dover to Calais ; but I agree with him in 
 thinking, that a packet would be a much safer as well as a 
 pleasanter mode of conveyance." 
 
 " Now, then, for your explanation of the kite's ascent. 
 Unless I am mistaken, you will find the subject much more 
 complicated than you imagine," said the vicar. 
 
232 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 " Not at all ; Tom, who, I trust, has a perfect acquaint- 
 ance with the composition and resolution of forces, will 
 very readily understand the explanation I propose to offer. 
 I admit, however, that there are some few points in the 
 inquiry, which cannot be successfully treated without a 
 knowledge of the higher branches of the mathematics ; but I 
 shall, of course, avoid all such difficulties.* Can you tell 
 me, Tom, what advantage is gained by your running with the 
 kite ?" asked Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "I suppose that you thus obtain more force from the 
 wind." 
 
 " Certainly : action and reaction are equal. By running, 
 therefore, with your kite against the wind, you strike the 
 air, and thus produce a reaction, which is equal to the force 
 of the blow given to it. When the wind is high, and its 
 action is not intercepted by surrounding objects, there can- 
 not exist any necessity for such an expedient." 
 
 " The principle is the same as that which enables the bird 
 to rise into the air by napping its wings," observed the vicar. 
 
 " Unquestionably," replied Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Does the kite, then, rise in the air, from the same causes 
 that enable a bird to fly ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " We are not at present considering the ascent of the kite, 
 but the advantage which is obtained by running with it : 
 which, as the vicar has properly observed, undoubtedly 
 depends upon the same principle as that which enables the 
 bird to rise, by the motion of its wings, and which constitutes 
 the third law of motion,t viz., that action and reaction are equal ; 
 that is to say, whenever one body exerts a force upon 
 another, the second body opposes the first, with equal force, 
 in an opposite direction. If, then, the bird strikes the air 
 below it with a force which is equal to its weight, then must 
 there be a reaction of the air, upwards, exactly equal to it ; 
 and the bird, being acted upon by two equal forces, in oppo- 
 site directions, will, necessarily, rest between them." 
 
 " That is clear enough ; but the bird rises," answered Tom. 
 
 * Those elder readers who are inclined to enter more deeply into the 
 subject, may consult, with advantage, a memoir on the kite, by Euler, 
 published in the Transactions of the Academy of Berlin for the year 
 1756. f See p. 60. 
 
CHAP, XV. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 233 
 
 " Because the force of the stroke is greater than the weight 
 of the bird, and it therefore rises with the difference of these 
 two forces ; were the stroke less than its weight, then would 
 it sink with the difference. Suppose, for example, a bird 
 weighs twelve ounces, and it strikes the air with a force equal 
 to sixteen, is it not clear that it must rise with a force equal 
 to four ? and is it not evident that, if it strikes the air with a 
 force equal only to eight, that it must sink with a force equal 
 to four ?" 
 
 " So far I understand it perfectly ; but I was thinking 
 that, as the wing flaps up and down, what was gained by 
 striking the air downwards must be counterbalanced when 
 the bird raised her wing again, and thus struck the air in the 
 contrary direction/' observed Tom. 
 
 " I give you no small degree of credit for that remark," 
 said his father ; " for it is undoubtedly true that, if the flap- 
 ping of the wings in flight were no more than the motion of 
 the same surface upwards and downwards, the bird must lose 
 as much by one motion as she could gain by the other ; the 
 skylark could never ascend by such an action, for, as you 
 have so justly remarked, although the stroke upon the air by 
 the under side of her wing would carry her up, the stroke 
 from the upper side, when she raised her wing again, would 
 bring her down ; but if you will attentively examine the 
 structure of the wing, you will at once perceive, from its ex- 
 ternal convexity, the disposition, and more particularly the 
 overlapping of its larger feathers, that when the wing is 
 drawn up, its surface is contracted, and when let down fully 
 expanded' or, in other words, that the feathers strike the air 
 downwards with their flat side, but rise from the stroke 
 slantwise, just as the rower in a boat, after having given the 
 stroke, turns his oar so as only to present its edge, an opera- 
 tion which is termed featuring, from its resemblance to this 
 very action of the wing in flight." 
 
 " It appears to me that flying is an easy process," said 
 Tom : " could we not contrive some sort of flapper, by which 
 we might be able to rise into the air?" 
 
 "Tour opinion, my dear boy, is by no means singular; 
 hundreds have entertained the same belief before you ; and 
 
234: PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 so confident was the famous Bishop "Wilkins, that he declared 
 it to be his conviction, that, in future ages, it will be as usual 
 to hear a man call for his wings, as it is now to call for his 
 boots." 
 
 " Yes," said the vicar ; " and if my memory is correct, 
 William of Malmesbury, in his account of the Conquest of 
 England by the Normans, mentions a Benedictine monk, by 
 the name of Elmer, who having affixed wings to his hands 
 and feet, ascended a lofty tower whence he took his flight, 
 but he fell to the ground and broke both his legs." " Pennis 
 non homini datis."* 
 
 " I do not see the difficulty," exclaimed Tom. 
 
 " The weight of our bodies is so great, that we have not 
 sufficient muscular strength to impart a blow to the air that 
 shall be equal to it ; while the solidity of our bones, con- 
 trasted with the hollow structure of those of birds, opposes 
 an insuperable difficulty. Now are you satisfied?" said 
 his father. 
 
 " I am perfectly satisfied, if that be the case, we can never 
 hope to fly." (40) 
 
 "I fear not," answered his father; "and yet, as Lord 
 Bacon says, 'we must not declare that to be impossible 
 which happens to surpass our present powers.' " 
 
 " Unless it be in direct violation of Nature's ordinances," 
 interposed the vicar, " which is obviously the case in every 
 attempt to endow man with the powers of flight. It is only 
 by obeying Nature that we can command her. The poor 
 moth, as it flutters about you, ought surely to humble your 
 pride, and rebuke your presumption, and may, perchance, as 
 
 * " Artists," observes M. Oersted, " err gi-eatly in attaching wings to 
 human figures, of such a size, and so placed as to lead the imagination to 
 accept them as real, instead of emblematic organs of flight. We are taught 
 by comparative anatomy that in all vertebrate animals wings are only formed 
 by a peculiar development of the instruments of motion belonging to the fore 
 parts of the body ; the representation of the human figure with wings and 
 arms is therefore a monstrous absurdity ; and the supernatural idea, by such 
 an attempt to make it appear natural, is rendered unnatural." The Soul in 
 Nature. What, again, can be more absurd than the winged busts on our 
 gravestones ? to which a wit, with his Hudibrastic power of bringing into 
 apposition the most remote and discordant images, gave the designation of 
 Celestial Poultry! 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 235 
 
 a crowning act of its mission, extinguish the very lamp by 
 whose light you are so busily calculating the forces that are 
 to direct your enterprise ; and let me tell you, Mr. Seymour, 
 that, in such a case, the moth does good service by pointing 
 an instructive moral by teaching us that great evils may 
 attend the indulgence of an instinctive impulse, unless it be 
 checked by the light of reason and the guidance of expe- 
 rience." 
 
 " I anxiously wait to learn the application of your moral," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Its application ! Why, does not the moth, by a kind of 
 retributive justice, pay the penalty of a reckless flight to a 
 light it could not comprehend, and falling like another Icarus, 
 scatter the ashes of its singed wings over the diagram of 
 the no less infatuated philosopher ?" 
 
 " Upon my word, vicar, you are, at all events, disposed to 
 give a full expansion to the wings of your poetical imagination, 
 and to launch them for a very ambitious airing." 
 
 " Mr. Seymour, I never allow my imagination to blind my 
 judgment, nor, to adopt your metaphor, do I suifer my wings 
 to cover my eyes, like those angels in Scripture, to which 
 Locke has so figuratively alluded." 
 
 " If you will only fold up your gaudy wings, and quietly 
 descend from the higher regions, and humbly join me on 
 earth below, I think I shall, at least, be able to convince 
 you that if philosophy has failed in enabling man to fly, it 
 has at all events, by means of such pursuits, advanced our 
 knowledge with regard to the mechanical theory of forces. 
 We are, for instance, thus indebted for the improvement 
 and various modifications of the vane, or fy, which by re- 
 sisting the air, as it spins round, becomes the regulator of 
 machinery. The intervals between the strokes on the bell 
 of a clock are thus regulated, and the fly is so contrived 
 that this interval may be altered, or the clock made to 
 strike faster or slower, by presenting the arms of it more 
 or less obliquely to the direction in which they move. The 
 same kind of fly is the regulator used in musical boxes, 
 as I will presently show you, and indeed in almost all 
 mechanical toys ; and, moreover, a fly of this kind, provided 
 
236 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 its arms be set at a proper angle, and a rapid spinning 
 motion be given to it, will actually take flight, and rise to a 
 very considerable elevation, and thus realise the idea of a 
 flying machine. I have such an apparatus, and intend to 
 call it The Flying Top. On our return you shall see it ; but 
 after this digression let us, without farther delay, proceed 
 with the subject of the kite ; for, as yet, we have merely 
 considered the effect of increasing the wind upon its surface: 
 we have next to inquire how the wind operates in raising it 
 into the air. Do you not remember, when I adjusted the 
 noose in the belly-band, I stated that much depended upon 
 this part of the apparatus ? You will at once perceive that 
 it will influence the angle which the kite forms with the 
 earth ; and I am about to prove to you, that the theory of 
 the kite's ascent is materially connected with the value of 
 this angle ; but, in order to render my explanation intel- 
 ligible, I have prepared a diagram, to which I am desirous 
 of directing your attention. 
 
 "The kite here appears in the act of rising from the 
 ground ; the line w will represent the direction of the wind 
 blowing upon it, all the currents of which we will suppose 
 united in one ; it is evident, from what has been already 
 stated, that as it falls upon an oblique surface, it will be 
 resolved into two forces, viz., into one parallel with it, and 
 into another perpendicular to that surface ; of which the 
 force represented by the line T will alone produce any effect, 
 carrying the kite along the line o A, or in a direction parallel 
 to itself; and you must have observed that this was the 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 237 
 
 direction in which the kite was impelled, when you suf- 
 fered it to rise, without checking its progress by the 
 string." 
 
 " I remember that well," said Tom ; " and I also observed 
 that) when I pulled my string, the kite immediately rose 
 more perpendicularly." 
 
 "To be sure it did ; because by that operation you called 
 a new force into action, which I have represented in the 
 diagram by the line s T. The kite was therefore under the 
 influence of the two forces o A and s T, and, since these are 
 in the direction of the two sides of a parallelogram, it would 
 not obey either, but ascend through o B, its diagonal." 
 
 " Notwithstanding Mr. Twaddleton's doubts upon the 
 subject," said Tom, "I am sure that I perfectly understand 
 your explanation ; and I think I may also answer for my 
 sister : but you have not yet told us anything about the 
 tail ; I suppose, however, that it acts like the rudder of a 
 ship, or the tail of a bird." 
 
 " Before I answer that question, let me inform you how 
 the tail of a bird differs, in its action and uses, from the 
 rudder of a ship. In the first place, the rudder is so fixed 
 that it can but move in one horizontal plane, and can 
 therefore only turn the vessel to the right or left, which, 
 indeed, is all that is required (41) ; but the tail of the bird, 
 in addition to this motion, can be placed in a diagonal 
 direction, and when expanded will offer a considerable 
 surface to the air so as to fulfil some of the offices of a 
 third wing. Have you never watched the manoeuvres of 
 the rook, as he gambols through the air ? After flying in 
 the ordinary way, you will observe his wings at rest, and 
 that he glides along apparently without the least exertion 
 in his descent. In this case his expanded wings act as a 
 parachute : then, again, you will observe him wheeling 
 round, a manosuvre which is partly produced by the oblique 
 position of his tail, and which is readily explained upon the 
 principle of the resolution of forces I have just described 
 with reference to the action of the wind upon the surface 
 of the kite. I ought also to state, that the tail serves to 
 poise the body of the bird." 
 
238 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 " Does the bird, then, never use its wings for the purpose 
 of directing its course ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " Undoubtedly it does," answered her father : " the tail 
 is only to be considered as a supplementary organ ; it is by 
 means of the wings that it generally directs its course, for 
 it is evident, that it can easily turn, either to the right or 
 left, by napping the opposite wing with increased force, 
 just as a boat is turned about to the right, by a brisk 
 application of the left oar. And hence the more rapid the 
 flight is forward, the greater is the difficulty of one wing 
 surpassing the other in velocity ; and the deviations are less 
 sudden. This is the reason why the birds which fly with 
 the greatest velocity make large circuits on turning. In like 
 manner the irregular flight of the butterfly, now up and now 
 down, now to the right and now to the left, is no doubt 
 effected by the wings striking the air one after the other, or 
 perhaps with an alternate and unequal force. The object 
 of such an action is obviously to baffle the pursuit of birds 
 which fly in a right line, whereas you see the butterfly does 
 just the contrary." (42) 
 
 "How very wonderful," said Louisa, "is the action of 
 the wings of insects ! I have often watched them during 
 their flight, and their rapidity is such as to surpass the 
 power of vision." 
 
 " I shall have occasion to advert to that subject here- 
 after," said Mr. Seymour ; " at present I shall only observe, 
 that a gnat's wing, in its ordinary flight, beats many hundred 
 times in a second." 
 
 "But you have not yet answered Torn's question," said 
 the vicar. " Of what use is the tail of the kite ? Does it 
 assist its ascent, or is it merely an appendage of ornament ?" 
 
 " In the first place, it keeps the head of the kite to the 
 wind, and prevents its lower half from going too far to 
 leeward ; and in the next, it lowers its centre of gravity, 
 and throws it towards its extremity, which not only pre- 
 vents the chance of the machine being upset in the air, but 
 so poises and regulates the position of the kite as to maintain 
 the angle which it is necessary for the string to make with 
 the surface." 
 
CIIAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 239 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton here inquired what might be the most 
 advantageous angle for the kite to form with the horizon, 
 in order that the paper machine should rise to the greatest 
 altitude. 
 
 " If the w r ind be horizontal," answered Mr. Seymour, 
 "it is evident that the inclination of the kite's surface 
 ought to be the same as that which the rudder of a ship 
 should make with the keel, in order that the vessel may be 
 turned with the greatest facility ; supposing the currents of 
 water which impel it to have a direction parallel to the keel." 
 
 " And what ought that angle to be ?" inquired the vicar. 
 
 " Fifty-four degrees, and forty-four minutes," replied Mr. 
 Seymour; "and let me~here remark," continued he, "as 
 we have already considered the philosophy of the flight 
 of a bird, that its pinions are so set upon the body as to 
 bring down the wings in an oblique direction towards the 
 tail; so that in their action upon the air, we have the 
 same resolution of forces as in that of the wind upon the 
 surface of the kite, by which the body of the bird is not 
 only supported, or raised perpendicularly, but carried for- 
 ward." 
 
 Tom here interrupted the dialogue, by expressing a 
 regret that he should have been provided with so small a 
 quantity of cord. 
 
 " I do not believe, my dear boy, that any advantage 
 could be gained by an additional quantity of string," said 
 his father. 
 
 ' Is there, then, any reason why the kite should not 
 ascend, even above the clouds, provided that my string 
 were sufficiently long and strong ?" 
 
 " Yes ; indeed is there a most unanswerable reason. 
 Remember that the kite is made to rise by the operation 
 of two forces ; the one aiforded by the wind, the other by 
 the action of the string ; now, it is quite evident that, when 
 the weight of the string, added to that of the kite itself, 
 becomes equal to the force of the w r ind, acting upon the 
 surface of the machine, a general balance, or equilibrium, 
 oC forces wall be established, and the kite can no longer 
 continue to ascend." 
 
240 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 " Will it, then, remain stationary under these circum- 
 stances ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 "It must do so, unless the force of the wind should 
 abate for it is a proposition in mechanics, which I shall 
 hereafter endeavour to demonstrate (43), that, if a body be 
 acted upon by three forces, which are proportional to, and 
 in the direction of, the three sides of a triangle, it will be 
 kept at rest. The kite is exactly in this predicament, for 
 its weight, the force of the wind, and the action [of the 
 string, fulfil these conditions, and consequently keep the 
 kite stationary." 
 
 " Then I must give up my intention of trying to raise 
 the kite above the clouds," said Tom. 
 
 " Although you may not be able to raise any single kite 
 to the altitude you may desire, it is easy to accomplish 
 your plan by a series of kites : the string of the first being 
 attached to the back of the second, and so on." 
 
 " How, papa? T do not 'exactly understand you." 
 
 " Your kite," said Mr. Seymour, " is now as high in the 
 air as the force of the wind is capable of raising it ; suppose 
 you were to fix the end of the string you hold in your hand 
 to the back of another kite, would not this second kite 
 ascend as high as your first, by the same force, and your 
 first kite therefore arise to double the altitude it is at 
 present ? In like manner you might attach a third kite, 
 and so on." 
 
 " Now I comprehend it ; and I should much like to try 
 the experiment," said Tom. 
 
 " You shall certainly witness the effect I have described ; 
 but you must provide yourself with some stout string, for the 
 force which the kites exert when thus arranged, is greater 
 than you can easily imagine ; indeed I question whether 
 you would be able to hold them," observed his father. 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton here informed the young party that he 
 had himself witnessed a carriage containing three persons 
 that had been drawn along the road by kites, at the rate 
 of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour. 
 
 " I have seen the account of it," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " and if I remember right, the principal kite was preceded 
 
CHAP. XV. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 241 
 
 at the distance of about 120 feet by a smaller pilot one, 
 which served to direct it away from any obstacles, such as 
 trees, houses, &c., with which it might otherwise have come 
 in contact." 
 
 te But how was the pilot-kite made obedient to the will 
 of the driver ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " By means of strings so attached to it that its surface 
 was easily made to alter its angular position," answered 
 Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " If my twine should snap," said Tom, whose atten- 
 tion was suddenly drawn to his kite from a slight unsteadi- 
 ness in its motion, arising from a gust of wind, " we could 
 easily recover it, that is one good thing ; for it is hovering 
 over the open field at the end of the heath." 
 
 " If you imagine that the kite, under such circumstances, 
 would fall upon the spot directly under it, you are much 
 deceived; recollect that, if the string should snap, the 
 kite would be abandoned to two forces, those of the wind 
 and its own gravity ; and you will perceive that, under 
 such circumstances, it could not obey either of them, but 
 would fall in an intermediate or diagonal direction. This 
 fact will be rendered apparent by the annexed diagram. 
 B A may be supposed to represent the force and direction 
 of the wind acting upon the 
 kite, and B D that of its 
 gravity ; then it is evident 
 that, under the influence of 
 these joint forces, it would 
 describe the diagonal, and 
 for reasons already ex- 
 plained, that line must ne- 
 cessarily be the curve B F." 
 
 " Come," said the vicar, 
 "before Tom draws down 
 messenger" 
 
 " What may that be ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " A piece of paper or pasteboard, which, on being intro- 
 duced upon the string, is blown along the line up to the 
 kite." 
 
 B 
 
 his kite, let us send up a 
 
242 PHILOSOPHY TN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 The messenger was accordingly prepared, and, being placed 
 upon the string, it ascended as Mr. Seymour had anticipated. 
 While this operation was in progress, the vicar stood 
 earnestly gazing upon the kite, and at length burst forth in 
 the following animated soliloquy : 
 
 " Assuredly, this must be acknowledged as a most beau- 
 tiful and imposing toy ! Fastidious or insensible must be 
 that person, who does not feel exhilarated as he gazes on 
 the kite, proudly floating under the canopy of heaven, and 
 reflecting the departing smiles of the evening sun, after it 
 has ceased to cheer us below." 
 
 "It has been said," observed Mr. Seymour, "to the 
 disparagement of kite-flying, that as soon as the machine 
 has been raised into the air, and all the string let out, the 
 excitement of the sport is at an end, and that, as nothing 
 further can be achieved, the interest of the performer from 
 that moment begins to languish : now, at this period, the 
 messenger will open a new source of pleasure and instruction, 
 and may, by a little ingenuity, be made to afford a great 
 diversity of amusement. I have therefore provided myself 
 with several varieties of this machine. Here is one in the 
 form of a dragon, which, as it ascends, produces a very 
 striking and almost magical effect. See, there it goes !" 
 
 The children were delighted, for the string upon which it 
 was carried became at a certain height invisible ; so that the 
 figure appeared like a monster hovering in the air. 
 
 " I will now show you a winged variety of this apparatus, 
 which we will name the Brompton Messenger* It con- 
 sists of a hollow cylinder of thin wood, the diameter of 
 which is sufficiently large to allow its free revolution round 
 the string of the kite. To this cylinder are attached several 
 flappers or sails, in an oblique direction, like those of the 
 ' Flying Top ' (p. 247), each of which is covered with 
 paper of a different colour, or what is more striking with 
 tinfoil of different colours. The action of the wind upon 
 those oblique surfaces necessarily occasions a rapid rotation, 
 
 * From associations of an interesting nature connected with the residence 
 of the author's children with kind and beloved friends for many a successive 
 autumn. 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 243 
 
 upon a principle which I shall presently explain ; and the 
 beautiful effect thus produced, as the whirling body ascends, 
 must be seen before it can be appreciated. I have some 
 other contrivances of a similar nature, which it is my inten- 
 tion to prepare for your future amusement." (44.) 
 
 " Has the kite ever been applied to any useful purposes ?" 
 asked Tom. 
 
 " Certainly," answered his father. " It was by means 
 of the kite that Dr. Franklin was enabled to demonstrate 
 the identity of electricity and the cause of lightning, 
 and thus to disclose one of the most awful mysteries of 
 nature." 
 
 " Pray do tell us something about this electrical kite," 
 said Louisa. 
 
 "Not at present, my love; it would divert us too much 
 from the subjects in which w r e are engaged ; at some future 
 period I shall have much pleasure in introducing you into 
 these fairy regions of philosophy." 
 
 " I just now remember reading in Miss Edgeworth's 
 i Harry and Lucy,' " said Louisa, " something about a kite 
 and Pompey's pillar." 
 
 " I am glad that you have reminded me of that story," 
 replied Mr. Seymour ; " I will relate it to you. Some 
 English sailors laid a wager that they woulcl drink a bowl 
 of punch on the summit of Pompey's pillar. Now, that 
 pillar is almost a hundred feet high, and it is quite smooth, 
 so that there was no way of climbing to the top, even for 
 sailors, who are such experience d climbers : so they flew 
 their kite exactly over the pillar, and when it eame down 
 on the opposite side, the string \a,y across the top of the 
 capital. By means of this string, they pulled a small rope 
 over, and by this a larger one, that was able to bear the 
 weight of a man ; a pulley was then fastened to the end of 
 the large rope, and drawn close up to the upper edge of 
 the capital ; and then, you perceive, they could easily hoist 
 each other up. They did more, for they hoisted the 
 English flag on the top, and then drank the bowl of punch 
 and won their wager." 
 
 "That is a very good story," said the vicar, "but I 
 
244 PHILOSOPHY -IX SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 cannot help regretting that so much ingenuity and labour 
 should not have had a nobler end to accomplish." 
 
 "There is some truth in that observation," said Mr. 
 Seymour, " and I will, therefore, relate another story which 
 shall be more congenial to your heart, and in which the 
 kite will present itself in a more interesting point of view ; 
 for, instead of enabling the sailors to drink a bowl of 
 punch at an altitude otherwise inaccessible, we shall find 
 it engaged in rescuing them from the horrors of ship- 
 wreck."* 
 
 " Pray proceed," said Tom. 
 
 " No, my dear, upon reflection, I think it will be better 
 that we should postpone the story, until your return to the 
 lodge, when you shall read it in ' Harry and Lucy.' But 
 before we lose sight of the useful applications of the kite, 
 let me tell you how greatly it served the Arctic voyagers in 
 their late search after Franklin and his companions. By 
 harnessing it to their sledges they were enabled to travel 
 hundreds of miles over the ice before a stiff breeze. I will 
 also point out to you, in the same work, an account of a 
 new and useful application of the messenger, which will 
 prove that the faculties of youth may be increased and im- 
 proved by those very amusements which are too generally 
 regarded as idle and unprofitable : I shall at the same time 
 exhibit one or two experiments in illustration of the nature 
 and causes of wind." 
 
 " Shall we not return immediately ?" 
 " No, my dear ; it would not be in my power to attend 
 you at present ; but join me in the library after dinner : 
 Mr. Twaddleton will now accompany me to the village, 
 and do you remain and enjoy the amusement of your 
 kite." 
 
 At the time appointed Tom and his sisters requested 
 their father to fulfil the promises he had made them in the 
 morning. 
 
 " You told us," said Louisa, " that you would give us 
 some information about the wind; the subject has been 
 
 * Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, vol. xli. ; and 
 Miss Edgmvoith's Harry and Lucy, vol. iv. p. 288. , 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIEXCE IN EARNEST. 245 
 
 puzzling me ever since, for I cannot make out the cause 
 of it." 
 
 " Wind, my love, is nothing more than air in motion : and 
 is produced by a large volume of it flowing in a current or 
 stream, from one place or region to another, and with different 
 velocities." 
 
 " And what can produce these currents ?" asked Torn. 
 
 " After the explanation of the action of the pump, I do 
 not think that I shall have much difficulty in making you 
 understand the nature of the operations by which wind is 
 occasioned. Suppose a partial vacuum should be formed 
 in any region, would not the neighbouring air imme- 
 diately rush in to supply the deficiency and restore the 
 balance?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; from the pressure of the air behind it." 
 
 " Heat," continued Mr. Seymour, tl will produce a par- 
 tial vacuum by rarefying the air, and thus rendering it 
 lighter; in consequence of which, it will ascend, and the 
 colder air will rush in to supply its place." 
 
 " I do not exactly see why the rarefied air should ascend," 
 observed Louisa : " it appears to offer an exception to the 
 general law of gravity." 
 
 " Not at all ; on the contrary, its ascent is occasioned by 
 the force of gravity: in the first place, however, to prove 
 the fact that heated air does actually ascend, we have only 
 to observe the direction of smoke as it issues from the 
 chimney; this consists of minute particles of fuel carried 
 up, by a current of heated air, from the fire below ; and as 
 soon as this current is cooled by mixing with that of the 
 atmosphere, the minute particles of coal fall, and produce 
 the small black flakes which render the air, and everything 
 in contact with it, so dirty in a populous city." 
 
 " But I want to know what it is which causes the hot 
 air to ascend ?" 
 
 " The greater weight of the cold air above it, which gets, 
 as it were, beneath the lighter air, and obliges it to rise ; 
 just in the same way as a piece of cork, at the bottom of an 
 empty vessel, is made to rise to the surface of the water 
 which may be poured into it." 
 
246 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 " Now I understand it ; pray, therefore, proceed with 
 your account of the wind. You have just said that heat 
 rarefies the air, and causes it to ascend." 
 
 "And thus produces a current of air, or a wind" 
 
 "Is heat, then, the cause of wind ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " It is one great cause ; but there are, probably, several 
 others ; I will, however, exemplify this subject by an expe- 
 riment." 
 
 So saying, Mr. Seymour produced a water-plate, a large 
 dish, and a jug filled with cold water. The bell was rung, 
 and the servant entered with a tea-kettle of boiling water. 
 
 The large dish was then filled with the cold, and the 
 water-plate with the boiling fluid. 
 
 "Let this large dish represent the ocean," said Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " and this water-plate, which I will now place in its 
 centre, an island in that ocean ; for the land, from receiving 
 the rays of the sun, will be more heated than the water, and 
 will consequently rarefy the air above it. Now, Tom, light 
 me the wax-taper." 
 
 " I have done so." 
 
 " Then now blow it out." 
 
 " I cannot imagine what you are about ! ' Light the 
 candle and then blow it out ! ' but it still smokes ; shall I 
 put the extinguisher over it ?" 
 
 " By no means ; give it to me and observe what will 
 happen when I carry it round the edge of the dish." 
 
 " Why, only see !" cried Tom ; " Louisa has actually 
 blown it in again. How could that happen ?" 
 
 " Do not interrupt our experiment just now, and I will 
 explain it afterwards. (45.) Now blow it out once more," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "I have done so, and the smoke goes to the centre," 
 exclaimed Tom. 
 
 " Showing, thereby, the existence of a current towards 
 the water-plate, or island ; in consequence of the air above 
 it haying been heated, and therefore rarefied. This ex- 
 plains, in a very satisfactory manner, a fact which may be 
 constantly observed in our own climate, viz. a gentle breeze 
 blowing from the sea to the land in the heat of the day. 
 
CHAP. XV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 247 
 
 Upon the same principle it is, that most of the winds in dif- 
 ferent parts of the globe may be readily accounted for." (4G.) 
 
 " I suppose," said Tom, " that the air must rush with 
 great velocity, in order to produce wind." 
 
 " A very general error prevails upon this subject : the 
 rate of motion has been greatly exaggerated. In a brisk 
 gale, even, the wind does not travel with such velocity 
 but that it may be easily traced by the eye ; and the sailor 
 is able to watch its progress by the ripple which it produces 
 on the sea." 
 
 " Has, then, the rate of its motion ever been estimated ?" 
 asked Louisa. 
 
 "When its velocity is about two miles per hour, it is 
 only just perceptible. In a high wind, the air travels 
 thirty or forty miles in the same period. In a storm, its 
 rate has been computed as being from sixty to eighty 
 miles. It has also been ascertained, by experiment, that 
 the air, as it rushes from a pair of blacksmith's bellows, has 
 not a velocity above that of five-and-forty miles in the hour." 
 
 "At what rate should you think the air travelled this 
 morning, when we flew our kite ?" inquired Louisa. 
 
 " I should think at about five miles an hour, for it was a 
 pleasant but gentle breeze." 
 
 Mr. Seymour now, at the earnest request of the whole 
 party, who had been on the tiptoe of expectation, produced 
 his "FLYING-TOP," of which the reader is here presented 
 with a representation. 
 
248 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XV. 
 
 " This little machine consists, as you may observe, of a 
 flyer, with three vanes, the form of each being that of the 
 segment of a circle, the obliquity of whose surface increases 
 as it recedes from the centre of motion : this flyer, as you 
 see, is attached to a spindle, around which the string that is 
 to set it in motion is carefully wound, and the whole is 
 adapted to a stand. Let us now join the vicar on the lawn, 
 where we can conveniently put it into action." 
 
 The stump of a tree afforded a rest for the stand, which 
 Mr. Seymour held firmly in an inclined position with his left 
 hand, while with his right he vigorously pulled the string. 
 Away whirled the flyer, and in a second it rose majestically 
 from the stand, and, whizzing through the air, attained a very 
 considerable altitude, no less to the astonishment than to the 
 delight of the party. After several repetitions of the expe- 
 riment, Mr. Seymour thus proceeded to explain the philoso- 
 phy of its flight.* 
 
 " After the explanation you have already received regard- 
 ing the flight of a bird, you will very readily understand the 
 question before us. It is evident that the oblique vanes, by 
 striking the air during their rapid rotation, must produce a 
 reaction on their under surfaces." 
 
 " Exactly so," cried Tom ; " and if that reaction be greater 
 than is sufficient to counteract its gravity, the flyer must 
 ascend in the air, just as the bird does, in proportion to that 
 excess." 
 
 " You are quite right/' continued his father, " and I need 
 hardly remind you of the importance of attending to the an- 
 gular adjustment of the vanes to insure the greatest effect ; 
 it should be such as to make all the forces conspire, and you 
 will recollect that the efficient force will be in a direction 
 perpendicular to each inclined vane." 
 
 * Since the last edition of this work, a great improvement has been effected 
 by rendering the fly independent of the spindle, so that being thus diminished 
 in weight, its power of flight is greatly increased. At the same time, as the 
 spindle remains in the stand, it is ready, without the trouble of rethreading it, 
 for any future operations. 
 
CHAP. XVI. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 249 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A SHORT DISCOURSE. THE SHUTTLECOCK. ITS CONSTRUCTION. THE 
 SOLUTION OF TWO PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH ITS FLIGHT. THE 
 WINDMILL. THE SMOKE-JACK. A TOY CONSTRUCTED ON THE SAME 
 PRINCIPLE. THE BOW AND ARROW. ARCHERY. THE ARRIVAL OF 
 ISABELLA VILLERS. 
 
 MR. TWADDLETOIST, on his arrival at the Lodge on the fol- 
 lowing morning, was informed that Miss Villers was expected 
 at Overton in the evening. 
 
 "Tour account of that young lady," observed the vicar, 
 " has greatly prepossessed me in her favour ; I only hope that 
 she is not too blue." 
 
 " I care not how blue the stockings of a lady may be," 
 said Mr. Seymour, " ' provided her petticoats be long enough 
 to hide them ; ' and from my knowledge of Miss Villers, I 
 can assure you, exalted as are her attainments, they are so 
 veiled by feminine delicacy and reserve, that they may insi- 
 diously win, but will never extort our homage." 
 
 "Ay, ay," exclaimed the vicar; "I perfectly agree with 
 you in your idea of feminine perfection short tongues and 
 long petticoats, Mr. Seymour. But where are my little 
 playmates ?" 
 
250 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVI. 
 
 " I left Tom and Fanny 011 the terrace, a short time 
 since, very busily engaged in the game of shuttlecock and 
 battledoor."* 
 
 " The shuttlecock is an ancient sport," observed Mr. 
 Twaddleton. " It is represented in a manuscript as far 
 back as the fourteenth century : and it became a fashionable 
 game amongst grown persons in the reign of James the First. 
 In China the shuttlecock is made of feathers and lead, and 
 is played by being struck up by the soles of the feet. A toy 
 of this ktnd may be seen in the Ethnological Eoom in the 
 British Museum." 
 
 " It is a very healthy pastime," said Mr. Seymour, " and, 
 in my opinion, is admirably calculated for females ; for it 
 expands the chest, while it creates a graceful pliancy of the 
 limbs." 
 
 " I entirely agree with you ; it is the only game with which 
 I am acquainted, in which muscular exercise is gained with- 
 out compromising gracefulness. But see, here come the two 
 young rogues." 
 
 "I have been considering whether there is any 
 philosophy in the game of shuttlecock," exclaimed 
 Tom. 
 
 "There are two circumstances connected with its flight, 
 which certainly will admit of explanation upon scientific 
 principles ; and I should much like to hear whether you 
 can apply them for that purpose. The first is its spinning 
 motion in the air ; the second, the regularity with which its 
 base of cork always presents itself to the battledoor ; so that, 
 after you have struck it, it turns round, and arrives at your 
 sister's battledoor in a position to be again struck by her, and 
 sent back to you." 
 
 " I perfectly understand what you mean ; but I really am 
 not able to explain the motions to which you allude," said 
 Tom. 
 
 * SHUTTLECOCK, more correctly, perhaps, Shuttleco/^, although Skinner 
 thinks it is called cock from its feathers. Battledoor, so called from Door, 
 taken for a flat board; and battle for striking; i. e. a striking-board. Thom- 
 son thinks that the true derivation is from the Spanish Batidor, a beater or 
 striker, and that the game was introduced from the Peninsula. 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 251 
 
 "The revolution of the shuttlecock, about its axis, 
 entirely depends upon the impulse of the wind on the 
 oblique surfaces of its feathers ; so that it is often necessary 
 to trim the feathers of a new shuttlecock, before it will 
 spin." 
 
 " I understand you ; the force of the wind, by striking 
 the oblique feathers, is resolved into a perpendicular and 
 parallel force, as you explained to us when we considered the 
 action of the wind upon the kite." 
 
 " Exactly ; every oblique direction of a motion is the 
 diagonal of a parallelogram, whose perpendicular and 
 parallel directions are the two sides. Having settled this 
 point, let us consider the second ; viz. how it happens that 
 the cork of the shuttlecock always presents itself to the 
 battledoor." 
 
 " I should think," said Tom, " that the cork points to the 
 battledoor for the same reason that the weathercock always 
 points to the wind." 
 
 " Admirably illustrated !" exclaimed his father ; " the cork 
 will always go foremost, because the air must exert a greater 
 force over the lighter feathers, and therefore retard their 
 progress ; but I must also direct your attention to the shape 
 of the cork, which you may perceive to be conical, giving to 
 the shuttlecock a readier passage through the air. Now 
 this fact has an especial interest at the present time, from 
 recent experiments showing the superior advantage of conical 
 bullets in rifles ; but we will talk to the Major about it.* 
 While we are upon this subject, I will introduce to your 
 notice some contrivances which are indebted to this same 
 principle for their operation. In the first place, there is 
 the arrow ; can you tell me, Louisa, the use of the feathers 
 which are placed round its extremity ?" 
 
 " To make its head proceed foremost in the air, by render- 
 ing its other end lighter, and therefore more sensible to the 
 resistance of the air." 
 
 "Not exactly lighter," said her father: "but rather by 
 giving to that end of it an increased resistance to the air, by 
 
 * It would seem that the propelling force of the powder acts with greater 
 advantage upon a bullet of conical form. 
 
252 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CiiAP.JXVI. 
 
 which its forward course is retarded : that is, unquestionably, 
 one of the objects of the wings of an arrow ; but there is 
 also another, that of rifling it, or steadying its progressive 
 motion, by causing it to revolve around its axis. If you 
 will look at this arrow, you will perceive that the feathers 
 are placed nearly, but not quite, in planes passing through 
 it : if the feathers were exactly in this plane, the air could 
 not strike against their surfaces when the arrow is in motion : 
 but since they are not perfectly straight, but always a little 
 aslant, the air necessarily strikes them as the arrow moves 
 forward ; by which force the feathers are turned round, and 
 with them the arrow or reed ; so that a motion is generated 
 about its axis ; and its velocity will increase with the obliquity 
 of the feathers. You will therefore observe that, in order 
 to enable the feathers to offer a necessary resistance to the 
 air, they must possess a certain degree of stiffness or inflexi- 
 bility. It was on this account that Roger Ascham,* and 
 other skilful artists in the days of archery, preferred the 
 feathers of a goose of two or three years old, especially such 
 as drop of themselves, for pluming the arrow ; and the 
 importance, as well as the theory of this choice, is confirmed 
 by a curious observation of G-ervase Markham,f who says 
 that ' the peacock feather was sometimes used at the short 
 butt : yet seldom or ever did it keep the shaft either right or 
 level!'" (47.) 
 
 . " That is intelligible enough," said Tom ; " the feather of 
 the peacock must have been so flexible as to have yielded to 
 the slightest breath of air." Mr. Seymour here observed 
 that the Indians of the Amazon valley show their knowledge 
 of the principle of rifling, in the way they feather their 
 arrows. These feathers are generally from the wings of the 
 macaw, and are secured spirally, so as to form a little screw 
 on the base of the arrow, the effect of which is to make it 
 revolve rapidly, and thus to keep it in a straight and direct 
 course. Tom now requested that the action of the bow 
 might be explained. 
 " I shall readily comply with your request before we part ; 
 
 * Toxoph. ed. 1571, folio 166. f Markham's Art of Archerie, 1634. 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 253 
 
 but I am desirous, at present, of following up the subject 
 before us, and of taking into consideration some other instru- 
 ments which owe their motions to the action of the air upon 
 oblique surfaces." 
 
 " You will hardly venture," said the vicar, " to explain to 
 them the action of the wind upon the sails of the mill." 
 
 " I should like to hear something about the windmill," 
 observed Tom : " and perhaps Mr. Twaddleton can tell us 
 who invented the machine." 
 
 " The invention is not of very remote date. According to 
 some authors, windmills were first used in Prance in the 
 sixth century ; while others maintain that they were brought 
 to Europe in the time of the crusades, and that they had 
 long been employed in the east, where the scarcity of water 
 precluded the application of that powerful agent to ma- 
 chinery." 
 
 " I had intended," said Mr. Seymour, " to have entered 
 very fully upon the subject of the windmill ; for although it 
 is a very common machine, its construction is much more 
 ingenious than is generally imagined ; it must also be allowed 
 to have a degree of perfection, to which few of the popular 
 engines have yet arrived ; but to do ample justice to my 
 subject, I should require several models which are not yet 
 in readiness; besides, Tom's holidays have nearly passed 
 away: I must therefore postpone the examination of the 
 mill to some future opportunity, and content myself, at pre> 
 sent, with an explanation of its sails." 
 
 " And let me tell you," observed the vicar, " that if you 
 encounter this subject you will commence a task little less 
 heroic than that which engaged the prowess of Don Quixote, 
 and one which has occupied years of mechanical research. 
 The angle which the surface of the sails ought to make with 
 their axis, in order that the wind may have the greatest effect, 
 or the degree of weathering, as the millwrights call it, is a 
 matter of nice inquiry, and has much engaged the thoughts 
 of the mathematicians." 
 
 "My remarks upon that subject will be very general," 
 said Mr. Seymour ; " I shall explain the principle, without 
 entering into the minutia3 of its applications. The vertical 
 
254 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVL 
 
 windmill, which is the kind in most common use, consists, 
 as you well know, of an axis, or shaft, placed in the direc- 
 tion of the wind, and usually inclining a little upwards from 
 the horizontal line. At one end of this, four long arms, or 
 yards, are fixed perpendicular to the axis, and across each 
 other at right angles: these afford a surface, on which a 
 cloth can be spread to receive the action of the wind. To 
 conceive why these sails should revolve by the force of the 
 wind, we must have recourse to the theory of compound 
 motion. It is very evident that, if a mill exposed directly 
 to the wind should have its four sails perpendicular to the 
 common axis in which they are fitted, they would receive the 
 wind perpendicularly, an impulse which could only tend to 
 overturn them ; there is a necessity, therefore, to have them 
 oblique to the common axis, that they may receive the wind 
 obliquely, when their effort to recede from it causes them to 
 turn round with the axis ; and the four sails, being all made 
 oblique in the same direction, thus unite their efforts for the 
 common object." 
 
 " You have not yet told us what degree of obliquity the 
 sail ought to make with the wind," said the vicar. 
 
 " The same as the kite ought to make fifty -four degrees 
 and forty -four minutes." 
 
 " Do you not remember, when we were last in London, 
 you pointed out to us a curious mill on the banks of the 
 river, which went without any sails ?" 
 
 " You allude to the horizontal mill at Batter sea." 
 
 " I remember it was at Battersea," observed Louisa ; 
 " and I dare say that you recollect the strange story 
 which the w r aterman, who rowed us down the river, told Tom 
 and myself. He said ' that, when the Emperor of Russia 
 was in London, he took a fancy to the neat little church at 
 Battersea, and determined to carry it off to Russia; and 
 that for this purpose he had sent a large packing-case ; 
 but, as the inhabitants refused to let the church be carried 
 away, the case remained on the spot where it was depo- 
 sited.' " 
 
 " It is not a bad story," said her father ; " for the mill 
 certainly, both in size and figure, may be imagined to re- 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 255 
 
 semble a gigantic packing-case. The mill, of which you are 
 speaking, has been taken down, in consequence of its use 
 having been superseded by the introduction of steam. It 
 was erected by Captain Hooper, who also built a similar 
 one at Margate. It consisted of a circular wheel, having 
 large boards or vanes fixed parallel to its axis, and arranged 
 at equal distances from each other. Upon these vanes the 
 wind could act, so as to blow the wheel round ; but had it 
 acted upon the vane at both sides of the wheel at once, it is 
 evident that it could not have had any tendency to turn it 
 round; hence, one side of the wheel was sheltered, while 
 the other was submitted to the full action of the wind. 
 For this purpose it was enclosed within a large cylindrical 
 framework, furnished with doors or shutters, on all sides, 
 to open at pleasure and admit the wind, or to shut and stop 
 it. If all the shutters on one side were open, whilst all 
 those on the opposite side were closed, the wind, acting with 
 undiminished force on the vanes at one side, whilst the 
 opposite vanes were under shelter, turned the mill round : 
 but whenever the wind changed, the disposition of the blinds 
 was altered, to admit the wind to strike upon the vanes of 
 the wheel in the direction of a tangent to the circle in which 
 they moved." 
 
 " Well ; have you any other machine to explain to your 
 scholars ?" asked the vicar ; " for I am anxious to present 
 them with a bow and arrow which I have provided for their 
 amusement." 
 
 "I will, if you please, first describe to them the me- 
 chanism of the smoke-jack ; and I 
 am desirous of doing so, as I have 
 a very pleasing experiment to exhibit, 
 which is founded upon the same prin- 
 ciple." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then described the 
 more common form of this machine. 
 It consisted, he said, of a number of 
 vanes of thin sheet-iron, arranged in a 
 
 circle as here represented, but all set obliquely at a proper 
 angle of inclination. Its action was explained in the following 
 
256 PHILOSOPHY IN" SPORT CHAP. XVI. 
 
 manner : When a fire is kindled in the chimney, the air, 
 which, by its rarefaction, immediately tends to ascend, 
 strikes on the surfaces of the inclined vanes, and by a reso- 
 lution of forces, similar to that already explained, causes 
 the spindle, to which they are affixed, to turn round, and 
 consequently communicates the same motion to the spit. 
 The brisker the fire becomes, the quicker will the machine 
 move, because in that case the air ascends with greater 
 rapidity. 
 
 " I will now exhibit to you a mechanical amusement 
 which is founded on the same principle. Fetch me the 
 piece of pasteboard which lies on the library table." 
 
 The pasteboard was produced, and Mr. Seymour de- 
 scribed upon it a spiral, similar to that which is represented 
 in the annexed figure. The spiral was cut out and ex- 
 tended, by raising the centre above the first- 
 revolution. It was then suspended upon a 
 small spit of iron, which had been previously 
 prepared, by applying the centre or summit 
 of its spiral to its point. The whole was now 
 placed on the top of a warm stove (the application of a 
 lamp would have answered the same purpose), and the 
 machine, to the great delight and astonishment of the 
 children, soon put itself in motion, and turned without the 
 assistance of any apparent agent. The agent, 
 however, in this case, was the air, which, being- 
 rarefied by the contact of a warm body, as- 
 cended, and thus produced a current. The 
 accompanying sketch may render this experi- 
 ment more intelligible to the reader. 
 
 The vicar observed, "that, to him, the ex- 
 periment was perfectly novel ; although he 
 remembered having seen what he now sup- 
 posed must have been a similar contrivance, but which, 
 until that moment, he had always considered as the effect 
 of clockwork." 
 
 Ci And what might that "have been ?" asked Mr. Seymour. 
 " The revolution of a serpent, which I noticed in several 
 windows in London, during a late illumination." 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 257 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; it was nothing more than a spiral, so 
 painted as to resemble that reptile, and which owed its 
 motion to the action of air heated by a lamp placed 
 beneath it." 
 
 "JSTow, then," exclaimed the vicar, "let us direct our 
 attention to the bow and arrow; see the present I have 
 provided for you, Tom !" 
 
 So saying, the worthy clergyman produced a bow and 
 a number of arrows, together with a target ; which, at his 
 desire, had been sent from London. 
 
 " To cultivate a sympathy between the eye and hand, 
 which can never be so faithfully established as in early life, 
 constitutes a very essential element of education. I there- 
 fore consider archery, as not only an agreeable, but an in- 
 structive pastime," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I think," observed Mrs. Seymour, "that you should 
 accompany your gift with some account of archery, or the 
 art and exercise of shooting with the bow and arrow." 
 
 " That will I readily do," replied Mr. Twaddleton ; who 
 accordingly proceeded as follows : 
 
 " The bow is the most ancient and universal of all 
 weapons, and has been found to obtain amongst the most 
 barbarous and remote nations. In the days of David the 
 practice of the bow would appear to have been so general, 
 that it was not unfrequently made use of as a figure of 
 speech. Israel, when blessing his sons, says of Joseph, 
 ' the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and 
 hated him ; but his low abode in strength, and the arms of 
 his hands were made strong, by the hands of the mighty 
 God of Jacob.' " 
 
 " Its earliest application was probably for the purpose 
 of obtaining food," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "Tour conjecture has the weight of testimony," replied 
 the vicar : " when Isaac sent Esau to the forest, he said, 
 ' Take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver, and thy bow, 
 and go out to the field, and take me some venison:'* and 
 it is even a question, whether the Saxon bow -was ever 
 
 * Gen. xlix. 23, 24. 
 
258 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVI. 
 
 used by the Anglo-Saxons and Danes for any other purpose 
 than that of procuring food or pastime ; for the repre- 
 sentation of this bow, in an ancient manuscript* of the 
 tenth century, shows it to have been very differently con- 
 structed from what one might expect in a military weapon ; 
 in size, too, it was a mere toy, compared with the bow of 
 succeeding ages. In the reign of Henry the First, the 
 practice of archery was greatly encouraged, and even pro- 
 tected by statute, for it was provided that, if any one in 
 practising with arrows or darts should by accident slay 
 another, it was not to be visited as a crime." 
 
 "There can be no doubt that the bow and arrow was 
 employed for the purpose of killing animals for food from 
 the earliest times ; but its principal interest is derived from 
 its military applications : will you, therefore, give us a 
 sketch of its history, and confine yourself to its practice as 
 a warlike instrument in England ?" 
 
 " And may I also beg of you, my dear sir," added Mrs. 
 Seymour, " to explain the different terms which are 
 employed to denote its parts and applications? Such in- 
 formation will be, just now, highly acceptable to me, as I 
 am reading some romances, in which those terms are con- 
 stantly occurring." 
 
 "You shall be obeyed, madam," replied the vicar, with 
 a courteous smile. 
 
 " AVe are, probably, indebted to the Norman conquest 
 for the introduction of the bow and arrow as a hostile 
 weapon; but, before I enter upon that subject, it is 
 necessary to state, that the bows in use in England have 
 been of two kinds, the common or long bow, and the cross 
 bow. The former does not require any description from 
 me; the latter, or Arhdet, as it was called, (from Arba- 
 lesta, i.e. arcu-oalista, a' bow with a sling,) consists of a 
 steel bow, fastened upon a stock, and is discharged by 
 means of a catch, or trigger, which probably gave rise to 
 the lock upon the modern musket." 
 
 '" Excuse the interruption," said Mrs. Seymour ; " but 
 
 * MS. Cott. Claud. B. IV. 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EAENEST. 259 
 
 do allow me to ask whether Arquebusade does not derive 
 its name from its having been formerly applied to wounds 
 inflicted by the cross-bow or Arbalet ?" 
 
 " I thank you madam ; that etymology is entirely new 
 to me, and will explain the medical name, Aqua vulnera- 
 ria, which has been applied to that spirit." 
 
 The vicar now proceeded without further interruption. 
 
 " The invention of cross-bows is said by ancient writers 
 to have come from the Sicilians. They were first used in 
 England by the Normans at the battle of Hastings; and 
 a quarrel or bar-bolt (which is synonymous with the arrow 
 of the long-bow) was the immediate cause of Harold's death. 
 In the reign of Stephen, in 1139, the second council of La- 
 teran prohibited their use ; and some historians assert, that 
 they were not again used in this country till the reign of 
 Hichard I., whose death, occasioned by one at Chaluz, 
 was considered as a judgment on his impiety. From the 
 death of Richard till the splendid victories of Edward III., 
 we hear little of the cross-bow as a military weapon. Its 
 use appears to have been principally confined to the sieges 
 of fortified places, and to sea-fights. In 1346, at the battle 
 of Cressy, a large body of Genoese soldiers, who were par- 
 ticularly expert in its management, were in the service of 
 the French ; but at the commencement of the action, a 
 sudden shower wetted the strings and prevented the archers 
 from doing their usual execution, while the English were 
 still capable of annoying their enemies by the long-bow with 
 complete success ; both this victory and that of Poictiers, 
 ten years afterwards, were chiefly ascribed by the English to 
 their archers. In 1403, at the battle of Shrewsbury, where 
 Hotspur was slain, the archers on both sides did terrible 
 execution ; and the victory of Agincourt, in 1415, was en- 
 tirely owing to their skill. Under Edward IV. an ordi- 
 nance was made, that every Englishman and Irishman, 
 dwelling in England, should have a bow of his own height, 
 to be be made of yew, wych, hazel, ash, or any other season- 
 able tree, according to their power. By Henry VII. and 
 his son Henry VIII. the use of the cross-bow was entirely 
 forbidden; and a penalty of ten pounds was to be inflicted on 
 
260 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVI. 
 
 every man in whose house one might be found. From this 
 time they seem to have been chiefly used for killing deer.* 
 Henry VIII. compelled every father to provide a long-bow 
 and two arrows for his son at seven years old. Edward 
 VI., Elizabeth and James, all encouraged archery ; John 
 Lyon, who founded Harrow school in 1590, two years be- 
 fore his death, drew up rules for its direction, whereby the 
 amusements of the scholars were confined to ' driving a top, 
 tossing a hand-ball, running, and shooting.' The last- 
 mentioned diversion is in a manner insisted on by the 
 founder, who requires all parents to furnish their children 
 with bow-string, shafts, and tresters, to exercise shooting. 
 A silver arrow used some years ago to be shot for by the 
 young gentlemen of that school." 
 
 The vicar concluded, and received the thanks of the party 
 for the interesting information he had afforded them. 
 
 u There is one circumstance connected with the mili- 
 tary history of the long-bow," said Mrs. Seymour, " which 
 has somewhat surprised me ; and that is, why it should so 
 long have continued in estimation after the use of gun- 
 powder." 
 
 "That circumstance," replied her husband, "will cease 
 to astonish you, when you remember that, until the last 
 century, muskets were very unwieldy instruments ; they were 
 never used without a rest, had no bayonets, and could 
 not be so frequently discharged as they are at present." 
 
 " Come," said the vicar, ** I perceive that the children 
 are impatient to try their skill with their new instrument ; 
 let us walk out, and I will play the Scythianf upon this 
 occasion." 
 
 " Now, Tom," cried Mr. Twaddleton, " we must have an 
 object. Let me see. Shall it be the * but,' l prickej or 'roawr' ? J 
 Come, try whether you can hit yonder gate-post. Take 
 your bow, and here is an arrow.", 
 
 * See Shakspeare's Henry VI. 
 
 f The ancient nobility of Greece were instructed by the Scythians in the 
 use of the bow, which in those days passed for a most princely education. 
 Potter, Arch. Grcec. torn. ii. 1. iii. cap. 4. Aquin. Lex. Milit. ii. 260. 
 
 1 The ' but' was a level mark; the ' pricke,' a mark of compass, but certain 
 in its distance ; the ' roarer' was a mark of uncertain length. 
 
CHAP. XVI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 261 
 
 Tom took the bow, and, placing the arrow on the string, 
 was about to draw the latter, when the vicar exclaimed, 
 " Stop stop ; you must pull back your hand to your right 
 ear, in order to shoot the arrow ; whereas you have placed 
 the bow directly before you, and are about to return your 
 hand to the right breast." 
 
 " I thought," said Tom, " that was the proper position ; 
 for I remember reading of the Amazonian women, who are 
 said to have parted with their right breasts, lest they should 
 prove an impediment to their using the bow." 
 
 " I do not mean to assert," replied the vicar, " that there 
 is not ample classical authority for your proceeding. The 
 Amazons undoubtedly shot their arrows in such a position ; 
 and so, in truth, did the primitive Grecians;* although 
 the ancient Persians drew the arrow to the ear, according 
 to the fashion of later ages, and which I greatly prefer for 
 its superior convenience. In all the Assyrian sculptures 
 in the British Museum, it may be seen that the arrow is 
 universally drawn to the ear or cheek. You may also 
 recollect, as you have been lately reading ' The Tales of a 
 Grandfather,' that the superiority of the English archers 
 was ascribed to this mode of using their bows ; the words 
 of Sir W. Scott, if I rightly recollect, are these : ' The 
 archers of England were taught to draw the bowstring 
 to their right ear, while other European nations only drew 
 it to the breast.' Now," continued the vicar, " if you try 
 the difference of these postures, you will find that a much 
 longer arrow can be drawn to the ear than to the breast, 
 because the right arm has more room." 
 
 The party now amused themselves for some time ; each 
 shooting in his turn at the mark which was chosen for the 
 trial; and with a success which, considering it was their 
 first attempt, the vicar declared to be " quite marvellous, 
 and that Tom would in time become a second Eurytus."f 
 
 At the conclusion of the sport, Mr. Twaddleton informed 
 
 * Thus, Pandarus in his fourth Iliad : 
 
 " Close to his breast he strains the nerve below, 
 
 Till the barb's point approach the circling bow." 
 f The king of CEchalia, famous for his skill in archery. Odyss. xiii. 
 
262 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVI. 
 
 his friends that parochial duties required his attendance 
 at the vestry, but Mr. Seymour told him that he should 
 expect his company in the evening. 
 
 It was just six o'clock, when the sound of the porter's 
 bell, and the rolling of carriage-wheels, announced the 
 approach of some important stranger to the Lodge. It was 
 Miss Villers. Were this a romance rather than an in- 
 structive history, we should at once charge our pencil with 
 the glowing hues of the rainbow, and proceed to colour the 
 outline which the imagination of the reader must have 
 already sketched : but the character of the present compo- 
 sition fortunately renders such a task unnecessary : we say 
 "fortunately," for the magazines of romance have actually 
 become insolvent from the numerous and heavy drafts of 
 the novel-writer; the regions of fancy have been so de- 
 spoiled of their blossoms, that scarcely a flower can be 
 culled by him who would entwine a garland for the brow 
 of his heroine ; and such even as may have escaped the 
 grasp of this voracious horde, will be found to have faded 
 under the withering influence of those insects of literature, 
 which, fluttering or creeping about their petals, have ren- 
 dered their fragrance pestilential, and turned their honey 
 into bitterness. We might indicate her damask lip, as the 
 arched bow of Cupid, which shot an unerring dart, whenever 
 a smile relaxed its tension ; we might, like Ovid, praise the 
 dimple of her cheek, as the impress of Love's finger ; we 
 might describe the perfect symmetry of her form, but what 
 language could convey to the mind's eye the witcheries 
 with which the Graces had surrounded it ? We might de- 
 pict the features of her countenance, but how could we 
 catch and fix the varying expressions which lighted it up 
 with the magic glow of intelligence? We might but 
 enough ; let us exercise the judgment of Timanthes, and 
 leave the reader to the sway of his own imagination. 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A CURIOUS AND DISCURSIVE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE VICAR AND MISS 
 VILLERS. A PASSIONATE APPEAL IN FAVOUR OF FLOWERS. AN 
 ENIGMA. THE RIDDLES OF SAMSON AND CLEOBULUS. THE MYTH OF 
 CASTOR AND POLLUX. SOUND. HOW PROPAGATED BY AERIAL VIBRA- 
 TION. THEORY OF MUSICAL SOUNDS. 
 
 ON the following morning, Miss Villers, accompanied by 
 her friends, proceeded to Osterley Park, to pay her compli- 
 ments to Major Snap well, and to add her entreaties to those 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Seymour to induce the venerable major 
 to spend a few days at Overton Lodge. The children, of 
 course, had a holiday ; but was it a holiday ? Tom and 
 his sister have been frequently heard to declare that they 
 never passed a more dull and listless day ; and on resuming 
 their scientific sports, their manner sufficiently testified that 
 increased pleasure which always accompanies our return to 
 an agreeable occupation. 
 
 "Mr. Twaddleton," said Miss Villers, addressing the 
 worthy vicar as he entered the library at Overton, " I am 
 happy to say that Major Snapwell has consented to pass 
 a few days with us ; but to this promise he has annexed a 
 condition, and I hope you will cheerfully ratify the agree- 
 ment of which I have ventured to approve. It is that our 
 party should return with him to Osterley Park, and assist 
 in planning and laying out his flower-garden, which I must 
 admit is, at present, in a very disorderly and undisciplined 
 condition." 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! The vicar of Overtoil, and a Fellow of 
 the Society of Antiquaries, turned Grentleman Usher in the 
 Court of Mora ! Well, well ! be it even so I am content," 
 said the vicar, " sheltered as I shall be under the hallowed 
 wings of Lord Bacon, Evelyn, Pope, Addison, and Shen- 
 stone, all of whom, with a host of other eminent men, have 
 
264 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVII. 
 
 delighted in the cultivation of the flower-garden. As for 
 myself, I am a true lover of flowers, not only for their 
 beauty, of which I am keenly sensible, but for their cheer- 
 ing influence upon the poor invalid, languishing on the 
 bed of sickness. You may well suppose, my dear lady, that 
 as a Christian minister 'I can testify to their soothing and 
 cousolatory influence. How often have I during my paro- 
 chial visits seen the languid eye brighten, the cheek glow, 
 and the smile of pleasure animate the pallid countenance, as 
 I placed on the pillow a bouquet of flowers, fresh from the 
 garden, and steeped in all the richness of their native fra- 
 grance ! They were welcomed as the emblems of hopeful pro- 
 mise, breathing, as it were, their healthy freshness upon the 
 decaying frame of the sufferer ; and arousing the faltering 
 powers of life through the influence of a mysterious sym- 
 pathy." 
 
 " I never heard a more eloquent and passionate appeal in 
 favour of flowers," said Miss Villers. 
 
 " We must also enlist the young people into our service 
 upon this occasion," observed the vicar; "for if I recollect 
 correctly, Xenophon in his Cyropaedia represents the study 
 of flowers as an important branch of the education of the 
 Persian youth. I have always thought that by an early 
 cultivation of the love of flowers, we invest a store of 
 intellectual wealth, which may be discounted with great 
 advantage in the later stages of life." 
 
 "I am no stranger," replied Miss Villers, "to the 
 scheme in which, with Mr. Seymour, you have been so 
 laudably engaged, to divest science of its sterner aspect : it 
 is a subject which greatly interests me, and I shall be most 
 happy in being allowed to become one of your pupils : nor 
 am I unacquainted, sir, with the advantages which your 
 antiquarian knowledge has conferred; you have garnished 
 the intellectual banquet with some of the choicest flowers 
 of literature, and clothed the mouldering remains of former 
 times with a reviving verdure." 
 
 " You do me far too much honour, madam," said the 
 vicar, as a gracious smile flitted over his countenance ; " but 
 I rejoice to find that you attach a becoming importance to 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 265 
 
 the researches of the antiquary. May I be allowed to hope 
 that you will favour me with a visit to the vicarage, and 
 inspect my poor collection of antiques ?" 
 
 " I anticipate a great treat, I do assure you," said Miss 
 Villers ; " but you speak too humbly of a collection which 
 the major informs me contains some of the rarest relics of 
 ancient days/* 
 
 " The major, madam, is no doubt a judge, an excellent 
 
 judge, madam, although he is occasionally but no matter 
 
 no matter. I certainly, as he justly says, do possess some 
 few remarkable specimens. I have, for instance, an undoubted 
 specimen of the leathern money coined by John of Prance ; 
 some very tolerable samples of tapestry of the ' high and low 
 warp ;' a rare specimen of the ' plate-armour,' of Edward the 
 Third ; a series of sigilla or seals ; as well as an interesting 
 collection of impressions in wax, taken from grants of 
 William the Conqueror, and, what is curious, the colour of 
 these waxen impressions is green, with a view, as it has been 
 said, to signify that the acts should for ever continue fresh 
 and in force." 
 
 " You remind me of the symbolical interpretation of 
 colours," said Miss Villers, " which has lately engaged my 
 attention, and I have learnt that the colour of the falling 
 leaf led certain nations to adopt yellow as the symbol of 
 mourning." 
 
 "More poetical than just," observed the vicar, "for be 
 assured, my dear lady, that black is indicated by nature as 
 the garb of mourning. It is felt by the senses, and acknow- 
 ledged by science. It is the emblem of darkness, excluding 
 that joy which light universally imparts. It is the emphatic 
 emblem of death, for, were the emanations from the sun 
 suspended, even for a few seconds, all nature would return 
 to chaos. But, quitting this digression, let me resume the 
 thread of our discourse. "We were speaking, I think, about 
 my collection at the vicarage. "Well, let me consider ; what 
 other curiosities have I to display for your amusement and 
 approbation ? Eock-basins ? yes, the rock-basins from Carn- 
 breh. Ay, madam, you will be quite astonished at a speci- 
 men which " At this instant, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, 
 
266 PHILOSOPHY IN" SPORT CHAP. XVII. 
 
 followed by the children, entered the apartment, and abruptly 
 cut the thread of the vicar's harangue. 
 
 ""What do I hear?" exclaimed Mr. Seymour: "rock- 
 basins ! for mercy's sake, my dear vicar, let us not again dive 
 into those horrid basins of Druidisni ; I verily believe you 
 would willingly go to the stake in defence of those supposed 
 pools of lustration." 
 
 " Well, well," replied the vicar pettishly ; "let us drop 
 the disputed subject, as I have another treasure lately ob- 
 tained from Cornwall, which you have not yet seen a 
 sepulchral stone! ' In vestibulo oMat* as the poet has it." 
 
 "Why, I never observed it as I passed through the 
 entrance," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Excuse me," observed the vicar, " the Vestibule, if you 
 please. You doubtless know it was a custom amongst the 
 Komans to have an altar sacred to Yesta in the entrance of 
 their houses, and hence the term. But I beg a thousand 
 pardons ' venia sit dicto ' I am perhaps too critical." 
 
 " ]S"ot only, pardon, but thanks, my dear sir, for the infor- 
 mation you have afforded us," said Mr. Seymour, in a tone 
 of conciliation. 
 
 Miss Yillers was now invited to be present at one of the 
 scientific conversations. 
 
 "I shall be grateful to you for so pleasing a privilege," 
 observed the young lady ; " and," continued she, " may I be 
 allowed to ask whether you have not been lately teaching 
 my young friends the operation of those various toys which 
 act by the force of the air ? the object I have in view in 
 asking this question you shall presently hear." 
 
 " We have been lately taught the reason of the kite's 
 ascent, and the action of the squirt, sucker, and pump," said 
 Tom. 
 
 " So I understood ; and before you proceed with your 
 sportive philosophy, I hope your father will allow you to try 
 whether you can solve an enigma I have composed for you !" 
 
 "A riddle!" exclaimed Louisa ; "how delightful! Pray 
 read it, and let us try to discover its meaning." 
 
 Her father then opened the paper with which Miss Yillers 
 had presented him, and read as follows : 
 
I 
 CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 267 
 
 " Mortal, wouldst thou know my name, 
 Scan the powers I proudly claim. 
 O'er this globe's capacious round 
 With fairy sprightliness I bound; 
 O'er sea and land my power extends, 
 To every herb my care descends. 
 Did I withhold my vital breath, 
 Nature's forms would sink in death. 
 When confin'd, or swiftly driven 
 By angry spirits in the heaven, 
 My wrath in thunders I make known, 
 And discord claims me as her own. 
 'Tis love of freedom makes me wild, 
 When uncontroll'd, my nature's mild ; 
 And oft the nymph, in dewy grot, 
 Seeks solace from my plaintive note ; 
 O'er lovers' graves I waft a sigh, 
 And breathe the sound of sympathy. 
 And know, ye sons of Albion's isle, 
 That when the Hero of the Nile, 
 Midst crowds with mournful pomp array'd, 
 In the cold lap of Earth was laid, 
 I sympathised with Britain's tear, 
 And waved the banner o'er his bier. 
 'Tis I who from the trembling lyre 
 Breathe tones of love and soft desire ; 
 'Tis I, the spirit of the shell, 
 Who fill with notes the listening dell ; 
 And when the war-trump sounds alarm, 
 'Tis I who summon men to arm. 
 Made captive by the arts of man, 
 My various services began ; 
 To grind his corn, to drain his lands, 
 I soon was task'd to spare his hands. 
 Should he to foreign climes proceed, 
 He yokes me like the neighing steed, 
 And, by my quick but easy motion, 
 He traverses the stormy ocean. 
 His children, too, my presence court, 
 To give them toys, and make them spoil ; 
 Without my aid their kites would lie 
 As useless weights that ne'er could fly ; 
 Their humming-tops would soundless spin, 
 Unless I breathed a spell within. 
 The modest maid, without my power, 
 Would wither like her kindred flower. 
 Unless my cup of sweets she sips, 
 Where are the rubies of her lips,? 
 Unless my glowing rouge she seeks, 
 Where are the roses of her cheeks ? 
 What art again can strew her tresses 
 With half the grace my skill possesses ? 
 Ev'n goddesses' are represented 
 In draperies which I invented. 
 
268 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Sometimes, 'tis true, I am so frail 
 As ruffian-like to raise your veil, 
 And thus to curious man reveal 
 The charms you modestly conceal. 
 Revenge the deed. Announce my name, 
 For now you know the powers I claim." 
 
 " Let me consider," said Tom, thoughtfully ; " it grinds 
 our corn, and drains the land why, that must be a 
 mill." 
 
 "Nonsense!" cried Louisa, "how can a mill carry our 
 ships across the sea ? perhaps it is canvas," said she, at the 
 same time casting an inquiring glance at the vicar, which the 
 reverend gentleman gravely recognized, by exclaiming, "Davus 
 sum, non (Edipus" At that moment Miss Villers whispered 
 in the ear of her little favourite, who shortly afterwards 
 exultingly pronounced it to be AIR. " To be sure," said 
 Tom, " but air in motion it is WIND." 
 
 The juvenile group now attentively perused the enigma, 
 in order to discover whether its different parts would admit 
 of such an interpretation. As soon as they arrived at the 
 passage in which was described the waving of the banners 
 over the bier of Nelson, Mr. Seymour interrupted them. 
 
 " It so happened," said he, " that I was present during 
 the awful ceremony of Nelson's interment in St. Paul's ; 
 and never shall I forget the thrilling effect which was pro- 
 duced on the assembled multitude, by the solemn movement 
 of the banners in the dome, as the bier slowly advanced 
 along the nave of the cathedral ; and which was accidentally 
 occasioned by a current of air from the western entrance, 
 although, to the eye of fancy, it seemed as if some attendant 
 spirit had directed the colours, under which the hero had 
 bled and conquered, to offer this supernatural testimony of 
 respect and sorrow." 
 
 Miss Villers observed that Louisa had unquestionably 
 solved the riddle. 
 
 "And pray, my dear Mr. Twaddleton," said Mrs. Sey- 
 mour, " what say you to these puzzles and rhyming conun- 
 drums ? Do you hold them in as much horror as you 
 would so many puns ?" 
 
 " By no means, my good madam. An enigma is a per- 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 269 
 
 fectly orthodox species of composition ; and is, indeed, 
 sanctioned by the highest authorities of antiquity." 
 
 " I believe," observed Mr. Seymour, " that the pas- 
 time of riddle-making was extremely popular amongst the 
 Grecians. Plutarch, if I remember correctly, has told us 
 that the girls of his time worked at knitting or sewing, 
 and that the most ingenious amongst them ' made riddles.' " 
 
 "The most ancient riddle on record," replied the vicar, 
 "is to be found in the fourteenth chapter of the book of 
 Judges." 
 
 " We have also numerous riddles in profane writers of 
 ancient date," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Did you ever read of that invented by Cleobulus, one 
 of the seven wise men of Greece, who lived 570 years be- 
 fore Christ ?" inquired the vicar. 
 
 " Pray be so kind as to relate it," said Tom. 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton, in compliance with this request, pro- 
 ceeded as follows : 
 
 " There is a father with twice six sons : these sons have 
 each thirty daughters, who are parti-coloured, having one 
 cheek white, the other black. They never see each other's 
 faces, nor live above twenty-four hours." 
 
 " A very strange and unsociable family !" observed Louisa. 
 
 " I should never guess it," said Tom, " if I were to try 
 for a whole year." 
 
 "You have nevertheless, my boy, just pronounced the 
 name of the said father, and that, too, after a single mo- 
 ment's consideration," replied the vicar. 
 
 " The name of the father ? how ? where ?" 
 
 "It is a TEAR!" 
 
 " A year !" exclaimed the astonished boy. 
 
 " A year !" echoed Louisa ; " to be sure it is ; I now 
 see it all clearly. His ' twice six sons' are the twelve 
 months ; the ' thirty daughters' the days of each month ; 
 and, since one day must necessarily pass away before the 
 next can arrive, they may be truly said never to see each 
 other's faces." 
 
 " Admirably expounded !" cried the vicar. 
 
270 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. xvn. 
 
 " And each day," added Torn, " is certainly ' parti-co- 
 loured/ as it is made up of light and darkness." 
 
 The vicar here observed that the classical myth of 
 Castor and Pollux, who were said 'to live and die alter- 
 nately,' would admit of a similar interpretation. " Accord- 
 ing to Eustathius," said he, "they represented the two 
 hemispheres of the world, the one of which being enlight- 
 ened by the sun, the other must consequently be at that 
 time in darkness. Homer thus alludes to them :* 
 
 ' And live alternate, and alternate die : 
 In hell beneath, on earth, in heaven above, 
 Reign the twin gods, the favorite sons of Jove.' " 
 
 Mr. Seymour here informed the party that it was his 
 intention to enter upon the consideration of such toys as 
 produced sounds. 
 
 " I suppose you mean the whistle, whizgig, and hum- 
 ming-top," observed Tom. 
 
 " Your papa, no doubt, alludes to the crepundia* of 
 classical recollections," said the vicar, " and I greatly 
 approve of the arrangement ; since our last lecture em- 
 braced the operations of the atmosphere, a subject with 
 which the nature of sound is intimately connected." 
 
 ""We have lately considered the phenomenon of wind, 
 as produced by the motions of the atmosphere, and I now 
 propose to investigate another species of agitation of 
 which the air is susceptible, a kind of vibratory or tremu- 
 lous motion, which, striking on the drum of the ear, pro- 
 duces SOUND." 
 
 " Is it the air which produces sound ?" said Louisa, with 
 much surprise ; " I thought it was always occasioned by 
 the vibrations of solid bodies. Well do I remember, when 
 Tom struck the finger-glass, that you immediately silenced 
 the sound by placing your hand upon it, and which you told 
 us stopped the vibration of the glass, and so destroyed the 
 sound." 
 
 * Odyss. xi. 
 
 J- " CREPUNDIA," noisy toys. They were carried with the bride's utensils, 
 in procession to her husband's house, in anticipation, no doubt, of a rising 
 generation. 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 271 
 
 " You speak the truth, but not the whole truth," replied 
 her father. " Sound is undoubtedly the result of certain 
 motions or vibrations, produced in sonorous bodies, 
 but these vibrations are communicated to the air, and from 
 thence to the ear, in a manner which I shall presently 
 explain." 
 
 "Do you mean to say, that, if air were entirely ex- 
 cluded, bodies would be incapable of producing sound when 
 struck ?" 
 
 " Not exactly. Air is the usual conductor of sound, and, 
 unless some other medium be substituted, the removal of 
 it would prevent a sonorous body from communicating any 
 sensation to the ear. Liquids, however, are capable of con- 
 veying the vibratory motion to the organ of hearing ; for 
 sound can be heard under water, as well as conveyed along its 
 surface. (48.) With a wide unbroken expanse of sea, sounds 
 may be heard at great distances, provided there is nothing to 
 check them, until they are reflected to the ear from the 
 sails. A ship's company has distinctly distinguished the 
 bells of Bio Janeiro, when seventy miles distant from the 
 coast. Solid bodies will also convey it, and in a much 
 more perfect and rapid manner : thus the slightest scratch 
 with a pin. upon one end of a long piece of timber, will be 
 distinctly heard on applying the ear to its opposite ex- 
 tremity. The trampling of a horse is to be perceived at a 
 greater distance by listening with the ear in contact with 
 the ground, than by attending to the sound conveyed 
 through the air; and hence, amongst many eastern tribes, 
 it is a common practice to ascertain the approach of an 
 enemy, by applying the ear to the ground. Upon the same 
 principle, if we place our ear against a long brick wall, and 
 desire a person at a considerable distance to strike it once 
 with a hammer, it will be heard twice, the first sound travel- 
 ling along the wall, the second through the air." (49.) 
 
 " I thank you for that hint," said the vicar. " I now 
 understand the principle of a new instrument which Dr. 
 Doseall employs for examining the pulsations of the heart. 
 He places the end of a wooden rod upon the breast, and, 
 applying the other extremity to his ear, declares that the 
 
272 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVIT. 
 
 sounds, thus conveyed to it, enable him to form the most 
 accurate opinion in cases of diseased chest." 
 
 " In the same manner," observed Mrs. Seymour, *' that 
 you may hear the boiling of the tea-kettle, by placing 
 the end of the poker on the vessel, and applying your ear 
 to the handle." 
 
 "You .will hereafter witness a curious exhibition, in 
 further illustration of this law of conduction" said the vicar, 
 " termed the TELEPHONIC CONCERT." 
 
 " I do not exactly understand what you mean by a sonorous 
 body. Will not every body produce a sound when struck ?" 
 asked Fanny. 
 
 " Those bodies are called sonorous which produce clear, 
 distinct, regular, and durable sounds, such as a bell, a drum, 
 musical strings, wind instruments, and so on." 
 
 "And upon what does this peculiar property depend?" 
 inquired Tom. 
 
 " Before I answer that question, I must explain the sup- 
 posed nature of these vibrations of the air, upon which 
 sound depends ; you will then readily perceive why one 
 species of matter should be better calculated than another 
 for exciting them. It is generally believed that sound is 
 conveyed through air by a succession of pulsations similar 
 to those which are occasioned on the surface of smooth 
 water by throwing a pebble into it. This at first produces 
 a small circular wave round the spot in which the stone 
 falls; the wave spreads, and gradually communicates its 
 motion to the adjacent waters, producing similar waves to a 
 considerable extent. The same kind of waves are produced 
 in the air by the motion of a sonorous body, which will of 
 course be in the centre, and the waves or pulsations will 
 diminish in strength as they recede from that centre, until 
 at last they become so weak and attenuated as to be in- 
 audible to human ears." 
 
 " "When I strike a bell, do I produce exactly the same 
 motion in the air, that I do in the water by throwing a 
 stone into it ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 "With this difference," replied her father, "that, as air 
 is an elastic fluid, the motion does not consist of regularly- 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 273 
 
 extending waves, but of vibrations, which are composed of a 
 motion forwards and backwards : the undulations of the air 
 differ also from those of the water, in not being confined to 
 a plane, but in diverging in all directions from the centre ; 
 or, in other words, the aerial undulations are spherical." 
 
 " It is a very puzzling subject," cried Tom. 
 
 " I cannot understand," said Louisa, " how the motion 
 of the air can extend so as to convey sound to a distance, if, 
 as you say, the air moves backwards as well as forwards." 
 
 "I see your difficulty, and will endeavour to remove it : 
 attend to me. The first set of undulations which are pro- 
 duced immediately around the sonorous body, by pressing 
 against the contiguous air, condense it. The condensed air, 
 though impelled forward by the pressure, reacts 011 the 
 first set of undulations, driving them back again. The 
 second set, which have been put in action, in their turn, 
 communicate their motion, and are themselves driven back 
 by reaction. Thus there is a succession of waves in the air, I 
 corresponding with the succession of waves in the water." 
 
 "Now. I understand why sound requires some time tcf 
 travel from, a distant object to the ear, as you explained to 
 us upon a former occasion,"* said Louisa. 
 
 " But you have not yet told us what renders a body 
 sonorous," observed Tom. 
 
 " Its elasticity : a ball of damp clay, which does not 
 possess this property, will produce no other sound when 
 struck, but that which arises from the condensation of the 
 small portion, of air between the clay and the hammer 
 which strikes it. A hollow ball of brass will produce 
 more sound, because it is elastic ; but still very little effect 
 will arise from this, since a ball is the worst shape for 
 admitting of vibration, on account of its forming an arch 
 or dome, in every direction, so that one part stiffens and 
 sustains the other: but if such a ball be divided, and the 
 edge of one half of it struck, a loud, clear, and distinct 
 tone will be produced ; because a hemisphere will admit of 
 the exertion of elasticity, or of momentary change of figure, 
 which is conducive to the perfection of sound ; and accord- 
 * See page 37. 
 
 T 
 
274 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVII. 
 
 ingly the bells used for clocks, and for musical purposes, 
 have generally such a figure." 
 
 " I see, clearly," said Louisa, " that it is the vibration of 
 a sonorous body that communicates the necessary motions 
 to the air ; and I suppose that a body vibrates in proportion 
 to its elasticity." 
 
 " Certainly it does : but to render this subject still more 
 intelligible, I have prepared a diagram." 
 
 Mr. Seymour then exhibited a figure, of which the an- 
 nexed is a copy, and proceeded to explain it in the following 
 manner : 
 
 " You are well aware that an elastic body, after having been 
 struck, not only returns to its former situation, but, having 
 acquired momentum by its velocity, like the pendulum or 
 swing,* springs out on the opposite side. If, then, I draw 
 the string A B, which is made fast at both ends, to c, it will 
 not only return to its original position, but proceed onwards 
 to D. This is the first vibration, at the end of which it will 
 retain sufficient velocity to bring it to E, and back again to 
 r, which constitutes its second vibration, the third vibration 
 will carry it only to i> and H and so on, till the resistance of 
 the air destroys its motion." 
 
 " That is exactly like the swing or pendulum," said Tom. 
 
 " As you are struck with the resemblance, take care and 
 preserve the remembrance of it ; for I shall hereafter have 
 occasion to revert to it." 
 
 " As I now understand how sound is produced and carried 
 to a distance, I should much like to learn the cause of dif- 
 ferent tones," said Louisa. 
 
 " Fond as you are of music, my dear Louisa, I am not 
 surprised at the wish you have just expressed to become 
 acquainted with" the nature of musical sounds ; I shall, 
 * See page 158 et seq. 
 
CHAP. XVII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 275 
 
 therefore, endeavour to convey, in as simple a manner as 
 possible, the theory which has been proposed for their 
 explanation. I think you will immediately perceive that, 
 if the aerial waves, which I have endeavoured to describe, 
 should be irregular, or run into each other, there must 
 arise a confusion of sounds ; thus discords may be readily 
 imagined to be produced whenever a second vibration shall 
 commence before the first is finished, so as to meet it half- 
 way on its return, and interrupt it in its course. In like 
 manner may we conceive the general nature of those ar- 
 rangements upon which urdson and concord depend; where 
 the vibrations are performed in equal times, the same tone 
 is produced by both, and they are said to be in unison ; but 
 concord, as you well know, is not confined to unison, for two 
 different tones harmonize in a variety of cases. If, for 
 example, the particles of one sonorous body vibrate in double 
 the time of another, the second vibration of the latter will 
 strike the ear at the same instant as the first vibration of 
 the former ; and this is the ' concord of an octave.' When 
 the vibrations are as 2 to 3, the coincidence will be at every 
 third vibration of the quickest, which, therefore, is the next 
 degree of perfection, and is called a 'diapente,' or 'fifth,' 
 while the vibration of 3 to 4 will produce the * diatessaronj or 
 * fourth ;' but this and the next which follow in order are not 
 so agreeable to the judicious ear, and are therefore called 
 ' imperfect concords ;' while discord is produced by the vibra- 
 tions confusedly interfering with each other." 
 
 Louisa here inquired whether the difference in the acute- 
 ness of a sound did not depend upon the nature of the vibra- 
 tions ; and her father, in reply, stated that it depended 
 entirely upon the degree of quickness with which the vibra- 
 tions were performed : the slower the vibration, the graver 
 the tone ; the quicker, the more acute.* 
 
 " But, if I strike any one note of the instrument repeat- 
 edly, whether quickly or slowly, it always gives the same 
 tone," observed Louisa. 
 
 " To understand that fact," replied her father, " you 
 
 * The number of vibrations made by the wings of insects, as before stated, 
 has been ingeniously deduced from the tone which they produce. 
 
276 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVII. 
 
 must remember that the vibrations of bodies are regulated 
 by laws very similar to those of the pendulum ; consequently 
 the duration of the vibrations of strings or chords depends 
 upon their length and thickness ; for if two strings of equal 
 magnitude, but with their lengths as 2 to 1, be equally 
 stretched, their vibrations will be in the same ratio ; there- 
 fore, the shortest will make two vibrations, while the longest 
 makes one ; but the vibrations of the same string Avill 
 always be the same whether it be struck quickly or slowly, 
 upon the principle of the isochronous property of the pendu- 
 lum, already described. It is also worthy of remark that 
 however much the sound-vibrations may vary in quickness, 
 or pitch, they travel forward at the same rate of progression ; 
 for in a ring of bells, the sound of every tone is heard at 
 two or three miles' distance, in the same order that the bells 
 are struck ; and so it is with music, distance may render it 
 fainter, but it does not alter the tune." 
 
 " Let us now take leave of this subject, for I am quite sure 
 that my young friends have already received more than they 
 can profitably carry away," said the vicar. 
 
 " I submit, my good sir ; and in return for my compli- 
 ance, use your influence with Miss Villers, and induce her 
 to favour us with a practical illustration of our subject upon 
 the pianoforte." 
 
 " Most cheerfully ; but my intercession is quite unneces- 
 sary, for I am sure that our fair friend is no disciple of 
 Tigellius."* 
 
 " I am ever ready, sir, to comply with the wishes of those 
 I respect. I consider the caprice which our sex too often 
 displays upon these occasions, as not only a breach of good 
 taste, but an evidence of unpardonable vanity." 
 
 * Horat. Sat. lib. i. sat. 3. 
 
CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 277 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A LEARNED DISCUSSION, TOUCHING THE SUPERIOR POWERS OF ANCIENT, 
 COMPARED WITH MODERN MUSIC. MR. SEYMOUR COMBATS THE PRE- 
 JUDICES OF THE VICAR, AND SUPPORTS THE CLAIMS OF MODERN MUSIC. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OP NATIONAL AIRS AND BALLADS. DIBDIN'S 
 
 SONGS, AND MONK LEWIS'S BALLADS. POETRY THE SISTER OF MUSIC. 
 THE SIRENS OF HOMER. THE MAGIC OF MUSIC, A GAME HERE DESCRIBED 
 FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE VICAR'S PERFORMANCE. ADVENTURES BY 
 MOONLIGHT. SPIRITS OF THE VALLEY, AND A SPECTRE AT THE WATER- 
 FALL. GOOD NIGHT. 
 
 AFTEE the several conversations related in the foregoing 
 pages, the reader will not be surprised to find that the 
 opinion of the vicar regarding the superior attainments of 
 Miss Yillers, had daily acquired an increasing ascendancy ; 
 and had that lady been free and disengaged, and could 
 " dear Mr. Twaddleton " have obtained a slice of one of 
 those Scandinavian apples to which Mr. Seymour had lately 
 alluded, we are by no means sure, in spite of his bachelor 
 tendencies, that the current of his admiration might not 
 have murmured in a softer channel: but that is beside 
 our present purpose. We only desire to impress upon our 
 readers the high amount of respect he entertained for her 
 abilities and judgment ; and it was under such a conviction 
 that he was induced to submit a question which gave rise to 
 the learned discussion we are now about to relate. 
 
278 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 " Pray Miss Villers," said the vicar, *' may I be allowed 
 to inquire whether, amidst your diversified pursuits, you 
 have ever directed your inquiries into the nature of ancient 
 music ? I have long been convinced that it must have 
 been very superior in power and effect to that of modern 
 times, although I am well aware that our friend Mr. Sey- 
 mour entertains a very different opinion ; and, with his 
 usual banter, tells me, that all my crotchets are of the old 
 school." 
 
 " Upon a question of such doubt and difficulty, I feel that 
 it would ill become a person of my very limited knowledge 
 to offer an opinion ; although/' added Miss Tillers, " I am 
 willing to confess that the subject has not entirely escaped 
 my attention ; and you could not afford me a greater gra- 
 tification than by clearing up some of those doubts which 
 have perplexed me. It is, I believe, admitted, that we are 
 unable to ascertain the real nature of ancient music : but 
 it is evident that it was an art with which mankind was 
 extremely delighted ; for not only the poets, but the histo- 
 rians and philosophers, of the best ages of Greece and Rome, 
 are as diffuse in its praises, as of those arts concerning which 
 sufficient remains have descended to evince the truth of their 
 panegyrics." 
 
 " Nothing, as you very justly observe, is now left us but 
 conjecture," said the vicar ; " and yet it is impossible to read 
 the accounts of the extraordinary effects produced by the 
 different 'modes' of ancient music, without entertaining a 
 strong conviction of its superiority over that of modern 
 times. What have we, my dear Miss Villers, to compare 
 with the soft ' Lydianf the grave 'Dorian] or the furious 
 ' Phrygian ;' to say nothing of the subaltern modes of Aris- 
 tides Quintilianus, and others; such, for example, as the 
 ' erotic] ' comic] and * encomiastic ' ? What modern strains 
 can produce the effects which are recorded to have followed 
 the performance of Timotheus, the director of the music 
 of Alexander the Great ? One day, while the prince was 
 at table, the musician performed an air in the Phrygian 
 mode, which made such an impression on him, that, being 
 already heated with wine, he flew to his arms, and was 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 279 
 
 going to attack his guests, had not Timotheus immediately 
 changed the style of his performance to the sub- Phrygian, 
 or Lydian. Music," continued the vicar, " has, in modern 
 times, so fallen from this degree of majesty and power, as 
 to induce some persons to doubt the truth of the historical 
 statements." 
 
 " I confess, Mr. Twaddleton," said Miss Villers, " that I 
 have always been inclined to regard ancient music as the 
 vehicle of poetry ; and in a great degree to attribute to the 
 power of the latter that influence which you appear to refer 
 exclusively to the former." 
 
 " I am willing to admit," replied the vicar, " that, in the 
 ancient theatre, poetry always accompanied her sister science, 
 assisting, animating, and supporting her ; in short, that she 
 was, in all respects, her friend and fellow-labourer, ' qualem 
 decet esse sororem,' as the poet has it : but does not this rather 
 prove that poetry, in itself, was insufficient to produce its 
 full effects without the aid of music ? In further proof of 
 the power of ancient music, permit me to remind you that 
 Plato has said, ' No change can be made in music without 
 affecting the constitution of the state ;' and Aristotle, who 
 seems to have written his Politics only to oppose the senti- 
 ments of Plato, nevertheless agrees with him concerning the 
 power which music has over mortals ; and has not the judi- 
 cious Polybius told us that music was necessary to soften 
 the manners of the Arcadians? In short, madam, music 
 has lost its power over the passions of mankind, and this 
 can only have happened in consequence of its having dege- 
 nerated from its ancient purity and grandeur. If any one 
 should have the hardihood to deny this my position, let him 
 attend a modern rout in London. I have seen, my dear 
 Miss Tillers, a party at a whist-table, a dozen persons in 
 tete-a-tete, and as many solitary individuals, sitting like auto- 
 matons, not one of them being moved by the concord of 
 sweet sounds with which some lady has been endeavouring 
 to delight them."* 
 
 * It is said of Corelli that he was once playing one o.f his finest sonatas, 
 but unfortunately the company talked to one another, whereupon Corelli softly 
 placed his violin upon the table, and apologized for having interrupted the 
 conversation. 
 
280 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 " That is exactly as it should be," interposed Mr. Seymour ; 
 " whist * and music have nothing in common, but are really 
 antagonistic." 
 
 "I admit it," said the vicar. "Silence, by a generally 
 acknowledged convention, is to wait on whist ; and yet, 
 methinks, had Timotheus appeared amongst them ! hey, 
 Miss Tillers ? I think I see the party at the whist-table, as 
 his lyre suddenly changed from the Lydian to the Phrygian 
 mode. I must, however, in candour state, that I once did 
 actually see a lady lay down her cards in an apparent state 
 of ecstacy, as a chorus of Handel suddenly burst upon her 
 ear, in spite of a handful of trumps." 
 
 . " And what might that chorus have been ?" said Mr. 
 Seymour ; " ' Bless' 'd be the hand' ? But, joking apart, you 
 appear to have satisfied your mind upon a point which all 
 the learning of Europe has left in a state of doubt and 
 perplexity." 
 
 " I have merely delivered an opinion, sir ; you perhaps 
 will favour us with your judgment." 
 
 " The subject under discussion, my good sir, is one upon 
 which no person can ever deliver a judgment, for this plain 
 reason, that it is not possible for us to hear both sides." 
 
 " Psha ! will you never cease to sully the pure stream of 
 inquiry with verbal quibbles ?" 
 
 " Well, then, to be serious ; I agree with Miss Villers, 
 that ancient music, whatever might have been its powers, 
 was greatly indebted to the poetry which accompanied it for 
 its influence over the feelings of mankind. It could not have 
 been otherwise. The ancient instruments, as represented in 
 sculpture, appear so simple as to be apparently incapable of 
 producing great effects : and, indeed, amongst the writings 
 of Aristoxenus, the oldest musical author, we cannot discover 
 a trace of melody or harmony, such as we understand by air 
 accompanied with different parts." 
 
 " To that very simplicity, sir, am I disposed to refer the 
 
 * WHIST ! an interjection commanding silence ; a name suggestive of a 
 very important, and even imperative condition of the game ; whence, we pre- 
 sume, its name. As we are upon the subject of etymology, we may observe 
 that TRUMP is an abbreviation of TRIUMPH. 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 281 
 
 charm of ancient music," said the vicar; "it was addressed 
 to the ear, sir, whereas modern music is addressed to the eye ; 
 dexterity of execution is, now-a-days, more valued than beauty 
 of composition ; the sweetest shepherd that ever piped on his 
 Doric reed would be less applauded than he who can make 
 his pipe squeak for the space of five minutes without respir- 
 ation. The ancients knew better than to suffer the energy 
 and accentuation of their rhythm to be so destroyed ; and 
 only mark, sir, the extreme jealousy with which they re- 
 garded every attempt to injure this simplicity ; it even 
 became a subject of legislation ; and Timotheus was actually 
 banished from Sparta for having increased the number of the 
 strings in his lyre." 
 
 " And now, my dear vicar, have you done ? Have you 
 said all you think necessary in defence of ancient music ? 
 If so, hear me, as the advocate of modern harmony. In the 
 first place, there is not an anecdote which can be adduced in 
 support of your side of the question, that may not be met 
 with one parallel, and equally strong, in defence of mine. 
 You cite the authority of Plato, to show that the constitu- 
 tion of a state may be affected by changing its national music. 
 What said the great Lord Chatham ? l Give me the making 
 of the national ballads, and I care not who makes the laws ;' and 
 the effects produced on the English people by Dibdin's songs 
 fully justified the maxim : and it has been said, and I believe 
 truly, that Monk Lewis's nautical ballads produced a degree 
 of enthusiasm that did more towards manning the British 
 fleet with gallant tars, than all the despotic exertions of the 
 pressgang ; but remember, Mr. Twaddleton, it was not the 
 music, but the poetry of those songs, which kindled the 
 patriotic feelings which saved our country ; and I apprehend 
 that this has been the case in all ages, where the power of 
 music has been said to excite the feelings of the populace. 
 We know that the ancient bards of our own country called 
 forth the emotions of their hearers by the poetry entoned to 
 their harps ; and, with what success they practised their 
 calling, we may imagine from the fact that Edward L, in his 
 conquest of Wales, had recourse to the barbarous expedient of 
 murdering all the bards, from the many obstacles they threw 
 
282 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 in his way, by the strong hold which they had over the minds 
 of the people. You have told us a story of Timotheus, and 
 the influence of his harp over a drunken monarch. If this is 
 adduced in proof of the power of ancient music, you must, 
 at least, admit that modern times have also had a Tirnotheus, 
 who could excite or calm, at his pleasure, the most impetuous 
 emotions. Henry III., king of France, says ' Le Journal de 
 SanciiJ having given a concert on occasion of the marriage 
 of the Duke de Joyeuse, Claudin le Jeune, a celebrated 
 musician of that period, executed certain airs, which had 
 such an effect on a young nobleman, that he drew his sword, 
 and challenged every one near him to combat ; but Claudin, 
 equally prudent as Timotheus, instantly changed to an air 
 which appeased the furious youth. But what shall we say 
 of Stradella, the celebrated composer, whose music made the 
 daggers drop from the hands of his assassins ? Stradella 
 was beset by three desperadoes, who had been hired to 
 assassinate him ; but, fortunately, they had an ear sensible 
 to harmony. While waiting for a favourable opportunity to 
 execute their purpose, they entered the church of St. John 
 de Lateran, during the performance of an oratorio, composed 
 by the person .whom they intended to destroy, and were so 
 affected by the music, that they abandoned their design, and 
 even waited on the musician to apprise him of his danger. 
 Stradella, however, was not always so fortunate; other 
 assassins, who apparently had no ear for music, stabbed him 
 some time afterwards at Genoa." 
 
 " And thus afforded a practical illustration of that beauti- 
 ful passage in Shakspeare," observed Miss Villers 
 
 " ' The man that hath no music in himself, 
 
 Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
 Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils ; 
 The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
 And his affections dark as Erebus : 
 Let no such man be trusted.' " 
 
 " Are you satisfied ?" asked Mr. Seymour ; " if not, I will 
 proceed to tell you how Palma, a Neapolitan, induced a 
 creditor who came to arrest him, not only to remit his debt, 
 but to contribute a sum for his support." 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 283 
 
 "Enough, enough!" exclaimed the vicar; "I see your 
 object is to exalt modern, at the expense of ancient music." 
 
 " In that you wrong me. I certainly do not believe that 
 the ancients were better skilled than ourselves in music ; 
 and I have been anxious to convince you that there are as 
 many modern as ancient stories in proof of the influence of 
 harmony over our feelings ; but no one will deny that music 
 is capable of producing extraordinary effects. Let us only 
 interrogate ourselves, and examine what have been our sen- 
 sations on hearing a majestic or warlike piece of music, or 
 a tender and pathetic air, sung or played with expression. 
 Who does not feel that the latter tends as much to melt the 
 soul and dispose it to pleasure, as the former to animate and 
 exalt it ? There is a celebrated air in Switzerland, which, I 
 have no doubt, Miss Tillers will presently play to us, called 
 * Ranz des V aches,' and which had such an extraordinary effect 
 on the Swiss troops in the French service, that they always 
 fell into a deep melancholy \vhenever they heard it. Louis 
 XIV., therefore, forbade it ever to be played in France 
 under the pain of a severe penalty. We are also told of a 
 Scotch air, Lochaber no more] which had a similar effect on 
 the natives of Scotland. Never shall I forget the effect pro- 
 duced upon myself by the impressive requiem of Jomelli, as 
 performed at the chapel of the Portuguese embassy to the 
 memory of the late king of Portugal. The movement with 
 which it commenced was a deep and hollow murmur, that 
 seemed to swell from the tomb, and with which the voices of 
 spirits imperceptibly rose and intermingled; a brilliant 
 movement interposed, it was a ray of hope that pierced the 
 gloom of the sepulchre !" 
 
 " I think," said Miss Villers, " that I can exactly appre- 
 ciate the nature and extent of Mr. Seymour's opinion upon 
 the question at issue. He does not deny the charm which 
 the simple music of the ancients must have exercised over 
 the hearer, although he attributes much of the effect to the 
 poetry, of which it may certainly be said to have been the 
 vehicle ; and remember, that it is not easy to dissever the 
 associations existing between certain airs and their accom- 
 panying poetry : therein, I suspect, we are to look for the 
 
284 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 solution of our problem. According to Homer, the fascinat- 
 ing strains even of the Sirens were not solely indebted to 
 music for their powers ; their songs were the repositories of 
 historical knowledge." * 
 
 "Very likely," said the vicar; "but I still agree with 
 Jacob Bryant, that nothing can show more fully the power 
 of ancient harmony than the character given of the Sirens ; 
 their cruelty the ancients held in detestation, and yet they 
 always speak feelingly of their music." 
 
 " At all events," said Miss Villers, in a tone of concilia- 
 tion, " I do most perfectly agree with you' in believing that 
 the intricate combinations of modern harmony, by exciting 
 our astonishment at the execution of the artist, very frequently 
 overcome the influence of the music upon our. passions." 
 
 " I thank you for that concession," said the vicar. 
 
 Miss Villers then proposed to demonstrate the forcible and 
 expressive language of modern music by an experiment. 
 " Allow me to inquire," said she, "whether any of the party 
 are acquainted with a game which has been justly entitled 
 to the appellation of THE MAGIC OF Music ?" 
 
 "JS"ever," replied the vicar; "nor can I imagine either 
 the nature or objects of such a game." 
 
 " Its object is to display the power of music as an expres- 
 sive language : the manner in which I propose to exemplify 
 it, I will, with your permission, explain in a few words. 
 The musical performer shall place herself at the harp, or 
 pianoforte, surrounded by the party who are desirous of 
 witnessing the pastime ; the person to be operated upon 
 must retire from the apartment, until the service which, 
 under the direction of the music, it is determined he shall 
 perform, is duly agreed upon and arranged. Such person is 
 then to be readmitted ; not a word, look, or gesture is to 
 escape from any one present ; by the expression of the music 
 alone is he to receive his instructions, and, unless I am 
 much deceived, you will find that this is amply sufficient for 
 the purpose." 
 
 * " Oh stay, and listen to us ; we'll unfold 
 
 All that time treasures, and the world contains. 
 So sung the alluring sirens, pouring forth 
 A most melodious strain." Odyss. 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 285 
 
 '* My dear madam, the thing 'is utterly impossible," ex- 
 claimed the vicar : " it cannot be done ; unless, indeed, you 
 really possess the secret of the ancient ' modes,' which were 
 not even known to Meibomius, the learned commentator, 
 upon the Greek musician Alypius : nay, Isaac Yossius him- 
 self, the expounder of rhythm, were he now alive, would 
 never credit it." 
 
 "Are you willing to make the experiment?" said Miss 
 Villers ; " if so, be so kind as to leave the room for a few 
 minutes." 
 
 The vicar accordingly prepared to depart, casting at the 
 same time, upon his fair companion, a look which sufficiently 
 expressed the scepticism he felt upon the occasion. 
 
 " But you have not told me," said he, "by what signal I 
 am to return, and submit to the proposed ordeal." 
 
 " The music will inform you, if you pay sufficient attention 
 to its language," replied Miss Yiller's. 
 
 The door having been carefully closed, the company were 
 consulted in a whisper, as to the service they should require 
 the vicar to perform. " I should propose," said Miss Yillers, 
 " that Mr. Twaddleton be directed to take a rose out of the 
 basket of flowers on the chimney-piece, and, having smelt it, 
 to carry it to the harp." 
 
 " And do you propose to express all these different move- 
 ments by the aid of music ? If you succeed, there must be 
 an end to the vicar's scepticism," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " If I fail upon this occasion, it will be the first time," 
 said Miss Yillers : " but you must all promise to be silent, 
 and to maintain the most absolute command over your coun- 
 tenances." 
 
 Miss Yillers seated herself at the pianoforte, and played 
 off an elegant and sparkling overture, which so delighted 
 Mrs. Seymour, that she involuntarily exclaimed, " If music 
 can be made to speak an intelligible language, it must be 
 under the guidance of Miss Yillers." 
 
 " Hush !" cried the performer, in a half- whisper ; " I am 
 now about to summon the vicar into the room, and we must 
 be as silent as Carthusians." 
 
 She accordingly, with exquisite taste and address, mtro- 
 
286 PHILOSOPHY IX SPOKT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 duced the air of "Open the door, Lord Gregory" into which 
 she infused so much expression, that the vicar must have 
 been as dull as Midas had he not instantly caught its mean- 
 ing. JSTor were the lady's hopes disappointed. Mr. Twaddleton 
 entered, and appeared as if anxious to address the performer ; 
 but an intelligible glance from Mr. Seymour recalled him to 
 his duty, and hermetically sealed his lips. His intention 
 had been, doubtless, to inquire whether his appearance were 
 seasonable ; but the question was anticipated by Miss Villers, 
 who immediately on his entrance struck up the air of " See, 
 tlie conquering hero comes /" which at once satisfied his doubts, 
 and conveyed, in language not to be misunderstood, the 
 sanction of the enchantress, to whose spells he had so unre- 
 servedly intrusted himself. 
 
 The vicar had been told that he was to perform certain 
 acts on his readmission into the room ; but, thought he, how 
 am I to discover the thread which is to guide me through so 
 perplexing a maze ? I can discover at this moment nothing 
 but a concord of sweet sounds, that would rather dispose me 
 to listen in profound repose, than to enter upon any service 
 of exertion. Miss Villers saw and guessed the nature of his 
 embarrassment, and, changing the melody, struck into the 
 air of " Hearken, and I will tell thee how." She then, by a suc- 
 cession x of well-selected chords, which were now played 
 "piano" now "forte," and by what, in musical language, are 
 called crescendos and diminuendos, convinced the vicar that she 
 commanded an instrument fully capable of readily and forcibly 
 expressing encouragement and repulse in all its degrees. 
 
 " Thus much then is certain," mentally ejaculated the 
 vicar, " that she is enabled, by the aid of music, to signify 
 her approbation, or disapprobation, of any act which I may 
 attempt to perform. I accordingly predicate of this said 
 music, that it is, lond fide, a logical weapon ; inasmuch as 
 it can affirm and deny. It, therefore, only remains for me, 
 knowing as I do that I have some act to perform, to ascer- 
 tain the ' locus, 1 or ' ubi ;' for the act in question, whatever 
 it may be, must of necessity be done or accomplished ' in 
 proprio ?oco,' or in some definite part of the room." "With 
 this determination, founded, as he believed it to be, on the 
 
CHAP. XVIII MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 287 
 
 unerring basis of Aristotelian logic, he advanced towards 
 the table ; but the loud and discordant sounds of the instru- 
 ment at once convinced him, that, however correct his 
 notions might be with reference to the "substance" or first 
 "predicament" they were evidently erroneous as to the 
 "accidents" of "time," "place," and "relation;" at least, 
 such were the ideas that floated through the categorical 
 organ of his cranium, and he accordingly faced about, and 
 made a retreat towards the window ; but the notes now 
 became still more clamorous, and increased in vehemence. 
 "Ay, ay," thought he, "it is quite evident that I am re- 
 ceding from the theatre of action;" and with this conviction 
 he diverted his steps into a different direction, and, in a slow 
 pace, tracked the path by his ear, with as much sagacity as 
 a dog follows his prey by his nose. As he approached the 
 fireplace, the storm of sounds gradually subsided, until a 
 peaceful murmur breathed around, which finally died away 
 as the vicar placed his hand upon the chimney-piece. " So 
 then it appears, after all, that I have some service to perform 
 at the fireside. It is, doubtless, to sit down," Chough t he, 
 as he espied the elbow-chair, which, at that moment, appeared 
 to his fancy as if stretching forth its hospitable arms to 
 receive him ; but scarcely had he accepted the imaginary 
 invitation of his old friend to its luxurious lap of down, 
 than a sudden sforzato, or crash in the minor key, made 
 him rebound upon his legs, as nimbly as though the cushion 
 had been a bed of thorns. Miss Villers now resolved the 
 discord, and dexterously dashed into an allegro movement, 
 in which she introduced the air of " How sweet are the flowers 
 that grow ! " 
 
 The vicar's face mantled with a smile, as the bouquet 
 on the chimney-piece met his eye, and harmonised with the 
 sounds that floated in his ear. " It is evident," thought he, 
 " that those flowers are the objects of my pursuit," but w r hat 
 was he to do with them ? The musician solved the question, 
 by tastefully exchanging the former air for that of " Ask 
 if yon damask rose be sweet." No sooner had these notes 
 delivered their melodious errand to the subtle ear of the 
 vicar, than he instantly seized the rose, and carried it in 
 
288 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CIIAP. XVIII. 
 
 triumph to his olfactory organs ; at the same moment the 
 music ceased. The pause, however, was but of short dura- 
 tion ; for Miss Villers, by resuming her labours, intimated 
 that some farther service was expected. Was he to return 
 the rose ? Certainly not ; for the attempt was marked 
 by strong disapprobation. Was he to take it out of the 
 room ? The music put a decided negative upon that move- 
 ment ; for the vicar had scarcely measured half the distance 
 of the apartment before the air of " Fly not yet " arrested 
 his steps. By a continuation of the same varying style of 
 expression and strongly-marked rhythm, the vicar was 
 shortly led to affix the rose upon the harp. 
 
 " Upon my word," exclaimed the vicar, " I shall no longer 
 hesitate to credit the story related in ' Peter Simple,' of a 
 certain lady who played so exquisitely, that, upon introducing 
 an imitation of thunder, the cream for tea became sour, 
 besides three casks of beer in the cellar!" 
 
 "Why, papa!" exclaimed Louisa, "Miss Villers re- 
 minds me of the ' Elfin Damsel,' in the Danish fairy legends, 
 who, when she struck the second chord of her golden harp, 
 compelled the company to do whatever she wished." 
 
 In closing our account of this interesting scene, it is 
 scarcely necessary to describe the delight and mirth of the 
 juvenile party. It was, in truth, a very extraordinary exhi- 
 bition ; and when the reader considers that, beyond what 
 was furnished by the expressive language of music, the 
 vicar did not receive a single hint for his guidance, he 
 may, perhaps, cherish some scepticism upon the subject ; but 
 we can assure him that we have repeatedly witnessed, not 
 only a similar, but a still more complicated performance of 
 the same kind, and with equal success (50). 
 
 The evening of the day on which this musical divertise- 
 ment was performed was one of those which so frequently 
 occur in August, when sultry heat is succeeded by refresh- 
 ing coolness. Isabella Villers possessed a quick sensibility 
 to the beauties of nature, and she quitted the drawing- 
 room to enjoy, without interruption, that pensive quiet 
 which maintained an undisputed dominion. The moon had 
 but just risen, tipping the summits of the wood with silver, 
 
CHAP. XVIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 289 
 
 while it left the mass of foliage in deeper shadow. Never 
 was there a fairy scene better calculated to awaken the 
 emotions of the heart, or to kindle the energies of the 
 imagination. It was a spot in which Oberon and Titania 
 might well have dwelt. The hour too was propitious to the 
 indulgence of that undefined species of reverie which is the 
 refinement of intellectual pleasure. Having traversed the 
 winding path of the wood for some distance, she found her- 
 self in one of those sequestered glades we have formerly 
 described. She seated herself on a rustic bench, tastefully 
 formed out of an aged oak, whose venerable figure was 
 bending under the hand of time, and her mind was grate- 
 fully lulled into a pensive calm by the review of past events, 
 as the ear is soothed by the murmur of wild and distant 
 music. A sudden breath of wind, as it swept the foliage, 
 aroused her from her reverie, and turned the current of her 
 ideas from past scenes to future prospects. The moon, as if 
 in sympathy, suddenly peered through the sylvan avenue, 
 and threw her tender light upon one of those statues which 
 we have already described as giving such an air of classic 
 sanctity to these secluded glades. It was the figure of 
 TIME, which in the gloom of the wood had hitherto escaped 
 her observation. To a mind of exuberant fancy, a leaf 
 cannot fall to the ground, nor a zephyr waft the fragrance of 
 the violet on its dewy pinions, without conveying some 
 beautiful emblem of morality. Isabella rose from her seat, 
 and approached the figure, whose hoary countenance ap- 
 peared as if lighted up into a placid smile by the beams of 
 the moon, which fell directly upon it ; her eye glanced from 
 his face to his scythe ; its blade was hidden in a cluster of 
 roses, while a bright evergreen played around his hourglass 
 " Were I susceptible of a superstitious impression," thought 
 Isabella, " did ever an occasion present itself better calcu- 
 lated to justify its indulgence ?" On the pedestal of the 
 figure was a basso-relievo, in which Time appeared in the 
 act of shivering into pieces the club of Hercules with a 
 crutch. In a few minutes she quitted the scene, which, in 
 spite of her better reason, she could not wholly divest of its 
 prophetic influence, and, proceeding along the winding path, 
 
290 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 at length descended into the valley. The moon was at this 
 time shrouded in dark clouds ; and although, by a painful 
 effort, Isabella Yillers summoned all the powers of her 
 vision, the objects around her remained invisible, until the 
 eye had so far accommodated itself to the gloom, as to 
 recognise the white foam of the waterfall. The moon now 
 gave a coy and furtive glance, the water for an instant 
 sparkled in her beams, and then was lost in deeper shadow. 
 A spectre of human form, but of gigantic stature, arose 
 from the spot to which the eyes of Isabella had been directed. 
 Was it the spirit of the Fountain ? It appeared to advance, 
 but, the moon once again shining forth in splendour, it 
 
 vanished ; 
 
 . . . . " and what seem'd corporal melted 
 As breath into the wind." 
 
 The courage of Isabella was destined to sustain another 
 trial, for scarcely had the vision disappeared when she dis- 
 tinctly heard her own name pronounced ; and since, from 
 the direction of the sound, she well knew that the spot 
 from whence it issued was inaccessible, we ought not to feel 
 surprised at her having at the instant referred it to a super- 
 natural origin it was, however, but the illusion of the 
 moment, and she determined to return to the house and sub- 
 mit the events of the evening to the judgment of Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "We shall not trespass any longer upon the patience of 
 the reader, than to assure him that Miss Villers, having 
 arrived in safety at the Lodge, very shortly afterwards 
 retired to rest. With your permission, gentle reader, we 
 will follow her example ; for, to say the truth, our lamp 
 that midnight sun which illumines the path of the author 
 is dimmed by the dark clouds that lower at its setting ; our 
 Pegasus, the pen, which has raced for so many hours over 
 the snowy plains of foolscap, is fairly " done up," and refuses 
 any longer to sip of that spring which can alone sustain its 
 powers, and impart utility to its movements. 
 
 Ecce! 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 291 
 
 es in the thought they were not fairies." 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE CRESCENT AS THE TURKISH ENSIGN. APPARITIONS DIS- 
 PELLED, AND MYSTERIES SOLVED BY PHILOSOPHY. AN INTERESTING 
 
 ILLUSTRATION BY MAJOR SNAPWELL. FAIRY-RINGS. FAIRIES SEEN AT 
 
 THEIR GAMBOLS. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CLASSED UNDER THREE 
 DIVISIONS. MIXED INSTRUMENTS. THEORY OF WIND INSTRUMENTS. 
 THE JEW'S HARP. THE STATUE OF MEMNON. AN INTERESTING EXPERI- 
 MENT. THE FLUTE. THE WHIZGIG, ETC. ECHOES. ILLUSIONS TO 
 
 WHICH THEY GIVE RISE. THE CORNISH PISKIES. THE OPERATION OF 
 MINERS DETECTED BY SOUNDS DURING A SIEGE. THE MYTH OF 
 NARCISSUS. 
 
 ON entering the library on the following morning, Mr. 
 Seymour informed Miss Villers that Major Snap well had 
 taken his departure in order to breakfast with the vicar, and 
 that he had invited Tom and Louisa to accompany him, for 
 the sake of inspecting the cabinet of medals ; but he added, 
 that he expected the return of the party at two o'clock, when 
 he proposed to give them a lecture upon the philosophy of 
 the several toys which are indebted for their action to atmo- 
 spheric vibrations. 
 
 " Suppose, then," said Miss Villers, " that we walk to- 
 wards Forest Lane, and meet them on their return. This 
 arrangement," she added, "will afford me an opportunity 
 of communicating to you the history of some adventures I ' 
 encountered last evening, and of taking your opinion upon 
 them." 
 
292 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 " You well know," answered Mr. Seymour, " that you may 
 always command my services. But you have really raised 
 my curiosity : what can be the nature of the adventures you 
 speak of?" 
 
 Miss Yillers then entered into a particular account of all 
 she saw and heard the preceding evening ; with which the 
 reader is already acquainted. Mr. Seymour, however, sug- 
 gested the propriety of abstaining from any discussion upon 
 the subject until the children were present to hear it ; for, 
 said he, " I am most desirous that they should be familiar- 
 ized with those natural sources of illusion which enlighten 
 the wise, while they minister to the .superstitious fears of 
 the ignorant." 
 
 They had not reached the entrance of Forest Lane, before 
 they perceived the vicar with Tom and Louisa, followed by 
 the major. 
 
 "Well," exclaimed Tom, as he ran to meet his father, *' we 
 have had a most delightful morning ; amongst other things, 
 do you know we have found out the meaning of the 
 crescent, which the Turks always wear and use as their 
 ensign ?" 
 
 "Indeed! then, let me hear your explanation," said his 
 father. 
 
 Major Snapwell and the vicar had by this time joined the 
 party, and with their assistance Tom was enabled to offer 
 the following account of it. The crescent appears on the 
 early coins of Byzantium, and was intended to commemo- 
 rate the defeat of Philip of Macedon, who, as he was about 
 to storm it on a cloudy night, was discovered by the sudden 
 light of the moon. When the Turks entered Constanti- 
 nople, they found this ancient badge in various parts of the 
 city, and, suspecting that it might possess some magical 
 power, they assumed the symbol and its power to themselves ; 
 so that the crescent became, and still continues to be, the 
 chief Turkish ensign. 
 
 " Well, I must own that you have given me a new and 
 'very curious piece of historical information, and I thank you 
 for it," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "Medals, then, are occasionally of some little use," re- 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 293 
 
 marked the vicar, with a sarcastic smile ; for, if the truth 
 must be told, the reverend antiquary had been a little 
 nettled as usual by the freedom with which Major Snap well 
 had criticised some of his rarities : but let that pass. 
 
 As soon as the party reassembled after the excursion of 
 the morning, the circumstances which so greatly astonished 
 Miss Villers on the preceding evening were again related 
 by her. 
 
 " My dear young lady," observed Mr. Seymour, " I never 
 heard a better story for illustrating the illusions to which 
 the senses are exposed; and if you will read the second 
 letter on ' Natural Magic/ by Sir David Brewster, you will 
 obtain a ready explanation of your vision : but let us examine 
 it philosophically. In the first place, you acknowledge that 
 your imagination had been previously excited during your 
 ramble through the wood, and more especially by your 
 reverie at the statue of Time ; now it is well known that 
 such a condition of the mind prepares and adapts the organs 
 of vision for those illusions which I am about to explain. 
 You have told us that, on your descent into the valley, the 
 moon had withdrawn its light, and several minutes had 
 elapsed before an object became visible, and that was the 
 white foam of the waterfall." 
 
 " If I rightly remember, Brewster has stated that the 
 spectres that are conjured up by the imagination are always 
 white, because no colour can be seen at night," observed 
 Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 "Undoubtedly," replied her husband; "and as these 
 spectres are formed out of objects whose different parts 
 reflect different degrees of light, their fainter parts will 
 appear "and disappear with the ever-varying degree of illumi- 
 nation which is occasioned by the moon shining through a 
 veil of clouds, and a change even of shape will be thus pro- 
 duced which will impart to the object in question the 
 semblance of a living form. The actual state of the eye 
 itself will also greatly assist in completing such an illusion ; 
 for, in consequence of the small degree of light, the pupil 
 expands to nearly the whole width of the iris, in order to 
 collect every ray, and in such a condition it cannot accom- 
 
294 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 modate itself to see near objects distinctly ; so that the form 
 of a body actually becomes more shadowy and confused when 
 it comes within the very distance at which we count upon 
 obtaining the best view of it." 
 
 "You have certainly explained the reason why bodies 
 seen under a faint illumination may appear distorted and 
 caricatured ; indeed, I now remember that Sir Walter Scott, 
 in his ; Pirate,' has given us a very good illustration : for 
 Cleveland, when abandoned on Coffin-bay, i said to have 
 seen many a dim and undefined spectre in the misty dawn. 
 But I am still at a loss to understand how the vision I wit- 
 nessed in the valley could have been conjured up," said Miss 
 Villers. 
 
 " It was the doubtful and flickering light of the clouded 
 moon upon the mass of white sandstone, or, in the words of 
 Milton, that of ' a sable cloud that turned forth her silver 
 lining on the night,' " said Mr. Seymour. " It is a great 
 law of the imagination, that a likeness in part tends to become a 
 likeness of the whole. The sandstone presented, in the first 
 instance, a form somewhat resembling the human figure, or 
 some part of it, when your active imagination immediately 
 completed the outline : just in the same way as we trace 
 images in the fire, or castles in the clouds, or grotesque 
 figures of men and animals on damp walls." (51.) 
 
 Major Snapwell, who expressed himself much pleased with 
 the conversation, desired to call the attention of his friends 
 to an adventure related in the delightful German romance 
 of ' UNDIKE/ which he said would confirm all he had heard 
 upon the subject. It was as follows : 
 
 "A worthy and pious old fishermen, residing on the 
 borders of a lake, at the foot of a deep forest through which 
 he had repeatedly passed without interruption, heard, on a 
 certain evening, the very unusual trampling of a mounted 
 steed drawing nearer and nearer, as it appeared to be 
 emerging from the darkness of the wood. The fisherman 
 became alarmed ; and what he had fancied in many a stormy 
 night respecting the mysteries of the forest flashed through 
 his mind in a moment. Being thus prepared for any illu- 
 sion of the senses, he raised his eyes towards the wood and 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 295 
 
 saw ' the figure of a man of gigantic stature, and snow-white ap- 
 pearance, nodding his head in a portentous manner :' when an 
 interval of reflection and a short prayer so tranquillized his 
 disturbed nerves, that he readily perceived the strange mis- 
 take into which his heated imagination had betrayed him ; 
 ancl so affected was he, to use his own words, that he could 
 ' with difficulty refrain from laughing.' The white nodding 
 figure he had seen, became transformed, in the twinkling of 
 an eye, to what in reality it was, a small brook, long and 
 familiarly known to him, which ran foaming from the forest, 
 and discharged itself into the lake." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour observed that in G-oethe's ballad of the 
 ( EnL KING,' a similar illusion is described "of which," 
 said she, " I only remember one stanza, but that will be suf- 
 ficient for the occasion : 
 
 ' My father ! my father ! and saw'st thou not 
 The Eii King's daughter, near yon dark spot ? ' 
 
 ' My son, my son, I see well the gleam, 
 'Tis the old green willow beside the stream.' " 
 
 Miss Villers expressed her satisfaction at being thus con- 
 vinced that all she had seen at the waterfall in the valley 
 was but "a phantasy that had played upon her eyesight ;" 
 and having thus disposed of this part of my tale, " I doubt 
 not," she added, " but that you will, with equal truth and 
 satisfaction, explain the circumstance of my name having 
 been so audibly pronounced, and from a spot which made 
 it impossible that it should have come from any human 
 being," 
 
 " It was the solitary spirit of the dell," said Mr. Sey- 
 mour, with a smile : " a rural spirit who is disposed to 
 become very loquacious whenever the repose of her habita- 
 tion is disturbed. I can assure you," added he, " that you 
 are not the first person whom her gambols have surprised 
 and terrified in the shades of evening. I presume you have 
 discovered that I allude to that unseen musician of the air 
 ECHO." 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. Seymour, the sound could not have been 
 the effect of an echo, for I never spoke," replied Miss 
 Villers, 
 
296 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 " Very likely, but I happen to know that Mrs. Seymour 
 called you by name at the orchard gate." 
 
 " Nor will that explain it," observed Miss Tillers ; " for 
 in that case I must certainly have heard her ; whereas the 
 sound came in a very different direction, from the inaccessible 
 rocks of sandstone." 
 
 " Young lady," said Mr. Seymour, " you must forgive me 
 for telling you that your philosophy is at fault. It is as 
 possible to hear an echo without recognising the direct sound 
 which produced it, as it is for two persons to be so placed 
 as to see each other in a looking-glass, although objects 
 might obstruct the direct view of themselves.* Did you 
 never walk between an irregular wall and a row of houses, 
 or along a valley intercepted by houses, during the ringing 
 of a peal of bells ? Nothing is more common, under such 
 circumstances, than for the sound, instead of arriving at the 
 ear in its true direction, to be reflected in one that is oppo- 
 site to it. Now before we quit the subject of optical illu- 
 sion, let me relate an incident which occurred to myself. I 
 presume you are all acquainted with the appearance in the 
 grass, called a ' Fairy -ring ' ? " 
 
 "To be sure," said Tom, "a very dark circle of grass, 
 around which there is generally a ring that looks as if the 
 ground had been burnt." 
 
 " Very well, and we are now satisfied that this appear- 
 ance is the consequence of the growth and decay of certain 
 fungi (52), although the common people still believe that 
 the ring is produced by the gambols of fairies. Now then 
 for my story. It was on a moonlight night, last August, 
 when strolling along a neighbouring meadow, enjoying the 
 beauties of the evening,, that I met a young farmer, an intel- 
 ligent person, although a little inclined to a belief in the 
 marvellous, who, on approaching with a hasty step, thus 
 accosted me : ' You have often ridiculed my belief in fairies, 
 and of their being the cause of those rings which go by their 
 name ; you may now, if you please, satisfy yourself of their 
 reality, if you will only return with me to the elm-close, 
 which, as you know, abounds with fairy rings. Within the 
 * See page 304. 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 297 
 
 last few minutes I have actually seen them at their gambols 
 under the great elm ; they are, sir, tiny beings, which, as 
 far as I could judge at a distance, cannot be more than a 
 few inches in height ; but there they are, frisking away most 
 merrily to tinkling music. Pray, sir, do let us return, and 
 satisfy yourself as well as me.' You may readily suppose 
 that I lost no time in complying with my friend's request ; 
 and sure enough there they were." 
 
 " "What, the fairies !" exclaimed Louisa, in astonishment. 
 
 " Have patience, my dear, and you shall hear. I confess," 
 continued Mr. Seymour, " that, at the first glance, I was 
 almost startled into a belief in the reality of my friend's 
 assertion ; but, on approaching, the Fairy Queen and her 
 court were changed into a circle of fungi, to which the 
 shadowy play of the leaves of the neighbouring tree had, in 
 the light of the moon, given the appearance of a fantastic 
 motion, while their waving and rustling sounds mimicked 
 wild music. The illusion, I will admit, was well calculated 
 to impose upon the credulous countryman.'' 
 
 " So then," exclaimed the vicar, whimsically quoting the 
 words of Falstaff, " * these were not fairies ! I was three or 
 four times in the thought they were not fairies.' "* 
 
 " Well," said Louisa, " I suppose your young farmer was 
 now satisfied." 
 
 "Not at all," answered her father, "he still maintained 
 that he had seen the fairies, observing that it was a common 
 trick with them, when watched, to turn themselves all at 
 once into flowers, such as lilies, tulips, and the like." 
 
 " Or to take shelter in the purple bell of the foxglove""^ 
 suggested the major. 
 
 The young party were much amused by this anecdote, 
 and the vicar took the opportunity to explain, on natural 
 principles, several superstitious appearances recorded in 
 ancient legends. 
 
 Mr. Seymour now proposed to dedicate an hour to the 
 
 * Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 f In Welsh this flower is called by the beautiful name of Maneg-ellyllon, 
 or the Fairies-glove ; now, in the days of our ancestors, these elves were called 
 in English ' The good folks.' No doubt, then, these flowers were called the 
 good folks' glove, a name since shortened into Fox-glove. Talbot's Etym 
 
298 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 explanation of the several toys which owe their action to 
 atmospheric vibration ; " I shall then," said he, addressing 
 Miss Villers, "be at your service to interrogate the spirit of 
 the valley ; and the children, whom I intend to accompany 
 us, will be thus better prepared to comprehend the theory 
 of the echo. 
 
 " Musical instruments, amongst which I include the toys 
 to which I have alluded, may be classed under three heads : 
 stringed instruments, such as the harp, violin, &c. ; wind 
 instruments, as the flute and trumpet ; and instruments of 
 percussion, as the tabor and drum." 
 
 " And which kind do you consider the most ancient ?" 
 asked Miss Villers. 
 
 " Wind instruments, madam, most unquestionably," cried 
 Mr. Twaddleton. " Diodorus ascribed their invention to 
 the accidental notice of the whistling of the wind in the 
 reeds on the banks of the Nile; and the poet Lucretius 
 maintained a similar opinion." 
 
 " I really, my dear sir, cannot see any good reason for 
 giving this preference, in point of antiquity, to wind instru- 
 ments," said Mr. Seymour. " The lyre, or harp, is, surely, 
 as ancient as any instrument on record. The mythologist 
 ascribes the idea of producing sound by the vibration of a 
 string to Apollo ; which is said by Censorinus to have 
 suggested itself to him, on his hearing the twang of the 
 bow of his sister Diana. With respect to instruments of 
 percussion, it may be reasonably supposed that the sonorous 
 ringing of hollow bodies, when struck, must have very soon 
 suggested their invention to mankind ; but I really consider 
 any research into a question of such obscurity as uninterest- 
 ing as it must be hopeless ; let us rather devote our attention 
 to the philosophy of these instruments. I have stated that 
 they may be referred to three principal classes ; but I must 
 at the same time observe that, in some cases, the vibrations 
 of solid bodies are made to co-operate with those of a given 
 portion of air ; for example, trumpets and various horns may 
 be said to be mixed wind instruments, since their sound is 
 produced by the joint vibrations of the air and a solid body : 
 and in certain stringed instruments, as in the violin, the 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 299 
 
 immediate effect of the strings is increased by means of a 
 sounding-board, which appears to be agitated by their motion, 
 and to act more powerfully on the air than the strings could 
 have done alone." 
 
 " I apprehend that this mixture must obtain more or less 
 in all instruments," said the vicar. 
 
 " Not at all. The flute, flageolet, humming-top, and 
 the cavity of the mouth in whistling, may be considered as 
 simple wind instruments, in which the quality of the sound 
 is alone determined by the vibrations of the air. I have 
 already explained the manner in which the oscillations of a 
 string excite aerial undulations, and thus produce sound ; 
 and you have seen that the nature of these sounds is deter- 
 mined by the length and thickness of such strings : the 
 theory equally applies to wind instruments, in which case 
 a column of air corresponds w r ith the string, the volume 
 and length of which determine the sound. In the harp, 
 the strings are constructed of different lengths and dimen- 
 sions ; and so, in the Syrinx, or Pan's pipes, is the volume 
 of air adjusted to the respective notes by the size and length 
 of the reeds ; but, in the violin, the lengths of the strings 
 are altered at pleasure by pressing them down on the 
 finger-board ; and, in like manner, the effective length of 
 the flute is changed by the opening or shutting the holes 
 made at proper distances in them ; the opening of a hole at 
 any part being the same in effect as if the pipe were cut off 
 a little beyond it." 
 
 Mr. Seymour and the vicar then entered into a long 
 discussion, with which it is not our intention to swell our 
 history, or to exhaust the patience of the reader ; we shall, 
 however, with his permission, collect from the mass some 
 of the more interesting facts, and present them in as con- 
 densed a form as may be consistent with perspicuity. In 
 speaking of the Jew's harp, a little instrument with which 
 every schoolboy is well acquainted, the vicar stated that 
 its origin was lost in the long lapse of time ; but that it 
 was in very common use throughout Europe, and more 
 especially in the Netherlands and the Tyrol, where it was 
 the delight of the peasants and their families. He also 
 
300 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 said that it was known in Asia, and that the Greeks of 
 Smyrna called it, in imitation of its sound, biambo.* The 
 name by which it is now known, he observed, was evidently 
 derived from the Jews, who were formerly the great venders 
 of it, and of other toys, throughout Europe, although he 
 stated that his friend Mr. Prybabel was of opinion that it 
 was a corruption of jaw's harp. Mr!" Seymour described its 
 
 construction, and the theory 
 of its action. It is composed 
 of two parts, the body and 
 the tongue ; the former has 
 some resemblance to the han- 
 dle of a certain kind of cork- 
 screw ; the latter consists of a 
 little strip of steel, joined to 
 the upper part of the body, and bent at its extremity, so that 
 the fingers may touch it more readily. This tongue, or 
 elastic plate, produces, in itself, only a sound which serves 
 as a drone, although it appears to act like the motion of 
 the bow of a violin in exciting other sounds, by breaking 
 the current of air from the mouth, the acuteness or gravity 
 of which will be determined by the pressure of the lips, 
 and the magnitude of the cavity of the mouth. To under- 
 stand, however, this part of its operation, it is necessary 
 that the reader should become acquainted with the nature 
 and effects of what have been termed Resonances, and Recipro- 
 cated Vibrations of Columns of Air. This property of sounding 
 bodies, which to the ignorant must appear as an inexplicable 
 species of sympathy, will be more fully explained in a note 
 (53) ; at present we shall merely give one or two examples 
 of its effects. A singer has been known to break into pieces 
 a large tumbler-glass by the power of his voice ; and a violin 
 suspended against a wall may be heard to yield the same 
 notes as those produced by a performer on a similar instru- 
 ment in the same room. To produce such an effect, however, 
 
 * In ' The Notes of a Tour among the Indian Tribes of Southern Chili,'' by 
 Edmund Ruel Smith, we are informed that the Jew's harp is as national with 
 those barbarians, as the guitar is with the Spaniards, and that no young 
 gallant is considered fully equipped to lay siege to a lady's heart, if unprovided 
 with that instrument, dangling by a string of beads from his neck. 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 301 
 
 one condition is indispensable, that the body to be put in 
 vibration must be in unison, or agreeing in pitch, with the 
 one communicating the sound. Hence the necessity of so 
 adapting the capacity of the mouth, in playing the Jew's 
 harp, as to make the column of air which it contains to 
 reciprocate the sound of its tongue. The subject was 
 agreeably concluded by some anecdotes which were related 
 by Miss Yillers, in proof of the astonishing pow r ers of this 
 little instrument when directed by the skill of a master. 
 For the sake of those who may be curious upon this subject 
 we have introduced an account of two great performers, in 
 an additional note (54). In speaking of the flute, Mr. 
 Twaddleton took occasion to observe, that its name was 
 derived from fluta* a lamprey, or small Sicilian eel, which 
 has seven holes on each side ; an etymology which will pro- 
 bably be as new to our readers as it was to ourselves. The 
 children also received their share of instruction and amuse- 
 ment upon this occasion. Tom, for the first time, became 
 acquainted with the use of the pea in the whistle, which, 
 he was told, was to agitate and break the current of air, and 
 thus to produce a succession of quick vibrations, upon which 
 the acuteness of its sound depended. Louisa exhibited her 
 whizgig^ which, for the information of the unlearned reader, 
 we may state to consist of a hollow disc of wood, having aii 
 opening in its side, like that in the humming-top : by the 
 alternate coiling and uncoiling of the cord iipon which it 
 is strung it receives a circular motion, the rapidity of which 
 produces, by means of its opening, an aerial vibration that 
 gives a loud ringing sound. 
 
 " I should very much like to hear your opinion of that 
 Egyptian wonder, the statue of Memnon," said the vicar. 
 
 "Its history," answered Mr. Seymour, "is involved hi 
 considerable doubt and difficulty. Authors of credit agree 
 in stating that t it certainly saluted the rising sun with a 
 musical sound; but doubts are still entertained as to the 
 
 * " Mursense optimse flutse snnt in Sicilia." Varr. R, E. ii. 6. 2. 
 
 f This toy, as well as the tops and kites, would appear, from Sir George 
 Grey's ' Polynesian Mythology,' to have been recorded in the ancient legends 
 of the savages. 
 
302 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 cause which produced it, whether it was the effect of 
 mechanism, or a juggle of the Egyptian priests. An English 
 traveller, Sir A. Smith, informs us that he visited the statue, 
 and actually heard the sounds at six o'clock in the morning ; 
 but he believes that they proceeded, not from the figure, 
 but from the pedestal, and he considers that they may arise 
 from the impulse of the air upon the stones of which it is 
 constructed. Others have supposed that the heat of the 
 sun's rays, concentrated by a mirror, may have acted upon 
 plates of metal so as to produce the effect. It is not my 
 intention to argue this point ; but I will show you an 
 experiment, by which you will, I think, be convinced that a 
 statue might easily be constructed like the Memnon to yield 
 musical sounds by the application of heat, whether derived 
 from the solar rays, or from any other source." 
 
 Mr. Seymour produced a piece of apparatus, of which we 
 here present the reader with a sketch. It consists of an 
 oblong block of copper, one surface of which is flat, the other 
 formed by two planes meeting at an obtuse angle, and having 
 a groove at the point of junction A. To this block a handle 
 is affixed. 
 
 A..., 
 
 Mr. Seymour, having thus described the form of the in- 
 strument, and stated that its construction was solely directed 
 with a view of making it oscillate freely on any plain surface, 
 thrust the block in the fire, and, when sufficiently heated, 
 placed it on its angular surface, upon a flat piece of lead. 
 It immediately began to vibrate, producing, at first, a kind 
 of singing noise, not unlike that of the simmering of a tea- 
 kettle, but the vibrations became more and more rapid until 
 a distinct musical sound was produced, which from time to 
 time varied in its pitch, and gave rise to an eifect scarcely 
 inferior to that of the Eolian harp. 
 
 " It is an interesting experiment," said Miss Villers. 
 
 " And how admirably does it illustrate the theory of musical 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 303 
 
 sounds!" observed Mr. Seymour. " We have here, you per- 
 ceive, a series of impulses communicated to our ears by the 
 air, at first in slow succession, and by degrees more and 
 more rapidly ; at first we hear a rattling noise, then a low 
 murmur, and then a hum, which by degrees acquires the 
 character of a musical note, rising higher and higher in 
 acuteness. It is evident, therefore, from this experiment 
 alone, by showing the correspondence which exists between 
 the pitch of the note and the rapidity of the succession of 
 the vibrations, that our sensation of the different pitches of 
 musical notes originates in the different rapidities with 
 w r hich their impulses are communicated to our ears." 
 
 " Pray explain to us the manner in which the block of 
 metal is thus made to vibrate," said Miss Villers. 
 
 " It depends," replied Mr. Seymour, " upon the alternate 
 contraction of the two opposite edges of the metal from the 
 loss of heat : one of the edges coming in contact with the 
 cold lead contracts, and, by destroying the balance of the 
 block, causes its opposite edge to come into contact with the 
 lead, and to undergo the same change ; and it is by this 
 alternate action that a rapid vibration is produced, occasion- 
 ing, as you will now readily understand, the musical sounds 
 you have just heard." 
 
 Miss Villers here made some interesting remarks upon 
 the sounds produced by flowing water. " In the fountain," 
 she said, " musical tones are produced by vibrations occa- 
 sioned by the drops on the jet, and reciprocated by the 
 surface on which they fall." 
 
 The lecture having been concluded, Mrs. Seymour proposed 
 that the party should at once proceed to the valley, but the 
 vicar suggested the propriety of first explaining to the 
 children the principle upon which the echo depended. 
 
 Mr. Seymour concurred in this opinion, and immediately 
 afforded the following explanation: "An echo is nothing 
 more than a reflected sound. When the aerial vibrations 
 strike against any obstacle of sufficient magnitude, they are 
 reflected back to the ear, and produce a repetition of the 
 sound, which will appear to proceed from the point whence 
 they are reflected, so that the apparent direction of the voice 
 
304 PHTLOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 becomes completely changed by an echo. A considerable 
 extent of level wall will sometimes produce it in great per- 
 fection ; for a smooth surface reflects sound much better 
 than a rough one : but the circumstance which, perhaps, 
 contributes more than any other to the perfection of an 
 echo, is the form of the reflecting surface ; a convex surface 
 is a very bad reflector of sound, a flat one reflects very well, 
 but a small degree of concavity is the form best adapted to 
 'the purpose/' 
 
 "I believe," observed the vicar, " that fluid bodies, will 
 also, under certain circumstances, so reflect sound as to pro- 
 duce echoes." 
 
 " Undoubtedly. The surface of water, especially at the 
 bottom of a well, and sometimes even clouds, will produce 
 this effect, as, during a tempest, the continued rolling of the 
 thunder is nothing but the reverberation of a single discharge 
 bandied about from cloud to cloud." 
 
 " Do you mean to say," asked Tom, " that sound is re- 
 flected from an obstacle to the ear, in the same manner as 
 my ball is reflected after striking the wall ?" 
 
 " Certainly ; . supposing, of course, that your ball is per- 
 fectly elastic ; and in that case, you no doubt remember the 
 direction it will follow." 
 
 " It will always make the angle of reflection equal to the 
 angle of incidence,"* said Tom. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; and so it is with sound, since air, as you 
 know, is perfectly elastic. If, therefore, the vibrations fall 
 perpendicularly on the obstacle, they are reflected back in 
 the same line ; if obliquely, the sound returns obliquely in 
 the opposite direction, the angle of reflection being equal to 
 that of incidence. You will, therefore, readily perceive," 
 continued Mr. Seymour, addressing his conversation more 
 particularly to Miss Villers, " that a person situated at an 
 appropriate angle may hear an echo, as it is returned from 
 the reflecting surface, without hearing the original sound 
 which produced it. M. Genefay has described, as existing 
 near Rouen, a curious oblique echo which is not heard by 
 
 * The realer is requested to turn to page 168; for all that is there said 
 respecting the principle of reflected motion will apply to the theory of the echo. 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 305 
 
 the person who emits the sound. A person who sings hears 
 only his own voice, while those who listen hear only the 
 echo." 
 
 " As a smooth and concave surface is capable of producing 
 an echo, how does it happen that we so rarely meet with 
 one in a room ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " Echoes, my dear, are, in fact, produced in every room, 
 by the reverberation of sound from its walls ; but on account 
 of the velocity with which it travels, they are imperceptible 
 in small chambers, because the sound occupies no sensible 
 period of time in moving from the mouth to the walls, and 
 in returning back to the ear again ; consequently the original 
 sound and its echo become so blended and incorporated, as 
 to appear but one sound. As the dimensions of the apart- 
 ment increase, the defect will increase with it ; and, in 
 buildings for music or public speaking, it is often highly 
 inconvenient, and difficult of prevention.* Breaking the 
 surface, or rendering it uneven by mouldings and orna- 
 ments, appears to be the most effectual method of curing 
 the evil." 
 
 " I perceive then, that in order to produce a perfect 
 echo, the person who speaks must be at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the obstacle that reflects the sound," said Louisa. 
 
 " It cannot be otherwise," replied her father ; " and if 
 you will only consider the rate at which sound travels, you 
 will readily understand the necessity of such an arrange- 
 ment. In order to produce a distinct echo of one syllable, 
 or of a single sound, the reflecting obstacle must be at least 
 70 feet from the sound, so that it may have to pass through 
 a distance of 70 feet to get to the reflector, and 70 more to 
 return to the ear, making a total passage of 140 feet, which 
 it will accomplish in rather less than one-eighth of a second ; 
 a period of time so small, that, if it were diminished, it is 
 evident the echo must be assimilated with the sound itself.' 2 
 
 "But the echo in the valley," observed Mrs. Seymour, 
 " will repeat four or five syllables." 
 
 * This is very remarkable in the new mineralogical lecture-room in the 
 public library at Cambridge. 
 
306 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 "Undoubtedly; if we make the experiment at a sufficient 
 distance from the sandstone rocks which act as the reflector." 
 
 " It would appear, then, that the farther the reflecting 
 object is off, the greater number of syllables will the echo 
 repeat ; and I should think that this fact might enable us to 
 compute the distance of the reflector," said Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " In a moderate way of speaking, about three and a half 
 syllables are pronounced in one second, or seven syllables in 
 two seconds; when an echo, therefore, repeats seven syllables, 
 we may infer that the reflecting object is 1142 feet distant." 
 
 "But, my dear Mr. Seymour, this must surely depend 
 upon the nature of the syllables," said the vicar. " Pray 
 excuse the interruption ; but you will admit that there must 
 exist a great difference between the echo of dactyles and 
 spondees. Suppose an echo should be able to return ten 
 syllables ; thus ' Tityre, tu patulce recubans* I will be bound 
 for it, that if you were to try its powers in slow heavy 
 spondees, as monstrum horrendum, a return of not more than 
 four or five syllables could be observed." 
 
 " I will not dispute that point," said Mr. Seymour ; " or 
 take, if you will, the famous passage in the Tenth Odyssey, 
 where Sisyphus rolls the stone up the mountain in spondees, 
 and allows it to run down in a torrent of dactyles." 
 
 Louisa here remarked that she had often heard of some 
 very extraordinary echoes in different parts of the world, to 
 which her father had not alluded; she mentioned, for instance, 
 those which are said to repeat the same sound several times 
 in succession. 
 
 " From the explanation which I have already given of the 
 nature of echoes," said Mr. Seymour, "it will be easily con- 
 ceived that a vast variety of effects may be produced by 
 varying the form, the shape, the distance, and the number 
 of reflecting surfaces : and hence we hear of various surpris- 
 ing echoes in different places. It is not difficult, for instance, 
 to understand the nature of compound, or tautological echoes ; 
 in which case the expression of one ha will appear like a 
 laughter. Addison mentions an extraordinary instance of 
 this kind near Milan, which will return the sound of a pistol 
 fifty-six times." 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 307 
 
 " I have understood that the echoes on the lakes of 
 Killarney are of this multiplied description," said the vicar. 
 
 " They are particularly calculated to produce reflections 
 of sound, from the height of the mountains, and the expanse 
 of water," replied Mr. Seymour ; " which latter circumstance 
 always assists the conveyance of reflected as well as direct 
 sound. I believe there is a certain spot on the shore of 
 Koss island, where the sound of a bugle produces an echo 
 which far exceeds any other to be met with amongst the 
 lakes ; the first echo is returned from the castle, the second 
 from the ruined church of Aghadoe, the third from Manger- 
 ton, and afterwards innumerable reverberations are dis- 
 tinguished, which, like the faded brilliancy of an extremely 
 multiplied reflection, are lost by distance and repetition." 
 
 " There is an admirable echo," said the vicar, " behind my 
 old college at Cambridge ; and often have I, while walking 
 on 'the road to Chesterton, on a calm evening, distinctly 
 heard twelve repetitions of the voice. Lord Bacon, if I 
 remember correctly, mentions an instance of sixteen, in some 
 ruined church near Paris." 
 
 " It was in the church of Pont-Charenton, on the Seine," 
 replied Mr. Seymour ; " in which place that great philosopher 
 discovered the inability of an echo to return the letter S ; 
 for having pronounced the word satan, the echo replied va-t-en 
 away ; from which circumstance, the Parisians concluded 
 that some guardian spirit prevented the walls of the sacred 
 edifice from pronouncing the name of satan" 
 
 " And will not an echo repeat the letter S ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 "Not always," answered her father; "the hissing or 
 sibilant noise of the letter, when at the commencement of 
 a word, is generally lost, unless the echo be extremely 
 perfect." 
 
 Mr. Seymour was here reminded of an echo on the Rhine, 
 near the ruin of Eheinfels, to which is usually addressed 
 the question " Who is the Mayor of Oberwesel ?" the echo 
 answers JEsel,* an Ass. 
 
 " To be sure," said the vicar, " the latter syllables returned 
 
 * The stand upon which the painter rests his picture is termed an Esel, 
 from its carrying, like the ass, the burthen on his back. 
 
308 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 by the echo are those which retain possession of the ear. 
 My young friends, no doubt, remember the facetious 
 dialogue between Juvenis and Echo in the colloquy of Eras- 
 mus, in which a very humorous application is made of this 
 circumstance." 
 
 The party now set off on their excursion to the valley. 
 Mr. Seymour disposed them in such situations as were best 
 calculated to display the powers of the echo, and to illustrate 
 the several ^effects which he had endeavoured to explain. 
 The vicar performed his experiment with dactyles and 
 spondees, and was highly gratified to find that their results 
 proved, in a most satisfactory manner, the correctness of his 
 conjecture. The attention of Miss Villers was particularly 
 directed to the effect of the voice of Mrs. Seymour from the 
 orchard gate, and which, she said, convinced her that the 
 sound she had heard on the preceding evening must have 
 arisen from the cause assigned to it. 
 
 After the party had fairly tired themselves by their con- 
 verse with the airy and unsubstantial being, they descended 
 to the sandstone rocks, which Mr. Seymour pointed out as 
 the local habitation of the solitary spirit. These were duly 
 examined by Louisa and Tom, and their operation as a 
 reflecting screen was pointed out to them by their father. 
 
 " I can now perfectly understand the possible deceptions 
 to which an echo can give rise," said Miss Villers ; " and I 
 have no doubt that many sounds, to which credulity has 
 given a supernatural origin, may thus receive a ready expla- 
 nation." 
 
 " "Without doubt," repeated Mr. Seymour ; " and I will 
 give you an example, which just at this moment occurs to 
 me. The miners of Cornwall, a very superstitious race, 
 entertain a notion that little spirits, or fairies, whom they 
 call ' Piskeys,' are ever working in the richest parts of the 
 mine, to which their prescience had directed them, and that 
 when their pickaxes are heard, it may be taken for granted 
 that some rich ore abounds in the neighbourhood. We 
 may very safely accept the conclusion, while we reject the 
 superstition: the explanation is simply this: that cavities 
 in the rock are geologically associated with an accumulation 
 
CHAP. XIX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 309 
 
 of ore ; the sound, therefore, heard by the working miner is 
 but the reverberation of his own pickaxe, from some con- 
 tiguous cavity." 
 
 The major was greatly interested by this discussion, and 
 amused the party by relating the experience he had gained 
 from echoes and vibrations during the progress of a siege : 
 he said that he had himself heard in a " listening gallery," 
 during a mining operation, the stroke of the pick, and that 
 by the vibration of a pea placed upon a tightly-braced drum, 
 he had discovered the subterraneous workmen at the distance 
 of 60 feet. 
 
 The party now returned to the geological temple : its sin- 
 gularly-beautiful pillars very naturally attracted the atten- 
 tion of Miss Villers, and she expressed a wish that Mr. Sey- 
 mour should describe the plan of their construction : for it 
 was very evident, as she said, from the disposition of the 
 specimens, that the arrangements had been directed with 
 some view to geological illustration. Mr. Seymour felt gra- 
 tified by this request, and promised to comply with her 
 wishes, as soon as he had finished the investigation of those 
 laws by which the reflection of sound was governed. 
 
 " Why, bless me !" exclaimed the vicar, " the revels of 
 our airy companion are ended ; and I maintain that nothing 
 can be more appropriate than the consideration of the ob- 
 jects for which Miss Villers has expressed so much interest. 
 In truth, the history of Echo is classically associated with 
 that of geology : by diving into the recesses of the rock, 
 we do but pursue her descent from air to earth ; for you, 
 no doubt, remember that after she had been deprived of 
 her loquacity by Juno, she became enamoured of Narcissus, 
 pined away, and was transformed into stone." * 
 
 " I cannot but admire the ingenuity with which you 
 embellish every subject with classical decorations," replied 
 Mr. Seymour. " I was about," said he, " to explain to my 
 young pupils the principle and construction of the Whis- 
 pering Gallery in the dome of St. Paul's; but it will, 
 probably, be more convenient that I should postpone the 
 
 * Ovid, Metamorph. iii. 358. 
 
310 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XIX. 
 
 consideration of this, and some other subjects in connexion 
 with it, until after our return to the Lodge : I am not, 
 however, disposed to pass Oer the fable of Echo and Nar- 
 cissus, to which you have just alluded, without maintaining, 
 in opposition to the critical disparagement of Addisou, that 
 it is one of the most beautiful myths of antiquity. Every 
 stage of it appears to me to admit of an allegorical inter- 
 pretation. Whether the poet was acquainted with the 
 laws, by which the reflection of sound and light is governed, 
 may certainly be questioned; but the fable undoubtedly 
 shadows forth a remarkable example of poetic and retributive 
 justice. Narcissus is represented as disdaining the plaintive 
 appeal of Reflected Sound, and is sacrificed to the illusive 
 charms of Reflected Light" 
 
 The vicar expressed himself as highly gratified by so 
 novel and ingenious an interpretation; and Mr. Seymour 
 then proceeded to view the details of the geological temple, 
 and the design of the pillars that had so agreeably excited 
 the curiosity of Miss Tillers. 
 
CHAP. XX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 311 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE WHISPERING GALLERY IN THE DOME OF ST. PAUL'S. THE SPEAKING 
 TRUMPET. THE INVISIBLE GIRL, AND THE AMUSEMENT SHE OCCASIONED. 
 CHARADES. OTHER ACOUSTIC AMUSEMENTS. MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS. 
 CREAKING SHOES. ORATOR HENLEY, A PARADOXICAL SHOEMAKER AN 
 ENIGMA. 
 
 ON their return to the Lodge, Mr. Seymour proceeded with 
 the explanation of the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's 
 Cathedral; and, in order to render intelligible the manner 
 in which sound is concentrated, and thereby magnified, in 
 that hollow hemisphere, he produced a diagram, of which 
 the- annexed cut is a copy. 
 
 He explained it as follows : 
 
 " M shows the situation of the mouth of the speaker, and 
 E that of the ear of the hearer. Now, since sound radiates 
 in all directions, a part of it will proceed directly from M 
 to E, while other rays of it will proceed from M to w, and 
 from M to z, &c. ; but the ray that impinges upon u, will 
 be reflected to E, while that which first touches z will be 
 reflected to y, and from thence to E ; and so of all interme- 
 diate rays, which are omitted in the figure, to avoid con- 
 fusion. It is evident, therefore, that the sound at E will be 
 much stronger than if it had proceeded immediately from M 
 without the assistance of the dome ; for, in that case, the 
 
312 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XX. 
 
 rays at z and u would have proceeded in straight lines, and 
 consequently could never have arrived at the point E." 
 
 " I have understood that a similar effect was formerly 
 witnessed in the stone recesses on Westminster Bridge," 
 said the vicar. 
 
 " That is the fact," replied Mr. Seymour. " The recesses 
 to which you allude were semi-domes ; and if a person whis- 
 pered in the focus of one of them, he was distinctly heard 
 by another stationed in the focus of the opposite one. Two 
 inanimate busts may be thus made to appear as if holding 
 a conversation, by placing them in the foci of two large 
 concave mirrors constructed of pasteboard, and arranged 
 opposite to each other ; when a whisper uttered to the one 
 will seem to proceed from the other by the reflection of 
 sound." 
 
 Mr. Seymour now removed a shell from a group of coral- 
 lines, which decorated a part of the temple, and desired Tom 
 to place it to his ear. 
 
 " I hear a noise which appears to me to resemble* that of 
 the sea," cried Tom. 
 
 " Ay," said the vicar, " and there is a popular belief that 
 it is the murmur of the sea, which the shell actually sends 
 forth, betraying, as it were, its marine origin."* 
 
 " And what produces the sound ?" inquired Louisa. 
 
 " The interior of the shell merely concentrates, and thus 
 magnifies the sounds around us, so as to render them 
 audible : a goblet applied to the ear will be found to produce 
 the same effect," replied her father. 
 
 " I suppose it is upon the same principle that the speaking- 
 trumpet is made to convey sound to a distance," remarked 
 Louisa. 
 
 " Since sound radiates in all directions, it follows that, if 
 such radiation be prevented by confining it in tubes, it may 
 be carried to a great distance with very little diminution of 
 its effect ; and hence the use and application of those trum- 
 pets, or tin speaking-pipes, which are now commonly used 
 
 * "Apply 
 
 The polish'd lips to your attentive ear, 
 
 And it remembers its august abodes, 
 
 And murmurs, as the ocean murmurs there." 
 
CHAP. XX. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 313 
 
 for conveying intelligence from one part of a house to 
 another. The trumpet used by deaf persons acts on the 
 same principle ; but as the voice enters the trumpet at the 
 large instead of the small end of the instrument, it is not so 
 much confined, nor is the sound so much increased." 
 
 " I believe," said Mrs. Seymour, " that the experiment 
 exhibited some time since in London under the title of the 
 Invisible Girl, and which excited such general curiosity, was 
 discovered to depend upon an arrangement of this kind." 
 
 The vicar observed, that it was found out by his late friend 
 Dr. Milner, the learned and scientific President of Queen's 
 College, Cambridge. 
 
 "I expected that you would allude to that exhibition," 
 said Mr. Seymour ; " and as I was anxious to provide my 
 young pupils with some new amusement, as a reward for 
 their industry, I have directed Tom Plank to construct 
 the necessary apparatus for exhibiting and explaining the 
 deception." 
 
 Upon inquiry, Mr. Seymour found, as he had anticipated, 
 that the necessary apparatus for the experiment of the 
 " Invisible Girl " had been duly arranged, and that Tom 
 Plank was in attendance to afford any assistance which might 
 be farther required. We shall proceed to describe all the 
 visible mechanism, as it appeared to the children on entering 
 Mr. Seymour's study, and of which we here present the 
 reader with a perspective sketch. 
 
 It consisted of a wooden frame, not very unlike a bed- 
 stead, having four upright posts, a a a a, and a cross-rail at 
 top and bottom to strengthen them. The frame thus con- 
 
314 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XX. 
 
 structed stood upon a low table, and from the top of each 
 of the four pillars sprang four bent brass wires, which con- 
 verged to the point c. From these wires a hollow copper 
 ball was suspended by ribands, so as to cut off all possible 
 communication with the frame. The globe was supposed 
 to contain the invisible being, as the voice apparently pro- 
 ceeded from the interior of it ; and for this purpose it was 
 equipped with the mouths of four trumpets, placed around 
 it in a horizontal direction, and at right angles to each 
 other, as shown in the annexed section, in which the 
 globe is represented in the centre ; 
 d d d d are the trumpets, and b b b b 
 the frame surrounding them, at the 
 distance of about half an inch from 
 their mouths. Such as we have 
 described was the apparatus, which 
 had been constructed under the direc- 
 ' tion of Mr Seymour, who informed 
 the party that, if any of them would ask a question of his 
 little fairy, and direct the voice into one of the trumpets, an 
 answer would immediately be returned from the ball. 
 
 " Let me interrogate her," exclaimed Louisa, as she ad- 
 vanced towards the railing. " Tell me, mysterious being, the 
 name of the person who now addresses you." 
 
 " Miss Louisa Seymour," answered a voice, sufficiently 
 audible to Louisa, and yet so distant and feeble, that it 
 appeared as if coming from a very diminutive being, and 
 thus heightened the deception. 
 
 " Now, vicar, it is your turn," said Mr. Seymour. 
 " Well, then, I will try whether I cannot puzzle your 
 Delphic lady;" and accordingly, applying his mouth to the 
 trumpet, Mr. Twaddleton demanded an interpretation of 
 the following charade : " My first makes my Second, and 
 fancies he is my Whole ?" 
 
 11 What is her answer ?" anxiously inquired the party. 
 " As prompt as it is correct. She tells me it is PATBIOT." 
 " Let Miss Villers advance : she has so lately distin- 
 guished herself by her beautiful enigma, that I have no 
 doubt she will now favour us with one that will trv the skill 
 
CHAP. XX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 315 
 
 of the Oracle, and delight us with its composition," said 
 Mrs. Seymour. 
 
 " After that very pretty speech, it would be affectation 
 on my part to refuse ; but you really, my dear Mrs. Seymour, 
 place too great a value upon my humble efforts." Miss 
 Yillers, accordingly, slowly and distinctly enunciated the 
 following lines in the ear of the trumpet : 
 
 " My First 's a conveyance that's oft on the stand, 
 And yet none more private careers in the land ; 
 Nor wheels, nor e'en horses, are for it e'er needed, 
 And still by five couriers 'tis ever preceded. 
 So quick has it moved that, in England on Sunday, 
 It 's been found in the midst of Morocco on Monday. 
 When by rough work and wearing 'tis no longer sound, 
 By applying my Second a cure has been found. 
 My Whole is a terror to all who may travel ; 
 So pray, gentle lady, this riddle unravel." 
 
 " Who can make it out ?" asked Tom. 
 
 " Have patience for the response," said the vicar. 
 
 " She tells me she requires time," observed Miss Villers. 
 
 " Very well : lend your -ear, and let us know when the 
 inspiration comes upon her." 
 
 " She now rings a bell to announce, I suppose, that she is 
 ready with her answer. Yes ; here it is : " 
 
 " To unravel your riddle I quickly essay 'd, 
 
 With what skill you will presently learn : 
 That is, if my answer, in riddle convey'd, 
 
 Is by you understood in its turn. 
 Know, then, that your FIRST is lively and gay, 
 
 Though of food it never can taste, 
 And still it for ever is picking away, 
 
 Except when it travels in haste. 
 All wet is its horror, so tender its frame, 
 
 And yet at a spring it will jump, 
 But what must appear a strange part of its game, 
 
 To keep dry it will fly to a pump ! 
 When tender, or tir'd, how refresh'd by green grass ! 
 
 As it wanders through meadow or lawn, 
 Yet it is not a horse, a cow, or an ass, 
 
 For it hates ev'ry species of corn. 
 Of your SECOND, my friend, I 've a story in store, 
 
 That perhaps may give you a shock, 
 For I found it attach'd to Newgate's dark door 
 
 The moment I wrench'd off its lock. 
 In the cfell thus expos'd I-most anxiously look'd, 
 
 And saw, with the eye of a mole, 
 A wretch there immur'd, and for punishment book'd, 
 
 And in him I discover'd your WHOLE." 
 
316 PPIILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XX. 
 
 " Now, then,* who is prepared to interpret the Sibyl's 
 answer ?" asked the vicar. 
 
 " I believe I can guess its meaning," answered Mr. Sey- 
 mour. And well he might, for he had concocted the whole 
 affair in concert with Miss Villers. 
 
 After much questioning and puzzling, as usually happens 
 upon such occasions, Mrs. Seymour declared the mysterious 
 word to be FOOTPAD : and she was right, and the rest of the 
 party concurred in that decision; although there was one 
 point that Tom did not comprehend, and that was how the 
 Second could be " found on Newgate's dark door." 
 
 "Why, my dear boy," said the vicar, "even dull as I 
 usually am upon these occasions, I very readily solved that 
 mystery. Did he not find a Padlock upon ' Newgate's dark 
 door?' and by taking off the lock, leave his ' second,' PAD ?" 
 
 The charade having been thus explained to the satisfaction 
 of the whole party, the next question which engaged their 
 attention was the construction of the apparatus, by which 
 the voice was so mysteriously conveyed to the ear. 
 
 Tom examined the ball, the trumpets, and the framework ; 
 but he was unable to discover any clue by which he could 
 unravel the mystery. At length Mr. Seymour proceeded 
 to the explanation. He told them that the mechanism 
 owed its effects to the combined operation of two principles 
 with which they were already acquainted ; the concentration 
 and conveyance of sound by means of a speaking-pipe, and 
 its reflection from an appropriate surface so as to change its 
 apparent direction, by producing an artificial echo. He 
 then showed them the pipe which was concealed in one of 
 the legs of the frame, and explained in what manner the 
 voice of Tom Plank, who had been stationed in an adjoining 
 room, was conveyed to the mouth of the trumpet, and thence 
 reflected to the ear of the observer. By means of the 
 annexed section (page 317), we shall hope to render this 
 subject as intelligible to our readers as did Mr. Seymour 
 to his little pupils. 
 
 b b represent two of the legs 'of the frame, one of which, as 
 well as half the rail, is made into a tube, the end of which 
 opens immediately opposite to the centre of the trumpet. 
 
CHAP. XX. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 317 
 
 This hole is very small, and concealed by mouldings ; the 
 other end communicates by a tin pipe, p p, which passes in 
 a concealed manner along the floor of the room, into an 
 adjoining closet, where the confederate is concealed. It is 
 evident that any sound, directed into the mouth of the 
 
 trumpet will be immediately reflected back to the orifice 
 of the tube, and distinctly heard by a person who places 
 his ear to the mouth of the funnel m ; while the answer 
 returned by him, travelling along the tin funnel, p p, will 
 issue from its concealed orifice, and striking upon the con- 
 cave surface of the trumpet, be returned to the ear as an 
 echo, and thus appear as if it had proceeded from the interior 
 of the ball. 
 
 The vicar observed, that this deception of the Invisible 
 Girl, which had formerly created so much interest, was 
 little more than the revival of the old and well-known 
 mechanism of the speaking bust,* which consisted of a tube, 
 from the mouth of a bust, leading to a confederate in an 
 adjoining room, and of another tube to the same place, 
 ending in the ear of the figure ; by the latter of which a 
 sound whispered in the ear of the bust was immediately 
 carried to the confederate, who instantly returned an answer 
 by the other tube, ending in the mouth of the figure, which 
 therefore appeared to utter it. "The Invisible Girl," con- 
 
 '* In Evelyn's Diary we find the following entry: "1654, July 13. 
 Dined with Dr. Wilkins at Wadham College. He had contrived a hollow 
 statue which gave a voice, and uttered words by a long concealed pipe that 
 went to its mouth, whilst one speaks through it, at a good distance." 
 
318 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XX. 
 
 tinued the vicar, " evidently only differs from that contrivance 
 in this single circumstance, that an artificial echo is produced 
 by means of the trumpet, and thus the sound no longer 
 appears to proceed in its original direction." 
 
 " Tour remark is perfectly correct, my dear vicar," said 
 Mr. Seymour. 
 
 Tom Plank, with an air of self-satisfaction, at this moment 
 emerged from his retreat, and inquired whether his perform- 
 ance had met with the approbation of the company. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Tom Plank, "as I am now fully 
 satisfied that any plan of propelling live and dead luggage 
 through funnels can never succeed, I propose to employ tubes 
 for conveying sounds to a great distance, so as to do away 
 with the use of telegraphs." 
 
 " Why that plan is more practicable, but less novel, than 
 the one you have just abandoned," answered Mr. Seymour. 
 " At the latter end of the last century, a man of the name 
 of Gautier conceived a method of transmitting articulate 
 sounds to an immense distance. He proposed the construc- 
 tion of horizontal tunnels that should widen at their ex- 
 tremities, by means of which the ticking of a watch might 
 be heard more distinctly^ at the distance of two hundred 
 feet than when placed close to the ear. I think he calculated 
 that a succession of such tunnels would transmit a verbal 
 message nine hundred miles in an hour." (55.) 
 
 " Only think of that !" ejaculated Tom Plank ; < to make 
 a communication from London to Edinburgh in about twenty- 
 five minutes!" 
 
 " True, my friend ; but what would you say, were I to 
 play Puck with you, and suggest a method of communicating 
 information to any distance without the loss even of a single 
 second of time?" '(56.) 
 
 "There now!" cried the vicar, "you have supplied Tom 
 Plank with some fresh barm to set his brains working." 
 
 " He is an indefatigable fellow, I must allow," said Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 After this discourse the vicar rose from his seat, and 
 on walking across the room, the creaking of his shoes 
 excited the attention of Mr. Seymour, who, with his ac- 
 
CHAP. XX. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 319 
 
 customed gaiety, observed, that " the vicar had music in 
 his sole." 
 
 " Mr. Seymour !" exclaimed Mr. Twaddleton, with a look 
 which we should in vain endeavour to describe, " the in- 
 firmity of my shoes, crepitus crepidce, is at all events sanc- 
 tioned by high antiquity ; for we are told by Philostratus, 
 in his Epistles, that Vulcan, being jealous of Venus, made 
 her creaking shoes, in order that he might hear whenever 
 she stirred." 
 
 So ludicrous an appeal to antiquity would have overcome 
 Heraclitus himself ; no wonder then that the whole party 
 enjoyed a hearty laugh at the worthy vicar's expense. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Twaddleton, if, as you say, I have brought 
 down philosophy to account for the most familiar occur- 
 rences, it is but just that I should return the compliment, 
 by declaring that you are equally prepared to throw a 
 classical interest around the humblest as well as the most 
 dignified subject, a capite usque ad calcem" observed Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " Now, Tom, as you have so lately been instructed in the 
 different sources of sound, do tell your good friend, the vicar, 
 the cause of the creaking of his shoes," said his father. 
 
 " The dryness of the leather, I suppose," answered the 
 young philosopher. 
 
 " A certain state of. dryness is certainly a necessary 
 condition, or else the cohesion between the inner and outer 
 sole would exclude the air. Correctly speaking, the creaking 
 depends upon the sudden compression of the air contained 
 between the two surfaces of leather ; just as a sound is pro- 
 duced by the clapping of the hands by the air thus set in 
 vibration. Shoes with single soles, therefore, never creak, 
 and by interposing a piece of oil-silk between the two soles, 
 you will so far insure the contact of their surfaces as to 
 obviate the sound." 
 
 " That is at all events a piece of practical philosophy 
 worth knowing ; and I shall accordingly instruct my operator, 
 Jerry Styles, upon this point," observed the vicar. 
 
 " So you see, my dear sir, I am no bad shoemaker, although 
 I have never yet made a shoe." 
 
320 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XX. 
 
 " To be sure to be sure," exclaimed the vicar ; " for as 
 Horace has it 
 
 " ' sapiens crepidas sibi nunquam 
 
 Nee soleas fecit; sutor taraen est sapiens.*' ' J 
 
 ffor., lib. i., sat. 3. 
 
 " You never made a happier quotation," exclaimed Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " I have only one other remark to make," continued he, 
 " which the consideration of this subject has very naturally 
 suggested that the various strange sounds, which have 
 from time to time alarmed the superstitious, may be readily 
 explained upon the simple principles we have been discussing. 
 I well remember a whole family having been thrown into a 
 state of terror, by a mysterious sound which regularly re- 
 curred every evening ; when it was at length discovered to 
 arise from the crawling of snails over the window ; their 
 slimy surfaces, as they moved along, produced a friction, 
 which occasioned a vibration of the glass." 
 
 " And I never recall to my recollection, without some 
 degree of terror," said the vicar, " the night I passed in an 
 old oaken chamber which had the reputation of being 
 haunted. A bright fire cheerfully blazed in the grate as I 
 entered the apartment, and casting its ruddy light around, 
 in some measure dissipated the prejudice which had been 
 raised to the disparagement of my dormitory ; but awaking 
 in the night, my fire was out, and a succession of the most 
 extraordinary noises I ever heard assailed me." 
 
 " All which are easily explicable," said Mr. Seymour. 
 " The old oaken materials were expanded by the heat of 
 your fire, and on the apartment cooling, they again con- 
 tracted, and gave origin to all the sounds you describe." 
 
 " How unsparingly does science clip the wings of imagi- 
 nation!" observed Miss Yillers. 
 
 " Reverting to the more humble subject of shoemaking," 
 said Mr. Seymour, "let me ask the vicar, whether he re- 
 members the receipt of Orator Henley, for making a pair in 
 a few minutes." 
 
 * " For though the wise nor shoes nor slippers made, 
 He's yet a skilful shoemaker by trade." 
 
 V 
 
CHAP. XX. MADE SCIENCE IN EAENEST. 321 
 
 " I remember it well ; he collected a number of shoemakers 
 by promising to impart his great secret to them ; and this 
 wonderful abridgment of time and labour was exhibited to 
 his gaping auditors by cutting off the tops of a ready-made 
 pair of boots!" 
 
 " I think," said Mr. Seymour, " when Tom has solved 
 the enigma I am about to propose, you will allow that, as a 
 paradoxical shoemaker, I have fairly beaten the Orator out 
 of the field." 
 
 " A shoemaker once made shoes without leather, 
 With all the four elements joined together ; 
 There were FIRE and WATER, and EARTH too, and AIR, 
 And most of his customers wanted two pair." 
 
322 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 ' ' There sits our philosopher of the Porch," said Mr. Seymour ; " I knew we should find him on duty."-p. 337. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 AN INTERESTING COMMUNICATION, FROM WHICH THE READER MAY 
 LEARN THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS ARE NOT THOSE WHICH 
 ABSORB THE GREATEST PORTION OF TIME IN THEIR RECITAL. MAJOR 
 SNAPWELL COMMUNICATES TO MR. SEYMOUR AND THE VICAR HIS 
 DETERMINATION TO CELEBRATE THE MARRIAGE OF HIS NEPHEW BY A 
 FETE AT OSTERLEY PARK. PUNCH AND THE FANTOCCINI. AN ANTI- 
 QUARIAN DISCUSSION OF GRAVE IMPORTANCE.' ORIGIN OF THE BRIDE- 
 CAKE. THE YULE LOG. THE CHRISTMAS TREE. AN INTERVIEW WITH 
 NED HOPKINS, A CHARACTER OF ODD COMBINATIONS, DURING WHICH HE 
 DISPLAYED MUCH SHREWDNESS AND HUMOUR, AND IS ENGAGED BY THE 
 MAJOR AS THE DIRECTOR OF HIS PROPOSED COMIC ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 FOB some time had Major Snapwell been occupied in 
 making arrangements for an event, which he hailed not only 
 as the accomplishment of his most ardent wishes, but as 
 the guarantee of his future happiness. We did not think 
 it right to impart this secret to our readers, until the period 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 323 
 
 should arrive when, in conformity with the usage of the 
 world, the subject might be referred to without reserve or 
 impropriety. To such a period has our history arrived, 
 and we shall therefore at once communicate the whole story, 
 by relating the substance of a conversation which took 
 place between Major Snapwell and the vicar, in the pre- 
 sence of Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, in the library of Overton 
 Lodge. 
 
 " Your hand, my dearest friend ! your hand, and with 
 it the congratulations of your heart," exclaimed the major, 
 as he approached Mr. Twaddleton ; " our friends here," 
 added he, as he bowed to Mr. and Mrs. Seymour, " are 
 already acquainted with the proposed union tetween my 
 worthy nephew, Henry Beecham, and the charming Isabella 
 Villers ; and may Heaven shed the dew. of its blessing upon 
 them !" 
 
 " Amen !" ejaculated the vicar. 
 
 " Well, sir, I am most anxious that the ceremony should 
 take place at Overton, and that you should officiate upon 
 the occasion." 
 
 " Most cheerfully shall I comply with your request ; 
 ' cannubio jungam stalili' as the immortal poet has it." 
 
 "I have also to inform you," continued the major, "that 
 it is my wish to diffuse a portion of that delight, which this 
 event will impart to me, over the neighbourhood in which I 
 shall probably pass the days that may be yet spared to 
 me ; listen, therefore, to the scheme which I have devised 
 for carrying this into effect. I design to give a public 
 entertainment, upon a plan as novel as its scale shall be 
 extensive ; it shall not be a mere blaze of the spirits, but the 
 recreation of the mind, and the jubilee of reason." 
 
 " An entertainment !" muttered the vicar, whose coun- 
 tenance afforded anything but encouragement to such a 
 scheme. 
 
 " Ay, vicar ; an entertainment which shall be conducted 
 with every regard to ancient usage and classical correct- 
 ness," said the major, as he cast a sly glance at Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 The countenance of the vicar brightened ; and he begged 
 
324 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 his worthy friend to be more explicit, and to state the nature 
 of his intended fete. 
 
 " I have just told you that this boy of mine is shortly 
 to conduct Miss Tillers to the temple of Hymen ; I would 
 seize that happy occasion for giving a rural fete, in my 
 park, to the inhabitants of Overton and its neighbourhood ; 
 and, as there are no less than three events which I am 
 anxious to celebrate, I propose that this same fete shall be 
 continued through three successive days. On the first 
 shall be commemorated the providential escape of my 
 nephew from shipwreck ; on the second, his marriage ; and 
 on the third, iny purchase and occupation of Osterley Park 
 What think you of my plan?" 
 
 " Why, truly, that it would admit of much appropriate 
 pageantry, and be countenanced by classical authority : Au- 
 gustus triumphed three days, for the purpose of comme- 
 morating three great events ; the first of which was the 
 defeat of the Pannonians and Dalmatii; the second, the 
 battle of Actium ; and the third, the reduction of Egypt. 
 Then, again, we have the Ludi Magni of the Romans, and 
 the solemn Athenian feast, Apaturia, which lasted during 
 three days ; and, above all, the Secular games, which were 
 continued through the same period. In the face of such 
 authorities, it would ill become the classical scholar to 
 offer any objection ; although, as vicar of the parish, I 
 cannot conscientiously close my eyes against the evils which 
 might possibly arise from such protracted revelry. I would 
 therefore, with submission, propose that the three events 
 to which you allude, the importance of which I most fully 
 appreciate, should be celebrated by three distinct festivals 
 on one and the same day." 
 
 The major saw plainly that the vicar might be made to 
 approve of, or to dissent from any plan, by the dexterous 
 use of classical authority ; he therefore determined to use 
 it, as he had so successfully done on former occasions, as a 
 talisman for the accomplishment of his purpose. 
 
 " I like your proposition," observed the major, " but 
 I greatly fear that you will not be able to support it by any 
 classical authority ; and, remember, I must have every- 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 325 
 
 tiling conducted in the strictest accordance with ancient 
 usage." 
 
 "Your intention commands my profound respect," an- 
 swered the vicar, " and I will not lose any time in searching 
 the writings of Lipsius for a precedent, an author who has 
 collected fifteen laws of the Bom an entertainments ; or, 
 perhaps, the Pandects of Franciscus Modius, who has so 
 ably treated of nuptial ceremonies, will furnish the desired 
 information ; but no matter, a precedent must be found, and 
 I will produce it." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here interrupted the conversation by in- 
 quiring of the major the plan of those amusements which 
 he proposed to provide. 
 
 " My plan is to convert the elm-meadow at Osterley Park 
 into a fair," said the major, " wherein every kind of amuse- 
 ment that I can command shall be exhibited tumblers 
 rope-dancers conjurors, and, in short, the whole merry 
 train of Comus shall be pressed into our service ; and, in 
 spite of the Peace Congress, who have denounced Punch as 
 the embodied spirit of pugnacity, I will never discard the 
 old friend of my youth ; he shall certainly be engaged to 
 display his hereditary wit and mimic drolleries ; and although 
 as a needy vagabond he is at length doomed, by an ungrateful 
 public, to roam about the world, like a snail, with his house 
 on his back, let us not forget that the time was when, like 
 Homer, cities contended for his birth."* 
 
 " I hope you will also engage the ' Fantoccini ' or ' Mario- 
 nettes,'"-^ said Louisa. 
 
 * By many he has been considered of French origin ; but Naples would 
 appear to have the best claim to the honour. Mr. Payne Collier makes our 
 English Punch date from 1688, and brings him over from Holland in the 
 same ship with William of Orange; M. Mangin joins issue with him on this 
 point, and attempts to show that he existed in the days of Elizabeth. In 
 the early period of his career in England, we find Punch and Punchinello 
 used indifferently. Under the name of Ponchi, or Ponki, he has long figured 
 in China as a dwarf. 
 
 f MARIONETTE, the French word for puppet, originally applied to the 
 Virgin Mary* who, in the days of ' Mariolatry,' appeared in a sort of miracle 
 play ; but the term, like many others of the same kind, has lost its exclusive 
 application. The earliest puppet was certainly the Doll; but it has been 
 questioned whether it was the emblem of precocious maternity, or a symbol 
 of religious veneration (Penates). Did it spring from the hearth or the 
 altar ? The word Doll would seem to be a corruption of Idol. 
 
326 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 " Undoubtedly; the ' machine? gest iculantes ' have a classical 
 claim to our regard, not only as having suggested to Goethe 
 the notion of his immortal Faust, but as being honourably 
 associated with the poetical muse of Addison, and the dra- 
 matic reminiscences of Ben Jonson." 
 
 Mrs. Seymour here interposed, and begged to remind her 
 friends that we were also indebted to the Fantoccini for one 
 of Haydn's musical inspirations. * 
 
 " Nor will I withhold an offering," said her husband : 
 " who does not remember with delight the inimitable scene 
 of the Puppet Player in Don Quixote, in which the Knight 
 makes so merciless an attack upon the mimic representa- 
 tives of the Moors in defence of Don Gayferos and the fair 
 Melisendra ?" 
 
 This point having been settled, the major proceeded : " I 
 Avill also provide platforms for those who may be disposed to 
 weave the mazy dance, orchestras for music, and ornamented 
 tents for refreshments. And I shall certainly call upon 
 the vicar," added the major, with an arch smile, " to open 
 the baU with the bride." 
 
 " Ay, my dear major, had I numbered a few olympiads 
 less, I should indeed have felt flattered by so marked a 
 distinction; but my age, iny age," murmured Mr. Twaddle- 
 ton. 
 
 " Pooh, pooh nonsense ! find some classical authority to 
 sanction my proposal." 
 
 " Tour suggestion certainly merits attention, let me con- 
 sider Lucian What says Lucian de Saltatione ? No, stop, 
 I have it ! Socrates learned to dance very late in life ; and 
 Cato, nothwithstanding his severity of manners, disdained 
 not, at the age of sixty, to practise it. These are, doubtless, 
 precedents of great weight and value ; but, my dear friend, 
 however much I may esteem them, and desire to gratify you, 
 I do so sensibly feel the infirmity of age creeping over me, 
 that I must respectfully decline the proffered compliment : 
 besides, * Est modus in rebus ' as Horace says : only consider 
 a solemn old man, as I am, in black, amidst whirling forms of 
 
 * Haydn composed several operas for a Marionette Theatre, established in 
 the Esterhazy's Castle of Eisenstadt, in Hungary, between 1773 and 1780. 
 
CHAP. KXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 327 
 
 surpassing fairness. Why I should look like a hearse in a 
 snow-storm !" 
 
 The major was highly amused by so whimsical an apposi- 
 tion of discordant images, but ventured to suggest, that 
 Shakspeare might have supplied him with a much more 
 lively illustration ; " Why not, for instance, say, ' like a crow 
 trooping with snowy doves ?' " 
 
 " Very good but I must beg you, in that case, to exclude 
 the Doves of Epirus,* from your comparison," said the Vicar. 
 
 The major proceeded with his plan, stating it to be his 
 intention that a number of Lilliputian ships should perform 
 various evolutions on the canal, and ultimately engage in 
 mimic war such cannonading ! such explosions ! 
 
 "How charming! how very delightful and interesting!" 
 exclaimed Louisa and Fanny ; " but, pray, do allow Tom to 
 leave school, in order that he may witness all these amuse- 
 ments, or instead of pleasure we shall derive from them 
 nothing but regret." 
 
 " Fear not, my dear little friends," exclaimed the major ; 
 "I shall insist upon that as a condition, and I am sure my 
 request will be very cheerfully granted." 
 
 "Most certainly," said the father; "indeed I shall be 
 anxious to embrace so favourable an opportunity of explain- 
 ing to my family the various tricks they will witness, and the 
 machinery by which the deceptions will be accomplished: 
 thus shall I convert what, to the common eye, will appear as 
 a scene of idle revelry, into a school of philosophy, and, in 
 accordance with my favourite scheme, turn sport into 
 science ; and I shall, moreover, hope, by such means, to 
 guard the rising generation against that infatuated credulity 
 which is the bane and disgrace of the present age : I allude 
 to ' mesmeric ' and other such similar deceptions, as * electro- 
 biology' ' table -turning] and * spirit-rapping? which, under the 
 assumption of science, although opposed to its very first 
 principles, dishonour the hallowed shrine of Truth, and 
 convert its temple into a booth for the juggler." (17.) 
 " I quite agree with you," said the vicar ; " there is no surer 
 
 f ir\fial signified doves in most parts of Greece, except in the dialect of 
 Epirus, in which they implied old women. 
 
328 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 method of dissipating the illusions of the Witt-o'-th'-Whisp 
 than by carrying a light in our hand." 
 
 " Upon my word, Mr. Seymour, you are a perfect alchy- 
 mist, and extract gold from everything you touch : you have 
 already derived scientific information from the most miscel- 
 laneous and trifling amusements, and will, no doubt, upon 
 the present occasion, convert our very pies and puddings into 
 instruments of instruction ; thus verifying the old adage, 
 ' that there is reason in roasting an egg,' " said the major. 
 
 " By-the-by, are you aware of the philosophy which sug- 
 gested that adage ?" asked the vicar ; " if not, I will tell you. 
 You must know then that in the large end of the egg there 
 is a little air-bag termed the folliculus aeris, and which is 
 designed for furnishing a supply of air to the growing chick ; 
 now if an egg be suddenly exposed to the temperature of hot 
 embers, this air will be so violently expanded as to burst the 
 shell, and scatter its contents : to prevent such an accident, 
 the provident housewife pricks the blunt end of the shell 
 with a pin, in order to allow the expanded air to escape more 
 gradually so that there is reason, or philosophy, in the 
 roasting an egg." 
 
 " Very good ; I like your explanation ; if not true, it has 
 at least the merit of being ingenious, and, I will add, far 
 more plausible than many of our recognized derivations," 
 observed the major. 
 
 " Well, but we have interrupted the major in his delight- 
 ful description: he had not concluded the account of his 
 proposed fete," said Louisa. 
 
 " Pray, go on," cried Fanny ; "let me see, where did you 
 leave off? Oh, I remember, you were interrupted in a tem- 
 porary tent which I hope you intend to decorate with 
 garlands." 
 
 " Leave all that to the vicar, young lady ! he will, no 
 doubt, display his classical taste in the emblematic appoint- 
 ments." 
 
 " I shall terminate the festivities of the day by a grand 
 display of fireworks," continued the major, "and which will 
 necessarily fall under my own more immediate direction. In 
 all other matters I trust the vicar will allow me to proclaim 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 329 
 
 him as master of the revels ; for he is, as we all acknow- 
 ledge, deeply versed in ancient customs, and I am especially 
 anxious that every department should be conducted with the 
 utmost classical taste and correctness." 
 
 '* I willingly accept the office." said Mr. Twaddleton, wdth 
 a gracious smile, " since there is ample authority for my ac- 
 quiescence. The Romans usually appointed a person, whom 
 they styled king, and held responsible for the correctness of 
 their entertainments. I accept it also on a different ground, 
 that my presence may check the undue enthusiasm of the 
 populace, and restrain the hilarity of the saturnalia within the 
 boundary of decorum." 
 
 " If, in the arrangement of your banquet, my assistance 
 can be useful, pray command my services," said Mrs. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " Believe me sincere, my dear madam, when I say that the 
 kind manner in which you have received my plan, and now 
 so kindly offer to promote its execution, affords me the 
 highest gratification. If I decline your services, it will be 
 from an unwillingness to usurp the sovereignty of our master 
 of the ceremonies," replied the major. 
 
 " Not at all, not at all," hastily exclaimed the vicar ; " do 
 you expect me to discharge at once the offices of Dapifer, 
 Lardrenius, Magister Coquorum, and Prcegustator ? I cannot 
 undertake to descend into the lower regions, to hold converse 
 with your ancient Sibyl, the cook ; nor can I suppose that 
 you would require me to marshal the dishes." 
 
 " Have I not declared that every part of my entertain- 
 ment shall be strictly classical ; and ought not each dish to 
 convey some moral device, some allegorical design ? Are we 
 to feed with as little discrimination as the dogs that devoured 
 the sacred Apis ?" said the major. 
 
 The knowledge which the reader must have already col- 
 lected of Mr. Twaddleton' s character will have satisfied him 
 that, in every action of his life, he was more or less influenced 
 by the spell of ancient authority ; but we doubt whether he 
 may not yet have to learn the extent to which this ' laudator 
 temporis acti ' carried his enthusiasm. We shall accordingly 
 beg to state a few instances, which will serve to enlighten 
 
330 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 him still farther upon this striking point in the vicar's 
 character. Be it known, then, that the very first act which 
 announced the preferment of the Reverend Peter Twaddleton 
 to the dignity of Vicar of Overton, was not, as some might 
 suppose, an increased rate of compensation for the tithes ; 
 nor was it a rate levied for the repairs of the church ; but it 
 was the removal of the rusty and rickety vane from the 
 spire, which, as it consisted of a simple cross piece of iron, 
 seemed to his imagination to be wriggling about, without any 
 indication of its ancient and dignified origin. He therefore, 
 at his own cost, replaced it by the figure of a cock, which he 
 caused to be duly executed after the authentic model on the 
 tower of his late college chapel. It will be remembered that 
 the crowing of the cock warned Peter ; for which reason the 
 monks first placed the image of that bird on their churches, 
 as an emblem to call people to prayers ; and since the image 
 was made to revolve with the wind, it soon acquired the 
 name of the weathercock, an appellation which is now generally 
 applied to every machine for indicating the direction of the 
 wind, the derivation of the word being entirely lost sight of. 
 With respect to the arrangement of his table, the vicar 
 displayed an equal veneration for ancient forms. He per- 
 petuated the use of the wassail-bowl, which was scrupulously 
 prepared with apples and ale, according to the most orthodox 
 receipt. His mince-pies at Christmas were fabricated with 
 the same inflexible adherence to ancient authority ; he main- 
 tained that the introduction of meat into their composition 
 was a scandalous heresy; that the choicest productions of 
 the East ought alone to be admitted, since the custom was 
 originally intended to allegorise the offerings made by the 
 wise men who came from afar to worship, bringing spices, 
 &c. He was also equally critical with respect to the shape 
 of these dainty inventions ; he insisted upon the ancient 
 form, which he stated to have been in imitation of the cratch, 
 or manger, wherein the infant Jesus had lain. In the same 
 spirit, he repudiated the round plum-pudding, and insisted 
 upon the ancient form of the sausage, which distinguished 
 that Christmas delicacy. Nor did he neglect to burn the 
 "yule-log" on Christmas eve, nor to arrange a Christmas tree 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 331 
 
 in the vicarage, for the delight of his younger parishioners 
 (57), while the misletoe bough was duly suspended from the 
 ceiling. His table was, with the same antiquarian correct- 
 ness, punctually supplied at Easter with a gammon of bacon ; 
 a custom which would have been more honoured in the 
 breach than in the observance, since it was evidently founded 
 on the abhorrence our forefathers thought proper to express 
 towards the Jews at the season of commemorating the resur- 
 rection.* The idea was in direct opposition to the liberal 
 sentiments of the vicar ; but, being an ancient custom, he 
 never ventured to question its propriety. In like manner 
 his tranquillity would have been sadly disturbed, had Annette 
 ever forgotten the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday ; for he was 
 decidedly of opinion that it was a dish which had derived its 
 origin from the heathen Fornacalia, a festival instituted by 
 Numa,t in honour of the goddess Fornax ; and was intended 
 to commemorate the baking of bread before the invention of 
 ovens. Upon the subject of ' ; cross-buns" he displayed great 
 profundity. He observed that the word bun was derived 
 from boun, a species of sacred bread described by Hesychius, 
 and which was anciently offered to the gods : in support of 
 which opinion he quoted Julius Pollux and Diogenes 
 Laertius ; nor did he relinquish the subject until he had ably 
 descanted upon the address with which heathen customs had 
 been, as it were, naturalized and perpetuated as Christian 
 observances. The boun, he would say, lost its idolatrous 
 impurity by receiving the sign of the cross, J just as Druidical 
 
 * Drake's Shakspeare and his Times. 
 
 f Ovid, Fast. ii. v. 525. 
 
 j No one can entertain a greater respect for the classical authority of the 
 vicar than the author of these pages, but he humbly submits that the custom 
 of dividing the cake into four parts, quarters, or quadrants, by two straight 
 lines drawn through the centre, claims a much higher antiquity than that 
 here assigned to it. That cakes so divided were called Quadroe we have the 
 authority of Virgil, which Mr. Twaddleton would be the last to question 
 
 " Patulis nee parcere Quadris." ^n. vii. 115. 
 
 We might carry back still farther the origin of the Bun, for the Egyptians 
 made cakes in honour of the moon, shaping them like horns, to denote the 
 crescent. The Greeks followed, and called this kind of cake Bovs, or bull, from 
 its horned shape ; the accusative of which, Bow, boun, gave origin to the 
 modern bun. So again butter, since the earliest was made from cow's milk 
 alone, derived its name from Bovs, and rvpos (a coagulum). Bun and butter, 
 
332 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 idols, and "stones-erect" by having crosses engraven upon 
 them, continued to receive a justifiable reverence, even as 
 late as the seventh century. 
 
 In short, the extent to which our excellent but eccentric 
 vicar was carried on such occasions can scarcely be credited, 
 except by those who are acquainted with the extravagant 
 whimsies of a genuine antiquary. We have never contem- 
 plated this part of his character without congratulating the 
 rising generation at Overton on the circumstance of the 
 offices of village schoolmaster and vicar of the parish not 
 having centred in the same individual; for we have not 
 the shadow of a doubt, so great was Mr. Tw^addleton's 
 veneration for ancient usages, but he would have whipped up 
 every child within his jurisdiction, on the morning of Childer- 
 mas-day, or that of the Holy Innocents, as we are informed 
 was the ancient custom, " in order that the memorial of 
 Herod's murder of the Innocents might stick the closer." 
 On the other hand, he would as readily have forgiven any 
 offence, had the little culprit only cited a few lines from a 
 favourite classic ; for often had he been heard to relate, in 
 terms of high admiration, the well-known story of the 
 Athenian Captives, whose lives were spared in Sicily in 
 consequence of their being able to repeat passages from 
 Euripides.* Whether, in spite of the censure and remon- 
 strance of St. Austin, he would have ventured to continue 
 the half-holiday on the Thursday, it is difficult to say, 
 although the high antiquity of a custom, originally established 
 in honour of Jupiter, would, no doubt, have produced its due 
 influence upon the antiquary's decision. 
 
 One more anecdote, and we have done. The reader will 
 remember that to Dr. Doseall, the renowned Esculapius of 
 Overton, the antiquary had given the title of Polyphemus; 
 this might appear inconsistent with his known kindness and 
 
 therefore, not only assimilate by alliteration, and gastronomy, but by a 
 common etymology; and we trust that an alliance, so congenial to our tastes, 
 as BCN and BUTTER, may never be dissolved, but 
 
 That schoolboys, yet unborn, may utter 
 
 The praises of their buns and butter. 
 
 * Athenian army, commanded by Nicias, Plutarch. 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 333 
 
 acknowledged liberality, and we therefore feel called upon 
 to state his justification. " Was it not," he asked, " a 
 notorious custom in Athens to give nicknames expressive 
 of personal peculiarities ? Do we not learn from Aristo- 
 phanes that the poet Theognis, from the deficient warmth 
 of his compositions, went by the name of ' Snow ?' and 
 moreover, did not the Athenians, as a body, from their 
 notorious passion for news, and their habit of swallowing 
 open-mouthed the flying rumours of the day, receive the 
 soubriquet of ' GapersJ just as the London inhabitants of 
 the present day rejoice in that of Cockneys ?' " DosealFs 
 medical practice was confessedly blind and strong, and hence 
 the allusion to Polyphemus. We have thought it right to 
 relate these few anecdotes, in order to vindicate the propriety 
 of the major's choice, and to convince those whom it may 
 concern, that a better classical master of the ceremonies 
 could not have been selected. 
 
 After this explanation we may return, with a " clean 
 breast " to the party whom we had rather abruptly quitted, 
 and continue our relation of the conversation which fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 " So then you have determined that the vicar shall 
 superintend the banquet," said Mrs. Seymour; "there is, 
 however, one part of the ceremony which I shall certainly 
 not feel disposed to resign, the ordering and disposition of 
 the bridal cakes ; the genius of Gunter, and his attendant 
 spirits, shall be invoked to produce one of the most tri- 
 umphant productions of art." 
 
 " Psha, nonsense ! you surely would never countenance 
 that ice-clad demon of indigestion," said the vicar. 
 
 " What do I hear ? Why, zounds, vicar, do you expect 
 me to submit to such vagaries ? What ! a wedding without a 
 cake ! it cannot be tolerated. I suppose I shall next hear 
 of an English feast without roast beef," vociferated the 
 major. 
 
 " Fear not, my dear major, for you shall certainly have 
 your cake ; but, in the name of all that is classical, let it be 
 the true Roman bride-cake, made after the orthodox receipt 
 which Cato has bequeathed to us in his work, ' De R& 
 
334 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 Rustica' (cap. 121). You must be aware, Mr. Seymour, 
 that the Mustacea of the Romans, the species of cake used 
 at weddings, consisted of meal, aniseed, cummin, and sundry 
 other aromatic ingredients." 
 
 " And do you seriously believe that any one of us will 
 swallow such a medicated farrago r" said the major. 
 
 " The unenlightened may perhaps refuse it ; and should 
 the children prefer your modern counterfeit, they might 
 stand excused, since classical inspiration rarely descends 
 upon a boy until he has construed a Greek chorus," observed 
 the vicar. 
 
 "Were I to swallow but a grain of it," said Mrs. Sey- 
 mour, "the services of Dr. Doseall would be in speedy 
 requisition." 
 
 "Mere prejudice, madam. The object, I may say the 
 sole intention of the Mustacea, was actually to prevent or 
 remove the indigestion which might be occasioned by too 
 free an indulgence at the marriage-table ; and I think it 
 must be acknowledged that this spicy compound was better 
 adapted for such a purpose than the modern sweetmeat to 
 which it gave origin. 
 
 " With respect to the roast beef, to which the major has 
 just alluded," continued the vicar, " I shall only observe, 
 that until the reign of our eighth Henry, it does not appear 
 to have taken any part in the formation of our national 
 character." 
 
 " I would beg to inquire to whom the selection and 
 arrangement of the comic entertainments are to be intrusted ; 
 unless the major should have already found a manager of 
 mirth, I think I can recommend one who is admirably 
 qualified for the duties," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " That is lucky ; I am at this moment in quest of some 
 Barnum, l guiltless of a country's shame,' said the major. 
 
 " Ned Hopkins, then, who has for some time past taken 
 up his abode at our village alehouse, is the very man you 
 want ; I have no doubt he will cheerfully undertake the 
 office, and most satisfactorily discharge its motley duties." 
 
 " Good gracious ! Ned Hopkins ?" exclaimed the vicar 
 with much surprise, and no less indignation. 
 
CHAP, XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 335 
 
 "To be sure ; and who better understands the trim of 
 the itinerant sons of Comus ? was not his father a mounte- 
 bank doctor, an astrologer, and a professor of the art of 
 legerdemain ?" 
 
 " Do not suppose that I value Ned Hopkins the less on 
 that account ; for I well know that the immortal Virgil 
 was the son of a servant, or assistant, to a wandering astro- 
 loger, or ' Medicus Magus,' as Juvenal has it ; and that the 
 mother of Euripides was a cabbage-woman, for which 
 Aristophanes so unjustifiably ridicules him. My dislike to 
 Ned Hopkins arises from his sottish habits, his coarse jokes, 
 and bacchanalian buffoonery. " 
 
 " Ay," continued Mr. Seymour, " and then again there are 
 his vile puns and hackneyed proverbs ; and yet you must 
 confess that, after all, he is a very clever fellow." 
 
 " Clever fellow ! why, truly, Satan does not usually select 
 a fool as his ambassador," observed the vicar. 
 
 " Upon my word, gentlemen, this must needs be a most 
 amusing fellow, and you have so far excited my curiosity as 
 to make me very desirous of hearing something farther of 
 his history and habits, and of having the opportunity of 
 forming his acquaintance," said the major. 
 
 " He is one of those loose and buoyant spirits," replied 
 Mr. Seymour, " who thrive upon expedients ; and measuring 
 their consciences by their wants, derive a livelihood from 
 sources, of which those who jog on quietly through the 
 beaten paths of life have not the most remote conception. 
 He commenced his career under the tutelage of the first 
 fire-eaters of the day; but having clumsily scalded his 
 mouth, and cooled his reputation, he bolted, and sought 
 another stage for the display of his versatile genius. Pos- 
 sessed of a very considerable degree of native humour and 
 caustic shrewdness, and having received an education far 
 above his station, he engaged himself as a ' mercenary,' or 
 literary drudge, to a popular publisher of comic song-books, 
 doleful ballads, sanguinary murders, magical magazines, 
 amorous valentines, oracles of health, and plans for the 
 reduction of all taxes, and the liquidation of the national 
 debt ; nor did he hesitate to promote the public health, and 
 
336 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 the welfare of the Life Assurance Societies, by vouching, 
 under sundry feigned names, for the miraculous efficacy of 
 those pills, elixirs, and homoeopathic shams, by which all 
 mortal maladies are said by their Samaritan vendors to be 
 averted or cured. These honourable occupations, as I have 
 been credibly informed, produced for him, during a successful 
 season, some twenty or thirty pounds in the lawful coin of 
 the realm ; but Ned, like many a great genius, was better 
 pleased with an hour of idleness than with a week of study ; 
 and, strange to say, would at any time have preferred a 
 cup of wine to a bucketful of the brightest water from 
 Helicon. ]N~o sooner, therefore, had he collected a few 
 pounds, than he descended from his high literary station (a 
 garret), and, taking up his abode in some hedge alehouse, 
 enjoyed a life of happy leisure, until every particle of that 
 worldly substance, which he had gained by inspiration from 
 above, was gratefully returned to the skies in the form of 
 tobacco-fumes. For some months past," added Mr. Seymour, 
 " he has been a constant inmate at the * Bag of Nails / where, 
 as I am led to believe, he pays for nothing but his tobacco ; 
 the worthy hostess, having found him a very profitable bait 
 for customers, is too willing to barter the drippings of the 
 kitchen for his sayings, and the leakage of the tap-room for 
 his songs." 
 
 " I am quite impatient to be made acquainted with this 
 comical character," said the major. 
 
 " Suppose we walk into the village," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " we shall be sure to find him smoking his pipe in the porch 
 before the alehouse door ; where he is as regularly stationed 
 by his patroness to entrap customers, as the saucer of 
 treacle is placed in the window by the pastrycook to catch 
 flies." 
 
 " You will, of course, excuse my accompanying you," cried 
 Mr. Twaddleton, somewhat pettishly ; " I cannot endure his 
 stale jokes and potted stories." 
 
 The gentlemen accordingly directed their route through 
 Forest-lane, and took leave of the vicar at j;he entrance of 
 the churchyard. On arriving within twenty yards of the 
 public-house, Mr. Seymour observed a wreath of smoke 
 
CHAP. XXT. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 337 
 
 curling and whirling around it. " There sits our ' philosopher 
 of the Porch,' " said he ; "I knew we should find him on 
 duty." 
 
 " Hopkins ! Hopkins ! " exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " I fear 
 you have not taken the worthy vicar's friendly advice." 
 
 " Friendly advice !" muttered the wit : " too peremptory 
 by half; he assumes the air of the ace of trumps, without its 
 winning qualities, but in spite of his numerous odd tricks, I 
 question whether in the end the deuce won't win him, and a 
 spade put an end to his game. You see ' I speak by the card,"* 
 to save equivocation, as Shakspeare says," and a wldff 
 whiff 'from his pipe seasoned this impotent joke. 
 
 " Mr. Hopkins," said the major, gravely " on the eve of 
 our impending festivities, I feel that by disregarding your 
 coarse and most unjust attack upon a worthy and spotless 
 character, I shall only act in the true spirit of my classical 
 friend, the vicar ; for Rome permitted her slaves to calum- 
 niate her best citizens in the day of triumph." 
 
 "Rome indeed! and pray," exclaimed Ned, "who might 
 be those mighty fine Romans, about whom the vicar is so 
 incessantly raving and chattering ? "Who ? but rude and 
 inhospitable barbarians ! Come now at once to the point, 
 Major Snap well, and tell me honestly, whether a cloud of 
 smoke from the divine weed ever curled from a pipe in* a 
 Roman villa, or there was ever a generous outpouring of the 
 brown flood from a Roman pitcher ? Then again, who was 
 this Augustus, so lauded to the skies ? why, a poor fellow 
 that actually had not a pane of glass in his window, nor even 
 a shirt upon his back,* nor a pair of stockings to his shanks. 
 I defy the vicar, with all his book learning and cloister 
 scholarship, to gainsay this ; though do not suppose that I 
 value the judgment of these antiquaries beyond a pinch of 
 the dust they venerate ; a fraternity of sallow, vinegar- 
 visaged enthusiasts ; the very tips of whose tart noses might 
 gain a prize from the Society of Arts for taking out iron- 
 moulds; who spurn a joke, as they would cuff a wasp, and 
 love merriment pretty much as a certain personage is said to 
 
 * Body linen was not known to the ancients, but frequent baths probably 
 prevented the evils that might otherwise have arisen from the want of it. 
 
 f 
 
338 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 love holy water ; who gain their inspiration not from the 
 free air of heaven, but from the murky atmosphere of vaults, 
 while their literature is derived from the tablets of moulder- 
 ing tombs, as they learn to spin their long yarns of mystery 
 from the pattern-web of their friendly spider. Then only 
 look at their high priest, I mean our vtear, does not his very 
 dress shadow forth the gloom of his vocation ? for what is it but 
 the sable livery of the middle ages, turned up with mildew, 
 and enlivened by coffin-nail buttons ?" 
 
 "Upon my word, Mr. Hopkins, you are playing a very 
 pretty game of Quintain, and most heroically tilting at an 
 image of your own grotesque creation. Have a care lest it 
 should turn round, and, rebuffing your unskilful assault, 
 bespatter you w r ith dust far less honourable than that of the 
 antiquary ; but,*' continued the major, " do you not think 
 that you would be much more worthily and profitably engaged 
 in reforming your own habits than in misrepresenting and 
 reviling those of your better-educated superiors ? The vicar, 
 as I well know, has spared no trouble to reclaim you, but 
 sorry am I to say, with no other result than that of raising 
 in your mind a storm of wrath which you most ungratefully 
 shower upon a disinterested friend and a kind benefactor." 
 
 Ned Hopkins heeded not this reproof, but proceeded 
 " As to reforming my habits, why, gentlemen, the dog can- 
 not alter its way of barking, nor is it easy to straighten in 
 the oak the crook that grew in the sapling." 
 
 " I am to presume, then, to speak courteously, that you 
 are still a man of leisure," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Ay, verily am I ; as idle, sir, as a chimney in the dog- 
 days," replied the wag of the tap-room. 
 
 " That, by-the-by, is not a very happy simile of yours, 
 when applied to a man who is smoking all day long," inter- 
 posed the major. 
 
 " If you are for a skirmish of wit, most gallant sir, Ned 
 Hopkins is not the lad to shirk the encounter. As, however, 
 ,my simile of the chimney has failed to please you, let me try 
 what I can make of the dog-days ; I have it ! 'As lazy as 
 Ludlam's dog, that leaned his head against the wall to bark.' 
 Will that please you? But, in good faith, gentlemen, I 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 339 
 
 confess that a day of leisure is to me a golden age, for I am 
 of my Lord Peterborough's way of thinking, who used to 
 say, ' A golden age was that in which every one might pipe 
 when and where he pleased.' " Whiff whiff. 
 
 The wag, at this instant, giving such a practical illustra- 
 tion of his theme, as would have suffocated the major, had 
 not his military habits rendered him smoke-proof. 
 
 " In short, gentlemen," resumed Ned, " a pipe is the 
 solace of my life, and the mainspring of my wit : knock out 
 my pipe and you knock out my brains. I have heard Porson 
 say that * when smoking went out of fashion, learning went 
 out of school.' I verily believe that if I could not obtain 
 the 'Furies' Frankincense ,' as King Jamie profanely called the 
 divine weed, I should be like the vicar Breedon, who, accord- 
 ing to "William Lilly, cut the bell-ropes, and smoked them." 
 So saying, he blew another cloud, and, removing the pipe 
 from his mouth, sang the following ditty : 
 
 " Little tube of magic power, 
 Charmer of an id le hour, 
 Object of my warm desire, 
 Lip of wax and eye of fire ; 
 And thy snowy taper waist, 
 With my fingers gently braced," &c. &c. 
 
 " Always merry, Ned," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Lord bless you, sir, what is life but a jest ? I jest to 
 live, and I live but to jest, and so I shall continue to do, 
 until the shovel puts me to bed with my mother." 
 
 " Your father was, as I have heard, a reputed jester, so 
 that your wit came to you by inheritance." 
 
 " Indeed he was, God bless his memory ! and it was his 
 constant prayer that his son Neddy might turn out as sharp 
 a man as his father a true l chip of the old block ;' and if 
 there be any truth in the adage, that * dogs bark as they are 
 IredJ I certainly had as good a chance as most persons. 
 Momus rocked my cradle ; I ate fire before I was seven years 
 old ; and so anxiously did my father superintend my educa- 
 tion, that he never suffered me to cut a morsel until I had 
 cut a joke. 'Neddy,' he used to say, 'I perceive you are 
 like my bagpipes, never audible except your pouch is full of 
 
340 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 wind ; for after a good meal you are as mum as a mouse in a 
 mill ; so remember, my lad, no pun 110 pudding no song no 
 supper.' Thus schooled I became, through necessity, a wit, 
 and earned every mouthful by a joke ; in short, after a little 
 time, my genius illumined every dish, and, like the fire of 
 London, blazed from Pudding-lane to Pie-corner." 
 
 " And you afterwards appeared on the stage as a candi- 
 date for popular applause; which, as you fortunately 
 obtained, how came you to desert your calling?" asked the 
 major. 
 
 " He who licks honey from thorns pays too dearly for it. 
 The scanty pence were obtained only through painful toil 
 and abject drudgery, so I left off threshing straw, packed 
 up my w r ardrobe in a pocket-handkerchief, and trudged off 
 to Cockney shire, where I hoped to find myself in clover." 
 
 " For what object ?" inquired the major. 
 
 " To enter upon the literary line, and to carry my wit to 
 a better market and to a more discerning public; and 
 instead of retailing it at country fairs, to offer it wholesale 
 to some of the fraternity of publishers, from whom I shortly 
 received several profitabll orders : the sale of my poetry, 
 moreover, soon convinced me, notwithstanding all that had 
 been said to the contrary, that there were still some gold mines 
 in Parnassus. I assure you I lived the first week entirely 
 upon ' liquid blacking,'* and sang like a lark as the herald of 
 Day? 
 
 "Day and Martin," suggested the major. 
 
 " I also procured a blazing fire, and an abundant supply 
 of candles, by the publication of my popular song, 'Ah, let 
 my muse a flame inspire' I shall say nothing of my odes upon 
 MosEsf and the PROFITS ; except indeed that the one 
 recruited my wardrobe, and the other my cupboard. In 
 short, gentlemen, without exhausting your patience with a 
 long recital of my adventures, suffice it to say, that I have 
 
 * For the sake of some future antiquary, we may state that DAY and 
 MARTIN were wholesale manufacturers of " Liquid Blacking" and that the 
 former dedicated his immense gains to the founding almshouses for the 
 blind. 
 
 f MOSES and SON, tailors, of advertising celebrity with a Poet Laureate 
 attached to their establishment. 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 341 
 
 always been able to keep my pipe smoking by my pvffs, my 
 pot boiling by the ebullition of my spirits, and my grate blaz- 
 ing by the fire of my genius ; while paste and scissors have 
 never failed in securing a plentiful supply of cabbage, upon 
 which I have thriven like any caterpillar." 
 
 Here our Bacchanal, with an approving wink, piously 
 inaugurated his potation by a wish that the 'number of 
 drops in his jug might be added to that of their days,' in 
 ratification of which he took a draught that Bitias,* or 
 DiotimiiSjf of classical memory, might well have envied. 
 
 "Did I not say," resumed the wag, after a deep-drawn 
 breath, " that my pipe was the nurse of wit ? ay, verily is 
 she a Jn/-nurse. It is a strange case, gentlemen, but I am 
 in the situation of the flying-fish, incapable of keeping myself 
 up, unless I occasionally moisten my wings." 
 
 " To be serious for a few moments, let me warn you," 
 said Mr. Seymour, "that if you persist in this dreadful 
 habit, you will most assuredly destroy the coat of your 
 stomach." 
 
 " The coat of my stomach ! " replied Ned ; " if that is all, 
 my stomach must even be contented to do what its master 
 has so often done before it go in its waistcoat, with the 
 understanding that it shall have an additional glass to keep 
 it warm." 
 
 " But suppose I could prove to ypur satisfaction that by 
 relinquishing this evil habit, your days in the land would be 
 lengthened/' observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " My days lengthened, by withdrawing that which alone 
 enlivens them! ha! ha! ha! Why, my good sir, I do not 
 want an oracle to tell me that a short glass will always make 
 a long day ; now, you must know that what with a shrunken 
 purse, a lengthening score, and a forbidding tapstress, I was 
 lately compelled to forego the cheering cup for an entire long 
 day, and I can promise you that I found it the longest day 
 I had ever passed : nor was that the worst of it ; for, during 
 this day of thirst and tribulation, I actually fancied that a 
 
 * Vivg. .En. i. 742. 
 
 f An Athenian, nicknamed the Funnel, on account of the draughts ho 
 swallowed. 
 
342 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXI. 
 
 grim demon had seized me, and clung as obstinately to my 
 back, as ever the ' Old Man of the Sea/ did upon the 
 shoulders of ' Sinbad the Sailor,' and as I had neither grape 
 nor gourd wherewith to exorcise him, methought I might 
 smoke him from his hold ; but, alas ! the more I fumed the 
 more did he fret and gripe me, nor was I relieved till the 
 hostess, in pure charity, administered some drops of com- 
 fort." 
 
 " My good fellow," said the major, " all this is very intel- 
 ligible ; for the want of your accustomed stimulant, you 
 languished and fell into a fit of melancholy, just as Sinbad 
 did from an overpowering sense of his helpless solitude." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here remarked that the miserable feelings of 
 the oppressed hypochondriac, and his vain struggles to over- 
 come them, until aided by the fermented juice of the grape, 
 were never more faithfully and vividly depicted than by the 
 myth of " SINBAD AND THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA."* 
 
 "I see, however, very plainly," continued he, "that in 
 regard to your inveterate habit of drinking you are incorri- 
 gible, and therefore, to quit the grievances of the bottle, 
 what say you to an agreeable and profitable engagement ?" 
 
 " "Why, as to that, sir, I have always a ready lip for a ripe 
 cherry. 1 ' Whiff. 
 
 " You must know, then, that my friend Major Snapwell 
 proposes to give a grand rural fete to the inhabitants of 
 Overton and its neighbourhood ; and as he intends to con- 
 vert his grounds into a fair upon the occasion, he is desirous 
 of finding some person acquainted with comic entertain- 
 ments, who would undertake the office of manager, to con- 
 tract with the necessary performers, and superintend all the 
 arrangements." 
 
 tf I am the lad for the major's silver," said the delighted 
 wag ; " for without vanity, I may say that few persons better 
 understand the art of mixing up the motley ingredients of 
 fun, farce, and frolic ; there is, besides, that in the major's 
 face which I would willingly call master." 
 
 " And were I to judge from your frontispiece," observed 
 
 * This beautiful allegory of the Arabian Nights would furnish a highly- 
 poetical theme for the pencil of the accomplished artist. 
 
CHAP. XXI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 343 
 
 the major, " I should say that every day in your calendar was 
 a red-lettered one the painting of that jolly red nose of 
 yours must have cost a trifle." 
 
 " Cannot tell ; it is not yet finished," retorted the hu- 
 mourist. 
 
 Major Snapwell, with the assistance of Mr. Seymour, now 
 entered more fully into the nature and extent of the various 
 exhibitions which he wished Hopkins to provide ; but, as he 
 was at present unable to fix the exact day for the fete, he 
 directed him to take such steps only as might be necessary 
 for securing the performers, and to hold himself in readiness 
 for the occasion." 
 
 " Readiness," observed Ned, " is the labour of time ; he 
 that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the 
 grinding." 
 
 " Oh, depend upon it a reasonable time will be allowed 
 for all due preparation ; and so with that understanding we 
 now part," concluded the major. 
 
 " Exactly so, most gallant sir," responded the incorrigible 
 wag; "w r e part, like a pair of scissors, to meet again, when 
 you may depend upon it, I shall cut out the work according 
 to the pattern you have given me." 
 
344 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE FLOWER-GARDEN. REASONS FOR PLACING IT NEAR YOUR DWELLING. 
 
 EARLY PASSION FOR FLOWERS ENDURES THROUGH LIFE. ADVANTAGES 
 
 ARISING FROM THEIR CULTIVATION. ITS PLEASURES ENHANCED BY THE 
 
 APPLICATIONS OF SCIENCE. CONTRAST, A SOURCE OF PLEASURE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. THE PHILOSOPHY OF COLOURS. 
 
 COMPLEMENTARY, OR ACCIDENTAL COLOURS. EXPERIMENTS WITH 
 
 COLOURED WAFERS. OPTICAL FALLACIES. REFLECTIONS IN THE 
 
 ALCOVE OP THE MAJOR'S GARDEN. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS AND 
 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 " Or shall I mention, where celestial Truth 
 Her awful light discloses, to bestow 
 A more majestic pomp on Beauty's frame ? 
 
 Nor ever yet 
 
 The melting rainbow's vernal-tinctur'd hues 
 To me have shown so pleasing, as when first 
 The hand of Science pointed out the path 
 In which the sunbeams gleaming from the west 
 Fall on the watery cloud." Akenside. 
 
 " Walk in and view the wonders of my enchanted garden." 
 
 Darwin. 
 
 THE reader will remember that a promise had been given by 
 Miss Villers to visit Osterley Park, in company with the 
 Seymour family, in order that they might inspect and 
 arrange the flower-garden of Major Snapwell. That promise 
 had been redeemed ; and on the morning following their 
 arrival, the gallant host reminded Miss Tillers of her en- 
 gagement to offer such suggestions for the improvement of 
 his flower-beds, as might readily occur to a person of her 
 acknowledged taste. 
 
 " Nay, my dear major, rather appeal to our good friend 
 Mr. Seymour, since it is from his science alone, that you can 
 expect any really useful hints for the more skilful disposi- 
 tion of your flowers," answered Miss Villers. 
 
 " I greatly fear," said Mr. Seymour, " that you are raising 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 345 
 
 expectations which I shall fail to realise ; I will, therefore, 
 at once, candidly state, that I have not the least pretension 
 to be considered as a florist, and that my only object is to 
 explain certain elementary principles regarding the harmony 
 of colours, which may enable you, by their judicious applica- 
 tion, to display your flowers to the eye of taste with the 
 greatest amount of satisfaction. You will therefore perceive 
 that I use the garden rather as the means than the end of 
 an instructive inquiry but before I proceed, let me acknow- 
 ledge how greatly we are indebted to the late researches of 
 M. Chevreul,* for the knowledge I shall hope to impart." 
 
 " Previous to our entering upon this subject," interposed 
 the vicar, " may I be allowed, my dear major, to congratulate 
 you on having your flower-garden so close to your mansion : 
 when so placed, it inspires very different feelings from one 
 situated at a distance. In the former case, each flower is a 
 friend, with whom you may hourly hold converse ; you trace 
 its growth from the opening bud to the falling blossom 
 you mark its daily wants, and the vase of water, or the 
 pruning-knife and scissors, are at hand to supply them : 
 should they be attacked by voracious insects, you drive the 
 miscreants from their prey ; whereas in the distant garden, 
 the flowers, instead of friends, are only acquaintances, casually 
 seen, little cared for, and as soon forgotten, and into whose 
 progress to maturity you have but an occasional, and very 
 imperfect insight." 
 
 " So entirely do I agree with every word that has fallen 
 from our friend the vicar, that I would earnestly entreat 
 every true votary of our elegant science, to place the shrine 
 of his goddess within a readily -accessible distance of his 
 dwelling," observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Do you not remember," asked Tom, " when we laid out 
 our little gardens, how desirous you were that they should 
 be placed at a short distance from the house, so that we 
 might watch the progress of our flowers, and the effect pro- 
 
 * " On the Influence that two Colours may exercise upon each other, 
 when seen simultaneously." Physical Investigations on Dyeing, by M. 
 Chevreul. More recently the same author has published a more extended 
 work, entitled, The Principles of Harmony, and Contrast of Colours, and 
 their applications to the Arts : translated from the French by C. Martel. 
 
346 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 duced upon them by daily attention ? and as long as I live 
 I shall never forget the pleasure they so constantly gave ns, 
 during the holidays." 
 
 The artlessness and truth, with which this genuine feeling 
 was expressed, particularly struck and pleased Miss Villers, 
 and led her to remark that, with the exception perhaps of 
 certain musical airs, nothing so tenaciously clings to the 
 memory, or entwines itself so passionately around our affec- 
 tions, as an early love of flowers ; that the violet and prim- 
 rose, gathered in our childhood, carry with them the most 
 endearing reminiscences, and the most pleasurable associa- 
 tions, to extreme old age. " The sojourner of distant lauds," 
 continued the young lady, "actually weeps with joy over 
 the violet that may have casually found its way to the 
 country of his adoption."* 
 
 Mr. Seymour always considered the cultivation of a flower- 
 garden as very properly included within the instructive re- 
 creations of youth. 
 
 " There cannot," said he, " be a more healthy and rational 
 amusement. The contemplation of the softer beauties, 
 which a beneficent Providence has so profusely lavished 
 upon us, communicates a sympathetic influence, which not 
 only educates the mind, but refines the heart, and leads the 
 young scholar to look 'through Nature, up to Nature's 
 God,' and thence to learn, that the Omnipotent who could 
 design and delight in such marvels of beauty and loveliness, 
 must be a gentle spirit, overflowing with kindness, and 
 abounding in mercy ; and not that stern and avenging deity 
 imagined by the ignorant, and worshipped by the gloomy 
 devotee. The vigilance and kindly care, too, with which we 
 watch, and provide for, the tender plant during its progres- 
 sive stages, furnish a wholesome discipline of the affections ; 
 while, at the same time, we are practically taught the great 
 physical as well as moral truth, that the success of every 
 
 * It is related that a vessel on arriving in New Holland, and importing for 
 the first time some primroses into the colony, produced such excitement 
 amongst the English settlers, as to have rendered it necessary for the autho- 
 rities to call out a guard to protect the desired treasure ; and it is recorded of 
 Linnaeus that, in his travels through England, he shed tears of joy on recog- 
 nising the golden gorse of his native land. 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 347 
 
 enterprise will depend upon the due appliances of time and 
 season. The opening foliage, bursting bud, and expanding 
 flower become associated in the young mind with the cheer- 
 ing ideas of hope, progress, and fulfilment." 
 
 " I am unwilling to interrupt your flow of eloquence, so 
 powerfully exerted for a high moral purpose," said the vicar, 
 " but never let us forget to impress upon the young mind, 
 that the gratification afforded by the contemplation of 
 Nature must ever be commensurate with the knowledge of 
 her laws and harmonies that Science can call up beauties, 
 and unfold charms, unknown and unperceived by the common 
 observer 
 
 * A primrose by a river's brim, 
 A yellow primrose is to him, 
 But it is nothing more.' " 
 
 " I can assure you," replied Mr. Seymour, " that my chief 
 object in the proposed examination of the major's flower- 
 garden is to realise what you have so happily expressed, and 
 which you will be pleased to remember I have advocated on 
 many former occasions. It is my present intention to con- 
 vince our young party that Science, relaxing her sterner 
 aspect, may be found indulging her fancy in the flower- 
 garden, and may even be caught by the young florist, in a 
 kind of holiday humour, coquetting with the Muses, and 
 sporting amidst its gaudy parterres." 
 
 " If I correctly understand Mr. Seymour," observed the 
 major, "he is prepared to point out the relations w r hich 
 subsist between certain colours, and the agreeable arrange- 
 ment of flowers ; but before we proceed," continued he, " I 
 should much like to ask, whether those who have investi- 
 gated the natural sources of the beautiful have not justly 
 concluded in acknowledging Contrast as one of its most 
 important conditions? and, if so, whether that principle 
 should not be carried out in the arrangement and distribu- 
 tion of our flowers ?" 
 
 Mr. Seymour admitted without any hesitation, that 
 Contrast necessarily entered into all our conceptions of the 
 beautiful ; " for," said he, " without darkness, we should be 
 scarcely conscious of the reality of light ; and it is equally 
 
348 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 evident that, to render light charming to the senses, we 
 must have shade as an accompanying contrast: even the 
 rainbow owes much of its beauty to the dark cloud of rain, 
 upon which its gorgeous colours appear in such striking 
 opposition. And when does the clear blue sky ever appear 
 so lovely and charming, as when viewed through the openings 
 of shadowing trees ? ' ' 
 
 " Nothing can be more true, according to my views and 
 experience," observed the vicar; "and let me ask, in my 
 turn, wherein would be found the beauties of the most 
 magnificent temples of Greece, if deprived of the happy 
 alternation of lights and shadows ? This idea was lately 
 very forcibly impressed upon me, when, passing through the 
 antique gallery of the British Museum, I viewed with 
 delight the bold group of figures on the pediment of the 
 ^Egean Temple, and I could not but imagine how they must 
 have successively unfolded fresh beauties to the spectator, as 
 the light and shades changed with the passing hours of the 
 day. A circumstance to which our modern architects have 
 paid far too little attention. And as to our Gothic edifices, 
 I have always regarded their tracery, mouldings, and pro- 
 jecting ornaments as ingenious traps for catching lights and 
 shadows. 
 
 " If so," exclaimed the major, " c may their shadows never 
 be less,' for I am a devoted admirer of Gothic architecture." 
 
 " And I trust," said Louisa, a that the fairies may not run 
 away with them, as they are said to do in New Zealand."* 
 
 " There can be no doubt," said Mr. Seymour, " that the 
 alternations of light and shade are always pleasing to the 
 imagination, and indeed they constitute a striking feature of 
 the beautiful." 
 
 " How vividly does this conversation recall to my recol- 
 lection the delight I experienced, last summer, on the downs 
 of Sussex, during a short residence at Eastbourne," said 
 Miss Villers, " when, on a breezy day, masses of cloud were 
 
 * Louisa Seymour here refers to the legend relating to the fairies of New 
 Zealand, who, according to Sir George Grey, never appropriate any jewels 
 that may have been offered for propitiating their favour, but are satisfied 
 by carrying off their shadows. 
 
CHAP. XXTI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 349 
 
 rapidly driven across the clear sky, and sunshine and shadow, 
 like wild spirits, chased each other over hill and dale ! The 
 bright gleam, as it advanced, shed joy and gladness from its 
 golden wings ; while the broad shadow that followed in its 
 train, although for the moment it might sober this feeling of 
 exhilaration, served at the same time to heighten the ex- 
 pected pleasure of another bright alternation." 
 
 Mr. Seymour told his fair companion that it was only 
 under circumstances, such as she had poetically described, 
 that sunlight proclaims its undisputed dominion over our 
 inward feelings : " It is then," said he, " that we yield to 
 the impressions of Nature in one of her most pleasing moods, 
 and discover those sympathetic relations which subsist 
 between her external operations and our own internal sen- 
 sations." 
 
 I think we may venture to say, that those who, perchance, 
 have read this description by Miss Villers, will readily ac- 
 knowledge that they have experienced the same feelings 
 under similar circumstances. 
 
 " Am I then to understand, without further discussion, 
 that the arrangement of our flowers is to be directed by the 
 simple law of contrast of colours ?" asked the major. 
 
 " Not exactly : there is another and a higher consideration 
 to guide us a principle depending upon optical laws ; to 
 explain and illustrate which I consider to be my special 
 mission," answered Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Nunc agite, pueri. Now, boys, for a holiday frolic with 
 Science in the flower-garden !" joyously shouted the vicar. 
 
 " Very good. You are certainly at liberty to give that 
 turn to my expression," said Mr. Seymour ; " but you will 
 soon perceive that the principles I am about to explain with 
 reference to the arrangement of flowers, will admit of far 
 more extensive and important applications, or I should have 
 scarcely thought it worth while to enter upon their consi- 
 deration. After this declaration, the major will probably 
 allow me to proceed without further interruption. Well, 
 then," continued Mr. Seymour, "in the first place, let it be 
 distinctly understood, that philosophers consider white light, 
 as it emanates from the sun, as being compounded of, and 
 
350 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 consequently resolvable into, three primary colours, viz. 
 BED, BLUE, and YELLOW ; and that should such colours be 
 recombined, in their just proportions, they will reproduce 
 white light ; and that moreover all other colours, such as 
 orange, green, indigo, and violet, are compounds of the prima- 
 ries just mentioned ; thus, for instance, green is a compound 
 of blue and yellow orange, of red and yellow and purple, 
 of blue and red ; and so on. 
 
 " When a body, therefore, exhibits a particular colour, we 
 may assume that the white light, which has fallen upon its 
 surface, has been resolved into its constituent colours ; of 
 which some have been absorbed or extinguished,* while 
 others have been reflected the reflected rays meeting the 
 eye are, of course, those which impart to the body in ques- 
 tion its characteristic colour : thus if a body appear green 
 we infer that it has absorbed the red ray and reflected the 
 blue and yellow ones, which, by combining, produce green. 
 The difference of shade, or tone, observable in coloured 
 bodies such, for example, as a light or dark green, or a 
 bright or dark red arises from their respective surfaces 
 reflecting, in conjunction with the dominant colour, other 
 subordinate rays, with a greater or less admixture of white 
 light that had escaped decomposition. 
 
 " I believe," interposed the vicar, " that a surface never 
 exclusively reflects any single kind of coloured rays." 
 
 " I do not believe that there is such a thing as a perfectly 
 unmixed colour, excepting of course those transmitted 
 through the prism," answered Mr. Seymour. 
 
 '' "Well," observed the vicar, " I must now acknowledge 
 the error into which I have fallen. You must know that, 
 in anticipation of your lesson, I had prepared a top, which 
 I thought, by spinning rapidly, would enable my young 
 friends to comprehend more readily your theory. I divided 
 its upper surface by radii into three compartments, corre- 
 sponding to the relative areas occupied by the three pri- 
 mary colours ; and I fully expected that, during the rapid 
 
 * When we say that certain rays are absorbed, we use a figurative expression 
 to denote that they have vanished, without reference to the mode of action by 
 which the effect is produced. 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 351 
 
 revolution of the top, I should so combine these colours as 
 to have produced a pure white ; but instead of that, I only 
 obtained a dull and dirty-greyish tint."* 
 
 " And I hope you now fully understand the cause of 
 your disappointment," said Mr. Seymour. " Could you 
 have obtained colours, as pure as those of the prism, you 
 would, beyond doubt, have succeeded. In carrying out 
 our theory, however, we are bound to consider the colours 
 as pure, so that the union of any one with the other two 
 shall produce white light. Now, the colours standing in 
 such relations to each other are very significantly said to be 
 COMPLEMENTARY of each other. Thus, red is complementary 
 of green, that is of blue and yellow, because, to form white 
 light, red must be added to such colours. So again, blue is 
 said to be complementary of orange ; although, in some of 
 the more complicated colours, it is not always easy to fix 
 upon their exact complement$."t 
 
 Mr. Seymour next proceeded to consider certain effects 
 produced by white and coloured light upon human vision ; 
 and for this purpose he thought the readiest and most satis- 
 factory way would be, at once, to exhibit a simple and, as 
 he thought, a very instructive and convincing experiment. 
 He accordingly attached to a white card three differently- 
 coloured wafers, in the figure of a triangle ; and stated 
 that, if the eye be steadily fixed upon them for a few 
 seconds, and then turned away and directed to a blank part 
 of the card, the image of the wafers would be seen of the 
 same form and dimensions, but in colours complementary of 
 those of the real wafers. 
 
 " Do you mean to say," asked Tom, with some surprise, 
 " that, after looking at the red wafer, I shall see its ghost 
 of a green colour, by merely turning my eyes to a blank part 
 of the paper?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear boy, that is precisely my meaning ; but 
 do not trust my word, let your eyes judge for themselves ; 
 only take care to keep the eye quite steady, for by the 
 
 * Every artist knows that a " neutral tint '' is produced by an admixture of 
 yellow, blue, and red. 
 
 f It is a great desideratum to obtain a better nomenclature of colours. 
 
352 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 wavering motion of the eyeball, or the eyelids, the im- 
 pression is lost." 
 
 " So then," said the vicar, " we must have the eyes of fish, 
 or else resemble the two gladiators of the Emperor Claudius, 
 who were invincible from possessing the faculty of not 
 winking." 
 
 Mr. Seymour here asked the vicar whether he remembered 
 reading in Moore's ' Diary ' an account of the little Irish 
 fairies, which were said to stay as long as you looked at 
 them, but were off the moment you looked away. " Surely," 
 added Mr. Seymour, " this is very like an optical illusion." 
 
 Tom obeyed his father's directions, and, in despite of the 
 vicar's whimsicality, maintained a quiet eye and steady 
 gaze, and readily saw the three wafers of different colours, 
 but "more faint," as he said, " than the real ones. I see," 
 said he, " the red wafer now green, the violet one yellow, and 
 the orange one blue." 
 
 " I think we all now understand the meaning of a com- 
 plementary colour; I shall therefore advance another step 
 in the inquiry," said Mr. Seymour. " The unreal, or 
 spectral colour, you have just witnessed, and which is always 
 complementary of that of the real image, when it is called 
 up in the way you have seen, is said by M. Chevreul to be 
 produced by SUCCESSIVE Contrast, to distinguish it from 
 the optical appearance I am now about to exhibit, and which 
 has been termed SIMULTANEOUS Contrast. The meaning 
 and value of these words will immediately become apparent, 
 for since in the late experiment the true and complementary 
 colours were seen successively, or the one after the other ; 
 so, in the experiment I am about to exhibit, the true and 
 spectral colours will be seen together : the terms, therefore, 
 successive and simultaneous contrasts seem especially well 
 calculated to mark the distinction. In this second experi- 
 ment, I shall use the same card and the same wafers. Now 
 then, Tom, I again ask you to gaze steadily upon the 
 wafers, as you did before, but without transferring your eye 
 to a blank part of the card, as in the former experiment, and 
 tell me what you see." 
 
 " I see," answered the boy, after a short interval, " the 
 
CHAP. XXFI. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 353 
 
 three wafers, each bordered by a rim of a different colour ; 
 the red wafer has a border of green, the violet of yellow, 
 and the orange one of blue." 
 
 The major having likewise satisfied himself by ocular 
 demonstration, asked whether he was not to understand 
 from what he had seen, that the eye, in viewing existing 
 colours, sees also, either successively or simultaneously, 
 phantoms of a complementary hue ? 
 
 "You state the fact very clearly," answered Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " for those complementary images have no exist- 
 ence but in the mind's eye ; they are mere spectres called 
 up as it were by enchantment, but they are nevertheless 
 very important in their practical influences ; indeed I may 
 say that they furnish the only rational explanation of 
 many appearances which, although familiar, are not the 
 less difficult to comprehend. This must be my apology for 
 having so heavily taxed your time and patience ; and all that 
 now remains for me to do, is to announce the general optical 
 law to be deduced from them, viz. : That when two dissimilar 
 colours are seen \n juxtaposition, or when one quickly succeeds the 
 other, they will mutually modify each other ly reciprocally imparting 
 tlieir complementary colours." 
 
 " Are you prepared to give us some simple instance, in 
 which so modified an effect can be readily witnessed?" 
 asked the major. 
 
 " At once," answered Mr. Seymour : " look at this bright- 
 green coloured book, just purchased at a railroad station, 
 where hundreds of such evergreens are exposed for sale, and 
 tell me, if you can, the colour of its leaves." 
 
 " Pink," one and all exclaimed. 
 
 " !N"o such thing," said Mr. Seymour, " they are perfectly 
 white, as you will acknowiedge, as soon as I turn aside the 
 green cover." 
 
 The party were perfectly astonished at this revelation, 
 and amused themselves for some time by fixing their eyes 
 upon the green cover, and then opening the book, in order 
 to witness the complementary colour of its pages. 
 
 " I will relate a curious anecdote in connexion with this 
 optical fallacy," said Mr. Seymour : " being about to start 
 
 2 A 
 
354 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 on a railroad, I purchased at the terminus one of these 
 green books to amuse myself during the journey, and on 
 placing a shilling on the cover, I hastily withdrew it, 
 under the impression that I had offered a copper counter- 
 feit, but which immediately regained its silvery hue, as 
 soon as it had been removed from the glare of the green- 
 eyed enchanter. I will add to this another similar anec- 
 dote. As I lately passed a shop in the Quadrant, near 
 Eegent Street, I observed in the window numerous small 
 articles of silver, displayed on a bright green card ; after 
 gazing upon them for a few seconds they appeared as if 
 deeply tarnished, an effect which I soon discovered was 
 due to the complementary colour cast upon them by the 
 green ground on which they were exhibited." 
 
 " Nimium ne crede colori" muttered the vicar. 
 
 "I plainly perceive," said the major, "that this optical 
 theory must comprise many beautiful applications which I 
 had not at first imagined." 
 
 "I could point out many such illustrations which, I 
 doubt not, would greatly interest you ; and here again I 
 must be permitted to refer to an observation to which the 
 vicar has frequently drawn our attention the distinction 
 between seeing and observing, between ' eyes and no eyes/ 
 as Miss Edgeworth would express it. Should the philo- 
 sopher travel through a country, a large portion of whose 
 surface is covered by a vivid green, enlivened by a bright 
 sun, and interspersed with patches of ploughed land, he will 
 not fail to observe that the latter assume a purplish-red 
 colour, while hundreds may have passed over the same road 
 without having noticed, much less inquired into the cause 
 of such an appearance." 
 
 " I can readily understand that there may be appearances 
 to be alone recognised by an experienced and inquiring 
 eye," observed the major. 
 
 "That is undoubtedly the case; and," added Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " so also are there optical illusions which the unedu- 
 cated eye will take for realities thus, many of those diver- 
 sified tints, which so charm us in the summer sunset, are 
 mere optical creations, being a few bright colours multi- 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 355 
 
 plied by the complementary images of our vision ; and so 
 also with those colours that occasionally flash across the 
 restless surface of the sea; they are but complementary 
 tints, which the blue or green waves cast upon the inter- 
 vening spaces."* 
 
 ''How all important are these few observations, with 
 which you have favoured us, to the landscape painter !" 
 said Miss Yillers. 
 
 " Not only to the painter, my dear Miss Villers, but to 
 the connoisseur, for he will thereby not only be directed in 
 the election of a suitable colour for the walls of his picture 
 gallery, but he will be enabled to place his pictures in a 
 juxtaposition the most favourable for eliciting their full 
 effects."t 
 
 " Suppose we now, at once, adjourn to the flower- 
 
 * Mr. Albert Smith, in the account of his ascent to the summit of Mont 
 Blanc, has furnished us with a striking illustration of that peculiar property 
 of the eye to call up complementary colours. He says, that in marching 
 along sloping fields and uplands, all of dazzling whiteness, he observed, for 
 the first time, the intense blue colour of the sky; but this, as he supposed, 
 was only the effect of comparison with the unsubdued glare from the snow 
 on all sides ; since, on making a kind of lorgnette with his two hands, and 
 looking up, as he might have done at a picture, there was nothing unusual 
 in the tint. 
 
 f Mr. Sidney Smirke, in a letter to Sir Charles Eastlake, has lately refined 
 this optical principle so far as to maintain, that the catalogues which we 
 carry in our hands, during the inspection of pictures, should have leaves of 
 different tints : a neutral -coloured page to sober the eye as it passes from a 
 high to a low toned picture ; and another of bright red to prepare the vision 
 for distinguishing and discerning the greens in a landscape, however latent or 
 neutralized they might be. Such artifice would also prevent the damaging 
 action of pictures one on the other; so that, after viewing for a time a 
 picture, by reverting to the appropriate page of our catalogue, we might, as 
 it were, send the eye to a fountain to be cleansed from previous impressions, 
 and rendered more tolerant of a new assortment of colours, and more critically 
 alive to their differences. An eye fresh from Rubens could not appreciate 
 a demure grey picture, but would unjustly set it down as a feeble and faded 
 production. A sunset of Turner would thus be the death of a dozen tamer 
 rivals. Reynolds himself tells us that the colour of Rubens appeared to him 
 brighter on the first than on the second visit, and that when he came to 
 think over the reason, he remembered that on the first visit he had a white 
 note book in his hand. It would be well were the trustees of the Fitzwilliam 
 Gallery in Cambridge to attend to this precept in the arrangement of the 
 pictures, and above all in selecting a suitable colour for the walls. " A Letter 
 to Sir Charles Eastlake, P.R.A., suggesting a mode of assisting the Eye in the 
 right perception of Colour in Pictures, by Sidney Smirke A.R.A." (Privately 
 printed since the seventh edition of Philosophy in Sport.) 
 
356 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 garden," said the vicar, " where our good friend will find 
 an opportunity for practically exemplifying his principles." 
 
 This proposition was met by a general assent, and, at the 
 suggestion of the major, the party retired into an alcove, 
 which commanded a full view of the flower-beds, while it 
 afforded an agreeable retreat from the direct rays of the sun. 
 
 "Major," said Mr. Seymour, "I commend your taste 
 in bringing together similar flowers in masses ; but you 
 should take care that the neighbouring clumps, as far as 
 possible, occupy equal areas, and exhibit, as nearly as may 
 be, complementary colours ; although I will take this early 
 opportunity to remark, that colours which, in the aggre- 
 gate, are almost repulsive, may be tolerable, or even pleas- 
 ing, when presented singly to the eye ; for instance, masses 
 of blue and green, unrelieved by other colours, are any- 
 thing but agreeable when viewed in juxtaposition ; and 
 yet who will not hail with delight that little- blue and 
 bright flower, the ' Forget-me-not? though embosomed in 
 a mass of green ?" 
 
 " For the present," said the major, " let us confine our 
 attention to the arrangement of clumps, or masses; each 
 of which we will suppose to consist of different flowers, but 
 in such proportions and proximity, as may conduce to a 
 reciprocal modification of their colours ; now, what I expect 
 to obtain from your science is some general guiding prin- 
 ciple for the arrangement and disposition of such groups." 
 
 " And that information I will endeavour to afford you. 
 In the first place, then, take care that your plants are pretty 
 nearly of equal magnitude, or they will resemble an awk- 
 ward squad with tall and short recruits. Let it be, once 
 for all too, remembered, that complementary colours are 
 never incompatible with each other, their tone, and there- 
 fore their beauty, being mutually heightened by a recipro- 
 cal exchange of complements ; not that I mean to assert 
 that non-complementary colours are always unpleasing I 
 think, as a general rule, colours which possess a common 
 element lose more or less of such element by juxta- 
 position." 
 
 "I understand your meaning: orange and green, each 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 357 
 
 having yellow as a common element, would, I presume, 
 furnish an example," said the major. 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; and see what would happen the orange 
 would appear more red, and the green more blue ; or, in 
 other words, each would be deprived of a portion of its 
 yellow," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " That might be advantageous," suggested the major, 
 " where the one was deficient in red, and the other in blue." 
 
 " Exactly so and the circumstance of the same colour 
 being liable to vary so widely in intensity and tone must 
 render it difficult, if not impossible, to lay down any general 
 rule that shall not have many exceptions : but then these 
 exceptions will generally admit of explanation, and will 
 serve to extend the field of observation, and to stimulate 
 inquiry, and thus to afford additional sources of recreation ; 
 indeed, what many persons would regard as insuperable 
 obstacles to anything like a systematic arrangement of 
 coloured flowers, I am disposed to consider as affording the 
 highest claims to our regard. In contemplating a group of 
 flowers, the scientific observer will often experience an 
 intuitive feeling of pleasure, or, it may be, an undefined 
 impression of dissatisfaction; he will then proceed to ex- 
 amine into the harmonies which may explain the one, and 
 to seek for the discords that may enable him to correct the 
 other this exercise of the mind constitutes the main plea- 
 sure of floral gardening, which never could be derived from 
 a system under the dominion of defined and invariable 
 laws." 
 
 " I think you just now stated that green and yellow are 
 not well-assorted companions," observed the vicar; "if so, 
 I should much like to ask you upon what principle it is 
 that the green w r ood so greatly delights the eye on assuming 
 the livery of autumn ?" 
 
 "Therein you are deceived," answered Mr. Seymour: 
 " the green passing into yellow, red, or russet, is very far 
 from displeasing. "What is more charming than the Virginia 
 Creeper, in its autumnal transitions ; as seen around 
 many of the cottages in our village ? The autumnal tints 
 really owe their beauty to their rich and almost endless 
 
358 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 variety ; and I suspect, if it were possible to unweave their 
 gorgeous texture, we should find that the assemblage was 
 resolvable into groups of complementary colours. I think," 
 continued Mr. Seymour, " it must be admitted that colours 
 bearing too close an analogy with each other, unless judi- 
 ciously relieved, will suifer by juxtaposition. I am also 
 disposed to think you will admit, that the different 
 shades of the same colour disparage each other. Only look 
 at yonder bed of Dahlias, and say whether they would not 
 be much heightened in beauty by the intermixture of others 
 of somewhat of a complementary character : and so it is 
 with the golden Jonquil, when placed side by side with the 
 pale Narcissus, the white light of the latter dimming the 
 lustre of the former by its complementary sable, while the 
 complementary green of the former imparts an injurious 
 hue to the delicacy of the latter. Let me now, by way of 
 further illustration, direct your attention to yonder Roses : 
 those in the bed on the right have far too much yellow to 
 please my eye ; they almost assume a faded appearance ; 
 while those on the left are too much inclined to blue : now, 
 I would propose, with the major's consent, to bring some 
 strong yellow flowers in contact with the former, and some 
 purple ones in contact with the latter, and I believe these 
 defects would disappear." 
 
 " I do not think that your critical eye can find any fault 
 with those blue flowers next to the orange ones," observed 
 the vicar. 
 
 " No, indeed nor with the violet contiguous to the 
 yellow; they appear most cheerful in each other's company; 
 in fact, there are few flowers in the garden in better 
 accord with each other, unless you disturb their harmony 
 by some unwelcome intrusion : but just look at that dull 
 bed of green, near the yellow flowers; on the right of 
 which, near the sun-dial, you will see a similar bed, but 
 then it is in conjunction with a cluster of the vivid red 
 Verbena, which lights it up, as it were, with a borrowed 
 splendour, and at once redeems it from the sombre appear- 
 ance which characterises the former one. You have another 
 good instance of what may be called an ill-matched alliance 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 359 
 
 in yonder beds of Nasturtium and Purple Poppies : instead 
 of the natural lively scarlet, the former assumes a dull 
 orange tint, in consequence of a greenish-orange comple- 
 ment cast upon them ; while the latter, oppressed by the 
 greenish -purple complement of the Nasturtium, exhibit a 
 tint almost as dull as wine-lees." 
 
 " You have not yet said one word about white flowers,' 
 observed Miss Villers. 
 
 " True, madam generally speaking, a clump of white 
 flowers seen apart will produce but little effect ; when, 
 however, they are suitably distributed amongst those whose 
 colours have been judiciously contrasted, they will occasion 
 a favourable impression; as, for instance, when dispersed 
 among red and pink flowers, surrounded, by verdure, or 
 amongst groups of blue and orange, and of violet and 
 yellow flowers ; you will readily perceive that their optical 
 influence will have the effect of extinguishing any excessive 
 or undue reflection of white rays emanating from the 
 neighbouring bright flowers, and would thereby purify and 
 heighten their tone. M. Chevreul also observes that white 
 flowers are the only ones that possess the advantage of 
 heightening the tone of those which have but a light tint of 
 any colour. They have, moreover, the advantage of separating 
 all such flowers as are mutually injured by discordant 
 colours. White exalts all colours by raising their tone,* 
 while black produces the very opposite effect." 
 
 Miss Villers here begged to ask a question respecting 
 the influence of predominating green. 
 
 Mr. Seymour replied " that the green leaves of flowers 
 did not interfere to the extent generally supposed, since, as 
 soon as the eye distinctly and simultaneously sees two 
 colours in a rich flower-bed, the attention is so riveted upon 
 
 * A reviewer in the 'Quarterly' has observed that the facade of the 
 Reivdssance Court in the Crystal Palace, owes its beauty to the preponderance 
 of white,, against which the tenderest colouring tells with a brilliancy other- 
 wise unattainable. This was the secret spell of that extraordinary magician, 
 Turner. White was his prevailing element, and every colour told with a 
 magical intensity against it. In this also consists the secret charm of old 
 painted glass, in which white light will be found predominant. If an 
 example be required, we can refer to the marvellous windows of King's 
 College Chapel in Cambridge. 
 
360 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXII. 
 
 them, that it passes without notice the contiguous objects 
 which lie in a receding plane, and are of a sombre colour ; 
 besides which, it is a fact that green, in juxtaposition with 
 a mass of bright yellow and blue, so nearly loses its colour 
 as to be scarcely recognised, and will certainly not intrude 
 with any optical impertinence." 
 
 "After the valuable lesson we have received," said the 
 major, " I think we shall be able to improve greatly the 
 arrangement of my garden. You will be pleased, my dear sir, 
 to accept my best thanks and what says Miss Villers ?" 
 
 " That Madam Flora holds a most punctilious court ; 
 and expects her flaunting subjects to adopt their costume in 
 strict accordance with the coloured dresses with which they 
 may be brought into contact," answered the lady. 
 
 To whom Mr. Seymour replied, " That Flora was not the 
 only sovereign distinguished by such exactions." 
 
 " I understand your allusion," said Miss Villers : " you 
 would intimate that the optical principles you have ex- 
 plained might admit of a wider range of application than 
 that which comprehends the domain of Flora: that they 
 might, for instance, suggest to my sex a more harmonious 
 mixture in their coloured ribands and dresses." 
 
 "No doubt Count Eumford long ago made a similar 
 observation ; but, strange to say, it has passed unheeded. 
 I fully hope, however, that the exertions of the new ' School 
 of Design,' aided by the admirable instructions of M. Chev- 
 reul, will introduce a purer taste as regards the harmony 
 and disposition of colours, not only in dress, but in fur- 
 niture, and every species of decoration but what thinks 
 the vicar ?" 
 
 " That you have well performed the part of the Sibyl, 
 and safely conducted us through Elysian fields, wherein you 
 have introduced us to phantoms and spectral forms of the 
 highest interest for our instruction, no less than for our 
 amusement ; and, as truth alone has been the object we 
 have sought, it only remains for you to dismiss us safely 
 through the appropriate portal." 
 
 " I quite understand your meaning," said Mr. Seymour, 
 " though artfully concealed under the shadow of the Muses' 
 
CHAP. XXII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 361 
 
 wing. You admit the truth of the optical theory I have 
 expounded, but would, at the same time, caution us against 
 the danger of being led by the fascinations of fancy to an 
 exaggerated estimate of the importance of its applications ; 
 a caution which I can assure you I very sincerely appre- 
 ciate." 
 
302 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII, 
 
 A NEW OPTICAL TOY INVENTED BY THE AUTHOR, AND TERMED THE 
 THAUMATROPE. THE VICAR'S LUDICROUS ALARM AT ITS ANNOUNCE- 
 MENT. IT IS MADE THE MEANS OP EPIGRAMMATIC AMUSEMENT, AND 
 CLASSICAL INSTRUCTION. EXPLANATION OF ITS PRINCIPLE. RETEN- 
 TIVE POWER OF THE RETINA. SPECTRAL OR ACCIDENTAL COLOURS. 
 THE CROSS OF CONSTANTINE. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS. THE NIMBUS. 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE THAUMATROPE. OTHER TOYS UPON 
 THE SAME OPTICAL PRINCIPLE. PHANTASMASCOPE. PBLENAKISTISCOPE. 
 IMPORTANT CONCLUSION OF THE CHAPTER. 
 
 TOM'S holidays were now drawing to a close, and the chil- 
 dren were summoned into the library to receive their last 
 lesson in philosophy. 
 
 "You have lately witnessed an experiment," said Mr. 
 Seymour, " which must have convinced you how liable the 
 ear is to be deluded with respect to the nature and direction 
 of sound ; I shall now show you that the eye has also its 
 sources of fallacy." 
 
 " If you proceed in this manner, you will make us Car- 
 tesians !"* exclaimed the vicar. 
 
 " I shall illustrate my subject by means of a new toy 
 which I have lately invented," said Mr. Seymour: "and 
 unless I am much mistaken, it will afford as much amuse- 
 ment to the elder as to the younger members of our party, 
 
 * The Cai'tesians maintained that the senses were the great sources of 
 deception ; that everything with which they present us ought to be suspected 
 as false, or at least dubious, until our reason has confirmed the report. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 363 
 
 although the vicar may perhaps regard it as a more hostile 
 instrument than even that of the wooden horse which filled 
 unhappy Troy with an armed enemy. It is a small 
 machine," continued Mr. Seymour, " which is well calcu- 
 lated to furnish us with some capital puns and well-pointed 
 epigrams." 
 
 " With puns !" exclaimed the horrified vicar, who no 
 sooner heard this appalling declaration, than, like another 
 Laocoon, he deprecated the introduction of the " donum 
 exitiale " within the walls of Overtoil Lodge. But his 
 hostility was soon disarmed, not by the circumvolutions of 
 a snake around the body of the enraged orator, but by the 
 embraces of little Rosa, who threw her arms around the 
 neck of the vicar with such supplicating grace, that at length 
 he exclaimed, " Well, well ; if it be the decree of the Fates, 
 I must submit." 
 
 During this altercation, Mr. Seymour had procured the 
 " wooden engine " from his study. 
 
 " I will first," said he, " exhibit the toy in its original 
 state, and then show you the improvements which have 
 been effected in it." 
 
 " Let us hear the account of its operation," said the 
 major, " which I perceive is enclosed within the box." 
 
 " True," replied Mr. Seymour ; " and I think you will 
 agree that I have given a very plausible explanation of its 
 effects." 
 
 "Plausible," muttered the vicar, "plausible enough, no 
 doubt ; oh, the Sinon !" 
 
 Mr. Seymour then proceeded. " This toy is termed the 
 
 THATJMATBOPE." 
 
 "Of Grecian origin!" observed the vicar. "'Timeo 
 Danaos et dona ferentes,' as Yirgil has it." 
 
 " What is the meaning of the term ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 The vicar explained to her that it was compounded of 
 the Greek words dav^a and rpeVw ; the former of which 
 signified wonder, the latter to turn. 
 
 "Exactly," replied Mr. Seymour : " * a Wonder-turner,' or 
 a toy which performs wonders by turning round : but let me 
 proceed in the explanation." He then continued to read as 
 
364 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 follows : " This philosophical toy is founded upon the well- 
 known optical principle, that an impression made on the 
 retina of the eye lasts for a short interval after the object 
 which produced it has been withdrawn. During the rapid 
 whirling of the card, the figures on each of its sides are 
 presented with such quick transition, that they both appear 
 at the same instant, and thus occasion a very striking and 
 magical effect. On each of these cards a device is intro- 
 duced, with an appropriate motto or epigram ; the point of 
 which is answered, or explained, by the change which the 
 figure assumes during the rapid whirling of the card." 
 
 " It may be very clever," said the vicar, " but I do not 
 understand it." 
 
 " But you shortly will ; look at one of the cards." 
 Mr. Seymour then displayed a pasteboard circle, on one 
 side of which was figured a rat, and on the other a cage : 
 two strings were fastened in its axis, by which the card 
 could easily be made to revolve, by means of the thumb 
 and finger. Fearing that some of our readers may be as 
 dull of comprehension as the vicar, we have introduced a 
 sketch of the apparatus, in which both sides of the card 
 are exhibited, with the strings by which it is whirled 
 round. 
 
 No sooner had Mr. Seymour put the card in motion, than 
 the vicar, in a tone of the greatest surprise, exclaimed, 
 " Magic ! magic ! I declare the rat is in the cage ! !" 
 
 " And what is the motto ?" asked Louisa. 
 
 " Why is this rat like an opposition member in the 
 House of Commons who joins the ministry ?" replied Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! excellent I" cried the major, as he read the 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 365 
 
 following answer : " Because by turning round he gains a 
 snug berth, but ceases to be free." 
 
 " The very reverse to what occurred in ancient Rome, 
 where the slave became free by turning round," observed 
 the vicar. 
 
 The vicar, no doubt, alluded to the custom of making a 
 freeman, as described by Persius ; from which it appears, 
 that the clapping a cap* on the head, and giving him a 
 turn on the heel, were necessary circumstances. A slave 
 thus qualified became a citizen of Borne, and was honoured 
 with a name more than belonged to any of his forefathers, 
 which Persius has repeated with a great deal of humour in 
 his fifth satire : 
 
 " Heu steriles veri, quibus una Quiritem 
 
 Vertigo facit!" 
 
 " That false enfranchisement with ease is found ; 
 Slaves are made citizens by turning round." 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 " If we may trust the late report of the American Con- 
 gress, your * Thaumatrope ' has also found a political appli- 
 cation on the other side of the Atlantic," observed the major ; 
 " for it would appear that the Honourable Member of Ohio 
 told the Honourable Member of Carolina, whom he twitted 
 with sudden tergiversation, that he reminded him of the ~boy 
 who turned round so fast, that the hinder parts of his dress were on 
 both sides at once"^ 
 
 Mr. Seymour here sarcastically observed that " it was not 
 necessary to travel beyond Palace-Yard for an illustration 
 equally, if not still more, appropriate." 
 
 " Show us another card," said Tom, eagerly. 
 
 "Here, then, is a watch-box; when I turn it round, 
 you will see the watchman comfortably sleeping at his 
 post." 
 
 " Very good ! It is very surprising," said the vicar. 
 
 " Yes," observed the major ; " and to carry on your 
 
 * Hence the Cap became the symbol of Liberty. The Athenian slave 
 received a ring on his liberation, 
 f " Times," March 2, 1852. 
 
366 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 political joke, it may be said that, like most worthies who 
 gain a post, by turning round, he sleeps over his duty." 
 
 " The epigram which accompanies it is not deficient in 
 point," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " The caprice of this watchman surpasses all bounds, 
 He ne'er sits in his box, but when going his rounds ; 
 While he no sooner rests, 'tis a strange paradox ! 
 Than he flies from his post, and turns out of his box !" 
 
 " Here," said Mr. Seymour, " we have a card, on which a 
 rose-tree appears on the one side, and a garden-pot on the 
 reverse ; why does this tree resemble the Tree of Liberty ? 
 Spin it round, and you will receive the answer." 
 
 The major obeyed. "The tree,'* said he, "is in the 
 garden-pot." 
 
 " And is therefore planted ty a revolution" observed Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 The next card presented a laughing face, which, on being 
 turned round, was instantly changed into a weeping one. 
 The motto The sweetest things turn sour. 
 
 " The device is capital !" exclaimed the vicar : " I question 
 whether Peter of Cortona ever produced a more striking 
 metamorphosis."* 
 
 The other cards were now exhibited in succession, of 
 which the box contained eighteen, and the whole party, not 
 even excepting the vicar, were highly gratified with the 
 amusement. 
 
 " But I have not yet read to you the author's address to 
 the public ; and which, I must say, contains a succession of 
 very happy puns." 
 
 "Spare me! spare me!" cried the vicar; "I like your 
 toy, but cannot discover the advantage of alloying amuse- 
 ment with such spurious wit, and of associating science 
 with buffoonery." 
 
 Mr. Seymour, however, was relentless, and thus pro- 
 
 * Ferdinand, duke of Tuscany, was once struck with the picture of a child 
 crying ; the artist (Peter of Cortona), who was at work upon the head, 
 wishing to give a proof of his skill, by a few judicious touches converted the 
 dying into a laughing face. The duke was in astonishment ; the painter, to 
 show himself master of the human countenance, restored his first touches, 
 and tho duke, again saw the child weeping. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 367 
 
 ceeded: "It is well known that the Luputan philosopher 
 invented a piece of machinery, by which works could be 
 composed by a mechanical operation : and the ' Quarterly 
 Review ' has asserted, that a certain English poem was 
 fabricated in Paris, by the powers of a steam-engine ; but 
 the author of the present invention claims for himself the 
 exclusive merit of having first constructed a hand-mill, by 
 which puns and epigrams may be turned with as much ease 
 as tunes are played on the hand-organ, and old jokes so 
 rounded and changed, as to assume all the airs of origi- 
 nality. The inventor confidently anticipates the favour 
 and patronage of an enlightened and liberal public, on the 
 well-grounded assurance, that ' one good turn deserves 
 another ;' and he trusts that his discovery may afford the 
 happy means of giving activity to wit that has been long 
 stationary; of revolutionising the present system of standing 
 jokes, and of putting into rapid circulation the most approved 
 bon-mots." 
 
 " Why, vicar, what ails thee?" exclaimed the major. 
 
 " Our subject has given him a turn ; let him alone and 
 he will soon come round" observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 The whole party, with the exception of Mr. Twaddleton, 
 laughed heartily : the vicar, however, did not relax a feature 
 of his countenance ; nor would he " though Nestor swear 
 the jest be laughable."* 
 
 The major here expressed his surprise at the vicar's 
 unrelenting and pertinacious hostility to a pun ; " Surely," 
 observed he, " as a classic, you need not be reminded that 
 Cicero was one of the most inveterate forensic punsters of 
 his age,f and that Horace never disdained to play upon the 
 double meaning of a word." 
 
 * Shakspeare. 
 
 f To a son of a tailor, who had assumed the office of legislator, Cicero 
 said, " Rem acu teligisti ;" and to the son of a cook, " Ego quoque tibi jure 
 favebo." To understand this latter pun, the reader must be told that the 
 ancients pronounced coce and coque like co-ke and that jure may signify 
 either broth or law. To a Jew who wished to get the cause of Verres from 
 Cicero into his own hands, he asked what a Jew could have to do with 
 (verres} swine's flesh ? The Romans gave to a boar-pig the appellation of 
 verres. L' Israeli's Curiosities of Literature. 
 
368 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XX11I. 
 
 " Yes," whispered Mr. Seymour, " but they were in the 
 Latin language." 
 
 "I hope the quibbles of the Advocate are not to be 
 accepted as the rule of refined taste," hastily responded the 
 vicar. 
 
 As soon as this ebullition had subsided, the major, in order 
 to divert the conversation from so turbulent a channel, 
 inquired of Mr. Seymour, what was the nature of the im- 
 provement to which he had alluded. 
 
 "My proposed improvements refer both to the subjects 
 exhibited on the cards, and to the mechanism by which 
 their changes are effected," replied Mr. Seymour. "In 
 the first place, it has occurred to me that this amusing toy 
 might be made instrumental in impressing classical subjects 
 upon the memory of young persons." 
 
 This observation delighted the vicar, who said that he 
 would patronise such an attempt with all his heart. 
 
 " Why can we not," continued he, " thus represent the 
 Metamorphoses of Ovid ? or what say you, vicar, to con- 
 verting the fleet of ^Eneas into sea-nymphs, as Virgil 
 has it?" 
 
 " An elegant thought ! upon my word ; a most elegant 
 conception !" exclaimed Mr. Twaddleton. 
 
 " What have we here ? " interrupted the major, who 
 had, for the first time, noticed the superscription on the 
 cover of the box. " Had I seen this before, I should have 
 augured favourably of the toy : it is like the sign of an inn, 
 which is held out to announce good entertainment within." 
 He then read the following : 
 
 The Thaumatrope ; 
 
 being 
 
 Rounds of Amusement, 
 of 
 
 How to please and surprise 
 By Turns. 
 
 Mr. Seymour now proceeded to explain more fully the 
 optical theory of the instrument, which neither Louisa nor 
 Torn could, as yet, thoroughly understand. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 369 
 
 He told them that an object was seen by the eye, in con- 
 sequence of its image being delineated on the retina, or 
 optic nerve, which is situated on the back part of the eye ; 
 and that it had been ascertained, by experiment, that the 
 impression which the mind thus receives lasts for about the 
 eighth part of a second after the image is removed. " It 
 is, therefore, sufficiently evident," said Mr. Seymour, "that 
 if any point, as a lighted stick, be made to revolve, so as to 
 complete the circle in that period, we shall not see a fiery 
 point, but a fiery circle ; because the impression made by it 
 in every point of its circuit will remain until it comes round 
 again to the spot from which it set out ; but we will at 
 once exemplify this fact by an experiment." 
 
 Tom was accordingly directed to procure a piece of stick 
 and a candle ; and as soon as they were brought into the 
 room, Mr. Seymour ignited the end of the stick and whirled 
 it round, when a bright circle, without any intervals of 
 darkness, was seen by the whole party. 
 
 " Never until this instant," exclaimed the vicar, with an 
 expression of high satisfaction, " did I fully appreciate the 
 beauty of that passage in Milton, wherein the poet evidently 
 describes the rapidity of Satan's flight, as well as the reful- 
 gence of his appearance 
 
 ' Sprung upward like a pyramid of fire.' 
 
 Now to take in the full meaning of this figure," continued 
 Mr. Twaddleton, " we must imagine ourselves in chaos, and 
 that a vast luminous body is rising near the spot where we 
 may be supposed to be standing, so swiftly as to appear a 
 continued track of light, and lessening to the view, according 
 to the increase of distance, until it ends in a point and then 
 disappears ; and all this must be supposed to strike our eye 
 at one instant." 
 
 " It is very probable," said Mr. Seymour, " that the poet 
 had such an idea in view, and that he intended by it to 
 convey the immense rapidity of Satan's flight. Homer 
 makes use of the same figure to express the velocity of the 
 javelin, e)oXtx''' aov 7Xs> * ne ' longshadwoed ' javelin. "We 
 shall have ample proof of the effect of this power in the 
 
 2 B 
 
370 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 eye of retaining impressions, and of thus converting points 
 into lines and circles, during the exhibition of your fire- 
 works ; and which, in fact, derive the greater part of their 
 magical effect from it." 
 
 " The pin-wheel is certainly nothing more than a fiery 
 circle produced by the rapid revolution of a jet of flame," 
 said the vicar. 
 
 " And the rocket," added Mr. Seymour, " is a column of 
 light occasioned by the same rapid movement of a burning 
 body in a rectilinear or curved direction." 
 
 " I perfectly understand all that you have said," observed 
 Tom. 
 
 " Then you will not have any difficulty in explaining the 
 action of the Thaumatrope, for it depends upon the same 
 optical principle ; the impression made on the retina by the 
 image, which is delineated on one side of the card, is not 
 erased before that which is painted on the opposite side is 
 presented to the eye ; and the consequence is that you see 
 both sides at once." 
 
 " Or, you might put it in this way," said the major : 
 " that as the image remains the eighth of a second on the 
 retina, a revolution of eight times in a second will secure 
 its uninterrupted continuance." 
 
 " On turning round the card," observed Louisa, " I per- 
 ceive that every part of the figure is not equally distinct." 
 
 "Because every part of the card does not revolve with 
 the same velocity," said her father ; " and this fact offers a 
 good illustration of what I formerly stated,* that in circular 
 motion, the parts more remote from the axis of rotation are 
 those which move with the greater velocity. This toy will 
 also be found capable of exemplifying another truth to 
 which I have before alluded, that ' the axis of motion 
 remains at rest while all the parts revolve around it.' " f 
 
 " I remember that very well," exclaimed Tom. 
 
 " Then take the card and spin it between yourself and 
 the window, and tell me what you observe," said his father. 
 
 " I see a dark line across the window ; and, what is very 
 
 * Page 157. f Page 50. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 371 
 
 strange, the other parts of the card appear transparent ; for 
 they do not obstruct the view of the window, as they would 
 if the card were at rest." 
 
 " The dark line you see is the axis of rotation, which, 
 being stationary, necessarily excludes the light ; the other 
 parts being in motion do not remain a sufficient time to 
 obliterate the image made on the eye by the window. It 
 is true that the card disc passes between your eye and the 
 light, but, as it does not continue at any one point for more 
 than the eighth of a second, there is no more apparent inter- 
 mission of the light than what occurs during the winking of 
 the eyes." 
 
 " You allude to a very curious fact," observed the vicar, 
 " that, although we are perpetually covering the eyeballs 
 with our eyelids, we are not conscious of the intervals of 
 darkness." 
 
 " The reason of which must surely be obvious from the 
 explanation I have just offered," said Mr. Seymour: "the 
 sensation of light is not exchanged for that of darkness in 
 so short a period as the twinkling of the eye. Before we 
 quit the subject," continued Mr. Seymour, " let me point 
 out the great importance of this law of vision. Suppose the 
 image on the retina had vanished at the same time with 
 the withdrawal of the object ; we should, in that case, have 
 been unable to see the things immediately around us in 
 due connexion with each other ; the objects must have 
 appeared isolated, in detached parts, by means of separate 
 impressions, which the eye would be unable to combine 
 into a whole, unless indeed they came to us at a very acute 
 angle." 
 
 " I admit the plausibility of your theory," said the vicar ; 
 " but it appears to me that objects frequently linger on the 
 sight for a longer period than that which you assign to 
 them. I well remember seeing the flame of a candle for 
 several seconds after it had been suddenly withdrawn from 
 the apartment." 
 
 " I admit that strong lights frequently continue for some 
 time thus visible in the ' mind's eye ;' and it is well known 
 that such impressions are often followed by images of similar 
 
372 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 shape, successively assuming different colours. In passing 
 from sunshine to a dark room, we also frequently witness 
 the appearance of stars and circles of vari- coloured light ; 
 but these ' ocular spectra ' are very distinct from the phe- 
 nomena of the Thaumatrope, and are to be explained upon 
 very different principles." 
 
 " There is also another optical appearance which the 
 knowledge you acquired in the flower-garden at Osterley 
 Park will enable you fully to understand I allude to the 
 spectral images which become visible after intently gazing 
 upon a coloured object, and which, you will remember, upon 
 the principle of ' Successive Contrast," 1 * are always of a com- 
 plemeqtary colour." 
 
 " I know exactly to what you allude," said the major ; 
 " and I do not doubt but that many of those illusive ap- 
 pearances which have been described might be referred to 
 the operation of the same natural cause. It is easy to 
 imagine that a person who has stedfastly fixed his eyes upon 
 an illuminated object may for some minutes afterwards see 
 the same figure of a dark hue; it may have been from 
 such a cause that Constantine saw the image of a cross in 
 the sky. You are probably acquainted with the opinions of 
 Eusebius, Eabricius, and Dr. Lardner, upon this alleged 
 miracle." 
 
 "Yes," added the vicar, "and I also know that this 
 imputed miracle for the conversion of Constantine gave 
 origin to the Catholic custom of illuminating the cross of 
 St. Peter's in Eome." 
 
 " Sir David Brewster, in his work on Natural Magic, 
 has given us a beautiful illustration of the same principle ; 
 it is as follows," said Mr. Seymour. "A figure, dressed 
 in black, and mounted upon a white horse, was riding along, 
 exposed to the bright rays of the sun, which, through a 
 small opening in the clouds, was throwing its light only 
 upon that part of the landscape. The black figure was pro- 
 jected against a white cloud, and the white horse shone 
 with particular brilliancy by its contrast with the dark 
 soil against which it was seen. A person interested in the 
 * See Chapter xxii., p. 352. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 373 
 
 arrival of such a stranger had been for some time following 
 his movements with intense anxiety ; but, upon his dis- 
 appearance behind a wood, was surprised to observe the 
 spectre of the mounted stranger in the form of a white rider 
 upon a black steed, and this spectre was seen for some time 
 in the sky, or upon any pale ground to which the eye was 
 directed." 
 
 Miss Yillers here remarked that " she had a distant re- 
 collection of a somewhat similar appearance having been 
 recorded by Goethe." * 
 
 Mr. Seymour added, that " from the same cause a devotee 
 before an image might see its spectral form whichever way 
 he turned his eyes ; or he might see a luminous border 
 around the head of the saint." (Nimbus.) f 
 
 "That I can readily believe," observed the major: "in 
 the former case the appearance would arise from Successive, 
 in the latter from Simultaneous, contrast. It is gratifying to 
 observe to what an extensive range of subjects this appa- 
 rently trivial fact is applicable." 
 
 " But let us return to the subject of the Thaumatrope," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Behold !" continued he, " the Trojan ships !" 
 
 " Ay, ay, sure enough," said the vicar ; " but let me 
 see, are their forms according to ancient authority ? Very 
 well indeed, Mr. Seymour ; very well : the poops have 
 the bend so accurately described by Ovid and Virgil 
 'puppesque recurvce,' as the poet has it. And there is the 
 triton ; but is its size in proportion to the vessel ? Yes, sir, 
 you are doubtless correct, the figure is generally repre- 
 sented of considerable magnitude on ancient medals ; and 
 Silius Italicus, if my memory serves me, alludes to the 
 weight of the image having on some occasions contributed 
 to the wreck of the vessel." 
 
 * The appearance referred to is thus described by Goethe, in his work oil 
 colours: "As it was growing twilight, a black poodle ran by my window in 
 the street, and drew a clear shining appearance after him ; the undefined 
 image of his passing form remaining in the eye." According to his own 
 acknowledgment, this optical illusion had suggested the introduction of the 
 black dog in his poem of Faust, in which it is described " as ranging through 
 the corn and stubble, with a line of fire following upon his track." 
 
 f " Ilia lux divinam verticem claro orbe complectens." 
 
374 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 " Spin them round," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 The vicar complied ; exclaiming at the same moment, 
 " ' Vos ite solutce. lie dece pelagi.' They are positively con- 
 verted into sea-nymphs. ' Miribile momtrum I * " cried Mr. 
 Twaddleton. 
 
 " Here is another classical device ; the representation of 
 Eurydice as she fell lifeless at the moment Orpheus turned 
 round to gaze on her," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Charming ! charming ! I perceive that it is a copy from 
 the splendid print of Didot in the Paris edition of Virgil." 
 
 " Turn it round, vicar." 
 
 " See ! see ! she revives, she opens her eyes, and throws 
 her arms around the neck of her frantic lover. Truly, Mr. 
 Seymour, this is a most interesting toy," said Mr. Twad- 
 dleton; 
 
 Mr. Seymour here observed that he had written an epi- 
 gram to accompany the subject they had just witnessed, and 
 he trusted that he had given to it a classical turn. 
 
 " By all means read it ; the subject admits of much clas- 
 sical decoration," observed the vicar. 
 
 Louisa received the epigram from the hands of her father, 
 and read as follows : 
 
 " By turning round, 'tis said, that Orpheus lost his wife ; 
 Let him turn round again, and she '11 return to life." 
 
 It could not be expected that Mr. Twaddleton should have 
 admired lines so burdened with puns; but he quietly ob- 
 served, " I should have preferred a quotation from the fourth 
 Greorgic, so beautifully descriptive of the fable." 
 
 The next card that was presented for inspection exhibited 
 the metamorphosis of Daphne into a laurel. As the figure 
 revolved, the leaves were seen sprouting from her fingers, 
 and her arms lengthening into branches. 
 
 " Come now," said Mr. Seymour, " let us exhibit the 
 figure which has been designed at my request : the change 
 which it will undergo during its revolution may, I trust, on 
 some day be realized ; I only regret that it is not in my 
 power to give the vicar so good a turn." 
 
 "Really, if, like Crambe in Martinus Scriblerus, thou 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 375 
 
 hadst a word for every day in the year, I should certainly 
 say that you were this day under the dominion of the word 
 turn." 
 
 " You know this resemblance," said Mr. Seymour, as 
 he showed the figure painted on one side of the card to his 
 daughter. 
 
 "It is the vicar!" exclaimed Louisa. 
 
 It was, indeed, a portrait of that most excellent cha- 
 racter, represented in the costume in which he usually ap- 
 peared. 
 
 "Turn it round," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 Louisa twirled the cord, and the effect of the rotation 
 was to convert the humble vicar into the dignified bishop ; 
 his meagre form was instantly changed into a corpulent 
 figure, which was still further inflated by the addition of the 
 episcopal robes 'and lawn sleeves, while his angular features 
 were softened by the graceful curves of an immense wig. 
 
 " I will give you a motto for it," said the major, " and may 
 it be prophetic ! RAPID PREFERMENT." 
 
 " I will now show you the improvement which has been 
 effected in the construction and use of this toy," said Mr. 
 Seymour. "It consists in altering the axis of rotation 
 while the card is in the act of revolving, in order that the 
 images on its opposite sides may be brought into different 
 positions with respect to each other." 
 
 "There cannot be any doubt that such would be the 
 effect, were it possible to change the axis in the way you 
 propose : but how is this to be effected ?" asked the vicar. 
 
 " At first I attempted to produce the change by the 
 addition of several other strings, but I soon found, that, in 
 order to avail myself of this expedient, I should be obliged 
 to stop the card before I could alter the axis ; whereas my 
 great object, as I have just stated, w r as to produce the change 
 while the card was in the act of spinning," answered Mr. 
 Seymour. 
 
 " And I shrewdly suspect that such must necessarily be 
 the case, adopt whatever expedient you may," observed the 
 major. 
 
 " No, indeed ; I have at length succeeded to my entire 
 
376 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 satisfaction, and that too by a most simple scheme, after 
 having tried without success many very complicated con- 
 trivances." 
 
 The party were very desirous of witnessing this triumph 
 of skill, and Mr. Seymour produced the card with its 
 appendages, of which we shall here present our readers with 
 an engraving : 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 In all respects the card is constructed like the common 
 Thaumatrope ; the subject, it will be perceived, is that of 
 a man drinking, the bottle being placed on one side, and 
 the head on the other ; upon revolving the card, in the ordi- 
 nary manner, the two images will appear together as repre- 
 sented in 
 
 The improvement consists in inserting in one, or if a 
 still greater change be desired, in both sides of the card, 
 two strings, as seen in fig. 1; viz. A D and A E, which, 
 united at A, form a common string for twirling the card. 
 The cord A D is elastic, while the string A E is incapable of 
 being stretched. If, therefore, while the card is in the act 
 of spinning, the cord A D be pulled with an increased force, 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 377 
 
 it will take the position D c, while the inelastic string A E 
 will at the same time assume that of E c. The conse- 
 quence of which will be that, instead of the card spinning 
 on the axis in the direction A B, it will now spin on that 
 which is in the direction c B, and we shall accordingly see 
 the images on the opposite sides of the card in different 
 positions with respect to each other; at one moment the 
 bottle will be seen in the hand of the drinker as represented 
 in fig. 2, and in the next at his mouth, as shown in the cut 
 below : 
 
 while, by alternately tightening and relaxing the string, the 
 figure will be seen in the very act of raising and lowering the 
 bottle. 
 
 Mr. Seymour, having explained the principle of his im- 
 provement, as we have above related, proceeded to exem- 
 plify it by a series of different subjects. "We shall select 
 two or three of them for the sake of illustration. A card, 
 with a jockey on one side and a horse on the other, on 
 spinning round presented the combined figure ; upon tight- 
 ening the string, in the manner we have described, the card 
 changed its axis, without . the slightest halt or hesitation 
 in its rotation, and the rider was in an instant canted 
 over the head of his charger; in a moment, however, he 
 appeared remounted; after which, by pulling the string 
 with different degrees of force, he was made to stand on 
 the saddle, and to exhibit a number of different movements. 
 
 The figure of an Indian juggler was represented in the act 
 of throwing up two balls ; on spinning the card, and at the 
 same time altering the position of the circle, in the manner 
 already described, three, and afterwards four, became visible. 
 When the card revolved upon its original axis, two of the 
 
378 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 balls on the reverse side coincided with the two painted on 
 the front, so that during the revolution they fell upon the 
 same spot on the retina, and therefore produced a single 
 impression ; but as soon as the position of the card was 
 changed, these spots were brought upon different points, 
 and consequently produced separate and independent images. 
 By alternately tightening and relaxing the strings, the balls 
 were seen in motion, arising from and falling into the hand 
 of the juggler. 
 
 The next subject which we shall describe produced a 
 considerable degree of merriment. The vicar inspected the 
 drawing, and observed that he saw a pulpit placed on the 
 banks of a pond ; the card was made to spin, when a tailor 
 was seen haranguing from the former, and a goose, at the 
 same instant, fluttering over the water. The circle was now 
 suddenly shifted, and the vicar was desired to state what he 
 saw: "Why, bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Twaddleton, "the 
 tailor is justly served ; he is ducked in the pond, while the 
 goose has taken his place in the pulpit." 
 
 Fearing that we may have exhausted the patience of our 
 reader, we shall only relate one more example. It was a 
 Turk, who, by means of the expedient we are illustrating, 
 was made to draw his sabre, and cut off the head of his 
 antagonist, which immediately fell into the hands of the 
 decapitated person, who, like St. Denys, appeared as if walk- 
 ing off with perfect indifference. 
 
 " You must admit that these effects are no less novel than 
 they are extraordinary, and that they are capable of almost 
 endless variation," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "I admit it all," replied Mr. Twaddleton, "and I have 
 only to express a hope that, amidst all your improvements, 
 you will never lose sight of your promised and most laudable 
 design, that of rendering your toy subservient to classical 
 illustration: your triumph will then be complete, and I 
 shall willingly acknowledge that there is not only philoso- 
 phy but literature in your sport." 
 
 " I must not quit this subject," said Mr. Seymour, " until 
 I have exhibited another toy, which, like the Thaumatrope, 
 is indebted for its effect to the optical principle, which I 
 
CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 379 
 
 trust is now well understood by all present, viz., that an 
 impression made on the retina lasts for a certain period after the 
 object itself has been withdrawn." 
 
 The annexed woodcut represents the instrument to which 
 Mr. Seymour alluded. 
 
 It consists of a disc of blackened tin plate, which is made 
 to revolve on its axis in the manner above exhibited. A 
 narrow opening extends from the circumference to the 
 centre as seen at A. If a device of any kind, as a star 
 (which for increasing the beauty of the experiment ought 
 to be transparent and illuminated with a lamp), be placed 
 behind the disc, it is evident that, as long as the circle 
 remains at rest, no other part of the figure can be visible 
 than that which is immediately behind the slit A, but the 
 instant it is put into rapid motion the whole of the star will 
 be seen, as exhibited in figure B. 
 
 Mr. Seymour observed that the explanation of the phe- 
 nomenon was obvious ; each successive portion of the 
 figure seen through the opening remains on the eye until the 
 circle has completed its entire revolution. 
 
 " This experiment," continued Mr. Seymour, " admits of 
 a very curious modification, which I shall now proceed to 
 exhibit," 
 
 Three coloured wafers were then placed, at equal dis- 
 
380 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 tances from each other, on the disc, and, the instrument 
 having been arranged before a looking-glass, the party 
 were desired to observe the reflected image as the circle 
 revolved. 
 
 " The wafers are blended into one continuous zone," 
 observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " To be sure," said Louisa ; " upon the same principle that 
 the ignited stick appears as a fiery circle." 
 
 " It would be very strange, after the different experiments 
 we have seen, if we were not able to explain the present 
 appearance," observed Tom. 
 
 " The fiery circle produced by the revolving stick is a 
 much better illustration of the principle ; I do not see what 
 object Mr. Seymour has in thus multiplying his experi- 
 ments," said the vicar. 
 
 " Grently, if you please, Mr. Twaddleton, and, before you 
 favour us with your criticism, wait until I have concluded 
 my experiment. You have seen that the reflected image of 
 the revolving wafers appears as a continuous zone, and you 
 have very correctly explained the reason of such an appear- 
 ance ; but I must now request you to inspect the reflected 
 image through the slit in the disc, as it revolves, and say what 
 new effect you observe." 
 
 " How very strange !" exclaimed Tom ; " I see the three 
 wafers very distinctly, and perfectly at rest." 
 
 " Impossible !" exclaimed the vicar : " let me have a peep. 
 "Why, I declare they appear, as you say, stationary, although 
 I know them to be in rapid motion : as sure as fate I shall 
 become a Cartesian." 
 
 The major, Louisa, and Mrs. Seymour were all equally 
 surprised, and incapable of giving any explanation of the 
 phenomenon they had witnessed. 
 
 " Let us remember," said Mr. Seymour, " that, in viewing 
 the image through the slit in the revolving disc, we catch 
 but a momentary glance as it passes before the eye, and that 
 the image thus produced on the retina is retained until the 
 next revolution again brings the slit into the same position. 
 Now it is evident that, before the eye can ascertain a. body 
 to be in motion, it must observe it in two successive portions 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 381 
 
 of time, in order to compare its change of place ;* but in 
 the experiment under consideration, the glance is moment- 
 ary, the wafer is no sooner seen than it passes away ; its 
 figure alone is impressed upon the retina, and this impres- 
 sion is continued without any change, until the circle com- 
 pletes its round, and consequently the image must appear at 
 rest." 
 
 " I understand you ; the figure, but not the motion, of the 
 wafer, is discernible in the short period during which it is 
 visible through the slit," observed the vicar. 
 
 " I lately witnessed a beautiful illustration of this subject 
 at the Royal Institution," said Mr. Seymour, "A number 
 of cogged wheels, cut out of pasteboard, were set in motion 
 in a perfectly dark room, when occasional flashes of light 
 from an electric battery displayed their forms most dis- 
 tinctly, and yet, although whirling round at the time, they 
 appeared to the spectator as motionless as so many solid 
 blocks of marble-t In like manner, in a storm, during the 
 darkness of midnight, the rolling ship and waves, when ren- 
 dered visible by flashes of lightning, will appear as com- 
 pletely at rest as a representation of them upon the canvas. 
 So again, in viewing a fountain in full play, the eye sees only 
 a clouded mist issuing from the jet ; but, if in the dark we 
 cause a succession of electric sparks to follow each other at 
 short intervals of time, we shall at once perceive that this 
 cloud consists of distinct drops of water. These successive 
 drops, when seen in one continued light, follow each other 
 so quickly, that the eye receives new impressions before the 
 previous ones are extinguished, and hence a mass of confu- 
 sion ; whereas, in the instantaneous light which is shed by 
 electricity, each impression stamps its image before the suc- 
 ceeding one can interfere with it, and a pause is afforded 
 for the exercise of distinct sensation. I may at some future 
 
 * " Our knowledge of motion is a deduction of reasoning, not a perception 
 of sense ; it is derived from the comparison of two positions ; the idea of a 
 change of place is the result of that comparison attained by a short process of 
 reasoning." Lord Brougham. 
 
 f Since the last edition of this work, Mr. Talbot has very ingeniously 
 availed himself of the phenomenon for obtaining instantaneous photogenic 
 images of bodies in rapid motion. 
 
382 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 time extend this interesting subject by exhibiting some 
 optical illusions produced by the revolution of wheels in 
 different directions and at different velocities, for the know- 
 ledge of which we are indebted to Mr. Faraday ;* and, in 
 mentioning that distinguished philosopher," added Mr. 
 Seymour, addressing himself more particularly to the vicar, 
 " I cannot avoid remarking, that, if Philosophy in Sport can 
 be made Science in Earnest, the juvenile lectures delivered 
 by that professor have established the converse proposition, 
 that the sternness of Science may be relaxed into the engag- 
 ing aspect of Sport. 
 
 " Before quitting this subject," continued he, " I have yet 
 another toy in store for your amusement ;t it is founded 
 upon the optical principle which I have every reason to 
 believe you now thoroughly understand." A square box 
 w r as then produced, containing a number of card discs, the 
 edges of which exhibited a series of notches corresponding 
 with the figures delineated on their margins. That the 
 reader may better understand their construction, as well as 
 the explanation of Mr. Seymour, the following representa- 
 tion has been introduced. 
 
 "To exhibit the magical effects of this toy," said Mr. 
 Seymour, " I will by means of the spindle to which it is 
 attached, cause it to revolve rapidly before the looking- 
 glass, and you shall view the reflection through the open- 
 ings/' 
 
 Each member of the party obeyed in succession the 
 direction thus given, and severally expressed the great 
 astonishment they felt, at observing the figures in constant 
 motion, and exhibiting the most grotesque attitudes. 
 
 " Now," said Mr. Seymour, " attend to my explanation. 
 Each figure is seen through the aperture, and as it passes 
 and is succeeded in rapid succession by another and 
 another, differing from the former only in attitude, the eye 
 is cheated into the belief of its being the same object suc- 
 cessively changing the position of its body. Consider what 
 
 * See Journal of the Royal Institution, No. 2. 
 
 f This toy appeared subsequent to the Thaumatrope, and was probably 
 suggested by it. 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 
 
 383 
 
 takes place in 'an image on the retina when we actually 
 witness a man in motion ; for instance, a man jumping 
 over a gate : in the first moment he appears on the ground, 
 
 in the next his legs are a few inches above it, in the third 
 they are nearly on a level with the rail, in the fourth he is 
 above it, and then in the successive moments he is seen 
 descending as he had previously risen. A precisely similar 
 effect is produced on the retina by the successive substitu- 
 tion of figures in corresponding attitudes, as seen through 
 the orifices of the revolving disc; each figure remaining 
 on the retina long enough to allow its successor to take its 
 place without an interval that would destroy the illusion." 
 
 " Nothing can be more satisfactory than your explana- 
 tion of this very extraordinary toy," observed the vicar. 
 
 "I am now about to exhibit what I consider a great 
 improvement in its construction, inasmuch as we thus get 
 rid of the mirror, and enable two persons to witness the 
 deception at the same time," said Mr. Seymour. " For 
 this purpose I have a spindle, at each end of which a disc 
 
384 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 is placed, and which I hold in my hand." We deem it 
 expedient to illustrate this arrangement by a woodcut. 
 
 " By revolving the spindle, you perceive that both cards 
 are made to turn round with equal velocity. Tom," said 
 his father, "look through the orifices of the disc on my 
 right hand, and, Louisa, do the same on my left." The 
 children obeyed, and simultaneously expressed their wonder 
 at what they witnessed. "The figures are all dancing!" 
 cried Tom. "The horses are all prancing!" exclaimed 
 Louisa. 
 
 " You have not yet told us the name of this toy," ob- 
 served the vicar. 
 
 " It has received several names," answered Mr. Sey- 
 mour, "as Phantasmascope, Phcenakistiscope, &c., derived, 
 as you no doubt perceive, from the Greek." It is scarcely 
 necessary to observe that the appearances thus produced 
 may be infinitely varied : heads opening their mouths, and 
 distorting their countenances ; creeping serpents, and ma- 
 chinery in active operation, are amongst the subjects that 
 have excited the greatest admiration. 
 
 Louisa here observed, that she had lately seen a most 
 extraordinary optical illusion, termed " Fluttering Hearts" 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 385 
 
 " You allude to tbe figures, worked in worsted, on a 
 ground of a complementary colour," said her father. 
 
 " To be sure; and by moving about the tablet before 
 the subdued light of a lamp or candle, the figures in 
 question will appear as if in motion, and quite free, and 
 disconnected with the ground upon which they are depicted, " 
 answered Louisa. 
 
 " I am glad you have directed your attention to an appear- 
 ance which has much puzzled wiser heads than our own," 
 observed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I also have heard that some difference of opinion exists 
 as to the exact cause of this illusion," said Miss Villers, 
 " and have prepared a specimen for your use, not worked 
 in worsted, but painted on card; and I have, moreover, 
 given to it the convenient form of a hand-screen, which I 
 now place at your disposal." 
 
 " Many thanks, my dear Miss Villers." 
 
 Mr. Seymour, in the evening of the day, drew his family 
 party around him, and by the aid of a candle was enabled 
 to exhibit the extraordinary appearance above related. 
 
 " Now," said he, " in order to arrive at some satisfactory 
 explanation of this appearance, let us slowly and carefully 
 observe what takes place. If we fix the eye upon some 
 salient point of the figure, we shall soon become convinced 
 that it does not actually change its place, with reference 
 to the coloured ground upon which it is depicted; and if 
 next, we notice what change takes place on the surface of 
 the figure, as the tablet is moved to and fro, we shall detect 
 a 'penumbra' that is, an imperfectly defined shadow, 
 flitting across it. Now if this fact be admitted, two distinct 
 questions will arise out of it, first, how is the shadow pro- 
 duced ? and secondly, upon what principle is the idea of 
 motion thus conveyed by it ? In answer to the first of 
 these questions, I must express my belief that it is a 
 lingering impression upon the retina, produced by that of 
 the coloured ground, or that the colour of the figure, and 
 that of the ground, unequally retain their hold upon the 
 eye, as to duration of time, and consequently that one im- 
 pression, if I may so express it, overlaps the other." 
 
 2 c 
 
386 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 "After your explanation of the retention of an image 
 for several seconds by the eye, I think I can comprehend 
 your meaning," said Miss Villers. 
 
 " Well, if that be granted, I shall at once be able to con- 
 vince you, by ocular demonstration, that the transit of a 
 shadow over an illuminated surface will have a tendency to 
 produce apparent motion." So saying, Mr. Seymour pro- 
 ceeded, with lamp in hand, to the marble bust of Newton, 
 that was mounted on a pedestal in a corner of his library, and 
 on slowly moving the light in different directions before it, 
 the whole party acknowledged that the countenance cer- 
 tainly became apparently animated by varied and changing 
 expressions. 
 
 The party now dispersed, not less gratified than they had 
 
 been instructed by the lesson they had received. 
 
 * * . * ' * * * 
 
 The mighty magician of the North has compared the 
 course of a narrative to the progress of a stone rolled down 
 hill by an idle truant boy, " which at first moveth slowly, 
 avoiding by inflection every obstacle of the least import- 
 ance ; but when it has attained its full impulse, and draws 
 near the conclusion of its career, it smokes and thunders 
 down, making a rood at every spring, clearing hedge and 
 ditch, like a Yorkshire huntsman, and becoming most 
 furiously rapid in its course when it is nearest to being 
 consigned to rest for ever. Even such," says he, " is the 
 course of a narrative ; the earlier events are studiously 
 dwelt upon ; but when the story draws near its close, we 
 hurry over the circumstances, however important, which 
 your imagination must have forestalled, and leave you to 
 suppose those things w r hich it would be abusing your pa- 
 tience to relate at length." 
 
 Let the reader of the present work accept this explana- 
 tion, as an apology for the abrupt and rapid manner in 
 which we shall now accelerate our narrative. Since the 
 last lecture, our history has advanced nearly three weeks, 
 during which interval the major had made every arrange- 
 ment for the approaching marriage. It was finally agreed 
 that the ceremony should be performed at Overton church ; 
 
CHAP. XXIII. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 387 
 
 and as the "happy couple" expressed a wish to pass- 
 their " honeymoon " in a retired part of Yorkshire, the 
 major consented to postpone his fete until after their re- 
 turn - r neir was- he displeased at such an arrangement, a& it 
 afforded time for getting up his- entertainment on a more 
 liberal scale than could otherwise have been accomplished, 
 and for inviting, his numerous friends to attend it. "We 
 shall now avail ourselves f that peculiar Lethean property 
 which has been often ascribed to. the pen of the author, and 
 commit the reader to the arms of Morpheus, where it is our 
 intentions that he shall remain until the morning of the 
 nuptials. 
 
 Header, awake ! the sun has risen, and Nature is robing 
 herself in her most gorgeous apparel fox the approaching 
 ceremony j the family of the Lodge have been already 
 roused from their slumbers by the attendance of minstrels, 
 whom the vicar had directed to salute the bridal party at 
 break of day. But hark ! while we are thus trifling, the 
 village of Overtoil is in a bustle ; the marriage ceremony 
 is over; the bells of the church are ringing right merrily 
 their festive peals ; many a handkerchief is waving from 
 the cottage windows, while the doors are decorated with 
 garlands ; the vicarage is ornamented with fragments of 
 Venetian tapestry ; the peasants, dressed in their holiday 
 garments, are carrying nosegays in their hands, to present 
 to the bride as an offering of their respect, or to strew in 
 her path, as an emblematic expression of their wishes. 
 
 The party having reached Osterley Park, we were pro- 
 ceeding to describe the banquet which had been prepared, 
 and the various devices and emblems with which it had 
 been decorated, under the classical direction of the vicar, 
 when, alas! our publishers, like the harpies of old, unex- 
 pectedly pounced upon us, and warned us from the feast 
 " diripiuntque dapes" as Virgil has it. 
 
 " You have already exceeded the prescribed limits you 
 must close the scene : remember that you have engaged 
 to condense the work into one volume," said they. "We 
 
388 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 remonstrate, but in vain. "We request but a few pages, in 
 order that we may give our characters a dramatic exit ; but 
 they reply to us in the words of Sneer in the Critic, " O 
 never mind ! so as you get them off the stage, I'll answer 
 for it the reader won't care how." 
 
 You see then, gentle reader, how vain it would be to 
 struggle against such arbitrary and tasteless masters ; we 
 shall, therefore, without any further apology, ring the 
 manager's bell and drop the curtain. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 389 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV, 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE APPROACHING FETE. THE ARRIVAL OP THE 
 GUESTS. THE PROCESSION OF THE BRIDAL PARTY TO OSTERLEY 
 PARK. THE MAJOR AND HIS VISITORS SUPERINTEND THE ARRANGE- 
 MENTS IN THE MEADOW. THE CURIOUS DISCUSSIONS WHICH TOOK 
 PLACE ON THAT OCCASION. MERRY-ANDREWS. BUFFOONS. MYTHIC 
 ORIGIN OF THE PANTOMIME AND ITS CHARACTERS. TRAGETOURS, 
 ETC. THE DINNER AT THE HALL. THE LEARNED CONTROVERSY 
 WHICH WAS MAINTAINED WITH RESPECT TO THE GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 A MOJfTH had nearly elapsed since the bridal pair had 
 quitted Overtoil ; and during this period the greatest acti- 
 vity had been displayed by the itinerant corps of Momus, 
 under the superintendence of their manager, Ned Hopkins, 
 our " philosopher of the Porch." The various show-booths 
 had been erected by their respective owners with an expedi- 
 tion that might have put many a prouder architect to shame : 
 the marquees and the temporary rooms had been completed 
 under the management of Tom Plank ; and for those whose 
 appetite might hold precedence of the senses of sight and 
 hearing, ample funds of gratification had been provided by 
 the accomplished hostess of the " Bag of Nails," whose grim 
 troop of kettles and stewpaiis had, during the whole of the 
 week, been chirping and chuckling over the kitchen range 
 until, for lack of rest, its very cheeks had cracked from 
 yawning. 
 
 The numerous friends who had responded to the joint 
 invitations of the Major and Mr. Seymour were fast ar- 
 riving. Amidst an assemblage of fashionables from Bel- 
 gravia, and the elite of the county, were to be seen a motley 
 display of discordant spirits. Foremost in the field were 
 the military friends of the major, who, in these piping times 
 of peace, despairing of a glorious martyrdom from shells 
 and cannon, were e'en content to lay siege to the major's 
 well-stored pantry, to be blown up with ragouts and 
 turtle, fired by Burgundy, and bombarded by Champagne 
 
390 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 corks, under the command of their old and gallant comrade. 
 Then came Members of Parliament, broken down by the 
 weighty cares of legislation ; poets reduced to a " caput 
 mortuum" by a species of spontaneous combustion; novelists 
 driven wild by the creations of a distempered fancy ; Cam- 
 bridge wranglers so attenuated by mathematical abstractions 
 as to have become as angular as their diagrams of demon- 
 stration ; etymologists, whose small and mole-set eyes gave 
 token of their obscure and toilsome calling ; explorers from 
 the banks of " Old Euphrates," who in the silent courts of 
 winged demons and grim idols had cunningly extorted from 
 their " arrow-headed" tongues secrets of historic truth, which 
 for some thousand years had lain entombed in petrifaction ; 
 then succeeded, as if in pleasing and striking contrast, a 
 rubicund party of geological tourists, radiant with the 
 healthful glow of the mountain breeze, with hammers in 
 hand, as if prepared to knock the world about the ears of 
 those who disputed their sovereignty over the mighty race 
 of Antediluvian Monsters ; and, last, though very far from 
 the least attractive part of this assemblage, came pale-faced 
 but limber-tongued lawyers, who, having thrown off their 
 cares with their wigs, and plunged their briefs in the Lethe 
 of a long vacation, had joyfully accepted the hospitality of 
 Osterley Park, as an agreeable and seasonable recreation : 
 but as taciturnity and quiescence do not constitute the 
 characteristic elements of a lawyer's holiday, let not the 
 reader conclude that they abandoned their controversial 
 tendencies ; but, on the contrary, let him admire that har- 
 monious adjustment by which the moral world is regulated ; 
 let him acknowledge the wisdom by which tranquillity is 
 shed over such wild spirits, and a vent or safety-valve pro- 
 vided for the escape of that high-pressure of pugnacity, 
 which, no longer expended in actuating the wheels of the 
 law, might have occasioned the most direful explosions, 
 had it not, like the electricity of the thunder-cloud, 
 found, if not a silent, at least a harmless conductor. It is 
 to be deeply regretted that a reporter had not been engaged 
 to chronicle the sayings and doings of these intellectual 
 gladiators. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 391 
 
 The major now anxiously awaited the arrival of every 
 post, in expectation of a letter that might announce the day 
 upon which Henry Beacham and his bride w.ould return to 
 Osterley Park. At length the long-anticipated intelligence 
 was received, that they might be expected at Overton by 
 four o'clock on the day after the morrow. The vicar was 
 immediately summoned to a council, and, on his arrival, 
 retired with the major for the purpose of consulting the 
 chronicles of Holinshed and Froissart, touching certain 
 points of ceremonial that might guide them in their ar- 
 rangements for receiving the bride. The vicar pleaded in 
 favour of the forms that were observed on the occasion 
 of the public entrance of Queen Isabella into the city of 
 Paris ; but the major objected to the plan, on account of 
 the pageant representing the siege of Troy a point upon 
 which the vicar, as may be readily imagined, most perti- 
 naciously insisted ; so that the gentlemen separated without 
 having arrived at any satisfactory conclusion upon the sub- 
 ject, and the question was transferred to another jurisdiction. 
 JXTo sooner had it become known that Mr. and Mrs. Beacham 
 were shortly to arrive, than the more respectable yeomen 
 of the parish assembled at the village inn, to concert a 
 plan for receiving them with all due honour, when it was 
 finally arranged that the village should be decorated with 
 garlands, and the maypole erected on the spot where its 
 gaudy streamers had for so many ages annually floated on 
 the breeze of spring. It was further resolved, that every 
 person who could furnish himself with a horse should attend 
 at a certain spot by the hour of three, in order to advance 
 in procession, and escort the happy couple through Overtoil 
 to Osterley Park. The major, upon receiving these resolu- 
 tions, issued such orders as might be necessary for carrying 
 them into eifect ; he also signified his desire that those 
 musicians who had lately arrived for the impending festivi- 
 ties should be in attendance at the place and hour that had 
 been fixed upon. The friends of Major Snapwell had 
 received their final directions for the ceremonial ; and Over- 
 toil was overflowing with visitors. Tom had also joined his 
 family circle. 
 
392 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 At three o'clock on the appointed day twenty signal-guns 
 were discharged from the Park the village bells struck up 
 a festive peal the flag was hoisted on the spire of the 
 church and upwards of forty respectable yeomen, farmers, 
 and tenants, mounted on their horses, and decorated with 
 ribands and flowers, had assembled as an escort. 
 
 The church clock chimed the quarter-past three, as the 
 carriages of Major Snapwell and Mr. Seymour, and those of 
 their guests, drawn by highly-decorated horses, entered the 
 village ; the peasants immediately drew back, so as to form 
 an avenue through which the party might pass, while shouts 
 of gladness rent the air. Each horseman had provided a 
 large bough of oak or elm, so that the cavalcade in motion 
 appeared like a moving grove, and reminded Mrs. Seymour 
 of the advance of " Birnam Wood to Dunsinane." The 
 carriages, preceded by a band of music, occupied the van of 
 the procession ; then came about fifty village maidens, each 
 carrying in her hand a basket of flowers ; next followed the 
 horsemen ; and the procession was closed by a dense group 
 of peasants, who had come from all the country round. The 
 vicar appeared on horseback, bustling in all directions, now 
 conversing with the major, now with Mr. Seymour ; at one 
 time moderating the pace of the horsemen, and at another 
 keeping back the pedestrians, whose eagerness to push for- 
 ward created an inconvenient crowd in the foremost ranks. 
 Mr. Twaddleton held in his right hand a wand decorated 
 with ivy -leaves, and which resembled in appearance the thyrsus 
 of Bacchus,* except that the coire on its summit had been 
 replaced by a bunch of roses. This was a classical conceit ; 
 and he fully explained to the major the reason of his having 
 adopted such a device for his wand of office. 
 
 "The rose," said he, "was dedicated by Cupid to Har- 
 pocrates, the god of Silence, to engage him to conceal the 
 secrets of Venus ; hence has this flower been considered the 
 symbol of silence ; for which reason it was customary to 
 hang a rose over the banqueting-table, to signify that what 
 
 * The thyrsus was a spear entwined with leaves or a fillet, and surmounted 
 with a fir-cone ; indicative of the ancient custom of flavouring the wine with 
 a resinous ingredient. 
 
. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 393 
 
 was there spoken should be kept private, or ' under the rose ;' 
 whence, also, to present or hold up this flower to any 
 person in discourse served, instead of an admonition, to 
 intimate that it was time for such person to hold his peace. 
 In like manner," continued the antiquary, "you will 
 observe that, by virtue of my wand, I shall impress the obli- 
 gation of silence upon the crowd, and easily calm any undue 
 clamour that may arise." 
 
 The cavalcade had advanced little more than half a mile, 
 when the major suggested the propriety of halting until his 
 nephew and niece should arrive ; to this proposition the vicar 
 readily acceded, and accordingly issued the necessary orders. 
 
 They had not, however, remained stationary above five 
 minutes, when a carriage and four was seen at the brow 
 of the hill, advancing in full speed. A general and simul- 
 taneous shout burst from the crowd ; upon which the vicar 
 raised his wand, and all was hushed. How far such an 
 effect might be attributed to the influence of his wand, we 
 shall leave the sagacious reader to determine ; but the party 
 smiled at so striking an instance of classical credulity ; and 
 Mr. Tvvaddleton, highly gratified by his triumph, rode for- 
 ward to the chariot, which was not more than two hundred 
 yards distant. It contained Mr. and Mrs. Beacham, whom 
 the vicar no sooner perceived than he again raised his wand, 
 and again witnessed the influence of its spell. The chariot 
 instantly stopped, and, in the next moment, Mr. Twaddletoii 
 was seen in earnest conversation with the travellers. He 
 informed them that the group they saw was a cavalcade of 
 villagers, w r ho had been awaiting their arrival on the road, in 
 order to escort them in rural triumph to Osterley Park. 
 He then presented Mr. Beacham with a bag of nuts, " that 
 the bridegroom," as he said, " might be enabled to comply 
 with the ancient Roman custom* of throwing nuts amongst 
 
 * Many reasons have been assigned for this custom ; the more commonly 
 received opinion is, that it was intended as a token of the bridegroom having 
 left off childish diversions, and entered on a more serious state of life ; whence 
 nucibus relictis has passed into a proverb. This conjecture is favoured by 
 Catullus: 
 
 " Satis diu 
 
 Lnsisti nucibus. Lubet 
 Jam sen-ire Thalassio." [We 
 
394 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. X$IV. 
 
 the boys to be scrambled for; sparge, marite, nuces, as Virgil 
 has it; da nuces pueris, as Catullus sings." Mr. Beacham 
 held the vicar in too much respect to laugh at his eccentri- 
 cities, and he therefore accepted the bag, with a determina- 
 tion to gratify his wishes in so harmless a whim. 
 
 Jerry Styles was now directed to forward the two mes- 
 sengers to Osterley Park; and he accordingly opened a 
 basket, from which flew two carrier-pigeons, who imme- 
 diately soared into the air, and, having attained their 
 greatest altitude, and remained apparently stationary a few 
 seconds, darted off in the direction of Osterley Park : every 
 eye was stedfastly fixed upon the birds ; and a murmur of 
 satisfaction and wonder ran through the ranks, as the saga- 
 cious animals lessened in the distance. (58.) 
 
 The musicians struck up a grand march; the whole 
 cavalcade was in motion. Mr. Beacham's chariot had been 
 drawn on one side of the road ; the carriages and horsemen 
 proceeded to take their stations in the rear; the company 
 in the former kissing their hands, and waving their hand- 
 kerchiefs, while the latter lowered their branches, and 
 cheered, as they passed. 
 
 The damsels, in advance of Mr. Beacham's carriage opened 
 their baskets, and strewed the road with flowers as they 
 moved forward. 
 
 " Hark !" exclaimed the major, " the pigeons have arrived 
 at the park, and my orders have been faithfully obeyed : 
 they are firing a salute." 
 
 "And it has been heard at the village," said the vicar; 
 " for the bells have just commenced their peal of welcome." 
 But we are exhausting the patience of our readers with the 
 details of an ovation in which it is very probable they may 
 feel but little interest ; although we freely confess that, to 
 ourselves, few pageants have such attractive charms as 
 those innocent and simple manifestations of genuine feeling 
 which are to be met with in rural life, where the heart has 
 not yet been chilled by that benumbing influence which has 
 
 We have already stated that nuces were played with like our marbles ; the 
 custom, therefore, might be intended to express that the bridegroom had 
 deserted his playthings. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 395 
 
 been termed "the progress of civilisation;" and which has 
 exchanged the free and warm impulses of our nature for 
 cold and studied forms, or for an artful display of factitious 
 sentiment. 
 
 During the progress of the procession through the village, 
 Mr. Beacham had not been unmindful of the vicar's request ; 
 he poured a shower of nuts amongst the boys, which occa- 
 sioned much frolic and good-humoured contention ; while 
 the peasants caught and cracked them, without any 
 suspicion of the Roman custom they were assisting to per- 
 petuate. 
 
 Having arrived at Osterley Park, the horsemen formed 
 a double line, through which the several carriages passed. 
 The gates were then closed ; and the vicar, stepping forward, 
 thus addressed the assembled multitude : 
 
 " Well-beloved friends and parishioners, I am desired by 
 Major Snapwell to inform you that refreshments have been 
 prepared in the village, of which you may all partake on 
 your return. Your admission into the park this evening 
 would interfere with those arrangements which are in pro- 
 gress for to-morrow's jubilee ; let me, therefore, request 
 that you will all retire peaceably." 
 
 In compliance with this intimation, the whole assembly, 
 
 " With tongues all loudness, and with eyes all mirth," 
 
 after having given three hearty cheers, retired to the village, 
 where several barrels of beer had been disposed in readiness 
 for them " to drink and make merry." 
 
 The vicar, having completed his harangue, rejoined the 
 party at the park, where its hospitable owner had prepared 
 a sumptuous dinner. It was, however, proposed that the 
 vicar, with the major, and such of his guests as wished to 
 inspect the preparations, should previously walk round the 
 grounds. Tom and his sisters begged that they might be 
 included in the party ; a request which their father readily 
 granted, as he said that some opportunity might occur for 
 explaining the nature of those exhibitions w r hich they were 
 to witness on the following day. The same feeling induced 
 Mr. and Mrs. Beacham and several visitors to join the 
 
396 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 party, lipping that they also might profit from the discourse 
 which Mr. Seymour intended to hold for the instruction of 
 his children. The reader will probably be induced, for 
 similar reasons, to accompany them. If he has attentively 
 read the preceding pages of this work, we hope he has 
 become convinced that the lessons of youth may occasionally 
 convey instruction, as well as amusement, to those of riper 
 years. 
 
 Ned Hopkins having been summoned to attend the 
 party, and receive the final orders of the vicar, they pro- 
 ceeded to the elm-meadow, where the grand fair was 
 to be held, and in which were disposed a long line of 
 booths for the motley exhibitions to which they were dedi- 
 cated. 
 
 "For what purpose has yonder stage been erected?" 
 inquired the major. 
 
 " That is the hoistings, sir," answered Ned Hopkins, 
 "from w r hich Giles Gingerly, the celebrated American 
 Merry-andrew, will exhibit his buifoonery, and vend his 
 nostrums." 
 
 " Hoistings ! why, Ned, you pronounce the word as though 
 you mouth had not yet recovered from the damage of your 
 early fire-eating," said the major. 
 
 " I ask your pardon, sir," answered Ned ; " but the vicar's 
 
 friend, Mr. Jeremy Prybabel, took me to task, and insisted 
 
 upon it that Hustings was a corruption of Hoistings, it being 
 
 a stage upon which the actor is hoisted or elevated above the 
 
 surrounding crowd." 
 
 " I believe he is right," muttered the vicar. 
 
 " Pray tell me," said Tom, " what is a Merry-audrew ? 
 
 "Ask the vicar," replied his father. 
 
 " The mountebank, who united the professions of jocu- 
 lator and physician, was of ancient date, and during the 
 last two centuries has figured away with considerable 
 success. He usually appears on a temporary stage, and 
 prefaces the vending his nostrums with a pompous harangue ; 
 and the better to attract the notice of the gaping spectators, 
 he displays some of the performances practised by the jug- 
 glers, while his inseparable companion, the boudoir, exhibits 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 307 
 
 numerous tricks, and puts the populace in good humour by 
 wit and raillery. The medical fraternity, known in England 
 by the name of Merry-andrews, and who are the companions 
 of the mountebank, derived their foundation from Dr. 
 Andrew Borde, who lived in the reigns of Henry VIII., 
 Edward VI., and Queen Mary, and was constantly in the 
 habit of frequenting fairs and markets, at which he harangued 
 the populace: his speeches were extremely humorous, and 
 occasioned considerable mirth ; but, notwithstanding the 
 infallibility of his nostrums, like Paracelsus, he died with a 
 bottle of his elixir in his pocket. His successors in the 
 same line naturally endeavoured to emulate the humour of 
 their master, and hence this whole class of vagabond tinkers 
 of flesh and bone acquired the generic appellation of Merry- 
 andrews" 
 
 " And he was a punster withal, and styled himself Andreas 
 ' Perforatus,' "* said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " At all events that was a Latin pun," observed the major, 
 " and therefore I may presume a redeeming feature in the 
 opinion of the vicar." 
 
 "The origin of the word buffoon is curious," said the 
 vicar. " Jesters and clowns in the farces used to swell their 
 cheeks with wind, and then give each other a slap, which 
 produced a noise to the amusement of the spectators ; and 
 hence the term Buffa, being a word of corrupt latinity of the 
 middle ages, synonymous with Alapa, i. e. a slap on the cheek. 
 
 " And pray what are nostrums ?" asked Lousia. 
 
 " 'Nostrum? my dear, signifies our own, and is applied to 
 any medicine which is prepared by a secret process, and sold 
 for the private advantage of an individual ; but since secrecy 
 is never used on such occasions except as a cloak for impos- 
 ture, the word very generally conveys an expression of 
 ridicule or contempt." 
 
 " As you appear to have turned your antiquarian 
 researches in this direction, may I be allowed to ask 
 whether you can give us any account of the origin of the 
 PANTOMIME," said Mrs. Beacham ; " for I have been inclined 
 to regard it as a myth of questionable solution ?" 
 
 * Andrew Bored. 
 
398 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 Mr. Txvaddletou, never better pleased than by an appeal 
 to his antiquarian knowledge, proceeded to state that 
 fabulous representations, set forth in dumb show, were said 
 to be the invention of Augustus; but that, according to 
 Dr. Doran, the Pantomime of the present day was of Italian 
 origin, and embodied an allegory of great historical signi- 
 ficance. PLANTALEONE, or Planter of the Lion., was the 
 standard-bearer of Venice, carrying on his banner the Lion 
 of St. Mark ; Harlequin, Clown, and Columbine, symbolically 
 represented the other different states of Italy ; amidst all 
 whose wars Plantaleone played an important part ; around 
 his rallying banner the battle ever raged with the greatest 
 fury : but such are the vicissitudes of human affairs, that it 
 became the fate of him, who had saved states by his valour, 
 to become in his turn the despised object of the very states 
 he had so valiantly defended ; and their representatives in 
 the mythic characters of Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown, 
 delighted in degrading Venice, by beating and insulting her 
 under the guise of that old and decrepit buffoon, designated 
 Signor Pantaloon. " The characteristic costume of the Venetian 
 standard-bearer," added the vicar, "was tight parti-coloured 
 trousers, whence the name of 'Pantaloons; 1 a dress which 
 long survived the memory of the fact from which it derived 
 its origin." 
 
 " It is very curious," observed the major, " that a popular 
 ceremony, a custom, or even a dress, should for so many ages 
 survive their origin." 
 
 " You may well say so," replied the vicar ; " and, thanks to 
 the antiquary, the memory of customs long forgotten have 
 even been recalled from oblivion by the ingenious interpre- 
 tation of a sentiment, a proverb, or even a word ; as, indeed, 
 we have just witnessed in the instance of Merry-andrew. I 
 could greatly amuse you by many interesting examples 
 (59), but amidst them all, I know not one more striking than 
 that of Pantaloons.'" 
 
 The company proceeded in their inspection. 
 
 "What have we there, Ned Hopkins?" said Mr. Sey- 
 mour, as he pointed to a booth of larger dimensions than 
 those which surrounded it. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 399 
 
 "In that booth 'the Emperor of all the Conjurors' will 
 perform his wonderful art of ' sleight of hand/ " replied Ned. 
 "Look at his card of invitation," continued the wag 
 " ' fiss- WALK IK WALK IN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. HEKE 
 
 AEE MIRACLES IN ANY QUANTITY TO BE SEEN TOE TWO 
 PENCE, AND BELIEYED IN FOE NOTHING ! ! ! ' " 
 
 " A lineal descendant of the Tragetour of the fourteenth 
 century," observed the vicar; "a class of artists who, w r ith 
 the assistance of dexterity of execution, and various kinds 
 of machinery, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and pro- 
 duced such illusions as were usually supposed to be the 
 effect of enchantment ; on which account they were fre- 
 quently ranked with magicians, sorcerers, and witches. 
 They were greatly encouraged in the middle ages, and 
 travelled in large companies, carrying with them such 
 machinery as was necessary for the performance of their 
 deceptions." 
 
 The company passed to the next booth. 
 
 " There," said Ned, " will be exhibited vaulting, tumbling, 
 jumping through hoops, balancing, grotesque dances by the 
 clown, and dancing upon the tight rope." 
 
 " The tragetour rarely executed this part of the per- 
 formance himself," said the vicar, " but left it to some of his 
 confederates." 
 
 " And yet I should have thought it the most profitable 
 department of the art," observed the major ; " for it was so 
 patronised as to secure the reception of its professors into the 
 houses of the nobility. In the reign of Edward II. a tumbler 
 rode before the king, and so delighted his majesty that he 
 rewarded him with a gratuity of twenty shillings, a very 
 considerable sum in those days." 
 
 The whole party, having expressed their satisfaction at 
 the genius which Ned Hopkins had displayed in selecting 
 and arranging the various kinds of amusement, were con- 
 ducted by the vicar to a small enclosure at a short distance 
 from the fair, which he had appropriated to the youths of the 
 village, who had been trained to perform the "Ludus Trojoe" 
 according to the description left us by Virgil in the fifth 
 ^Eueid. 
 
400 PHILOSOPHY IN SPOKT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 " I shall be curious to witness the sport," said the major ; 
 " for Lazius asserts, iu his commentaries upon the Roman 
 Republic, that the jousts and t ornaments, so much in 
 fashion about two or three hundred years ago, were indebted 
 for their origin to this game ; and that l Tournamenta ' is but 
 a corruption of ' Trojamenta.'' " 
 
 " Undoubtedly," replied the vicar ; " and the learned and 
 noble Du Fresne entertains the same opinion : by some the 
 word has been derived from the French tourner, to turn round 
 with agility : yet the exercises have so much resemblance, as 
 to prove the one an imitation of the other." 
 
 " I am pleased to find that the vicar has not been frightened 
 out of his propriety by the ' Peace Congress,' who, in fear of 
 creating a future race of Rolandos, have denounced the 
 introduction of warlike toys into the playground. All these 
 preparations are highly laudable, and will no doubt afford 
 satisfaction to the spectators, for whose amusement they 
 have been designed; but," continued the gallant major, " on 
 hospitable thoughts intent " " there are other senses, my 
 dear friend, besides the eye and ear, to be gratified upon this 
 joyful occasion. I have not yet observed any arrangements 
 for the dinner." 
 
 tl Fear not, major ; the awning w r hich has been erected for 
 that purpose is within sight : observe you not the banners 
 which are floating yonder ?" said the vicar. 
 
 " Ay, ay, to be sure I do ; and let me tell you that you 
 have taken up a very snug position." 
 
 Tables had been arranged, under an awning of canvas in 
 the form of a cross, and were capable of accommodating about 
 two hundred persons. On a platform, somewhat elevated, 
 was another table appropriated to the major and his guests, 
 on which covers were laid for forty. 
 
 " You perceive, major," said Mr. Twaddleton, as they 
 approached the scene of future action, u that the fare which 
 has been provided is simple but substantial, and I trust will 
 be considered as no less according with English hospitality 
 than with classical propriety." 
 
 " The beef certainly predominates," said the major ; " and 
 I observe that most of the joints are roasted." 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 401 
 
 " Quite correct, sir ; the ox is the animal most frequently 
 spoken of, as furnishing food for ancient heroes ; and you 
 will remember that Homer rarely mentions any other than 
 roasted meat." 
 
 " I perceive that you have been more miscellaneous in 
 your arrangement of the upper table." 
 
 " I have placed before you a chine of beef, because 
 Menelaus set that dish before Telemachus at the marriage- 
 feast of his son." 
 
 " And I rejoice to see a salad for its neighbour," said the 
 major, 
 
 " Ay, truly, an Attic salad, with garlic, leeks, and cheese : 
 you 110 doubt remember that the poetical salad served up in 
 the comedy of the Peace of Aristophanes was of this com- 
 position," added the vicar. 
 
 ' : I wish to know what seats are to be appropriated to my 
 young friends, the little Seymours," said the major. 
 
 " I regret extremely to say, that they cannot with pro- 
 priety join our party," replied the vicar, gravely. 
 
 "Not join the party! zounds, sir, but I insist upon it; 
 not join the party !" 
 
 " Be calm, major ; and believe me that I shall feel the 
 privation as keenly as yourself; but would you countenance 
 a measure which is decidedly in opposition to every classical 
 authority ? Never, as Suetonius has expressly declared, 
 did the young Ca3sars, Caius and Lucius, eat at the table 
 of Augustus, until they had assumed the toga virilis." 
 
 " A fig for Suetonius ! he is not to be trusted : has it 
 not been said, that, while he exposed the deformities of the 
 Caesars, he wrote with all the licentiousness and extravagance 
 with which they lived ? Besides, I appeal to your gallantry, 
 and ask whether we ought to trust the opinion of a man, 
 011 a subject of etiquette, who was banished from the court 
 for want of attention and respect to the Empress Sabina 't 
 You must produce some better authority, my dear Mr. 
 Twaddleton : search the Grecian writers ; depend upon it 
 that some direct or implied sanction to the plan is to be 
 discovered ; the oracles of old may generally be so inter- 
 preted as to meet the wishes of the translator." 
 
 2 D 
 
402 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 " Grently, Major Snapwell; speak not thus irreverently 
 of the luminaries of antiquity ; nor expect me to distort 
 passages from their original and intended significations. 
 An idea, however, has just struck me, which may possibly 
 be turned to your advantage ; and yet there are many 
 difficulties ; for it cannot be said that this feast has been 
 conducted with the utmost frugality ; and, therefore, must 
 not be compared with the Lacedaemonian ' SyssitiaJ or public 
 entertainments, whither the youths were obliged, by the 
 lawgiver, to repair as to schools of temperance and sobriety, 
 and where, by the example and discourse of the elder men, 
 they were trained to good manners and useful knowledge." 
 
 "A case exactly in point!" triumphantly exclaimed the 
 major. " Must not the classical character of our entertain- 
 ment convey instruction ? I vow it runs parallel in every 
 particular with the Syssitia of LacedaBmon; and I there- 
 fore affirm, that it would be illegal, according to the law of 
 Lycurgus, to prevent the presence of the young Seymours.*' 
 
 " Your argument has colour, major ; I certainly must 
 admit that Mr. Seymour's lessons are too valuable to be 
 lost : well, I consent ; it shall be regarded as a Lacedaemonian 
 entertainment, and my young friends shall be accordingly 
 accommodated with seats." 
 
 On their return from the banqueting-tables, the party 
 inspected the preparations for the fireworks, and the ships 
 constructed for the naumachia ; we shall, however, at present 
 decline offering any description, as we prefer explaining them 
 in operation. 
 
 The reader will now be pleased to imagine that the 
 party, having returned to the mansion, had partaken of the 
 hospitable repast which the major had provided for them ; 
 he may farther suppose that tea had been served up, and 
 the amusements of the evening commenced : for it is at 
 this moment that the course of our narrative is resumed. 
 Mrs. Beacham was delighting the assembly by a splendid 
 display of her musical talents ; the major and Mr. Seymour 
 were wearing away the time by a game of chess. 
 
 " There you sit, gentlemen," exclaimed the vicar, " so 
 absorbed in your game, as to have remained quite insensible 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 403 
 
 to the sweet sounds with which Mrs. Beacham has been 
 charming us ; but you stand excused, for Seneca admits 
 the fascinating power of the ' ludus latrunculorum,' or game 
 of chess. You no doubt remember the story that lie tells 
 us of one Canius Julius, who, having been sentenced to 
 death by Caligula, was found by the centurion, when he 
 came to conduct him to execution, so interested in a game 
 of the ' latrunculi,' as at first to be insensible to the sum- 
 mons, and that he did not prepare to depart until he had 
 counted his men, and desired the centurion to bear witness 
 to his having one more piece on the board than his adver- 
 sary, so that the latter might not boast of a victory after his 
 death." 
 
 "Indeed!" said the major; "but unfortunately for 
 your story, the ancients were not acquainted with the game 
 of chess." 
 
 " What absurd proposition am I next to expect ?" cried 
 Mr. Twaddleton. " You surely cannot have read the poem 
 to Piso, which some will have to be Ovid's, others Lucian's r 
 but no matter ; it is an ancient poem, and accurately de- 
 scribes the game of ' latrunculi.' I myself believe, from 
 a particular line in Sophocles, that chess was invented by 
 Palamedes, at the siege of Troy ; although Seneca attributes 
 it to Chilon, one of the seven Grecian sages. My friend 
 Mr. Seymour, who is, upon all occasions, desirous of im- 
 parting wisdom through the medium of games, and of 
 ' turning sport into science/ will no doubt agree with those 
 who fancy that it was contrived by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, 
 as a method of instructing his soldiers in the military art ; 
 and I must admit that the game expresses the chance and 
 order of war so very happily, that no place can lay so just 
 a claim to its invention as the camp : ' ludimus effigiem belli,'' * 
 as Vida says." 
 
 "Check to your king!" cried the major; "while you 
 are considering of the best way to get his majesty out 
 of the scrape, I will endeavour to extricate the vicar out of 
 
 * " War's harmless shape we sing, and hoxen trains 
 Of youth, encountering on the cedar plains : 
 How two tall kings, by different armour known, 
 Traverse the field and combat for renown." 
 
404 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 the quagmire in which he is floundering. My dear Mr. 
 Twaddleton," continued the major, " you speak as if it 
 were an admitted fact that the * ludus latrunculonim ' was 
 synonymous with our chess. I admit that it was a game 
 played with Tesserce or squares, and Calculi or pieces ; 
 but it does not follow that it must have been chess ; indeed 
 the learned Dr. Hyde, whose researches into Oriental games 
 are as much distinguished for accurate discrimination as for 
 profound scholarship, considers it to have resembled our 
 draughts." * 
 
 " You are to move, major," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Then I shall take your castle, and open a fresh battery 
 upon the vicar," replied Major Suapwell. 
 
 " So you may," cried Mr. Twaddleton, " but you will 
 not easily drive me from my position, supported as I am 
 by Vossius and Salmasius, and .an army of valiant com- 
 batants." 
 
 " The learned Hyde has endeavoured to prove that chess 
 was first invented in India, and passed from thence to 
 Persia and Arabia (60). Fabricius considered it a Persian 
 game, and I must say that I am inclined to coincide with 
 him. The terms in present use may evidently be traced to 
 an Oriental source. Schach, in the Persian language, 
 signifies king, and schachmat, whence onr check-mate, the king 
 is dead, the original words having been transformed by 
 progressive changes ; thus we have schach, echecs, chess ; 
 and by a whimsical concurrence of circumstances have arisen 
 the English words check and exchequer." 
 
 " I take your queen" cried Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Ay ; and I take a bishop in return," said the major. 
 
 " Well," observed the vicar, " if an Oriental nation 
 really gave origin to the game, it could not, at all events, 
 have been China ; since the policy of that people is to 
 exclude females from every kind and degree of influence and 
 power, whereas the queen at chess is a powerful and important 
 piece." 
 
 " You must not lay too much stress upon the names of 
 
 * " Ludus Latrunculonim ;'' ludus, Anglice dicitur Draughts, a tiahendo 
 calculos. HYDE, de Ludis Orientalium. Oxon, 1694. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 405 
 
 the several pieces," observed the major, " since they have 
 varied in different ages and countries. The castle is some- 
 times called the rook, from the Italian word rocca, which 
 signifies a fortress placed on a rock : the piece which we 
 call the bishop has been termed by English writers alphan, 
 aufin, &c., from an Arabic word signifying an elephant ; 
 sometimes it was named an archer; by the Germans, the 
 hound, or runner ; by Russians and Swedes, the elephant ; 
 by Poles, the priest , and by the French, at a very early 
 period, the fou or fool; the reason of this last appellation 
 seems to be, that, as this piece stands on the sides of the 
 king and queen, some wag of the times styled it the fool, 
 because anciently royal personages were commonly thus 
 attended, from want of other means of amusing themselves." 
 
 " You cannot thus account for our term bishop" observed 
 Mr. Seymour, "as our kings and queens have never had 
 such attendants." 
 
 " Nor is it very easy to ascertain the period at which it 
 was introduced," replied the major ; " in Caxton's time it 
 was styled the elphyn. I should think it probable that the 
 change of name took place after the Reformation." 
 
 " It is probable that the pieces not only underwent 
 changes in name, but changes in value or power," observed 
 Mr. Seymour, " as the game descended through different 
 ages and countries." 
 
 Mrs. Beacham, who had been for some time listening 
 with much interest to the curious discourse we have just 
 related, here ventured to ask a question : " As you appear 
 to have taken some trouble to ascertain the origin of this 
 game, you can perhaps inform me at what period it was 
 introduced into England." 
 
 The major replied, that the learned Hyde supposed it to 
 have been first known in our country about the time of the 
 Conquest ; but that Mr. Barrington believed it to have 
 been introduced during the thirteenth century, upon the 
 return of Edward I. from the Holy Land, where he continued 
 so long, and was attended by so many English. 
 
 " It is certain that our ancestors played much at chess 
 before the general introduction of cards," observed the 
 
406 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 vicar, " as no fewer than twenty-six English families have 
 emblazoned chess-boards and chess-rooks in their arms, and 
 it must therefore have been considered a valuable accom- 
 plishment." 
 
 " Cards," observed the major, " must have been known 
 in England previous to the time of Edward IV., since a 
 statute was passed in that reign against their importation ; 
 but they did not become general for many years, and the 
 progress of the custom appears to have been extremely 
 slow." 
 
 " Check, and mate!" exclaimed Mr. Seymour. 
 
 "Upon my word, I have lost .the game. Mr. Twad- 
 dleton, I lay this to your account," said the major ; " you 
 ought not, sir, to have intruded your antiquarian discussions 
 at such a time." 
 
 " You have lost the game, major, because, like Charles 
 XII. of Sweden,* you are too fond of advancing your 
 king : but it is quite natural that you should feel mortified 
 by your defeat : a chess-warrior never likes to be beat, 
 because it is a trial of skill and address ; chance has no 
 place, and he therefore never loses except from the superiority 
 of his adversary. You may remember that William the 
 Conqueror, upon being check-mated by the Prince of France, 
 knocked the chess-board about his pate, an event which 
 became the source of much future enmity. I must say," 
 continued the vicar, " that this, in my view of the matter, 
 is an imperfection in the game: for if it be the type or 
 representative of a military campaign, fortune should have 
 some share in deciding the fate of the day ; and, if I remember 
 correctly, Sir William Jones has stated that the use of dice, 
 to regulate the moves, was formerly introduced in the 
 
 "I will give the major his revenge whenever he pleases," 
 said Mr. Seymour ; " but as I well know how dearly the 
 vicar loves an antiquarian anecdote, if he will listen I will 
 furnish him with one that will be probably new to him. 
 
 * Voltaire tells us that Charles XII. always lost the game at chess, from 
 his eagerness to move his king, and to make greater use of him than of any of 
 the other pieces. 
 
CHAP. XXIV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 407 
 
 Do you observe the form of the chess-board, resembliug, as 
 you perceive, two folio volumes ? The origin of it was 
 this : Endes, bishop of Sully, forbade his clergy to play at 
 chess. As they were resolved, however, not to obey the 
 command, and yet did not dare to have a chess-board seen 
 in their houses or cloisters, they had them bound and 
 lettered as books, and called them their wooden gospels. 
 These same monks had also drinking-vessels bound to re- 
 semble the breviary, and were found drinking when it was 
 supposed they were at prayers." 
 
408 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE POPULACE AT OSTERLEY PARK. .THE COMMENCE- 
 MENT OF THE FESTIVITIES. DANCING ON THE TIGHT AND SLACK 
 ROPE. BALANCING. AN EGG POISED ON ITS BROAD AND NARROW 
 
 END. CONJURING. SLEIGHT OF HAND. THE GAME OF THIMBLE AND 
 
 PEA ; OR THIMBLE-RIG. A ROMAN GAME OF CHANCE, WITH THE 
 FINGERS THE MORRA, PLAYED IN ITALY, AND LONG PRACTISED IN 
 
 CHINA. THE TRICK OF THE DECANTER AND GOBLET. THE ELECTRIC 
 
 TELEGRAPH AND HOW IT BROUGHT INTO TROUBLE A WORTHY OLD 
 LADY. A SURPRISING TRICK BY MEANS OF THE ELECTRIC BATTERY. 
 THE MYSTERIOUS LADY. THE KING OF THE SALAMANDERS. THE 
 FIRE ORDEAL. WATER FROZEN IN A RED-HOT CRUCIBLE. ICE SET 
 ON FIRE. OPTICAL ILLUSIONS. PHANTASMAGORIA. DECEPTIVE 
 SOUNDS. INVISIBLE GIRL. VENTRILOQUISM. THE TELEPHONIC 
 CONCERT. VARIOUS GAMES. THE PENTHALUM. QUOITS. THE 
 BANQUET. THE GAME OF QUINTAIN. GRAND DISPLAY OF FIRE- 
 WORKS. COLOURED FIRES. A TABLEAU IN THE INFERNAL REGIONS. 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 " Expectata dies aderat ." 
 
 " Now came the day desir'd ; the skies were bright 
 With rosy lustre of the rising light." 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 409 
 
 NEVER had the rosy fingers of Aurora shown so much 
 reluctance in unbarring the gates of the East as on the 
 morning of the Osterley Jubilee ; at least, so thought some 
 score of peasants, who, fevered by anxiety and expectation, 
 had arisen from their beds long before the break of day. 
 
 At length, however, the sun arose ; but, indignant no 
 doubt at the accusations he had so unjustly suffered, he 
 shortly veiled his fiery countenance in dark and lowering 
 clouds. Here, then, was a fresh source of doubt and anxiety ; 
 would the day be rainy ? The gardener at Overton Lodge 
 was immediately sought and consulted ; and, cheering as 
 were his predictions, they scarcely succeeded in dispelling 
 the gloom which shaded many a fair countenance. The 
 apprehension of disappointment was, however, suddenly 
 relieved ; for between nine and ten o'clock the sun re- 
 appeared, beaming in all his glory, and shedding the 
 brightest refulgence on the scene of the approaching festi- 
 vities. At this period hundreds of villagers, dressed in their 
 holiday attire, were seen pouring along the high road, or 
 winding their way through the verdant valleys. So admir- 
 able had been the arrangements for the admission of the 
 populace into the park, that, great as was the concourse of 
 spectators, not the slightest impediment occurred during 
 their entrance. 
 
 At half-past ten o'clock the whole population of the 
 country had assembled ; the various performers were on their 
 respective stages ; and the arrival of Major Snapwell and 
 his guests was eagerly expected, as a signal for the com- 
 mencement of the festivities of the day. 
 
 At length a distant murmur was heard in the direction 
 of the house, which gradually increased as it approached 
 the meadow, until it swelled into one grand and universal 
 chorus. The vicar appeared with his wand of office, which 
 he no sooner waved in the air than the murmur gradually 
 subsided. Major Snapwell and his friends, Harry Beacham 
 and his bride, and the Seymours with their children, and 
 numerous visitors, followed. The several bauds, stationed 
 on the platforms erected before the show-booth, simultane- 
 ously struck up the national anthem, in which the whole 
 
410 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 multitude joined, and produced a most surprising and thrill- 
 ing effect. 
 
 There were eight booths appropriated to the several ex- 
 hibitions ; and it had been arranged that each should com- 
 mence at the same time, and repeat its performances eight 
 times during the day ; so that by dividing the spectators 
 into eight groups, and delivering to each person a ticket 
 distinguished by a particular number, every spectator at 
 once knew the booth into which he was to enter; and 
 having witnessed the exhibition, he was directed to exchange 
 his ticket ; by which means every chance of confusion was 
 avoided, and each person was enabled to witness, successively, 
 every performance. 
 
 The vicar and the party entered the first booth, and were 
 followed by all those whose tickets was distinguished by 
 No. 1 ; those of No. 2 at the same time entered the second 
 booth, and so on. 
 
 The first show was appropriated to the various exhibitions 
 of vaulting, tumbling,. balancing, and rope-dancing. 
 
 During the performances of the balancer, Tom Seymour's 
 attention was riveted on the artist ; he watched every 
 movement, and examined its effect in preserving the centre 
 of gravity within the base ; he attentively followed every 
 change of position, and discovered the effect of such changes 
 upon the line of direction.* As to the wire-dancing, Tom 
 observed that he saw very plainly the swinging of the wire 
 backwards and forwards diminished the difficulty, and 
 assisted the actor in keeping his equipoise. 
 
 " See, see !" exclaimed Louisa, " how very extraordinary ! 
 I declare that the plate, sword, key, and tobacco-pipe, are all 
 balanced as they revolve on the chin of the performer." 
 
 " And do you not know, Louisa," replied Tom, " that the 
 revolution of the plate and sword, which appears to render 
 the execution so much more astonishing, actually diminishes 
 the difficulty of the performance ?"f 
 
 Thus did Tom Seymour continue to point out successively 
 the philosophical principles upon which each of the tricks 
 might be supposed to depend. 
 
 * See page 69. f See page 82. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 411 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," said the artist, " I shall next 
 have the honour to exhibit, for the first time in public, a 
 most wonderful triumph in the art of balancing ; an equi- 
 librium which has hitherto been deemed impracticable, 
 since the utmost skill and perseverance have for ages failed 
 to accomplish it. It is no less than a solution of that pro- 
 blem which Columbus denounced as impossible by the very 
 stratagem he employed to evade it. It is to make an egg 
 stand upon one end ! ! I have here the egg of a hen, and I 
 shall send it round in order that you may be satisfied there 
 is no deception, that the shell is entire, and has not in any 
 way been tampered with. While this examination is pro- 
 ceeding, I will remind my friends of the anecdote to which I 
 just now alluded: On the return of Columbus from his 
 first voyage, numerous banquets were given him by the 
 nobility ; at one of which a shallow courtier, envious of his 
 honours, abruptly asked him whether he thought that, in 
 case he had not discovered the Indies, there would have been 
 wanting men in Spain capable of the enterprise. To this 
 Columbus made no direct reply, but, taking an egg, invited 
 the company to make it stand on one end. Every one 
 attempted it, but in vain ; whereupon he struck it upon the 
 table, broke one end, and left it standing on the broken 
 part ; illustrating, in this simple manner, that, when he had 
 once shown the way to the new world, nothing was easier 
 than to follow it. Now, I trust, ladies and gentlemen, you 
 a,re satisfied by your inspection that I have not broken nor 
 altered the natural surface of the shell, and yet you shall see 
 I can balance it on its broader end." 
 
 The professor then, after some moments engaged in the 
 adjustment, achieved his object to the astonishment of all 
 present. 
 
 " It really does surprise me, for I feel satisfied the egg 
 was fairly balanced without any preparation of the shell," 
 said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " I do not exactly understand why it should be considered 
 so next to impossible to make the egg stand on end," 
 observed Tom. 
 
 " The difficulty consists in our inability so to regulate the 
 
412 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 centre of gravity of the egg as to keep the line of direction* 
 within the point upon which we attempt to poise it. This 
 would be sufficiently difficult with a body uniformly solid 
 and of the same shape ; but the fact of its interior being a 
 moveable liquid increases the difficulty to the highest possible 
 amount." 
 
 The artist, who had keenly eyed the Seymour party 
 during this exhibition of his skill, saw very clearly the 
 doubts and difficulties he had raised. "It is not usual," 
 said he, "for the professors of our art to explain their 
 movements and expose their secrets ; but, observing the 
 interest this achievement has excited, I have no objection 
 to declare publicly that it has been eifected by means strictly 
 philosophical ; and, well knowing the plan adopted by Mr. 
 Seymour of teaching his family the first principles of science 
 by means of sport, I will in confidence communicate to him 
 the philosophical expedient (61) of which I have availed my- 
 self for the accomplishment of this long-sought-for object." 
 
 The next booth into which our party entered was that of 
 Crank Smirky, the celebrated conjuror, who invited the 
 company to witness his wonderful display of the art of 
 legerdemain : he was dressed as an astrologer, with a loose 
 gown of green velvet, and a red cap ; he had a long grey 
 beard, and his nose was bestraddled by a pair of green 
 spectacles ; while in his hand he held the mystic rod, or con- 
 juring stick, to which tradition has ascribed so many magical 
 influences (62). 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," said the mystic professor, " I 
 shall have the honour of convincing you this day that my 
 single hand is more than a match for all the sharp eyes of 
 Overton. You will admit that a beautiful eye makes silence 
 eloquent, a kind eye, contradiction an assent, and an 
 enraged eye, beauty deformed ; but my hand shall, by its 
 magic influence, make eloquence dumb, assent a contradic- 
 tion, and deformity beautiful. 
 
 So saying, the professor beckoned a villager, who sat near 
 the stage, to approach and assist him in the performance of 
 his first grand trick. 
 
 * See page 69. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 413 
 
 "Dobby," exclaimed his terrified wife, "sit thee still; 
 that man has dealings with the old one : I would not that 
 he should touch your garment for all the gingerbread in the 
 fair!" 
 
 This exclamation of the terrified wife set the whole 
 audience in a roar, and produced a confusion which the 
 skilful conjuror is always anxious to create when any sly 
 work is to be performed. In truth, this scene had been 
 previously concerted by the renowned Crank Smirky, who 
 had engaged this said Dobby as his confederate. A series 
 of very amusing tricks were then performed with cards and 
 counters ; such, for instance, as desiring some person to 
 draw a card from the pack, and, having observed what it 
 was, to return it ; which card, to the wonder of the com- 
 pany, was immediately found in Dobby's pocket. Mr. 
 Seymour informed his children that the explanation of this 
 trick would serve to show the manner in which most of the 
 deceptions on cards were performed. He said that the con- 
 juror's pack of cards always contained a card, technically 
 termed a ' brief card/ or, 'the old gentleman,' which is one 
 made on purpose by the card-maker, and is a little larger 
 than any of the rest ; the performer always knows it by 
 feeling it, and can easily force it upon the unsuspecting 
 drawer ; should he, however, attempt to take any other, the 
 conjuror, under some pretence, shuffles again, till at length 
 he induces him to take the one intended for him. After the 
 card has been introduced again into the pack, the performer, 
 without any difficulty, withdraws it, and the confederate is 
 called upon to produce the duplicate which had been pre- 
 viously placed in his pocket. 
 
 The philosopher and physician, Jerome Cardan, also tells 
 us that Lezum, a Venetian patrician, used to cheat him by 
 soaped cards, so that the rest of the pack would slip from 
 them, when thrown down. 
 
 The juvenile party were told that the several deceptions 
 with coin, or counters, which they had witnessed, were 
 accomplished by a species of dexterity acquired only by 
 practice, and termed 'palming ;' it consisted in being able to 
 retain a shilling, halfpenny, or counter, in the palm of the 
 
414 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 hand, while it remained extended. It is by such dexterity 
 that the well-known game of " Thimble-rig'' or " Thimble and 
 Pea " is performed. Three thimbles, or small cups, are placed 
 upon a table. The jplayer then proceeds to bet any given 
 sum, that he will point to the one under which the pea is 
 concealed : the crafty juggler does not in reality place the pea 
 under any one of them, but while pretending to do so, retains 
 it in his hand by pressing the little finger against the palm, 
 by which he is enabled at the proper time, dexterously to 
 convey the pea under any one of the thimbles that may suit 
 his purpose. Mr. Seymour here added, that he had a faint 
 recollection of some such game of chance having been 
 practised by the Romans. 
 
 " You no doubt refer," said the vicar, " to that mentioned 
 in Cicero* ' micare digitisj as the phrase was, and which I 
 believe is common at the present day among the vulgar in 
 Italy, and called l Morra ;' and what is very curious, we are 
 informed by Sir G. Staunton that the same game is played 
 at this time at Canton ; but it has not the least resemblance 
 to that known by the name of ' Thimble-rig '.' It consists in 
 each person raising or compressing his fingers, at the same 
 instant that each is called upon to guess the number of 
 fingers thus held up by the other : the victory of course 
 must fall to him who has the quickest eye, and the readiest 
 tongue." 
 
 The conjuror then proceeded to perform a feat which 
 excited considerable interest, heightened, in no small degree, 
 by the clever by-play and diverting conversation that 
 accompanied it. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," began the performer, "you have 
 doubtless heard that, by means of the electric telegraph, 
 thoughts may be transmitted to any distance in an almost 
 incredibly short interval of time. It is my present purpose 
 to show you that liquids can be also thus conveyed ; and 
 that a glass of wine may be instantly despatched to a distant 
 friend, so as to enable you to hobnob with him, should it so 
 please you, even at the antipodes. 
 
 ** For this purpose I beg to call your attention to the 
 * Cicero, Divin. xi. 41, and Off. iii., 23. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 415 
 
 arrangements displayed before you. You will perceive 
 that upon this stand is a decanter filled with red wine, and 
 upon another similar stand, in a distant part of the room, is 
 placed an empty goblet ; now, by means of an electric chain, 
 I intend to pass the wine from the one to the other !" 
 
 The professor then proceeded to remove the stopper, under 
 the plea that glass was a bad conductor of electricity, and at 
 the same moment inverted a tin shade over the decanter. He 
 then placed a similar cover over the goblet. His next move 
 was to connect the two vessels by a metallic chain. These 
 arrangements having been duly adjusted, time alone was 
 required for the consummation of his trick ; and for this 
 purpose he availed himself of the usual indulgence granted 
 to all wonder-workers, that of allowing them to relate at 
 their pleasure any amount of possible or impossible stories, 
 anecdotes, or stirring incidents, just as in the darker ages of 
 superstition certain cabalistic rites and mysterious cere- 
 monies were interposed for the same object, of gaining time 
 and diverting attention. 
 
 Our crafty magician then proceeded with the following 
 narrative : ' 
 
 " Once upon a time, a certain old lady received from her 
 son, a soldeir in the Crimea, a letter, in which he very 
 graphically described his painful sufferings from the want of 
 a new pair of boots. The affectionate mother hastened to 
 procure the desired article, in order that it might be for- 
 warded by the swiftest possible conveyance ; and being 
 deeply impressed with the idea of telegraphic speed, she at 
 once proceeded to attach the new boots to one of the posts 
 on the railway, taking care to affix ample directions for their 
 secure delivery ; now it so fell out that in a short time a 
 beggar passed that way, and espying the span-new boots 
 dangling from the telegraphic pole, and no doubt believing, 
 as many honest wayfarers do believe, that exchange is no 
 robbery, forthwith captured the inviting prize, and con- 
 scientiously replaced it by the transference of the leathery 
 ruins from his own feet, and thus refreshed he merrily went 
 his way. The anxious old lady, in due time, repaired to the 
 station, for the purpose, as we may presume, of ascertaining 
 
416 PHILOSPPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV- 
 
 whether the boots had yet started on their long journey ; 
 and what words can express the conflicting doubts that 
 sprang up in the mind of the good old dame, when she 
 beheld the tattered remnants, in the room of her newly- 
 purchased boots ! it was however but the conflict of a 
 moment, for her doubts were instantly replaced by a well- 
 sustained belief, that the boots must not only have reached 
 their destination, but that her son had thus gratefully 
 acknowledged their receipt by " sending back his old and 
 used-up leathers." 
 
 The conjuror here thanked the audience for the patient 
 hearing he had received, adding that he cared not to carry the 
 episode farther, except to state that the victimized old lady 
 had been taken in charge by an official, on the plea of her 
 having tampered with the telegraph ; a very harsh measure 
 certainly ; for after all, as she said, ' what had she done but 
 carried a small parcel with not more than half a dozen 
 letters to the Post ?' 
 
 " Well done, my good old granny," vociferated the major, 
 " what are such posts for, I should like to know, but to carry 
 a line or two to a distant region ?" 
 
 Nothing is so welcome to the conjuror as a laugh oppor- 
 tunely raised, and it must be confessed that upon this occa- 
 sion the major did good service in promoting the humour 
 and sustaining the interest of the entertainment. 
 
 There is not a fact better understood by the true master 
 of his art, than that the amount of pleasure afforded by his 
 exhibition will always vary with the temper of his audience ; 
 wisely, therefore, does he court every occasion to conciliate 
 their favour, and to raise the standard of their risible 
 susceptibilities. 
 
 " I shall now," continued the conjuror, " relieve the com- 
 pany from farther suspense by ascertaining whether or not 
 our electric carrier has faithfully discharged its mission, and 
 how far I may claim the merit of a successful operator, or 
 deserve the discomfiture of an infatuated old woman. That 
 is a question for your verdict, ladies and gentlemen of the 
 
 jury." 
 
 The conjuror then removed the cover from the decanter 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 417 
 
 It was empty ! and on uncovering the goblet, it was full of 
 wine ! 
 
 "Upon my word, Mr. Conjuror, I do not know which 
 most to admire your story of the old lady, or your trick of 
 the . decanter and goblet ; we have heard the one, so now, 
 pray, let us learn the secret of the other," said Mr. Sey- 
 mour. 
 
 The major thought he might as well at once confess that 
 he had not the slightest clue to its explanation. 
 
 " And what on earth could the electric chain have had to 
 do with it?" asked the vicar. 
 
 " Nothing at all ; it was but an ingenious sham, to divert 
 the attention of the spectators from the straight course of 
 inquiry. I strongly suspect," added Mr. Seymour, "that 
 by reverting to the^ trick* of the ' magical bottle,' w r e shall 
 very readily obtain a solution of the problem." 
 
 Mr. Seymour was right ; the following is the simple 
 explanation. In the bottom of the decanter, filled with 
 wine, a tube of small bore had been inserted, through which 
 the liquid could not pass, until after the admission of air, by 
 the removal of the stopper, when it would even then only 
 slowly percolate into a basin concealed in the stand. In the 
 tin shade, covering the goblet, there was a chamber pre- 
 vious filled with wine, and which, like that in the decanter, 
 required for its discharge the admission of air, which was 
 dexterously effected by the thumb of the operator pushing 
 aside a small slide in the upper part of the cover, at the 
 instant it was inverted over the goblet ; and which thus 
 performed the office of a vent-peg. But since in each case, 
 in consequence of. the small size of the orifice, the flow was 
 necessarily slow, the operator was obliged to gain time, by 
 some such artifice as we have described, in order to obviate 
 the impatience of his spectators. 
 
 " Although electricity could have nothing whatever to do 
 w T ith this trick, I understand that, upon other occasions, it 
 has been enlisted into the service of the conjuror with mar- 
 vellous effect," observed the major. 
 
 "Indeed has it," replied Mr. Seymour, "and if you will 
 * See page 212. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 allow me to describe an exploit I lately witnessed, I think 
 you will be confirmed in that opinion." 
 
 " By all means ; let us hear it." 
 
 " Close to the ceiling of a lofty room was suspended a nar- 
 row-necked bottle ; but I must first tell you that the conjuror, 
 by a previous trick of sleight of hand, had converted several 
 counters into as many half-crowns, and which he now pro- 
 posed to throw into the aforesaid bottle, although the neck 
 of it was too small to have admitted your little finger. He 
 then threw himself into an attitude, which for grace and 
 energy might well have challenged that of the Discobulus of 
 Myron, in order to bring, at the instant, all the required 
 muscles into full play and concentrated action ; and whilst 
 in the act of throwing forward his right arm, in the hand oi 
 which were held the half-crowns, we heard such a clatter in the 
 bottle as left no doubt in the minds of the spectators that 
 the coins had performed their appointed errand. The bottle 
 was then removed and broken, and sure enough the half- 
 crowns were extracted from it !" 
 
 " Now, for your explanation," said the major. 
 
 " That I think you must have anticipated ; the requisite 
 number of half-crowns had been previously introduced, and 
 suspended in the neck of the bottle, by an iron wire in con- 
 nection with a voltaic battery ; at the same moment that 
 the conjuror thrust forth his arm as if in the act of hurling, 
 a confederate broke the voltaic contact, and down fell the 
 coin." 
 
 Should the reader remember the royal question,* said by 
 Peter Pindar to have been addressed to the old cottage 
 dame how she could possibly have contrived to get the 
 apples into the inside of the dumpling ? he may very pro- 
 bably be induced to ask how the conjuror could have intro- 
 duced the half-crowns through the narrow neck of his 
 bottle ? If so, we must refer him to the glass-blower for an 
 explanation. 
 
 The next performance was that of the " MYSTERIOUS 
 
 * " But, Goody, tell me where, where, where's the seam ? 
 * " * * * * * 
 
 Ho\v, how, the devil gol the apple in?" 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 419 
 
 LADT," an exhibition which had created a very unusual 
 sensation during the preceding London season ; persons of 
 all ranks having visited her saloon in Piccadilly. An 
 explanation of the means by which her exploits were 
 accomplished will be hereafter duly afforded (63) ; at 
 present we have only, as spectators, to describe the passing 
 scene. 
 
 At the eiid of a long booth, and with a considerable space 
 between her and the audience, snt a veiled lady, with her 
 back to the company, as represented in the woodcut at the 
 head of the present chapter. The confederate, or person 
 charged with the conduct of the entertainment, then pre- 
 sented himself, and, passing along the ranks of spectators, 
 very courteously, in a subdued tone of voice, challenged any 
 lady or gentleman to ask a question, or to place in his hand 
 any convenient article he might have about his person, in 
 order that the " Mysterious Lady " might answer the one, or 
 describe the other. 
 
 It must be stated that, in each case, the confederate was 
 to be told in a whisper the particular information demanded, 
 when with that knowledge he proceeded to put his question 
 to the " Mysterious Lady," and to obtain her answer. The 
 following examples may serve to explain the manner in 
 which the process was conducted ; 
 *1. Q. State this gentleman's usual breakfast-hour. 
 
 A. Ten o'clock. 
 
 2. Q. Let us know the number of persons usually as- 
 sembled at this meal. 
 
 A. Six ; that is, five without himself. 
 
 The confederate now produced a pack of cards, and 
 desired some one of the company to place any number of 
 them he pleased in his hand. 
 
 3. Q. Mention the number of cards I hold in my hand. 
 
 A. Seven. 
 4. Q. And which is the top card ? 
 
 A. A Club. 
 5.-Q. "What club? 
 
 * The questions are here numbered for the sake of future reference in the 
 notes. 
 
420 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 A. The Queen of Clubs. 
 
 " Now, madam," said the confederate, addressing a lady 
 on the front bench, " have the kindness to place in my hand 
 any convenient article you may have about you." 
 
 6. Q. Listen ! let us know what this lady has placed in 
 my hand. 
 
 A. A fourpenny piece. 
 7. Q. Gome, pray say what this gentleman has given me. 
 
 A. A seal. 
 8. Q. Yes ; say what is on it. 
 
 A. A coat of arms, 
 
 9. Q. Tell us what this gentleman had for dinner yester- 
 day begin with fish. 
 
 A. He had cod-fish. 
 10. Q. Let us know what meat. 
 
 A. Beef. 
 11. Q. Undoubtedly you can tell us what followed. 
 
 A. A tart. 
 12. Q. Now mention what this lady has placed in my hand. 
 
 A. A ring. 
 
 13. Q. I beg you to say in what month did this gentleman 
 came to town. 
 
 A. In May, 
 14,. Q. On what day ? 
 
 A. On the eighth. 
 
 At this stage of the proceedings one of the major's guests, 
 a learned member of the bar, impatient, no doubt, to signalise 
 himself as an acute hand in a cross-examination, insisted 
 upon questioning the lady himself, without any interference 
 of the confederate ; " For that purpose," said he, " I have 
 taken from my pocket a curious cameo, and I beg you, sir, 
 who have hitherto constituted yourself as the only medium 
 of communication, to notice it silently, and leave me to put 
 my questions." To which the confederate, after inspecting 
 the cameo, merely said, " Somewhat QUAINT IT'S KEMARK- 
 
 ABLT RELIEYED EYERY LINE 
 
 "Stop, sir," interrupted the learned gentleman; "not 
 another word! Now, madam," continued he, glancing as 
 lie spoke an assuring smile upon the audience, as much as 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 421 
 
 to say, Now mark how skill can detect deception ! "I hold 
 in my hand a rare cameo, and I beg you to answer this 
 question : 
 
 15. Q. What is the design figured upon it ?" 
 
 " It is a squirrel" was the correct and ready answer of the 
 lady. 
 
 The learned counsel suddenly dropped upon his seat like 
 a person completely beaten and bewildered, while the exult- 
 ation, most unmercifully expressed at his discomfiture, was 
 anything but calculated to restore his confidence and self- 
 esteem. The vicar declared that the soothsayer Calchas 
 could not have been more dismayed at Colophon.* 
 
 The audience now retired, filled with astonishment ; and 
 many were the conjectures as to the means by which the 
 performances were accomplished ; ventriloquism, mesmerism, 
 acoustics, optical contrivances, were, each in its turn, sug- 
 gested as affording the most satisfactory solution of the 
 problem ; whereas, the reader will hereafter find that the 
 real secret was nothing more than an ingenious cipher, the 
 key of which will be described in a supplementary note (63.) 
 
 The wonderful feats of the FIRE- KING, or, the " KING 
 OF THE SALAMANDERS," as he styled himself, became the 
 next centre of attraction ; an exhibition which realised all 
 the legends of the fiery ordeal of former ages, and proved 
 that philosophy can even penetrate into the dark mysteries 
 and superstitions of priestcraft, and explain, by the aid of 
 natural agency, phenomena long regarded as evidences of 
 superhuman interposition. 
 
 His first exploit consisted in the display of a much-soiled 
 garment, which he held out for inspection, and demanded to 
 know how ordinary mortals would proceed for its purifica- 
 tion. The vicar, who was seated on the front seat, being in 
 the humour of " thinking aloud" as the phrase is, audibly 
 declared, to the no small amusement of the major and his 
 
 * The vicar alluded to the story told of Calchas : it was predicted that 
 should he ever find one more skilled than himself in divination, he must 
 perish. This prediction was verified at Colophon, after the Trojan war. 
 Mopsus, another augur, mentioned the exact number of figs on the branches 
 of a certain fig-tree, after Calchas had failed, when the chagrin which this 
 defeat occasioned, it is related, caused his death. 
 
422 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 party, that li they would wash it in the stream, and dry it 
 on the shelly sands, even as did the maidens whom Ulysses 
 descried on the shores of Pha3acia." If Socrates were 
 guided by his familiar demon, it is equally clear that the 
 worthy vicar must have thus spoken through the inspiration 
 of the classical spirit that ever presided over his thoughts 
 and actions ; for he afterwards declared he had not been 
 conscious of having given an audible expression to what he 
 acknowledged had been passing through his mind on the 
 instant. 
 
 "I well know," said the Fire King, " that such might be 
 the usual mode of proceeding but, behold mine !" upon 
 which he threw the garment upon a dish of burning charcoal, 
 and after a short interval drew it forth perfectly white, and 
 unscathed by the fire. 
 
 " This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I consider my in- 
 troductory experiment. I shall proceed to convince you 
 that, like the Salamander, I can plunge my hand into molten 
 lead, and red-hot copper, in a state of fusion, with perfect 
 safety and impunity." 
 
 This extraordinary feat he performed with great delibera- 
 tion and self-possession, and it called forth expressions as 
 varied as the intelligences and susceptibilities of those who 
 witnessed it : consternation, incredulity, doubt, and admira- 
 tion were the feelings simultaneously excited, but very 
 unequally apportioned amongst the assembled company ; 
 while a very few thought they could recognise the applica- 
 tion of some philosophical principle. 
 
 In conformity with the custom of all wonder-workers, in 
 order to sustain the interest of the spectators, he reserved 
 what he considered the most marvellous of his exploits, as 
 the crowning wonder of the entertainment. 
 
 "Behold!" cried he, "a red-hot crucible; and know, ye 
 of little faith, that I am prepared to freeze some spring- 
 water in it!" upon w r hich he poured into its burning 
 interior a given quantity of water, adding at the same time a 
 small portion of some unknown liquid ; when, in a very 
 short time, he extracted from the crucible, still visibly 
 glowing, a notable mass of ice ! 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 423 
 
 As if it were not deemed sufficient to appease the most 
 inordinate appetite for the marvellous, or enough to tax the 
 credulity of the gaping spectators, the Eire King no sooner 
 displayed the ice so wonderfully produced, than, by casting 
 upon it a small particle, he actually set fire to it, and thus 
 caused it to burn with a bright flame for several seconds! 
 
 "Most wonderful!" exclaimed the vicar; "'the fire had 
 power in the water, forgetting his own virtue ; and the water forgat 
 his own quenching nature !' " * 
 
 " That it is truly astonishing, I must admit !" added the 
 major. 
 
 Mr. Seymour, however, did not concur in these expres- 
 sions of surprise, but told his friends that he believed all 
 the phenomena they had witnessed might be satisfactorily 
 explained by a law relating to the conduction of heat to 
 bodies in a certain condition, and which had only of late 
 years been made the subject of investigation (64). 
 
 After the exhibition of the prodigies of Fire, came one 
 that displayed the wonders of Light. 
 
 It consisted in a variety of optical representations and 
 illusions. The camera-obscura presented a inovicg picture 
 of the surrounding scene. The phantasmagoria exhibited a 
 variety of ghastly objects, which, alternately receding from 
 and approaching the audience, called forth shrieks of terror 
 and amazement. Amongst the most appalling of these 
 figures was the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow, so 
 inimitably described in the Sketch Book : it will be re- 
 membered that, the body of this trooper having been buried 
 in the churchyard, its ghost was believed to ride forth 
 every night in quest of its head, and that the rushing 
 speed with which he passed along the hollow, like a mid- 
 night blast, was owing to his being in a hurry to get back 
 to the churchyard before daybreak. This rapid movement 
 was admirably represented in the phantasmagoria: at first 
 the figure appeared extremely diminutive, and at a great 
 distance ; but almost immediately its size became gigantic, 
 and it seemed as if within a few feet of the audience, and 
 then suddenly vanished. After an instant of utter dark, 
 
 * Wisdom of Solomon, chap, xix., v. 20. 
 
424 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 ness, the figure was again visible at a great distance : the 
 schoolmaster, Crane, was also seen belabouring the starveling 
 ribs of his steed, old Gunpowder, and quickening his pace 
 towards the very spot where the spectre was stationed. 
 The whole audience were breathless with horror. Crane 
 arrived at the bridge, over which the headless figure opposed 
 his passage. " Mercy upon us !" cried a faint voice from 
 one of the back seats ; " the ghost has found his head, and 
 is carrying it before him on the pommel of his saddle." 
 " Hush, hush !" cried another voice. Crane's horse had 
 taken fright ; away he dashed through thick and thin ; 
 stones flying and sparks flashing at every bound. Crane's 
 flimsy garments fluttered in the air, as he stretched his long 
 lank body away over his horse's head, in the eagerness of his 
 flight. The goblin pressed hard upon him ; he was not 
 more than a yard behind him, when he was seen to take up 
 his head, and with gigantic force to hurl it at the peda- 
 gogue ; it encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash ; 
 he was tumbled headlong in the dust ; the goblin whisked 
 past like a whirlwind, and the company were once again in 
 total darkness. 
 
 " Upon my word," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, " this is one 
 of the most complete illusions I ever witnessed." 
 
 " It is most ingeniously managed," said the vicar ; " the 
 figures really diminish and enlarge at pleasure, like Milton's 
 incorporeal spirits." 
 
 The populace of course were stupified w r ith w r onder, and 
 scarce thought "their eyes did offices of truth." 
 
 "I am quite impatient," said Tom, "to learn how so 
 extraordinary an effect can have been produced. You told 
 me this morning that a phantasmagoria was nothing more 
 than an improved magic lantern; but how is it possible for 
 the slides to be so managed as to make the figures approach 
 and retire from you, and, above all, to make them move their 
 bodies, and throw their arms into different attitudes ?" 
 
 " In the first place, the figures only appear to approach 
 you, for they are thrown upon a surface which never changes 
 its place : the whole is therefore an optical illusion, arising 
 from the fact that we estimate the distance of an object by 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 425 
 
 its apparent magnitude; when, therefore, the figure began 
 to diminish in size, the mind instantly assumed that it was 
 receding from the eye ; and the illusion was still farther 
 heightened by the absence of all other objects* by which it 
 might be compared." 
 
 At this moment Mr. Seymour was interrupted by the 
 appearance of the performer, who announced his intention 
 of submitting another optical illusion, which ^ he trusted 
 would afford equal satisfaction. 
 
 A series of extraordinary effects were now exhibited bv 
 .means of concave mirrors. f Aerial images were produced, 
 so illusive in their appearance, that the spectators could not 
 believe in their immateriality until they attempted to grasp 
 them. In this manner were presented flowers, fruit, a 
 human skull, and a dagger ; the latter of which terrified the 
 spectator by the sudden and violent manner in which its 
 point approached him. "With this illusion the amusements 
 concluded ; the light of day was admitted ; and the performer, 
 stepping forward, announced the termination of his ex- 
 hibition in the words of Shakspeare : 
 
 " Our revels now are ended : these our actors, 
 As I foretold you, were all spirits, and 
 Are melted into air, into thin air." 
 
 The villagers, as they poured out of the booth, and mingled 
 with their companions in the fair, with their wonted pro- 
 pensity for the* marvellous, related, in most exaggerated 
 terms, the wonders they had encountered in the region of 
 shadows. Nothing is swallowed with more avidity than 
 tales of mystery, especially if spiced with a few grains of 
 horror : we cannot, therefore, be surprised at the anxiety so 
 generally manifested by those who had not yet witnessed 
 the optical performances, to exchange their tickets for 
 such as would secure their admission into the popular booth. 
 
 * Tt is to this latter circumstance that the panorama is principally indebted 
 for its magical effects ; and we would caution the proprietors of such exhibi- 
 tions to be more careful in excluding windows and railings from the sphere 
 of the spectators' vision ; such neglect goes far to destroy the illusion. 
 
 f* Sir David firewater has enumerated various extraordinary illusions, 
 which may be thus produced, in his work on Natural Magic. 
 
42G PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 The next entertainment was a display of ventriloquism, 
 by a pupil of the celebrated B<iron de Mengen. 
 
 " Now," said the vicar, " we are to witness a deception 
 upon the ear, snch as we have just seen practised on the eye." 
 
 Mr. Twaddleton was quite correct in this observation ; 
 for, notwithstanding all the mystery with which the subject 
 has been invested by credulity, ventriloquism is nothing 
 more than a skilful modulation of the voice, so as to imitate 
 the gradations of sound, as they affect the ear in nature 
 under all the circumstances of distance and obstruction ; in 
 short, imposing upon the ear as a perspective painting does 
 upon the eye. At the same time, the deception is heightened 
 by directing the attention to particular points ; for we 
 never distinguish very accurately the quarter from which 
 sounds approach, and our imagination is apt to refer to the 
 spot to which our attention has been artfully directed.* The 
 ventriloquist, moreover, better to conceal the movement of 
 his lips, takes care to select such words as do not contain 
 labial consonants. 
 
 In this booth were also exhibited the several interesting 
 effects produced by the modification and reflection of sound, 
 as already described. Tom Plank undertook the " Invisible 
 Girl," and to his credit be it recorded that he performed 
 his part most successfully. Well acquainted with the sundry 
 little secret partialities of his fellow-villagers, he contrived to 
 make the Invisible Girl give answers that tinged the face 
 of many a fair maiden with a blush, while the hearts of the 
 favoured swains palpitated with unexpected joy. 
 
 An exhibition of more than ordinary interest, called the 
 TELEPHONIC CONCERT, concluded this part of the entertain- 
 ment. Mr. Seymour informed his young friends that they 
 were about to witness a very striking illustration of two 
 great principles which govern the conduction of sound, and 
 
 * In the cloisters of Neville's Court, in Trinity College, Cambridge, there 
 is a spot near the entrance of the library, where, by stamping the foot on the 
 pavement, and at the same time directing attention to a knocker on the door 
 at the other end, an echo is produced, so exactly counterfeiting the sound of a 
 knocker's rap, that the author has found it difficult to persuade a stranger 
 that he did not, as he believed, actually see the motion of the knocker upon the 
 door : so invincible was the confederacy between the ear and the eye. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IX EARNEST. 427 
 
 its increase by resonance ; whereby musical notes may be 
 transmitted from a distance through solid wooden, cylinders, 
 and by contact with a " sounding-board" be considerably 
 increased in force ; he told them that to Professor Wheat- 
 stone, the magician who had conducted our thoughts and 
 wishes through miles of wire, we are now indebted for 
 bringing to the astonished ear the sounds of far oif music. 
 
 The exhibitor who presented himself to the audience was 
 surrounded on the stage by four harps ; and he thus intro- 
 duced his subject : 
 
 " I have the honour, I believe for the first time in this 
 country, to produce an acoustic phenomenon, no less won- 
 derful than novel, for 
 
 ' Those musicians who shall play to you, hang in the air a thousand leagues 
 from hence, yet straight they shall be liere.' "* 
 
 From the first harp an air, as if proceeding from a piano- 
 forte, astonished the audience ; from the second, the clear 
 notes of the clarionet ; from the third, those of a violin ; and 
 from the fourth, the deeper notes of the violoncello ; and 
 each harp having singly delivered its characteristic music, 
 the whole combined, and produced a concert of striking and 
 melodious effect. 
 
 "Are you not astonished, vicar?" asked Mr. Seymour. 
 
 " Verily am I, not less so than was Ferdinand at the 
 strains of Ariel, in whose words I may well ask 
 
 Where should the music be ? 
 In the air, or the earth ?' " 
 
 " "Well, my dear children," said Mr. Seymour, " after all 
 you have learnt on the subject of sound, and the way it can 
 be transmitted through solid bodies, and be increased by 
 contact with surfaces that are capable of reciprocating it, or 
 of resounding the notes in unison with it, I do not think 
 you will be at a loss to explain all you have heard upon this 
 interesting occasion." 
 
 Mrs. Beacham said she understood that the different 
 musical instruments were placed at a distance, and that each 
 communicated with the respective harps by a long, solid, 
 
 * First Part of Henry IV., act 2. sc. 1. 
 
428 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 cylinder of wood, through which the sounds were inaudibly 
 transmitted, and only reproduced unchanged in their 
 qualities and intensities upon the contact of the conducting- 
 rod with the sounding-board of the harp." 
 
 " And thus," added Mr. Seymour, " satisfactorily proving 
 the power of a solid to convey sound, and the resonant, or 
 reciprocating influence of a vibrating plane to enhance and 
 diffuse it."* 
 
 " I tell you what," said the vicar, " after the lesson I have 
 received this day, I will lose no time in looking after the 
 sounding-board of my pulpit, for I strongly suspect there 
 must be something very wrong in its construction." 
 
 The crowd was now dispersed by the appearance of a 
 placard, announcing the suspension of all the performances 
 for two hours ; and informing the populace that the interval 
 would be devoted to various sports and pastimes in the ad- 
 joining field. 
 
 The revellers accordingly hastened to the spot where the 
 several sports were to take place, and to which they were 
 directed by the sound of a bugle. 
 
 We have stated that a small enclosure had been prepared 
 for the youths of the village, who were to perform the 
 " Ludus Trojce" or Troy Game. The major and his 
 party had taken possession of the seats placed for their 
 accommodation under an awning ; and the boys, classically 
 dressed, and furnished with little arms and weapons, were 
 mustered in circo. Each youth was mounted on a pony ; 
 and the troop having ridden round the ring, and surveyed the 
 spectators, the vicar arose from his seat, and, like the 
 sage Epytides, gave the signal of attack by a crack of the 
 whip. They now arranged themselves in two battalions, 
 and, hurling their javelins with an air of proud defiance, 
 wheeled and charged, and urged the sportive war. At the 
 conclusion of the game, the vicar called the principal 
 youth, or " princeps juventutis" and presented him with a 
 basket of fruit, which he desired him to divide amongst his 
 companions. 
 
 The populace now separated into different groups : one 
 * See page 272. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 429 
 
 . 
 
 party proceeded to witness a wrestling-match ; another to 
 see the foot-race ; a third to be present at a match of 
 quoits ; for the vicar had provided all these games, in 
 imitation of the ancient Penthalum or Quinquertium. While 
 observing the game of quoits, the vicar displayed much 
 classical erudition ; he said that Homer had represented 
 Ajax and Ulysses as greatly skilled in the sport ; and that 
 Ovid, when he brings in Apollo and Hyacinth playing at it, 
 had given a very elegant description of the exercise,* 
 although it suggested a caution in the practice of it. The 
 vicar also reminded us that Perseus had thus unfortunately 
 killed his grandfather. Scaliger, he continued, is of opinion, 
 that the throwing the discus, or quoit, is but an improve- 
 ment of the old sport of casting the sheephook ; a conjec- 
 ture which, the vicar thought, received some support from a 
 passage in the fourth Iliad. 
 
 " Mr. Twaddleton," cried Mr. Seymour, " you look at 
 every sport with the eye of a classic or antiquary ; I, on the 
 other hand, as you well know, cautiously examine every 
 action, to discover whether some scientific principle may not 
 find an illustration. On the present occasion, I am desirous 
 of directing the attention of the children to the manner in 
 which yonder skilful player hurls his quoit." 
 
 " I do not exactly comprehend the object they have in 
 view in throwing the quoits," said Louisa. 
 
 "Do you not perceive that two iron pins, or hols, are 
 driven into the ground, at the distance of eighteen or twenty 
 yards asunder ?" asked her father. 
 
 " To be sure, and I suppose that each player attempts to 
 hit one of those pins/' 
 
 "The players stand at one of the hobs, and throw an 
 equal number of quoits at the other ; the nearest of them 
 to the hob are reckoned towards the game. "When they 
 have cast all their quoits, the candidates go over to the 
 point at which they have been throwing, and when they 
 have determined the state of the game, they throw their 
 quoits back again at the hob where they had before stood ; and 
 thus continue to act, on alternate sides, till the game is ended." 
 
 * Ovid's Metamorphoses, lib. x. 
 
430 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 "I now understand it," cried Louisa. 
 
 " You doubtless know, Mr. Twaddleton," said Mr. Sey- 
 mour, " that the casting of stones, darts, and other missiles 
 was among the amusements practised in the twelfth century 
 by the young Londoners." 
 
 " Casting of the bar" replied the vicar, " was formerly a 
 part of a hero's education; and kings and princes were 
 admired for their agility and grace in throwing ' the stone, 
 the bar, and the plummet.' Henry the Eighth, even after 
 his accession to the throne, retained the casting of the bar 
 among his favourite amusements. The sledge-hammer, and, 
 among rustics, an axletree, were also used for the same 
 purpose as the bar and the stone." 
 
 " The game of quoits is certainly far superior to such rude 
 pastimes," said Mr. Seymour, " on account of its depending 
 less on mere strength, and more upon superior skill." 
 
 " Bid you not say," asked Tom, " that its action would 
 illustrate some principle of science ? I have been looking 
 at the quoit, which I perceive is a circular piece of iron with 
 a hole in the middle, but I cannot discover in what manner 
 any scientific principle can be connected with its motion." 
 
 "If you will attentively observe a skilful player, you 
 will perceive that he steadies the flight of the quoit, by 
 imparting to it a spinning motion : were he not thus to rifle 
 it, you would find that it would fly very far from the mark." 
 
 " Upon the same principle, I suppose, that we impart to 
 the ball a spinning motion at the game of Mboquet ?" said 
 Louisa. 
 
 " Precisely so," replied her father, who also stated that 
 the body was made to rotate on its shorter axis, for the 
 reasons before explained ;* and that while whirling through 
 the air it always preserves its plane, whatever the position 
 of that plane may be, and however it may be inclined to the 
 direction in which the quoit travels. He moreover ob- 
 served that it affords an excellent illustration of the motion 
 of the earth round the sun, showing how the axis of rotation 
 remains parallel to itself during its annual journey without 
 any respect whatever to the sun. 
 
 * Page 135. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 431 
 
 The "penthahim " having been concluded, the populace 
 retired into several booths which were appropriated to 
 refreshments. The shows then recommenced; those not 
 already described were principally devoted to the exhibition 
 of wild animals, an entertainment which the vicar considered 
 as sanctioned by the highest classical authority ; although 
 he at once rejected a proposition made by the major to 
 render the amusement still more in accordance with ancient 
 custom, by encouraging a fight between a lion and a tiger. 
 
 The hour had arrived for the grand banquet ; and, by the 
 command of the major, the band paraded the fair, playing 
 the inviting tune of " Oh, the roast beef of Old England I" 
 The populace hastened to the tent, and each took his place 
 according to the number upon his ticket. 
 
 We shall not detain our readers by an account of the 
 dinner; it will be sufficient to state, in the language 
 generally used upon such occasions, that the whole went olT 
 with great eclat, and gave universal satisfaction to the de- 
 lighted guests. 
 
 For the amusement of his military friends, the major had 
 made arrangements for reviving the ancient game of quin- 
 tain, to be played after the banquet. It may be necessary 
 to state that the quintain is a pastime of high antiquity. 
 It was originally nothing more than the trunk of a tree, or 
 a post set up for the practice of young beginners in chivalry. 
 Afterwards a staff, or spear, was fixed in the earth, and a 
 shield hung upon it was the mark to strike at. The dex- 
 terity of the performer consisted in smiting the shield in 
 such a manner as to break the fastening and to bring it to 
 the ground. In process of time this diversion was much 
 improved: instead of the staff and shield, a grotesque 
 wooden figure was introduced, and it was so contrived to 
 move upon a pivot, that if it were struck unskilfully it 
 would turn out and give the performer a severe blow. 
 The quintain which the major had prepared for the present 
 occasion consisted of a wooden figure fixed upon a pivot, 
 and holding in its outstretched arm a bag of flour. Those 
 who ran at it and missed it were, of course, laughed at ; 
 while he who struck the figure full with his lance gave the 
 
432 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 beam a sudden whirl ; and, unless he was very nimble, was 
 covered with flour from the bag which was thus brought into 
 contact with him. 
 
 " Ned Hopkins," exclaimed Mr. Seymour, with a signifi- 
 cant glance at the wag, " I well know that you are an adept 
 in the game of quintain." 
 
 Ned at once caught the sarcastic allusion,* and by an 
 intelligent gesture, indicated his determination to shirk the 
 subject. 
 
 The reader must now consent to retire from the scene of 
 frolic, and leave the villagers to the undisturbed enjoyment 
 of their jollity. The major and his party returned to the 
 house, where they remained until the hour approached at 
 which the fireworks were to be discharged, and the festivi- 
 ties of the day concluded. Mr. Seymour accompanied his 
 children to the stage erected for the pyrotechnic exhibition, 
 in order that he might explain the construction of the fire- 
 works before they witnessed them in action. 
 
 " Upon my word, the major has provided most liberally 
 for our entertainment!" exclaimed Mr. Seymour, as he 
 ascended the steps which led to the platform : " I declare 
 there is a forest of rockets ! and what magnificent Pin- 
 wheels, Tourbillons, Marroons, Pots des Aigrettes, Gerbes, 
 Courantines, and Roman Candles!" 
 
 "Are those paper cylinders, with long sticks, rockets?" 
 inquired Tom. 
 
 " They are ; and if you will attend to me, I will explain 
 the principle of their construction. They have ever been 
 considered as holding the first place among single fireworks, 
 and deservedly so ; not only on account of the splendid 
 appearance they present when fired by themselves, but 
 from their extensive application in increasing the beauty 
 of other exhibitions. The rocket, you perceive, consists of 
 a strong paper cylinder, which is filled with a suitable 
 composition; it is crowned with a head, or 'pot,' as it is 
 technically termed, charged with various materials, which 
 throws out sparks, stars, and other decorations, as soon as 
 it takes fire in the air, after the body of the rocket has been 
 * See page 338. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 433 
 
 consumed. You may observe that the head is made to 
 terminate in a point, which greatly facilitates its passage 
 through the air. The whole is affixed to a straight stick. 
 
 " But," observed Louisa, " all the rockets have not straight 
 rods ; see, there' is one with a crooked stick." 
 
 ' That is for the purpose of causing the rocket to ascend 
 in the form of a screw r : the first effect of the bent rod will 
 be to make the rocket incline towards that side to which it 
 is bent ; but its centre of gravity bringing it afterwards 
 into a vertical situation, the result of these two opposite 
 eiforts will be, that the rocket will ascend in a zigzag or 
 spiral form. In this case, however, since it displaces a 
 greater volume of air, and describes a longer line, it will 
 not ascend so high as if it had been impelled in a straight 
 direction." 
 
 ** And what causes the rocket to ascend into the air ?" 
 asked Tom. 
 
 "It is a subject which has engaged the attention of 
 several most distinguished philosophers ; the explanation, 
 however, afforded by Dr. Hutton appears to me to be the 
 most satisfactory. He says, ' that at the moment when the 
 powder begins to inflame, its expansion produces a torrent 
 of elastic fluid, which acts in every direction ; that is, 
 against the air which opposes its escape from the cartridge, 
 and against the upper part of the rocket ; but the resist- 
 ance of the air is more considerable than the weight of the 
 rocket, on account of the extreme rapidity with which the 
 elastic fluid issues through the neck of the rocket to throw 
 itself downwards, and therefore the rocket ascends by the 
 excess of the one of these forces over the other.' " * 
 
 " Dr. Hutton adds, that the rocket could not rise unless 
 a sufficient quantity of elastic fluid were produced, and 
 hence arose the expedient of piercing the rocket with a 
 conical hole, so as to make the composition burn in conical 
 
 * The measure of this propelling force will be as the pressure of the gas 
 upon the area of the rocket's vent, multiplied into the velocity of the volume 
 that escapes. In Bale's lately invented ' War Rocket ' there are three or four 
 lateral and tangential orifices for the escape of a small portion of the pent-up 
 gas, which gives the rocket a rotatory motion on its long axis, which being 
 coincident with its line of direction, thus rifles it. 
 
 2 r 
 
434 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 strata, which, having much greater surface, produce a much 
 greater quantity of inflamed matter and elastic fluid. With- 
 out such a contrivance the composition would inflame only 
 in circular coats of a diameter equal to that of the rocket ; 
 and experience has shown that this is not sufficient for the 
 purpose. Some years ago a plan was suggested for producing 
 the propulsion of a vessel in this way : by the force of a 
 steam-engine a stream of water was to be shot out of the 
 stern, the impulse of which upon the water in the river, was 
 to push forward the boat.* It is a curious fact, that nature 
 has employed the same expedient for the motion of some 
 aquatic insects. The larva of the dragon-fly, according to 
 Adams, swims forward by ejecting water from its tail, and 
 the Nautilus, which is erroneously believed to sail upon the 
 surface of the sea, by the expansion of a membranous sail, 
 effects its progressive motion by ejecting, by means of a 
 powerful muscle, through a tube or siphuncuhts, a stream of 
 water with a very considerable momentum." 
 
 " What are those fireworks attached to the lines ?" asked 
 Tom. 
 
 "Those, my dear, are line-rockets, or coumntines,^ and 
 which, instead of rising into the air, run along the line, to 
 which they are attached by means of a hollow cylinder. 
 Their motion is to be explained upon the same principle 
 as that of the sky-rocket." 
 
 " That is clear enough," said Louisa ; " but see, there 
 is the figure of a dragon on yonder rope !" 
 
 " That is merely a runner for the courantine, which 
 is constructed in that form for the purpose of rendering 
 the exhibition more surprising. I dare say it is filled with 
 various compositions, such as golden rain, and fires of 
 different colours, which will greatly heighten the effect ; 
 indeed, this pyrotechnic amusement may be infinitely varied." 
 
 " Are not those pin-wheels, which are elevated above the 
 railing ?" said Tom. 
 
 * This principle is applied in the ' Deep-sea fishing Steamer,' by what is 
 called Ruthven's Propeller, which consists of a fan-wheel acted upon by the 
 ejection of continuous streams, through pipes at the stern. 
 
 f From the French term courant, signifying running. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 435 
 
 " Yes, they are pin or Catherine wheels ; and if you will 
 look at them, you will perceive that they are of very simple 
 construction ; consisting merely of a long paper tube, filled 
 with inflammable matter, and rolled round a small circle of 
 wood, so as to form a helix or spiral line." 
 
 " The circle of wood, I suppose, is pierced in the middle 
 for the purpose of receiving a pin, by which the wheel is 
 attached to the post," said Tom. 
 
 " Exactly so ; and the cause of their revolution is the 
 same as that which produces the flight of the rocket ; the 
 impulse of the air forces back the ignited part of the wheel, 
 which generates, as it were, a centrifugal force, while the 
 attachment of the pipe, by preventing its obeying such a 
 force, may be said to represent the centripetal force ; and 
 thus is the revolution of the wheel continued, until the whole 
 of the composition is consumed." 
 
 " I think you told us, when speaking of the thaumatrope,* 
 it was the rapidity with which the flame revolved that oc- 
 casioned the star-like appearance which is exhibited by this 
 firework," observed Louisa. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, my dear ; it cannot be otherwise." 
 
 The party now examined the remaining specimens of the 
 pyrotechnic art. Mr. Seymour informed them that mar- 
 roons were nothing more than small cubical boxes, filled 
 with a composition proper for making them burst, and 
 thence producing a loud report. He said that they were 
 principally used in combination with other pieces, or to 
 form a battery, in which, by different lengths of quick 
 match,, they w&*e made to explode at distinct intervals. 
 Mr. Seymour added, that when the cases were made cylin- 
 drical, instead of being cubical, they exchanged the name 
 of marrooii for that of saucisson. Louisa inquired the 
 nature of certain cylindrical cases she observed on the 
 stage, and was informed that they were gerbes a species of 
 firework which throws up a luminous and sparkling jet of 
 fire, and, from a supposed resemblance to a water-spout, 
 has derived the appellation of gerbe. Mr. Seymour next 
 pointed out to Tom a row of Roman candles, some of which 
 
 * See page 370. 
 
436 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 were fixed perpendicularly, others inclining at different 
 angles, so that the balls might be projected to various 
 distances, and thus produce a more varied effect. He 
 observed, that, to his taste, it was by far the most beautiful 
 firework ever exhibited. 
 
 " I am quite impatient for the exhibition," cried Tom ; 
 " pray, what is the hour ? I think it was determined to let 
 them off at ten o'clock." 
 
 " It is now past eight ; we will therefore return to the 
 house ; we shall, however, I suspect, have a curious sight to 
 witness on our way through the fair ; for by this time every 
 booth is illuminated." 
 
 The scene was indescribably beautiful, and might be 
 said to resemble an enchanted island. The trees were 
 lighted up with an endless profusion of Chinese lanterns, 
 of complementary colours, and decorated with fantastic 
 transparencies, which produced an effect highly graceful and 
 pleasing. The booths were richly studded with lights ; 
 and, near the platform, on which the villagers were enjoying 
 the country dance, was erected a pyramid, which blazed 
 with several hundred variegated lamps. 
 
 At ten o'clock the commencement of the fireworks was 
 announced by a shower of rockets ; and a thousand chamelion 
 meteors sprang into existence. The music ceased ; and the 
 dancers, together with the spectators who had gathered around 
 the platform, hastened to the spot, whither they were directed 
 by these " gaudy spirits of the sky," to witness the pyrotechnic 
 triumph which was to crown the festivities of the day. 
 
 " Observe, Louisa, the rocket as it ascfnds describes a 
 parabola ! " * cried Tom. 
 
 " Oh, how extremely beautiful ! see, the head has burst, 
 and is discharging a number of brilliant stars ! What is 
 that red spark which is now falling to the ground?" 
 
 * A scientific critic has offered the following just remark upon this 
 passage : " The rocket ascends by a constantly acting force, not by a 
 momentary impulse, as though it were shot fro'm a gun. Supposing "the 
 force arising from combustion to be proportionate to the weight of the rocket, 
 as long as the force continues to be generated, the rocket must move in a 
 straight line ; after which, having only its own momentum to oppose its 
 gravitation, it will proceed in a paraboJic curve." 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 437 
 
 " That is the ignited stick of the rocket," replied his father. 
 
 " Take care, Louisa, do not hold your face up," exclaimed 
 Tom ; " for as the rocket bursts over our heads, the stick 
 may fall upon us." 
 
 " I scarcely expected such an observation, Tom," said 
 his father, "after the sensible remark you just made re- 
 specting the parabolic path of the rocket; do not you 
 remember, that, when a projectile has reached its greatest 
 altitude, it will descend in a curve similar to that in which 
 it ascended ?" 
 
 " True, true," answered Tom ; "I see my error : the stick 
 must, of course, fall at a considerable distance from us." 
 
 " Look ! look ! There goes a courantim I how it ran along 
 the rope ! " exclaimed Louisa. 
 
 "There goes another!" cried Tom; "and see, it is the 
 dragon; and I declare there is another .running, in an 
 opposite direction ; they meet. Look at the serpents which 
 they discharge from their mouths! Now they return to 
 the extremity of the line with great violence. What an 
 explosion ! ! ! " 
 
 In like manner were next exhibited two ships, which, 
 being filled with serpents, were made to pour their broad- 
 sides at each other. 
 
 " See see, Louisa ! what a large wheel of fire ! and the 
 figure of a man in the centre." 
 
 "A classical device of the vicar, beyond all doubt. It 
 is Ixion on a wheel encompassed by hissing serpents," ob- 
 served his father.* 
 
 This conjecture was soon verified, for the vicar, with his 
 usual animation, was heard to exclaim 
 
 " ' . . . tortosque Ixionis angws, 
 Immanemque rotam,' 
 
 as Virgil has it." 
 
 Another display of rockets succeeded, which burst forth 
 
 * At a fete given at the Observatory, Campden Hill, Kensington, on the 
 4th of July 1849, in honour of the birthday of the Earl of Rosse, the liberal 
 host, Sir James South, amongst a variety of pyrotechnic devices, exhibited 
 the above piece, at the suggestion of the author, with very considerable 
 success. 
 
438 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT CHAP. XXV. 
 
 in showers of golden tears, emerald stars, and ruby balls ; 
 many of which changed during their course into other 
 colours, or discharged nests of fiery serpents. 
 
 (Bang) (bang) (bang) 
 
 " There go the marroons," said Mr. Seymour. 
 sThe band now struck up a march, and the major com- 
 pletely succeeded, by having arranged different lengths of 
 quick match, in making them explode at appropriate in- 
 tervals, so as to mark correctly the commencement of eacli 
 bar of the music which was performing. 
 
 " Bravo ! bravo ! " exclaimed Mr. Seymour ; " had Handel 
 witnessed such an effect, he would have engaged the major 
 as a performer in his grand choruses." 
 
 " See ! what a beautiful fountain of fire there ! now a 
 most brilliant star is ejected !" 
 
 " It is a Roman candle," said Mr. Seymour. 
 
 A variety of different rockets were next exploded ; such 
 as " Towering rockets," so called from their ascending to a 
 greater height than any others ; an effect which is produced 
 by fixing a smaller rocket on the top of another of superior 
 dimensions ; " Honorary rockets," w T hich ? when they attain 
 their greatest height, communicate fire to other rockets 
 affixed to them in a transverse direction, and thus produce 
 a rapid revolution, and represent, on their return to the 
 ground, a spiral of descending fire ; " Caduceus rockets," so 
 called from their resemblance, when in action, to the rod 
 borne by Mercury : the effect is produced by firing two 
 rockets obliquely on the opposite sides of a rod, so that they 
 may form in their flight two spiral lines ; and " Shell 
 rockets," which, like the arrow of Acestes, suddenly kindled 
 into light as they passed rapidly through the air.* 
 
 The major here observed that no weapon so terrifies 
 savages as rockets. 
 
 The beautiful effect of COLOURED FIRES was next dis- 
 played ; red and green being those selected for the sake of 
 contrast. To succeed in this exhibition it is essential that 
 it should take place amidst shrubs and trees, and that the 
 
 * .En. 1. v. 
 
CHAP. XXV. MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. 439 
 
 immediate source of the light should be most carefully con- 
 cealed ; it is the reflection alone that lends enchantment to 
 the scene ; should the spectators gain, only for a moment, 
 a sight of the burning mass, the spell is dissolved. The 
 company were accordingly directed to proceed to a different 
 part of the grounds, where this important condition could 
 be fulfilled. The red fire was first displayed, by which 
 every herb, shrub, and tree glowed with an intense colour. 
 An illusion so magical acted upon the sensitive imagina- 
 tion of the vicar, and called forth from the depths of his 
 classical reminiscences various quotations descriptive of 
 the realms of Tartarus ; while the green light which suc- 
 ceeded, after a sufficient interval to allow the eye to recover 
 its just perception, transported him, in imagination at least, 
 from penal regions to those that were regarded as the 
 brighter abodes of happy spirits the " locos loetos et amcena 
 Vireta" of Yirgil. 
 
 The major and Mr. Seymour, although they played upon 
 his singularities, were anxious, on every occasion, to gratify 
 the classical humour of the vicar, and had accordingly 
 arranged for him a very agreeable surprise ; it was a 
 Tableau, in which the shade of the unhappy Dido was seen 
 gliding through the wood, and refusing to recognise the 
 advances of her earthly lover. The unearthly green hue 
 cast upon the figure went far to realize the spectral form 
 of the poet's imagination, while the parts of Dido and 
 ^Eneas were admirably sustained by Mrs. Beacham and her 
 husband. 
 
 The entertainment of the evening concluded with what 
 pyrotechnics call "a set piece ;" it was a Catherine-wheel 
 of imposing size and splendour, repeatedly changing its 
 form and devices, and finally discharging a shower of rockets. 
 The dense volume of smoke which followed gradually cleared 
 off, and the appropriate motto "EABEWELL" appeared in 
 sparkling letters of ruby light. 
 
 In a few minutes the populace separated, and were on 
 their respective roads home, when a large rocket ascended, 
 and, bursting over their heads, discharged a parachute, to 
 which was attached a brilliant light : eight similar rockets 
 
440 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 followed, and, by ingeniously varying the direction and 
 angle, the major contrived to launch the floating luminaries 
 in the form of a crown or circle, each alternately changing 
 its colour from red to blue, and thus imparting to the land- 
 scape the ruddy hue of the setting sun, or the milder 
 radiance of a mellow moonlight. 
 
 "Charming most charming!" exclaimed the delighted 
 vicar ; " why, my dear major," continued he, in the same 
 tone of enthusiasm, " your prolific ingenuity divests even 
 a parting scene of its accompanying gloom, 
 
 ' Et noctem flammis funalia vincunt,' 
 
 as the immortal poet has it." 
 
 To which the major replied, that he did but obey the 
 precept of Homer * 
 
 "WELCOME THE COMING, SPEED THE PARTING GUEST." 
 
 * Odyss., Book 15. 
 
EXPLANATORY AND SUPPLEMENTARY 
 
 NOTES; 
 
 ADDRESSED MORE ESPECIALLY TO 
 
 PARENTS AND PRECEPTORS, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 THOSE ADVANCED IN SCIENCE. 
 
EXPLANATORY AND SUPPLEMENTARY 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 REFERRED TO BY FIGURES IN THE TEXT. 
 Note 1, p. 4. THE HOROLOGE OF FLOEA. 
 
 " Thus in each flower and simple bell, 
 
 That in our path betrodden lie, 
 Are sweet remembrancers who iell 
 How fast the winged moments fly. 1 ' 
 
 THE HOROLOGE OF FLORA is alluded to by Pliny with bis usual 
 felicity of thought and expression. " Dedi tibi herbas hora- 
 rum indices ; et ut ne sole quidem oculos tuos a terra avoces, 
 heliotropium ac lupinum circumaguntur cum illo. Cur etiam 
 altius spectas, ipsumque coalum scrutaris ? Habes ante pedes 
 tuos ecce Vergilias." Hist. Nat., lib. xviii. c. 27. 
 
 Linnssus enumerates forty-six flowers which possess this 
 kind of sensibility. The following are a few of them, with 
 their respective hours of rising and setting, as the Swedish na- 
 turalist terms them. He divides them into 
 
 1st. -Meteoric flowers, which less accurately observe the 
 hour of unfolding, but are expanded sooner or later, according 
 to the cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere. 
 
 2nd. Tropical flowers, which open in the morning, and close 
 before evening every day ; but the hour of the expanding 
 becomes earlier or later, as the length of the day increases or 
 decreases. 
 
 3rd. Equinoctial flowers, which serve for the construction of 
 Flora's dial, since they open at a certain and exact hour of the 
 day, and for the most part close at another determinate hour : 
 for instance, the Leontodon taraxacum, dandelion, opens at 
 5-6, closes at 8-9 ; Hieracium pilosella, mouse-ear hawk weed, 
 opens at 8, closes at 2 ; Tragopogon pratense, yellow goafs- 
 beard, opens at sunrise, and shuts at noon with such regula- 
 rity, that the husbandman who adopts it as the signal of 
 dinner-time need not fear to have his pudding too much or 
 too little boiled ; tionchus Icevis, smooth sow-thistle, opens at 
 
444 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 5, closes at 11-12 ; Lactuca sativa, cultivated lettuce, opens at 
 7, closes at 10 ; Tragopogon tuteus, yellow goafs-beard, opens 
 at 3-5, closes at 9-10 ; Lapsana, nipplewort, opens at 5-6, 
 closes at 10-11 ; Nymphcea alba, white water-lily, opens at 7, 
 closes at 5 ; Papaver nudicaule, naked poppy, opens at 5, closes 
 at 7 ; Hemerocallis fulva, tawny day-lily, opens at 5, closes at 
 7-8 ; Convolvulus, opens at 5-6 ; Malva, mallow, opens at 9-10, 
 closes at 1 ; Arenaria purpurea, purple sandwort, opens at 
 9-10, closes at 2-3 ; Anagallis, pimpernel, opens at 7-8 ; Portu- 
 laca hortensis, garden purslain, opens at 9-10, closes at 11-12 ; 
 Dianthus proltfer, proliferous pink, opens at 8, closes at 1 ; 
 Cichoreum, succory,, opens at 4-5 ; Hypocharis opens at 6-7, 
 closes at 4-5 ; Crepis opens at 4-5, closes at 10-11 ; Picris 
 opens at 4-5, closes at 12 ; Calendula Africana opens at 7, 
 closes at 3-4, &c. 
 
 In like manner may be formed a calendar of Flora : thus, 
 if we consider the time of putting forth leaves, the honey- 
 suckle protrudes them in the month of January ; the goose- 
 berry, currant, and elder in the end of February, or beginning 
 of April; the oak and ash in the beginning, or towards the 
 middle, of May, &c. 
 
 Notwithstanding the injunction implied in the quotation of 
 Pliny at the head of the present note, we shall venture to direct 
 the gaze of our readers to the northern pole of the sky 
 'petere auxilium celeste' whenever the sun fails to cast its tell- 
 tale shadow on the dial ; for in that region may be seen old 
 Time pointing his finger to the hour of the day, even though 
 the sun be below the Horizon ! Is it not passing strange that 
 there should have existed, ever since the creation of the solar 
 system, a never-failing chronometer telegraphing time, by a 
 process unsuspected by man, until the keen eye of Science 
 detected its working, and enabled him to recognise and 
 interpret its signals ? We must here take for granted that the 
 reader is already acquainted with the nature of polarized light, 
 for the subject is far too large to be discussed, or even enunci- 
 ated in the compass of a note. Suffice it to say that from the 
 disposition of the polarized beams of reflected light, as they 
 stream from the northern sky, we can accurately infer the 
 position of the sun, and consequently the hour of the day. To 
 determine this, Mr. Wheatstone has invented an optical 
 instrument termed the Polar Clock, by which the plane of 
 polarization can be easily ascertained. To those acquainted 
 with the theory of polarization it will be evident that, since the 
 sun, in its apparent daily course, moves equably in a circle 
 round the north pole, so must the planes of polarization change 
 their position exactly as the hour-circles change. A description 
 of this ingenious instrument is to be found in the Report of tl& 
 1.8th Meeting of the British Association held at Swansea in 
 1848. In this note we only profess to direct attention to the 
 subject. 
 
NOTES. 445 
 
 Note 2, p. 6. GEOLOGICAL THEORIES FIRE AND WATER. 
 The geologist of the present day can scarcely imagine the 
 uncompromising and intolerant spirit with which the partisans 
 of the Igneous and Aqueous theories of the earth carried on 
 their controversy during the earlier part of the present century. 
 Edinburgh, originally the cradle, became the arena of the 
 combatants. The Wernerians, or " Neptunists" as they were 
 called, affirmed that the earth was indebted for its present form 
 and arrangement to the sole agency of water ; and thus, as 
 Shakespeare says, " made a sop of all this solid globe ;" the 
 Huttonians, or " Plutonists" on the contrary, although they ad- 
 mitted to a certain extent the operation of water, maintained 
 the utter impossibility of explaining the consolidation of the 
 strata without the intervention of fire ; every geologist felt 
 bound to side with one or the other of these contending parties, 
 for neutrality was held as disgraceful as though the law of 
 Solon had been in active operation. 
 
 Fire and water, in philosophical systems, as well as in 
 poetical fables, had ever maintained an unmitigated hostility, 
 until Chemistry stepped in as umpire to adjust their claims 
 and settle their differences. This science soon determined that 
 there did not really exist that antagonism which was so univer- 
 sally believed, but that water contained an element of fire, and 
 fire an element of water, thus realising the prodigy in Livy 
 " Unda dabit flammas, et dabit ignis aquas." 
 
 When water was thus violently assailed by the geologic Plu- 
 tonist, and driven, as it were, by a flaming sword from the 
 rocky strata, it sought shelter and refuge in their embedded 
 crystals, and became, in its turn, the assailant. To quote the 
 words of one of the most inflexible and eloquent disciples of 
 Werner, the late Dr. Clarke, of Cambridge, " the water in the 
 crystals of my cabinet is more than sufficient to extinguish all 
 the fires of the Plutonist." This Quixotic attack upon his 
 adversaries reminds us of the amusing old Pagan fable. 
 The Persian and Egyptian priests of the gods of fire and water 
 agreed upon a duel between their principals. The aquatic- 
 champion was clad, for armour, in a jug bored with holes 
 stopped with Avax. Flame advanced with all the fervour of his 
 element; Neptune received the onset with sangfroid: Flame 
 rushed on, the wax dissolved, an inundation burst forth, and 
 Flame was subdued and extinguished. 
 
 Hence the origin of the deified Pitcher (Cavopvs} common on 
 the coins of Egypt ; it being a human head placed upon a kind 
 of pitcher. - But since these early days of geological specula- 
 tion, the science has lost its wildness of romance, and fallen 
 into the ranks of inductive philosophy ; and even those appa- 
 rently fortuitous elevations and depressions, which diversify 
 the surface of the globe, promise submission to a dynamic law 
 which will ultimately, no doubt, reduce the whole to order and 
 system. 
 
446 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Note 3, p. 20. GOTHE AN EAKLY BUT INTELLIGENT 
 " DESTRUCTIVE." 
 
 " From my earliest years I felt a love for the investigation 
 of natural things. It is often regarded as an instinct of cru- 
 elty, that children like, at last, to break, tear, and devour 
 objects with which for a long time they played, and which 
 they have handled in various manners ; and yet even in this 
 way is manifested the curiosity, the desire of learning how 
 such things hang together how they look within. I remember 
 that, as a child, I pulled flowers to pieces to see how the leaves 
 were inserted into the calyx ; or even plucked birds to observe 
 how the feathers were inserted into the wings. 
 
 " Children are not to be blamed for this, when even our 
 naturalists believe they get their knowledge oftener by sepa- 
 ration and division than by union and combination more 
 by killing than by making alive." Autobiography of Gotlte. 
 
 Note 4, p. 31. WEIGHT OF THE EARTH AND THE PLANETS. 
 
 " Th' Eternal hung forth his golden scales, 
 Wherein all things created first he weighed." 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 The startling fact announced in the text, that the astronomer 
 is not only able to measure the Earth and Planets, but to 
 ascertain the weight, or gravitating force of each, is due to the 
 wonderful discovery of universal gravitation ; which enables 
 him to infer from the revolution of the satellites round their 
 primary planets, a measure of the force by which they are 
 retained in their orbits, and consequently a measure of 
 the quantity of gravitating matter, of which each planet 
 consists. 
 
 The planets differ greatly in magnitude : for example, the 
 diameter of the earth is 8,000 miles ; that of Jupiter 88,000, of 
 Saturn 75,000 ; and since the volumes, or bulks of globes, are in 
 the proportion of the cubes of their diameters, it follows that the 
 bulk of Jupiter is 1,300 times that of the earth, while that of 
 Saturn is 857 times ; but we are now only speaking of magni- 
 tude, let us next consider the question of density. With regard 
 to Jupiter we are at once assisted by comparing the velocity of 
 the moon's revolution round the earth, Avith that of one of 
 Jupiter's satellites, when we find that, bulk for bulk, the matter 
 composing Jupiter is lighter than that of the earth in the ratio 
 of 1 to 4 ; in fact, that it is only a little heavier than water. 
 Venus and Mars would appear to be 5*5 times heavier than 
 water, being nearly of the same density as that of the earth ; 
 whereas Mercury has the specific weight of gold. Uranus and 
 Xeptune would seem to have the density of water ; while 
 
NOTES. 447 
 
 Saturn is lighter than water, and would float in it like a piece 
 of pine wood ; nor does the sun exceed that of water ; and yet it 
 by no means follows, that these light bodies exist in a fluid form. 
 Sir David Brewster observes that there are many solid bodies, 
 and even some minerals, as pumice, and even the metals of the 
 alkalis, of less specific gravity than water. Now this, with 
 other inquiries relating to magnitude, distance, heat and light, 
 variation of seasons, length of the year, and other physical con- 
 ditions, have an important bearing upon a question which has 
 lately excited considerable discussion that of the PLURALITY 
 OF WORLDS involving speculations regarding the physical 
 adaptation of the planets, as the abodes of intellectual life, or 
 of inhabitants to be regarded as the equivalents of the human 
 race : and first, as to the gravitating influence of such large 
 bodies upon animals moving on their surfaces. Independent of 
 the influence of density, magnitude will considerably diminish 
 the weight of any body on the surface of a planet ; thus it is 
 apparent, that the larger the globe, the farther removed must 
 be any body on its surface from its centre, in the proportion of 
 the square of the distance. Let us illustrate this proposition by 
 an appeal to Jupiter : the volume of that planet has beeii 
 stated at 1,300 times that of the earth ; but a body on its 
 surface is eleven times farther removed from its centre, and 
 would therefore be attracted with a less force, in the ratio of 
 the square of eleven, i.e. of 121 to 1 ; the necessary consequence 
 of which will be that a body on its surface must weigh eleven 
 times more than upon the earth ; but we have just said that 
 the matter of Jupiter has a density scarcely exceeding that of 
 water ; and hence we have farther to reduce our estimate, and 
 instead of being eleven times, a body on its surface would only 
 be 2f heavier than on our earth ; and therefore, physically 
 speaking, the excessive amount of gravitation would not, as it 
 has been argued, so fatally militate against the possibility of 
 animal existence. Besides, is not adaptation the paramount law 
 of creation ; and what evidence is there to show that intelli- 
 gence bears any relation to weight or measure ? We need not 
 the poetical fancy of Milton to people these globes with forms 
 adapted to the exigencies of their several abodes ; it is by no 
 means essential that they should be, like the denizens of 
 earth, 
 
 " Ty'd or manacled with joint or limb, 
 Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, 
 Like cumbrous flesh." 
 
 With this passing notice we commit our readers to the safe 
 keeping of Sir David Brewster.* 
 
 * ' More Worlds than One ; the Creed of the Philosopher, mid the Hope of 
 the Christi.m,' by Sir David Brewster, K.H., D.C.L., F.K.S., &c. 
 
448 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Note 5, p. 35 GEAVITY A^D CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be asked how this decrease of weight could 
 have been ascertained : since, if the body under examination 
 decreased in weight, the weight which was opposed to it in the 
 opposite scale must also have diminished in the same propor- 
 tion : for instance, that, if the lump of lead lost two pounds, 
 the body which served to balance it must also have lost 
 the same weight, and therefore that the different force of gra- 
 vity could not be detected by such means. It is undoubtedly 
 true that the experiment in question could not have been per- 
 formed with an ordinary pair of scales ; but by using a spiral 
 spring it was easy to compare the force of the lead's gravity 
 at the surface of the earth, and at four miles high, by the rela- 
 tive degree of compression which it sustained in those dif- 
 ferent situations. 
 
 With respect to the effect of the centrifugal force a* 
 alluded to in the text, it may be here observed, that it has 
 been found by calculation that, at the equator, the diminution 
 of gravity occasioned by the centrifugal force arising from tin- 
 rotation of the earth amounts to about the 289th part. But 
 since this number is the square of 17. it follows that, if our 
 globe turned more than 17 times faster about her axis, or per- 
 formed the diurnal revolution within the space of 84 minutes, 
 the centrifugal force would predominate over the powers of 
 gravitation, and all the fluid and loose matters would, near the 
 equinoctial boundary, have been projected from the surface. 
 On such a supposition the waters of the ocean must have been 
 drained off, and an impassable zone of sterility interposed 
 between the opposite hemispheres. By a similar calculation, 
 combined with that decreasing force of gravity at great dis- 
 tances from the centre, it may be inferred that the altitude of 
 our at&osphere could never exceed 26,000 miles. Beyond this 
 limit, the equatorial portion of air would have been shot into 
 indefinite space. If it were possible to fire off a cannon-ball 
 with a velocity of five miles in a second, and the resistance of 
 the air could be taken away, it would for ever wheel round the 
 earth, instead of falling upon it ; and supposing the velocity to 
 reach the rate of seven miles in a second, the ball would fly oft 
 from the earth, and be never heard of more. 
 
 Note 6, f). 37. VELOCITY or LIGHT. 
 
 "THE STARS AND THE EARTH." 
 
 " How distant some of these nocturnal Suns ! 
 So distant, says the sage, 'twere not absurd 
 To doubt if beams, set out at Nature's birth, 
 Are yet arriv'd at this so foreign world." 
 
 YOUNG'S Night Thoughts, N. ix. 
 
 It is scarcely possible so to strain the imagination as to eon- 
 
NOTES. 449 
 
 ceive the velocity with which light travels. " What mere 
 assertion," asks Sir J. Herschel, " will make any man believe, 
 that in one second of time in one beat of the pendulum of a 
 clock a ray of light travels over 192,000 miles, and would, 
 therefore, perform the tour of the world in about the same time 
 that it requires to wink with our eyelids, and in much less than 
 a swift runner occupies in taking a single stride !" 
 
 Were a cannon-ball, shot directly towards the sun, to retain 
 its full speed, it would be twenty years in reaching it, and yet 
 light travels through this space, not less than a hundred million 
 of miles, in seven or eight minutes. It is only by thus bringing 
 velocity into comparison with time and space that the human 
 mind can grapple with a subject that startles the imagination 
 by the vastness of the conception it inspires, while it arouses 
 our reasoning faculties to the consciousness of the momentous 
 questions involved in its examination. From the moon, which 
 is distant from us 240,000 miles, its light will occupy in its 
 passage to the earth about a second and a quarter of our time ; 
 from Jupiter, 617,000,000 of miles distant, fifty-two minutes, 
 and from Uranus, 1,800,000,000 from us, not less than two hours : 
 but if these numbers startle the reader, what will he say when, 
 quitting the confines of the solar system, we penetrate the 
 infinite wilderness of space, and tell him that from the nearest 
 fixed star, that, for example, which is the brightest in the 
 constellation, Centaury, its light will require three years to 
 reach the earth ; from Vega, in the Lyre, twelve years ; and 
 from a star of the twelfth magnitude, no less than 4000 years ! 
 during which period this subtle emanation, or ' liyht wave,' must 
 have flowed through space, on its own account, unconnected 
 with its original source ;* and, therefore, by seeing these stars, 
 we only receive information of their visible condition ; not what 
 it is at present, but what it was some thousand years ago, when 
 they sent forth their light on its infinite journey ; so that, for 
 aught we know or can tell, stars may have been created coeval 
 with man, and yet their light may not yet have reached us ; 
 and stars may have been extinguished for many thousand years, 
 and may still continue visible to us by means of the light 
 emitted before their extinction, and which may continue to 
 shine for centuries to come ! What a subject for the exercise of 
 the imagination !f 
 
 * The author of ' The Earth and the Stars ' has fallen into an obvious 
 fallacy when he states that " the moon rises above the horizon a second and 
 a quarter before she becomes visible to us." It is the stream, not the 
 source that enlightens us, and that has been uninterruptedly flowing, and falls 
 upon the earth the moment it turns towards it. 
 
 f The ancient philosophers would appear to have entertained a curious 
 estimate as to the distance of the heavenly bodies. We find it stated in the 
 ' Theogony' of Hesiod that, such is the height of the heavens, a smith's anvil 
 would be nine davs in falling thence to the earth. 
 
 2 a 
 
450 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 The first question, however, which very naturally suggests 
 itself, is as to the nature of that force or impulse which we call 
 light is it matter sui generis or is it a transcendental condition 
 of matter? now two theories have been advanced for its explana- 
 tionthe one known as the Newtonian, or that of emission, as 
 it is called; the other, the undulatory theory. The former 
 regards light as consisting of myriads of material particles, 
 emitted by luminous bodies ; the latter maintains that there is 
 no inactive void in creation, but that space is filled by an 'ether,' 
 penetrable by attractive forces, by which the universe is held 
 together, and that the waves of this ether form light. This latter 
 theory now prevails ; since it has been found that, during the 
 progress of optical discoveries, the former is wholly inadequate 
 to meet their requirements ; viz. : the great class of phenomena 
 of diffraction, and polarization ; but we must here again refer the 
 reader to our mentor, Sir David Brewster.* 
 
 The astronomer, placed on our puny globe, looks up at the 
 stars, watches their motions, speculates upon their distances, 
 foreshadows their destinies, and is lost in wonder. With the 
 indulgence of the reader, as the pastime of an hour, or as 
 ' Philosophy in Sport,' if it so please him to regard it, we will 
 reverse the telescope and the prospect ; and instead of gazing 
 upon these gems of the heavens, like, mortals from the earth, 
 let us avail ourselves of the imaginary wings of the poet, ' soar 
 the blue profound, and look back upon all the stars.' If it be 
 admitted that some hundred years may be required to convey ^ 
 the light of a star to the earth, it is obvious that the same period 
 must be relatively occupied by the transit of the earth's light 
 to any star on which fancy might place us. This converse 
 proposition has been adopted, and very ingeniously worked out 
 by an anonymous author in a short essay, entitled " The Stars 
 and the Earth "^ and we are anxious to bring it to the notice of 
 the reader, as one of those bright bubbles that frequently rise 
 up, during the effervescence of an ingenious mind, and which, 
 like those of the well, may indicate the presence of truth at its 
 bottom. The author calls upon us to admit certain postulates, 
 viz., That force is never lost that the powers of vision are 
 illimitable and that the word possible is to denote whatever 
 does not contradict the laws of thought. If, then, we can 
 imagine a being, with the same powers as those possessed by 
 man, but on an enlarged scale, not differing in kind, but in 
 degree, an earthly deed or occurrence, even after thousands of 
 years, might, from a star of appropriate distance, that is to say, 
 from a point at which the light and the reflection of the circum- 
 stance is just arriving, be distinctly seen as actually taking 
 place before his eyes ; and were he, like Milton's Raphael, with 
 
 * A Treatise on Optics/ &c. 
 
 f ' The Stars and the Earth or, Thoughts upon Space, Time, ;uul 
 Eternity.' Bailliere, Regent Street, and New York. Price One Shilling. 
 
NOTES. 451 
 
 ' incorporeal speed,' to pass from star to star, he might recall 
 sensibly to his very eyes an actual and true representation of 
 every moment of past history. If, for instance, he wished to 
 see the crucifixion, he would select a star which would require 
 the necessary lapse of time to bring the light of the earth to his 
 eyes. Let us imagine an observer, with infinite powers of vision, 
 in a star of the twelfth magnitude. He would see the earth at 
 this moment, as it existed in the time of Abraham ; and if we 
 farther imagine him to be moved forward in the direction of our 
 earth, with such speed that, in the course of an hour, he would 
 come to within the distance of 100,000,000 of miles, then in the 
 eye of such an observer would be seen the entire history of the 
 world, from the time of Abraham to the present day ; for when 
 the motion commenced, he viewed the earth as it was four 
 thousand years ago ; at the half-way, i.e., after half-an-hour, as 
 it was two thousand years ago ; and so on. 
 
 The geologist, so circumstanced, might solve the great pro- 
 blem of the earth's mutation, for he would see the successive 
 formations in actual progress; mountains rising up from the 
 deep, continents giving place to seas, and all the phenomena of 
 geological revolution, like changing scenery in a pantomime : 
 but we desist the curious reader must refer to the essay itself, 
 for although its ingenious author has abolished the impediments 
 of time and space, we find ourselves unable to take advantage 
 of the discovery. 
 
 Note. 7, p. 40. HYDROMAKCY. 
 
 This superstition still prevails in many parts -of England, 
 especially in Cornwall, where the peasants on certain days of 
 the year assemble at the springs, or holy wells, and, in the 
 manner stated in the text, proceed to settle such doubts and 
 inquiries as will not let the idle and anxious rest. Here, 
 therefore they come, and instead of allaying, deservedly feed 
 their uneasiness ; the supposed responses serving equally to 
 increase the gloom of the low-spirited, the suspicions of the 
 jealous, and the passion of the enamoured. The superstition, 
 however, is sanctioned by the highest antiquity. The Cas- 
 talian fountain, and many others among the Grecians, were 
 supposed to be of a prophetic nature. By dipping a fair 
 mirror into a well, the Patreans of Greece received, as they 
 supposed, some notice of ensuing sickness or health from the 
 various figures portrayed upon the surface. In Laconia they 
 cast into a pool, sacred to Juno, cakes- of bread-corn ; if they 
 sank, good was portended , if they swam, something dreadful 
 was to ensue. Sometimes they threw three stones into the 
 water, and formed their conclusions from the several turns they 
 made in sinking. " From the several waves and eddies which 
 the sea, river, or other water exhibited," says Dr. Borlase, 
 "when put into agitation after a ritual manner, the ancients 
 
452 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 pretended to foretell with great certainty the event of battles ; 
 a way of divining recorded by Plutarch in his life of Ctesar, and 
 still usual among the vulgar in Cornwall ; who go to some noted 
 well at particular times of the year, and there observe the 
 bubbles that rise, and the aptness of the water to be troubled, 
 or to remain pure, on their throwing in pins or pebbles, and 
 thence conjecture what shall or shall not befall them. The 
 Druids, also, as we have great reason to think, pretended to 
 predict future events, not only from holy wells and running 
 streams, but from the rain and snow water, which, when settled, 
 and afterwards stirred, either by oak-leaf or branch, or magic 
 wand, might exhibit appearances of great info riuai ion to the 
 quick-sighted Druid, or seem so to do to the credulous inquirer, 
 when the priest was at full liberty to represent the appearances 
 as he thought most for his purpose." BORLASE'S 'Antiquities 
 of Cornwall? p. 143. 
 
 In the islands of Scilly there is, or was some years since, a 
 custom of propitiating fortune by certain ceremonies of this 
 kind. An old islander regretted to a friend of the author 
 the want of care with which such ceremonies had of late been 
 conducted, and observed, as the consequence, that " they had 
 no luck at all in the islands; not a wreck had taken place for many 
 months .'" 
 
 Note 8, p. 44. COINS AND MEDALS. 
 
 The Latin word moneta, for money, is probably more modern 
 than pecunia, and is said to be derived from moneo, to advise or 
 mark, that is, to show by some mark the weight and fineness of 
 the metal of which coins were composed. Thus, according to 
 Isidorus, " Moneta ita appellatur, quia monet ne qua fraus in 
 pondere vel metallo fiat." The origin of money seems to have 
 been coeval with the first regulations of civil society, or, at 
 least, it is too remote to be traced by any authentic history. 
 Barter that is, the exchange of one commodity for another 
 was the ordinary mode of traffic in the earlier periods of the 
 world ; a practice which must soon have been discovered ex- 
 tremely inconvenient, and inadequate to the purposes of com- 
 merce ; and hence the invention of a common measure, or 
 standard, according to which all other things should be esti- 
 mated. Writers very generally agree in believing that the 
 metals were first used for such a purpose, as being almost the 
 only substances whose goodness, and, as it were, integrity, were 
 not injured by partition ; and which admitted of being melted, 
 and returned again into a mass of any size or weight. At first, 
 it is probable that each person cut his metal into pieces of 
 different sizes and forms, according to the quantity to be given 
 for any merchandise, or according to the demand of the seller, 
 or the quantity stipulated between them. To this end they 
 went to market laden with metal in proportion to the purchase 
 
NOTES. 453 
 
 to be made, and furnished with instruments for apportioning it, 
 and with scales for dealing it out, according as occasion required. 
 By degrees it must have been found commodious to have pieces 
 ready weighed ; and Mr. Pinkerton observes, that such were 
 prepared without any stated form or impression, but merely 
 regulated to a certain weight ; for weight was the grand stand- 
 ard of ancient coinage, so that all large sums were paid in 
 weight, even down to the Saxon period of England. As in 
 Greece the first estimation of money was merely by weight, so 
 was it in Kome. Silver was the metal first used in Grecian 
 coinage, but copper in the Koman. The first valuation of 
 Roman money was by the libra gravis ceris, or pound of heavy 
 brass : and when by the progress of their conquests they ob- 
 tained silver and gold, these were regulated in the same manner. 
 Let us proceed one step farther in the history of coins ;* it is 
 easy to imagine that, the growing commerce of money being 
 disturbed with frauds, both in the weight and the material, the 
 interposition of public authority became necessary, and that 
 hence arose the first stamps or impressions of money ; to which 
 succeeded the names of the moneyers, and at length the effigy 
 of the prince, the date, legend, and other precautions to prevent 
 the alteration of the species ; and thus were coins completed. 
 Gold and silver in their pure or unmixed state are too flexible 
 to make coins sufficiently firm for general use ; and hence the 
 necessity of mixing with them a certain proportion of some 
 harder metal, and this mixture is called the alloy. The quality 
 of this alloy has been always considered of great importance 
 with respect to the durability of coins. The most common 
 metal used for this purpose is copper ; and sometimes, for gold, 
 a mixture of silver and copper. In all well-regulated govern- 
 ments there has been a standard fixed by law ; that is, a certain 
 proportion between the quantity of pure metal and its alloy. 
 In England the standard of gold is j^, that is eleven parts of 
 pure metal, and one part of alloy. The standard for silver is j$, 
 a proportion which is said to have been fixed in the reign of 
 Richard I. by certain persons from the eastern parts of Germany, 
 called Easterlings ; and hence the word Sterling, which was 
 afterwards the name given to the silver penny, and which is 
 now applied to all lawful money of Great Britain. 
 
 Penny is derived by Camden from pecunia, but others suppose 
 that the word is formed from pendo, to weigh, and the word has 
 been sometimes written, according to this origin, pending. The 
 
 * The word COIN is derived from Koivbs, common, or current. Some 
 have derived it from Cuneus, a wedge, because metal is cut in wedges to be 
 coined. In Cornwall there are ' Coinage Towns,' wherein the tin, brought 
 from the smelting-house, is assayed and then stamped, to certify its purity. 
 The process consists in cutting off a corner (coigne) of the block as a sample, 
 hence the term coin. Thus Shakespeare, " See you yond' coin o' th capitol,' 
 yond' corner of stone." 
 
454 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 ancient English penny, or penig, or pening, was the first silver 
 coin struck in England, and the only one current amongst our 
 Saxon ancestors. Until the time of Edward I. the penny was 
 struck with a cross so deeply indented in it that it might be 
 easily broken, and parted into two pieces, thence called half- 
 pennies, or into four, called four-things, or farthings ; but that 
 prince coined it without indenture ; in lieu of which he first 
 struck round halfpence and farthings. 
 
 By the term MEDAL we understand a piece of metal, in the 
 form of a coin, destined to preserve to posterity the portrait of 
 some great man, or the memory of some illustrious action. They 
 are distinguished by their different sizes. Those of the larger 
 size, or volume, are called medallions. Medallet is a name given 
 by Pinkerton to those small pieces, or missilia, scattered among 
 the people on solemn occasions ; those struck for the slaves in 
 the Saturnalia, private counters for gaming, tickets for baths 
 and feasts, tokens in copper and lead, and the like. Medallions 
 were certainly never intended to become current coin, as 
 some medals probably were ; they were struck purely to 
 serve as public monuments, or to be presented by the emperor 
 to his friends, and by the mint-makers to the emperor, as 
 specimens of fine workmanship. They were struck upon the 
 commencement of the reign of a new emperor, and other solemn 
 occasions ; and frequently, especially the Greek medallions, as 
 monuments of gratitude or of flattery. Sometimes they were 
 trial or pattern pieces, testimonies probates monetce ; and such 
 abound after the reign of Maximilian, with the " Tres monetse " 
 on the reverse. It is observed that all the Roman pieces in gold, 
 exceeding the denarius aureus ; all in silver, superior to the 
 denarius ; and all in brass, superior to the sestertius, or what the 
 medallist terms large brass, are comprehended under the descrip- 
 tion of medallions. Mr. Pinkerton, however, thinks that the 
 gold medallions, weighing two, three, or four aurei only, passed 
 in currency according to their size. Medallions from the time 
 of Julius to that of Adrian are very uncommon, and of very high 
 price ; from Adrian to the close of the western empire they are, 
 generally speaking, less rare. The types of the Roman medal- 
 lions are often repeated upon common coin ; hence they appear 
 of less importance than the Greek : impressions of which are 
 frequently most uncommon, and nowhere else to be found. 
 Many Roman medallions have S.C., as being struck by order of 
 the senate ; those without these initials were struck by order of 
 the emperor. Of Augustus, a noble medallion was found in Her- 
 culaneum. There are medallions of Augustus and Tiberius, 
 struck in Spain ; and one of Livia, at Patrae in Achaia ; one in 
 brass, of Antony and Cleopatra ; reverse, two figures in a car, 
 drawn by sea-horses. Of Tiberius there are many ; and also of 
 .Claudius, Agrippina, Nero, Galba, Vespasian, and Domitian, &c. 
 The Greek medallions of Roman emperors are far more numerous 
 than the Roman; with a few exceptions, however, all medallions 
 
NOTES. 455 
 
 are rare and of princely purchase. Even in the richest cabinet, 
 twenty or thirty specimens are esteemed a respectable propor- 
 tion. 
 
 The parts of a medal are the two sides, one whereof is called 
 the face, head, or obverse ; the other the reverse. On each side 
 is the area, or field ; the rim, or border ; and the exergtim, which 
 is beneath the ground, whereon the figures represented are 
 placed. On the two sides are distinguished the type and the 
 inscription, or legend. The type, or device, is the figure repre- 
 sented ; the legend is the writing, especially that around the 
 medal ; though in the Greek medals the inscription is frequently 
 on the area. What we find iiv the exergum is, generally, no 
 more than some initial letters, whose meaning we are usually 
 unacquainted with ; though sometimes they contain words that 
 may be accounted an inscription. 
 
 The exergum sometimes contains the date of the coin, express- 
 ing in what consulship of the emperor it was struck, as Cos. III. 
 upon the reverse of an Antoninus. Sometimes it signifies the 
 place where it was struck, and to which the coin properly be- 
 longed ; as s.M. AL., for Sif/nata Moneta Alexandria, upon the 
 reverse of a Licinius : sometimes the name of a province, the 
 reduction of which the medal is designed to celebrate ; as Juda?a 
 on the reverse of a Vespasian. Medals usually have their figures 
 in a higher relief than coins. 
 
 We have stated that medals are of great importance to the 
 study of history. They, indeed, furnish the principal proof of 
 historic truth, as their evidence reaches to the most remote ages, 
 as well as to the most remote countries. Vaillant, in his learned 
 history of the Syrian kings, printed at Paris, 1681, first fixed the 
 dates, and arranged the order of events, in ancient historians, 
 by means of these infallible vouchers: Thus he was enabled to 
 ascertain the chronology and progress of events of three of the 
 most important kingdoms of the ancient world ; viz., those of 
 Egypt, of Syria, and of Parthia. The study of the Roman 
 medals has in this respect an advantage over that of Greek coins, 
 since they serve not only to illustrate the chronology of reigns, 
 but to aid us in the interpretation of particular events. To 
 tliis purpose, besides the portrait of the prince, and date of his 
 consulship or of his tribunitian power, we have a representation, 
 or poetical symbol, of some grand event on the reverse. In a 
 word, the series of Roman coins presents the very best suite of 
 documents relating to the Roman history. In addition to its 
 historical importance, the medal is frequently a useful guide to 
 geography, natural history, architecture, ancient monuments, 
 busts, statues, ceremonies, and the like. See Addison's ' Dia- 
 logues on the Usefulness of Ancient Medals.' On this subject, also, 
 Pinkerton, in his valuable work on medals, has some interesting 
 remarks ; he says that, to a man of poetical imagination, the 
 Roman coins must prove an ample source of intellectual delight, 
 by means of the fine personifications and symbols which are to 
 
456 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 be found on their reverse. Happiness has- sometimes the cadu- 
 ceus, or wand of Mercury, which Cicero tells us was thought to 
 procure the gratification of every wish. In a gold coin of 
 Severus, she has heads of poppy, to express that our prime bliss 
 lies in oblivion of misfortune. Hope is represented as a sprightly 
 damsel, walking quickly and looking straight forward. With 
 her left hand she holds up her garments, that they may not 
 hinder the rapidity of her pace ; while in her right hand she 
 holds forth the bud of a flower, an emblem infinitely more beau- 
 tiful than the trite one of an anchor, which is the symbol of 
 Patience not of Hope. Abundance is imaged as a sedate matron, 
 with a cornucopia in her hands, of which she scatters the fruits 
 over the ground ; but does not hold it up, and keep its contents 
 to herself, as many poets and painters have represented her. 
 Security stands leaning on a pillar, indicative of her being free 
 from all designs and pursuits ; and the posture itself corresponds 
 to her name. 
 
 Coins also present us with countries and rivers admirably 
 personified. On the reverse of a colonial coin, rude in execu- 
 tion, of Augustus and Agrippa, inscribed IMP. and DIVI. F., the 
 conquest of Egypt is represented by the apposite metaphor of 
 the crocodile, an animal almost peculiar to that country, and at 
 that period esteemed altogether so, which is chained to a palm- 
 tree, at once a native of the country, and symbolic of victory. 
 Moreover, a cabinet of medals, of which Rubens is said to have 
 possessed a very magnificent one, may be considered as forming 
 the classic erudition of a painter. We may add, that almost all 
 the uses which connect the science of medals with painting ren- 
 der it also subservient to the art of the sculptor, who cannot 
 less than profit by the study of the Greek coins in particular. 
 The connection of the study of ancient coins with architec- 
 ture consists in the- views of many of th^ ancient edifices, which 
 are found in perfect preservation on medals. Froelich observes 
 that the coins of Tarsus are very remarkable for a kind of per- 
 spective in the figures. On others are found triumphal arches, 
 temples, fountains, aqueducts, amphitheatres, circuses, palaces, 
 columns, obelisks, baths, seaports, pharoses, and the like. 
 
 The study of medals aifords such a variety of amusement and 
 of instruction, that we may naturally suppose it to be nearly 
 as ancient as medals themselves ; and yet ancient writers 
 do not furnish us with a single hint of collections of this kind. 
 In the days of Greece a collection of such coins as then existed 
 would not be regarded as an acquisition of any great value, 
 because it must have consisted only of those that were struck 
 by the innumerable little states which then used the Greek 
 characters and language, and of course it would be considered 
 as a kind of domestic coinage, precluded from extension by the 
 narrow limits of the intercourse that subsisted between different 
 provinces and countries. As soon as any communication was 
 opened between the Romans and the Greeks, the Grecian coins 
 
NOTES. 457 
 
 were imitated by the Koman workmen, and preserved in the 
 cabinets of their senators among the choicest treasures. In a 
 more advanced period of the Roman empire, individuals must 
 have formed collections of Roman coins ; for we find that a 
 complete series of silver was lately found in our island, contain- 
 ing inclusively all the emperors down to Carausius. From the 
 decline of the Roman empire, most branches of science were 
 enveloped in darkness till the revival of letters towards the 
 end of the fifteenth century. When literature began to be 
 cultivated in Italy, the study of medals, connected with that of 
 ancient erudition, also began to engage attention. Accordingly 
 Petrarch, who in modern times was amongst the first persons in 
 Europe that aspired to the celebrity of learning and genius, was 
 likewise the first to revive the study of medals. This eminent 
 man, having been desired by the emperor Charles IV. to compose 
 a book that should contain a history of the coins of illustrious 
 men, and to place him in the list, is said to have returned for 
 answer, that he would comply with his desire whenever the 
 emperor's future life and actions deserved it. Availing himself 
 of this circumstance, he sent that monarch a collection of gold 
 and silver coins of celebrated men. " Behold," said he, " to 
 what men you have succeeded ! Behold whom you should 
 imitate and admire ! to whose very form arid image you should 
 compose your talents ! The invaluable present 1 should have 
 given to no one but yourself ; it was due to you alone. I can 
 only know or describe the deeds of these great men ; your 
 supreme office enables you to imitate them." In the next age, 
 Alphonso, king of Arragon, caused all the ancient coins that 
 could be discovered throughout the provinces of Italy to be 
 collected, which he placed in an ivory cabinet, and always car- 
 ried about with him, that he might be excited to great actions 
 by the presence, as it were, of so many illustrious men in their 
 images. 
 
 To those who are desirous of gaining information upon this 
 interesting branch of antiquarian research, we recommend Mr. 
 Pinkerton's ' Essay on Medals.' 
 
 Having been led to offer these observations on ancient medals, 
 we may perhaps be allowed to make one other digression on a 
 subject naturally suggested by a visit to the vicarage of our 
 reverend antiquary. The reader has been told that " around 
 his house he had arranged several precious relics, amongst 
 which was an ancient cross, raised upon a platform on three 
 steps." 
 
 There is much obscurity with regard to the origin and uses 
 of these stone crosses. We are, however, not disposed to 
 enter into a discussion of such difficulty ; but the reader may 
 be gratified in having presented to him, in one view, a 
 collection of such crosses as still exist in various parts of 
 Cornwall. (See p. 458.) 
 
458 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Note 9, p. 53. FOKCE, MOTIVE PONVER. 
 
 There are philosophic truths apparently so at variance with 
 the facts of daily observation and ordinary experience, as to 
 require an early discipline of the mind to counteract the fallacies 
 incident to the perception of sense ; thus a belief that neither 
 matter HOT force can be created, nor annihilated, is to be only 
 attained by a process of subtle reasoning ; that the former 
 cannot be created, will probably be admitted with compara- 
 tively less difficulty, but that it is incapable of destruction is a 
 proposition repulsive to those who daily witness its combustion 
 and decay : and yet, even in that case, a small amount of 
 
NOTES. 459 
 
 chemical science will reconcile it with truth ; not so, however, 
 with the question of force, for its source lies so far beyond the 
 range of ordinary apprehension as to assume the character of a 
 creation, while the idea of its inexhaustibility, or infinite 
 persistence, is opposed by its apparent cessation in every kind 
 of motion we hourly witness on the surface of the earth. 
 When we see the palpable motion of one body arrested by 
 impact on another body, it is difficult to believe that the force 
 which produced it is not annihilated ; and yet not the smallest 
 quantity of it is exhausted or lost by the collision, it is merely 
 transferred into some other channel, or ceases to be recognised 
 from its subdivision and diffusion. Mr. Babbage observes that 
 the pulsations of the air, once set in motion by the human 
 voice cease not to exist with the sounds to which they give 
 rise ; their quickly attenuated force soon become inaudible to 
 human ears, but the equality of action and reaction insures an 
 endless transmission. In like manner, if we do but wave the 
 hand, and the motion so produced has apparently ceased, its 
 existence is nevertheless perpetuated ; it is taken up by the air, 
 by the walls of the room, and so by direct and reacting waves, 
 continually comminuted, but never destroyed, although at a 
 certain point we lose all means of detecting the motion, from its 
 minute subdivision. No motion impressed by natural causes is 
 ever obliterated. The momentary waves raised by the passing 
 breeze, apparently born but to die on the spot which witnessed 
 their birth, leave behind them an endless progeny, which, 
 visiting a thousand shores, will pursue their ceaseless course 
 till ocean itself shall be no more. 
 
 As with matter, then, so is it with force, neither the one nor 
 the other can be created or extinguished. If the clay of 
 Imperial Caesar might " stop a hole to keep the wind away," so 
 may we well ask whither have gone those waves raised by the 
 voice of him who " kept the world in awe." Echo answers 
 whither for aught we know, or can tell, they may be wafting 
 the thistle's down, or scattering the sands of some Lybian 
 desert. 
 
 If force then be incapable of annihilation, there can be no 
 such thing in Nature as absolute repose. Everything on the 
 surface of the globe is in interminable motion ; our bodies even, 
 when consigned to the silence and darkness of the tomb, are 
 slowly undergoing a cycle of changes, in consequence of the 
 motions of their component particles, for what are chemical 
 changes but the internal motions and interchanges of particles 
 amongst themselves ? 
 
 The philosopher recognises several forces in Nature, such as 
 Light, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Gravitation, &c. : whether 
 they be distinct powers or modifications of one essence, is a 
 question ; but it is possible that they may be transformed into 
 each other. To render this proposition intelligible, let us take 
 the subject of friction, which is nothing more than impeded 
 
460 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 motion, we have learnt that whole nations have obtained heat 
 and light by rubbing together pieces of wood (p. 230), and the 
 curious reader may on any morning witness the process by 
 which the blacksmith kindles a fire by striking an iron nail on 
 his anvil. On flying our kite, we have experienced the heat 
 occasioned by the friction of its string, which, had it not met 
 with obstruction, might have been let out to any extent, 
 without the least indication of any elevation of temperature. 
 Now these, and a thousand similar instances, prove that by 
 arresting the motive force we convert it into a calorific force, or 
 in other words, that the force which would have expended itself 
 in motion finds a vent in the production of heat, while the heat 
 so produced may, by suitable arrangements, be reconverted into 
 motion. In like manner, under necessary conditions, it may be 
 converted into Electricity, and this latter force again may be 
 made to assume the form of magnetism. 
 
 Mr. Faraday has lately attempted to connect Gravity with 
 Electricity, with a view to discover whether the former might 
 not be induced to assume some new form of power. 
 
 The whole subject of the transmutation, or, as it has been 
 termed, the correlation of forces* has recently much engaged 
 our experimental philosophers, from which we may fairly 
 anticipate some important discoveries in Dynamics. See Note 13. 
 
 Note 10, p. 62. MOMENTUM AND THE MECHANICAL POWERS. 
 
 Mechanical powers are simple arrangements by which we 
 gain power at the expense of time ; thus, if a certain weight 
 can be raised to a certain height by unassisted strength, and 
 the same thing is afterwards done with one-tenth part of the 
 exertion, through the use of a mechanic power, it will be found 
 to occupy ten times as much time. In many cases, however, 
 loss of time is not to be put in competition with the ability to 
 do a thing ; and since the advantages which the mechanical 
 powers afford to man, by enabling him to perform feats which, 
 without their 'assistance, would have been for ever beyond his 
 reach, are incalculably great, the waste of time is overlooked, 
 and is much more than balanced in the general result. It is 
 true that if there are several small weights, manageable by 
 human strength, to be raised to a certain height, it may be full 
 as convenient to elevate them one by one, as to take the 
 advantage of the mechanical powers in raising them all at once ; 
 because the same time will be necessary in both cases : but 
 suppose we should have an enormous block of stone, or a great 
 tree, to raise ; bodies of this description cannot be separated 
 into parts proportionable to the human strength without im- 
 mense labour, nor, perhaps, without rendering them unfit for 
 
 * We refer the reader to a work entitled The Correlation of Forces," by 
 B. W. R. Grove, Q.C., F.R.S., &c. 
 
NOTES. 4G1 
 
 those purposes to which they are to be applied ; hence then the 
 great importance of the mechanical powers, by the use of which 
 a man is able to manage with ease a weight many times greater 
 than himself. 
 
 To understand the principle of a mechanical power, we must 
 revert to the doctrine of momentum. It will be remembered 
 that a small ball weighing only two pounds, and moving at the 
 rate of 500 feet in a second, will produce as much effect as a 
 cannon-ball of ten pounds in weight, provided it only moved at 
 the rate of 100 feet in the same time. In like manner, a ball 
 weighing one pound may be made to balance another of five 
 pounds, by placing it five times farther from the centre of 
 motion ; for in such a case, for every inch of space through 
 which the large ball passes, the small one will traverse five 
 inches, and will thus generate five times the momentum. This 
 may be rendered still more evident by turning to page 157, 
 where the see-saiv is described, which, in fact, is a true mechani- 
 cal power, and constitutes the simplest, but not the least im- 
 portant, of these powers. Besides which there are five others, 
 viz. the wheel and axle ; the inclined plane ; the screw ; the pulley ; 
 and the wedge ; out of the whole, or a part of which, it will be 
 found that every mechanical engine, or piece of machinery, is 
 constructed ; but for an account of them we must refer the 
 student to any elementary work on mechanics. It is however 
 obvious, from what has been stated, that they are all founded 
 upon the principle that the lengths of circles are in proportion to 
 their diameters. 
 
 Note 11, p. 75. CENTRE OF GRAVITY. 
 
 Those who have been in the habit of inspecting the works of 
 the statuary must frequently have detected the art which he 
 has displayed in imparting stability to his figures, by lower- 
 ing their centre of gravity. The bronze figure of Achilles, 
 in Hyde Park, affords a very striking illustration of such inge- 
 nuity : it is evident, from the position and height of the figure, 
 that, had not a mass of matter been added to its base, its 
 stability would have been extremely precarious, since the 
 slightest movement might have thrown its line of direction 
 beyond the base ; but the addition at the base renders such an 
 accident impossible, by lowering its centre of gravity. Other 
 examples of similar contrivance are presented in several cele- 
 brated statues, wherein stability is insured by the judicious dis- 
 tribution of the draperies. In the celebrated statue of Peter at 
 St. Petersburg!!, the equilibrium of the mass is thus sustained 
 by the introduction of a serpent twining upwards to his horse's 
 tail. The effect, however, is so unfortunate as to have given 
 occasion for a wit to remark, " It is a very fine horse, but what 
 a pity that he should have worms !" Nor have our celebrated 
 painters overlooked a principle, the neglect of which would 
 
462 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 have withheld from the most symmetrical figures the charms of 
 eautiful proportion. The eye is al ways distressed by the 
 apparent instability of an object ; while a nicely-balanced figure 
 calls forth a feeling of satisfaction : hence arises the perception 
 of beauty excited by the swan as it majestically glides over the 
 water ; the nicely-poised equilibrium of its several parts 
 conveys a feeling of repose ; the water supporting its tail, while 
 the neck, whose curvature is in itself so graceful, contributes 
 to the equilibrium of its whole figure : .but observe it on dry 
 ground, and you will be painfully conscious of its imperfect 
 equilibrium the extreme disproportion between the long neck 
 and the short tail, with the short legs 'and broad feet, which 
 cause a most ungraceful gait. Moore observes in his Diary that 
 the statue of Bibiana in Rome, so generally admired, disappointed 
 him from the concealment of the foot on which the figure 
 stands, as taking away the idea of its being sufficiently 
 supported. It is true that in some of the ancient statues of 
 high art, as in the Fighting Gladiator, this law of equipoise 
 would appear to have been set at defiance, but it never occurs, 
 unless the figure be in energetic action, caught, as it were, at 
 the very moment when the muscles were at their greatest 
 strain, to produce a momentary and transient effort. 
 
 Note 12, p. 90. THE INDIAN BLOW-PIPE. 
 
 " When a native of Macoushi goes in quest of feathered game, 
 or other birds, he seldom carries his bow and arrows. It is the 
 blow-pipe he then uses. This extraordinary tube of death is, 
 perhaps, one of the greatest natural curiosities in Guiana. It 
 is not found in the country of Macoushi. Those Indians tell 
 you that it grows to the south-west of them, in the wilds which 
 extend betwixt them and the Rio Negro. The reed must grow 
 to an amazing length, as the part the Indians use is from ten to 
 eleven feet long, and no tapering can be perceived in it, one end 
 being as thick as the other. It is of a bright-yellow colour, 
 perfectly smooth both inside and out. It grows hollow ; nor is 
 there the least appearance of a knot or joint throughout the 
 whole extent. The natives call it ourah. This, of itself, is too 
 slender to answer the end of a blow-pipe ; but there is a species 
 of palma, larger and stronger, and common in Guiana, and this 
 the Indians make use of as a case, in which they put the oumh. 
 it is brown, susceptible of a fine polish, and appears as if it had 
 joints five or six inches from each other. It is called samourah, 
 and the pulp inside is easily extracted, by steeping it for a few 
 days in water. Thus the ourah and samourah, one within the 
 other, form the blow-pipe of Guiana. The end which is 
 applied to the mouth is tied round with a small silk-grass cord, 
 to prevent its splitting; and the other end, which is apt to 
 strike against the ground, is secured by the seed of the acuero- 
 fruit, cut horizontally through the middle with a hole made in 
 
NOTES. 463 
 
 the end, through which is put the extremity of the blow-pipe, 
 It is fastened on with string on the outside, and the inside is 
 filled up with wild bees'-wax. The arrow is from nine to ten 
 inches long. It is made out of the leaf of a species of palm- 
 tree, called concourite, hard and brittle, and pointed as sharp as 
 a needle. About an inch of the pointed end is poisoned with 
 the woarali. The other end is burnt, to make it still harder, 
 and wild cotton is put round it for about an inch and a half. 
 It requires considerable practice to put on this cotton well. It 
 must just be large enough to fit the hollow of the tube, and 
 taper off to nothing downwards. They tie it on with a thread 
 of the silk-grass to prevent it slipping off the arrow. 
 
 "The Indians have shown ingenuity in making a quiver 
 to hold the arrows. It will contain from five to six hun- 
 dred. * * * * 
 ****** 
 
 With a quiver of poisoned arrows slung over his shoulder, and 
 with his blow-pipe in his hand, in the same position as a soldier 
 carries his musket, see the Macoushi Indian advancing towards 
 the forest in quest of powises, maroudis, waracabas, and other 
 feathered game. 
 
 " These generally sit high up in the tall and tufted trees, 
 but still are not out of the Indian's reach ; for this blow-pipe, 
 at its greatest elevation, will send an arrow 300 feet. Silent 
 as midnight he steals under them, and so cautiously does he 
 tread the ground, that the fallen leaves rustle not beneath his 
 feet. His ears are open to the least sound, while his eye, keen 
 as that of the lynx, is employed in finding out the game in the 
 thickest shade. Often he imitates their cry, and decoys them 
 from tree to tree, till they are within range of his tube. Then, 
 taking a poisoned arrow from his quiver, he puts it in the blow- 
 pipe, and collects his breath for the fatal puff. About two feet 
 from the end through which he blows there are fastened two 
 teeth of the acouri, and these serve him for a sight. Silent and 
 swift the arrow flies, and seldom fails to pierce the object at 
 which it is sent. Sometimes the wounded bird remains in the 
 same tree where it was shot, and in three minutes falls down at 
 the Indian's feet. Should he take wing, his flight is of short 
 duration ; and the Indian, following the direction he has gone, 
 is sure to find him dead. It is natural to imagine that, when a 
 slight wound only is inflicted, the game will make its escape. 
 Far otherwise ; the wourali poison almost instantaneously mixes 
 with blood or water, so that, if you wet your finger, and dash 
 it along the poisoned arrow in the quickest manner possible, 
 you are sure to carry off some of the poison. Though three 
 minutes generally elapse before the convulsions come on in the 
 wounded bird, still a stupor evidently takes place sooner, and 
 this stupor manifests itself by an apparent unwillingness in the 
 bird to move. 
 
464 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 " The Indian, on his return home, carefully suspends his blow- 
 pipe from the top of his spiral roof; seldom placing it in an 
 oblique position, lest it should receive a cast." WATERTON'S 
 ' Wandering* in South America,' p. 58. 
 
 Baron Humboldt informs us that Kobert Schomburgk was so 
 fortunate as to determine the species of Arundinaria from which 
 the blow-pipes are formed, and that it is peculiar to the 
 sandstone mountains between the Ventuari, the Paramu 
 (Padamo), and the Mavaca. (Aspects of Nature"). It is curious 
 that our word cannon should derive its origin from a reed 
 (canna) suggested, no doubt, by its being straight and hollow ; 
 it is equally curious that it should have, figuratively, been 
 used to denote a fundamental law of the Church, (canon,) as 
 expressing a standard rule, no doubt, from the reed having 
 been recognised as an instrument of measure. 
 
 Kote 13, p. 93. PENDULUM AND SPRING. 
 
 A clock is nothing more than a piece of machinery to maintain 
 the action of the pendulum, and at the same time to count and 
 register the number of its oscillations ; and by that peculiar 
 property, that one vibration commences exactly where the last 
 terminates, no part of time is lost or gamed in the juxtaposition 
 of the units so counted. 
 
 If some extraneous force were not applied, in a clock or 
 watch, to maintain or perpetuate the natural vibrations of a 
 pendulum, or oscillations of a balance, they would soon come to 
 rest by reason of friction in the mechanism, and the resistance 
 opposed by the air to the parts in motion. This force, in the 
 larger clocks, is usually a suspended weight; but, in the 
 portable clock and watch, it is a spring coiled in a metallic 
 box that actuates the wheel-work by gradually unbending 
 itself. 
 
 In the former of these cases, the weight is suspended by a 
 cord or chain that is coiled round a cylinder when wound up, 
 which cylinder, being of uniform diameter throughout its 
 length, is acted on by the cord, when fast at the interior end, 
 by a similar force in every situation ; and therefore imparts 
 through the train, connected with its great wheel, invariable 
 impulses to the escapement- wheel, at every vibration of the 
 pendulum ; which pendulum receives therefrom such a slight 
 push, as is just sufficient to restore the momentum which it 
 loses from friction and the air's resistance, and thus the uni- 
 form motion of the pendulum is perpetuated. But when a 
 spring is substituted for a weight, it is clear that its agency 
 cannot be uniform, since, as the reader will learn by turning 
 to page 96, it is a general law that elastic bodies, in the 
 recovery of their form, after the removal of the compressing 
 force, exert a greater power at first than at last, so that the 
 whole progress of restoration is a retarded motion. It therefore 
 
NOTES. 465 
 
 became necessary to introduce some mechanical contrivance 
 which might equalize such motion. This correction is effected 
 by an apparatus termed a FUSEH, and is nothing more than the 
 application of the wheel and axle ; it is that conical barrel seen 
 in most watches round which the chain coils in the act of 
 winding up. When the fusee is full of chain, or the watch is 
 wound up, the spring, through the medium of the chain, will 
 act upon its upper part, which being very near the centre will 
 give the spring but little power ; but, as the spring uncoils and 
 diminishes in strength, it will act upon a larger part of the 
 fusee, until at last it gets to the bottom of it, and consequently, 
 if the several increasing grooves upon it are made to increase in 
 the same proportion as the power of the spring decreases, an 
 equable force must be obtained. 
 
 Springs may be thus said to afford the means of packing up 
 force, to be used whenever it is required. Mr. Babbage ob- 
 serves that the half-minute which we daily devote to the wind- 
 ing up our watches is an exertion by which we pack a quantity 
 of force, which is gradually expended during the ensuing 
 twenty-four hours. Springs then will enable us to avail our- 
 selves of inconstant and variable forces which must otherwise 
 remain incapable . of useful application, and the period may 
 arrive when force will thus become an article of traffic, and 
 machines be sent to the windmill to be wound up. The manner 
 in which force is constantly allowed to run to waste is quite 
 extraordinary in the present advanced state of science. We 
 need only look at the working of the treadmill. The public are 
 little aware of the enormous sums annually expended in towing 
 vessels by steam from the Nore to the port of London ; were 
 floating treadmills established, the labour of those, upon whom 
 punishment has been awarded, might be rendered available to 
 the most important interests ; whereas, with the present system, 
 not only is this labour entirely lost, but is actually a source of 
 expense ; for machines, with all the accompaniments of engi- 
 neers, are provided to counterbalance the force so uselessly 
 generated. 
 
 Note 14, p. 94. ELASTIC CHAIRS AND BEDS. 
 
 The elastic property of iron springs has been exemplified in a 
 very striking manner, by the invention of Pratt's elastic chairs 
 and beds ; which, instead of the usual stuffing of feathers are 
 filled with iron-wire twisted into spiral form ! Down itself cannot 
 be more gentle or springy ; it yields to pressure, and yet never 
 becomes lumpy ; beds thus constructed have the advantage of 
 not heating the body ; and above all, they never require to be 
 shaken or "made." Had Vulcan fortunately made such a dis- 
 covery before his ejectment from Olympus, his wife, Venus, 
 would surely never have treated him with that contempt which 
 mythologists have recorded of her ; while her priestesses, the 
 housemaids, must, in gratitude, have been bound to extend 
 
 2 H 
 
46G PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 their protection to a benefactor who could save them so much 
 daily labour. Nor have we ever heard that imagination, which 
 so plays the wanton with us in our slumbers, has resented the 
 innovation, and been less propitious to us on our iron than she 
 was on our downy couches. 
 
 Note 15, p. 95. DUCK AND DRAKE. 
 
 The following explanation of the movements of the shell in 
 this game is offered to the reader. It is evident that, as the 
 shell strikes the surface of the water obliquely, its force, accord- 
 ing to the law of the parallelogram of forces, will be resolved 
 into one, that is horizontal, and into another that is vertical; the 
 ratio between which must evidently be determined by the 
 acuteness of the angle at which the shell is projected ; and in 
 truth, the success of the game will mainly depend upon the 
 adjustment of such angle ; not that the player can be supposed 
 to be guided by any mathematical calculation, but by a tact, 
 gained by experience, and a ready consent between the eye and 
 the hand. Now, should the horizontal force too greatly prepon- 
 derate, it is evident that the shell would skim along the surface 
 of the water without striking it ; and, on the contrary, should 
 the vertical prevail, it would strike the water too perpendicularly, 
 and its onward course be thus at once arrested. But, for the 
 successful accomplishment of the game, we will take it for 
 granted that the angle regulating these forces has been skilfully 
 adjusted, then it will follow that when the shell first strikes the 
 water, a reaction will take place, and instead of sinking it will 
 rebound with only a small diminution of its horizontal force, by 
 the aid of which it will proceed onward, and combined with the 
 influence of gravity, be again brought in a curved course to the 
 surface of the water; when after a second rebound, it will 
 renew its course as before, and although these movements will 
 become more circumscribed after each repetition, they will not 
 cease until the projectile force is overcome by gravity. A dif- 
 ference of opinion has arisen regarding the cause of the shell's 
 rebound from the surface of the water : we have referred it to 
 elasticity, since the surface of a fluid, when so suddenly struck 
 as not to allow time for the displacement of its particles, may 
 at the moment be regarded as meeting all the conditions of a 
 solid and resisting body, the inertia of the parts requiring an 
 interval for the assumption of a sensible motion. It is true that 
 nothing is easier to be divided than water, and yet if the palm 
 of the hand be struck with considerable velocity against its 
 surface not only resistance, but a great amount of pain is 
 experienced, just as if a solid had been struck; numerous 
 instances of death have occurred to persons falling flat on the 
 water from a height ; nay, a musket ball, when fired against 
 water is repelled and even flattened. To take another example, 
 what substance will more readily crumble than a tallow candle, 
 and yet if we load a musket with powder, and instead of a bullet 
 
NOTES. 407 
 
 introduce a candle, and fire it at a board, it will penetrate it, as 
 if it were a ball, without suffering the slightest injury, the 
 explanation of which is obviously to be referred to that rapid 
 motion, or momentum, with which the candle end is impelled, 
 not allowing time for the separation of its particles. In the 
 same way the head of a thistle may be' struck off by the smart 
 blow of a stick, as Tarquin struck off the heads of the poppy, 
 without so much as bending the stalk. If water then can, under 
 the conditions we have endeavoured to explain, assume the pro- 
 perties of a solid surface, why not that of elasticity? Those 
 who have maintained a different opinion have attempted to 
 explain the rebound of the shell, by supposing a displacement 
 of a column of water by the shock, and its effort to rise up and 
 resume its place, in order to restore an equilibrium, essential to 
 the constitution of all liquids ; but is elasticity anything more 
 than an effort of abruptly-dislocated particles to resume their 
 normal condition? 
 
 Note 16, p. 96. VEGETABLE ELASTICITY. 
 
 Impatiens, or Touch-me-not, affords a good example. The seed- 
 vessel consists of one cell with five divisions ; each of these, 
 when the seed is ripe, on being touched, suddenly folds itself 
 into a spiral form, leaps from the stalk, and disperses the seeds 
 to a great distance by its elasticity. The capsule of the gera- 
 nium and the beard of wild oats are twisted for a similar 
 purpose. (Darwin's 'Botanic Garden.') The seed-vessel of 
 Euphorbia is extremely elastic, projecting the seeds with great 
 force. An elastic pouch also serves to scatter the seeds of the 
 Oxalis. The seeds of ripe oats are projected from the calyx 
 with such violence, that, in a fine and dry day, you may often 
 hear them thrown out with a sudden snap ; and the pericarp of 
 the flors'ifems ferm is furnished with a peculiar elastic spring 
 intended for ejecting its seeds. The box affords another ex- 
 ample ; its fruit is divided into three cells, containing two seeds 
 in each, which, when ripe, are cast forth by the elasticity of 
 the vessels. 
 
 Note 17, p. 99. TABLE-TURNING SPIRIT-RAPPING 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. 
 
 " A Flam more senseless than the rog'ry 
 Of old Aruspicy, or Aug'ry," HUDIBRAS. 
 
 That in an age rejoicing in intellectual progress and high 
 scientific attainment, any number of educated persons could 
 have been found who believed that a round table of wood, by 
 the contact of several hands, without the slightest exertion of 
 muscular force, might by a mere act of their volition be made 
 to revolve, is really past all rational belief; such however is the 
 simple and unadorned fact ! and strange and unaccountable as 
 it may seem, we will venture to add, that there were very few 
 
468 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 apartments in the fashionable parts of London that did not 
 constitute the scenes of this discreditable exhibition. The 
 conditions said to be necessary for its success were, that three 
 or four or more persons stationed around the table should agree 
 as to whether it should turn to the right or left hand ; other- 
 wise, said these Thebans, " the volitions might clash and 
 counteract each other." This point having been arranged, the 
 hands were to be gently placed upon the margin of the table, 
 taking great care to avoid the slightest pressure when, after a 
 certain interval the table would begin to move, very slowly at 
 first, but after a time with such accelerated velocity as to carry 
 with it the reluctant hands of the operators, under the influ- 
 ence, as they believed, of some diabolical agency. 
 
 Now it might have been well supposed that it was scarcely 
 necessary to call to our aid any scientific experiment to prove 
 that the hands moved the table, and not the table the hands ; 
 Mr. Faraday, however, at the height of the popular mania, did 
 actually condescend to disabuse the public mind, and to prove 
 by an experiment, as simple as it was convincing, that mecha- 
 nical pressure was inadvertently and unconsciously exerted 
 under the influence of an expectant result, and that the party 
 might, without any prejudice to their good faith, we say 
 nothing of their good sense, have believed that their hands were 
 quite passive in the matter; but they were nevertheless the 
 victims of an obvious fallacy. At first, the pressure would be 
 downwards, but the anxious act of watching in one steady 
 direction, as previously arranged, would soon give a similar 
 direction to their persons, and a consequent obliquity to the 
 pressure of the hands, in conformity with the well-known laws 
 of mental and muscular action ; and thus does the table turn in 
 the predicated direction. Let it be also remembered, that the 
 hands must soon become fatigued, under which condition it will 
 be very difficult to maintain a uniform pressure downwards. It 
 is to be hoped that this popular delusion has now passed away, 
 and that the table has been turned to another account, and been 
 placed on its proper footing. On the return of common sense 
 the vagabond impostor has been summarily passed to its legiti- 
 mate settlement the booth of the Juggler where, under the 
 guidance of Professor Anderson, it has been running its nightly 
 rounds, doubtless to the great delight of a crowded audience. 
 
 SPIRIT-RAPPING.^ Here we have another pretty specimen of 
 the wisdom of the nineteenth century ! It cannot, however, be 
 properly included in the foregoing category ; for it is obviously 
 a gross imposition, not redeemable by any excusable fallacy. 
 Its patrons avow that the spirits convey information through 
 some person selected as a " medium,'' It has not even the pre- 
 tensions of novelty : it is indeed said that we are indebted to 
 our American cousins for the invention, but this is not true ; 
 they may have brought out an old story into the light, just as 
 their plough has unexpectedly turned up trefoil from a long- 
 
NOTES. 469 
 
 neglected soil. Sounds have ever been enlisted into the service 
 of the credulous. We read in the Life of old Jerome Cardan of 
 Milan (Grirotano Cardano\ that preceding the death of his 
 mother, he heard a mysterious rapping, of which he counted 
 nearly one hundred and fifty raps : then again, Sir Thomas 
 Tresham, a member of an ancient family long resident at 
 Huston Hall, near Kettering, in Northamptonshire, relates, in the 
 reign of Elizabeth, that " while his servant was reading to him 
 a treatise of 'Proof there is a God,' there were upon the 
 wainscot table, at that instant, to his great amazement, three 
 loud knocks as if given by an iron hammer." 
 
 CLAIRVOYANCE. The imputed faculty conferred on persons by 
 Mesmeric treatment that of seeing transactions occurring at 
 distant places, is not so new as the disciples of Madame Julie 
 may suppose. There is not a story of this kind, whether of 
 ancient or modern date, that does not betray itself as an impo- 
 sition, and bear upon its very surface the slime of the serpent's 
 trail. "Ex uno disce omnes." The moment the Emperor Domitian 
 was stabbed, Apollonius is said to have stopped short in the 
 middle of a harangue he was delivering at Ephesus, exclaiming 
 " Strike the tyrant !" After the news had arrived, he declared 
 that the expression had an allusion to the event which he had 
 seen passing in his mind's eye. It is not difficult for any one so 
 to select a casual expression as to make it applicable to any 
 simultaneous event subsequently brought to light ; or to predict 
 an event after it had come to pass. 
 
 It would appear that Lavater was one of these credulous 
 mystics, for he had made a promise to the metaphysician 
 Bonnet, that a sorceress residing at Morat should four times on 
 a day declare what Bonnet himself was doing at Geneva. We 
 have heard of the promise, but not of its fulfilment. 
 
 Note 18, p. 122. A SIMPLE ORRERY. 
 
 A very instructive toy might be constructed by placing a 
 taper in the centre of a japanned waiter, to represent the sun, 
 and fixing in a watch-glass an India-rubber ball, with the 
 parallels of latitude and meridians painted thereon, with the 
 other characters of the globe. During its revolution around 
 the candle, in consequence of the tendency of its centre of 
 gravity to its lowest position, the diurnal and annual motions, 
 and also the parallelism of its axis, will be represented, together 
 with the concomitant phaenomena. 
 
 Note 19, p. 126. CONIC SECTIONS. 
 
 If a cone, or sugar-loaf, be cut through in certain directions, 
 we shall obtain figures which are termed conic sections ; thus, if 
 we cut through the sugar-loaf in a direction parallel to its base, 
 or bottom, the outline or edge of the loaf where it is cut will be 
 a circle. If the cut is made so as to slant, and not be parallel 
 
470 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 to the base of the loaf, the outline is an ellipse, provided the cut 
 goes quite through the sides of the loaf all round ; but if it goes 
 slanting, and parallel to the line of the loafs side, the outline 
 is a parabola, a conic section, or curve, to which this note more 
 immediately relates. This curve is distinguished by charac- 
 teristic properties, every point of it bearing a certain fixed 
 relation to a certain point within it, as the circle does to its 
 centre. 
 
 Note 20, p. 130. EARTHQUAKE OF LISBON. 
 
 To understand the allusion in the text the reader will be 
 pleased to remember that, during the dreadful earthquake of 
 Lisbon, bands of wretches took advantage of the general con- 
 sternation to commit the most atrocious acts of robbery and 
 murder. In feet, a considerable part of the city was destroyed 
 by incendiaries, who, during the disaster, set fire to the houses, 
 that they might pillage them with greater impunity. 
 
 Note 21, p. 131. GEOLOGY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 
 
 The important light which geology is capable of affording to 
 agricultural science is daily becoming more apparent : indeed, 
 how can it be otherwise, when we consider that soils are formed 
 by the admixture of finely-divided earthy matter, with various 
 organic substances in a state of decomposition ; different rocks 
 giving origin to different soils ? Thus poor and hungry soils are 
 produced from the decomposition of granite and sandstone, and 
 will often remain for ages with only a thin covering of vegeta- 
 tion ; while soils derived from limestone, greenstone, basalt, &c., 
 are frequently clothed by nature with the perennial grasses, 
 and afford, when ploughed up, a rich bed of vegetation for 
 every species of cultivated plant. In pursuing this subject, we 
 cannot fail to be struck with the apparent design in the arrange- 
 ment of these different rocks, in which the primitive and granitic 
 rocks, which are least calculated to afford a fertile soil, consti- 
 tute, for the most part, the mountain districts of the world, 
 Avhich, from their elevation and irregularities, are but ill adapted 
 for human habitation ; whereas the lower and more temperate 
 regions are usually composed of secondary strata, the compound 
 nature of which adapts them for becoming highly useful to 
 mankind, by their subserviency to the formation of soils capable 
 of luxuriant vegetation. No doubt then can be entertained as 
 to the important connection subsisting between the geological 
 structure and the relative fertility of a country : I believe that 
 one of the first practical essays, demonstrating the existence of 
 such relations, is a memoir published in the first volume of the 
 Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, en- 
 v titled ' Observations on the Geological Structure of Cornwall, 
 with a view to trace its connection with, and influence upon, its 
 
NOTES. 471 
 
 agricultural economy, and to establish a rational system of im- 
 provement, by the scientific application of mineral manure.' This 
 memoir has never received the attention which the importance of 
 its subject deserves. r lhere is certainly no district in the British 
 empire where the natural relations between the varieties of soil 
 and the subjacent rocks can be more easily d'scovered and tracer', 
 or more effectually investigated, than in the county of Cornwall ; 
 and nowhere can the information which such an inquiry is cal- 
 culated to afford be more immediately and successfully applied 
 for the improvement of land and the general advancement of 
 agricultural science. As we advance from a primitive to an 
 alluvial district, the relations to which we have alluded become 
 gradually less distinct and apparent, and are ultimately lost in 
 the confused complication of the soil itself, and in that general 
 obscurity which necessarily envelops every object in a state of 
 decomposition ; we can therefore only hope to succeed in such 
 an investigation by a patient and laborious examination of a 
 Primitive country ; after which we may be enabled to extend 
 our inquiries with greater advantage through those districts 
 which are more completely covered with soil and obscured 
 by luxuriant vegetation ; just as the eye, gazing upon a 
 beautiful statue, traces the outline of the limbs, and the 
 swelling contour of its form, through the flowing draperies 
 which invest it- 
 Note 22, pp. 134 ; 252 ; 430 ; 433. THE RIFLE. 
 
 Rifle guns are those whose barrels, instead of being smooth 
 on the inside, like our common pieces, are formed with a number 
 of spiral channels, resembling screws ; except only that the 
 threads, or rifles, are less deflected, making only one turn, or a 
 little more, in the whole length of the piece. This construction 
 is employed for correcting the irregularity in the flight of balls 
 from smooth barrels, by imparting to the balls a rotatory motion 
 perpendicular to the line of direction. The same effect has 
 lately been accomplished by an extremely simple and obvious 
 contrivance, and which will, probably, altogether supersede the 
 necessity of rifling the barrel. It consists in cutting a spiral 
 groove in the bullet itself, which, when discharged, is thus 
 acted upon by the air, and the same rotatory motion imparted 
 to it as that produced by the furrows in the barrel. But it is 
 the rotatory motion which steadies the flight of the ball ; and 
 by whichever method this is produced, the theory of its action 
 will be the same. It has been long and generally known, that, 
 when the common bullet is discharged from a plane barrel, its 
 flight is extremely irregular and uncertain ; it has, for instance, 
 been found, from the experiments of Mr. Robins, that, notwith- 
 standing the piece was firmly fixed, and fired with 1he same 
 weight of powder, the ball was sometimes deflected to the right, 
 sometimes to the left, sometimes above, and at others below the 
 
472 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 true line of direction. It has also been observed, that the degree 
 of deflection increases in a much greater proportion than the 
 distance of the object fired at. It is not difficult to account for 
 these irregularities ; they, doubtless, proceed from the impos- 
 sibility of fitting a ball so accurately to any plane piece but 
 that it will rub more against one side of the barrel than another 
 in its passage through it. Whatever side, therefore, of the 
 muzzle the ball is last in contact with on quitting the piece, it 
 will acquire a whirling motion towards that side, and will be 
 found to bend the line of its flight in the same direction ; 
 whether it be upwards or downwards, to the right or left ; or 
 obliquely, partaking in some degree of both ; and, after quitting 
 the barrel, this deflection, though in the first instance but 
 trifling and inconsiderable, is still farther increased by the re- 
 sistance of the air, this being greatest on that side where the 
 whirling motion conspires with the progressive one, and least on 
 that side where it is opposed to it. Thus, if the ball in its 
 passage out rubs against the left side of the barrel, it will whirl 
 towards that side ; and as the right side of the ball will, there- 
 fore, turn up against the air during its flight, the resistance of 
 the air will become greater on the right side, and the ball be 
 forced away to the left, which was the direction it whirled in. 
 It happens, moreover, from various accidental circumstances, 
 that the axis of the ball's rotation frequently changes its posi- 
 tion several times during the flight ; so that the ball, instead of 
 bending its course uniformly in the same direction, often de- 
 scribes a tract variously contorted. From this view of the 
 causes of aberration in the flight of balls, it will be evident that 
 the only means of correcting it is by preventing the ball from 
 rubbing more against one side of the barrel than another in 
 passing through it, and by giving to the bullet a motion which 
 will counteract every accidental one, and preserve its direction, 
 by making the resistance of the air upon the fore part continue 
 the same during its whole flight ; that is, by giving it a rotatory 
 motion perpendicular to the line of direction. The contrivance 
 for this purpose is called rifting, and consists, as we have before 
 stated, in forming upon the inside of the barrel a number of 
 threads and furrows, either in a straight or spiral direction, into 
 which the ball is moulded ; and hence, when the gun is fired, 
 the indented zone of the bullet follows the sweep of the rifle, 
 and thereby, besides its progressive motion, acquires a con- 
 siderable one round the axis .of the barrel, which motion will be 
 continued to the bullet after its separation from the piece, so 
 that it is constantly made to whirl round an axis coincident 
 with the line of its flight. Many familiar examples of the utility 
 and effect of rifting might be here adduced. If the bricklayer, 
 while unroofing a house, be observed, he will be seen to give to 
 the slates which he throws down a whirling motion, at a certain 
 angle, which insures their falling edgeways on the ground, and 
 thus preserves them from fracture. 
 
NOTES. 473 
 
 Note 23, p. 135. THE BOOMEKANG. 
 
 This curious missile is used, both in war and in the chase, by 
 the natives of Australia with remarkable dexterity and address. 
 The first account of it was received from Major Mitchell, in his 
 * Journal of an Expedition to the Rivers Darling and Murray.' 
 It is a thin curved stick, three feet long, and two inches wide 
 by thrfc-quarters of an inch thick ; curved, or crooked, so as to 
 form two arms of unequal length, making an obtuse angle with 
 each other. Its upper surface is convex, its under one flat. 
 The flight of this weapon is extraordinary, and does not admit 
 of a very easy explanation. Its course will necessarily vary in 
 all cases with the angle at which it is projected. Being grasped 
 at one end by the right hand, it is either thrown sickle-ivise, 
 upwards into the air, or downwards, so as to strike the ground 
 at some distance from the thrower. In the former case it rises 
 upon the wind with a rotatory motion, and in a crooked direc- 
 tion, towards any given point with great precision, and after a 
 considerable flight returns, in an elliptical orbit, to a spot near 
 its starting-point. In the second case, it rebounds from the 
 ground in a straight line, pursuing a ricochet motion, so as to 
 hit any oblique object at a distance, even one behind a tree, 
 with great accuracy. The most singular curve described by it 
 is when thrown into the air at an angle above 45, in which 
 case its flight is always backwards, and the native who throws 
 it stands with his back, instead of his* face, to the object he is 
 desirous of striking. 
 
 When properly thrown, it is evident that two motions are 
 imparted to the missile the one, a direct forward motion ; the 
 other, a rotatory motion. Now, as soon as the force of projec- 
 tion is nearly expended, the rotatory motion comes into play, 
 and then causes the instrument to ascend. In consequence of 
 one arm being longer than the other, as long as the Boomerang 
 continues its rotation about the angle that its two arms make 
 with each other, one end has a constant tendency to be lower 
 than the other, and it always points towards the ground at an 
 inclination of about 30 or 35 ; it consequently rises with a 
 screw-like motion, dividing the air with its upper convex 
 surface, whilst the lower side, being flat, is buoyed up, as it 
 were, by the subjacent atmosphere. As long as the rotatory 
 motion continues in sufficient force to counteract gravity it will 
 continue to ascend, but, on this failing, it will fall to the ground. 
 The most obscure part of its flight is its return, after having 
 attained its highest elevation, to the very spot whence it 
 started ; this would appear to depend upon its being kept in 
 the same plane by the rapidity of its whirling motion. 
 
 This singular weapon probably originated in attempts to kill 
 ducks by a projectile, in places where they abound, as on the 
 interior rivers and lagoons, and where we accordingly find the 
 instrument much more in use than on the sea-coast, and better 
 
474 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 made, being often covered with wood-carving. This instrument 
 can be purchased at the toy-shop, and, together with the 
 Flying-top and Kite, may be taken out by a juvenile party, when 
 it will afford much amusement and salutary exercise during a 
 ramble in the country. 
 
 It may be observed that the short heavy boomerang, 
 having a parabolic curve on the outside, and a hyperbolic curve 
 on the inside, will fly much better than the long, thhr, light 
 ones which are generally exposed for sale. Should the boo- 
 merang have both, its sides perfectly flat, and be thrown in the 
 usual way, it will not ascend ; but if discharged in a slanting 
 direction upwards, it will return in a short time to the spot 
 whence it set out. 
 
 The following notice appeared in the * Philosophical Maga- 
 zine ' for July, 1852, under the signature of J. E. Gray : 
 
 " If a common Manilla or palm-leaf hat, having a low crown, 
 and the margin of the rim sharply turned up about half an 
 inch high, is thrown into the air with the cavity of the hat up- 
 wards, it returns back towards the thrower like the Australian 
 Boomerang. The angle at which it returns depends on the 
 angle at which it is thrown ; and if the angle be sufficiently 
 acute, it will fall some distance behind the thrower. 
 
 " The experiment depends upon the position of the hat ; for 
 if thrown with the cavity downwards, it alights in the direction 
 thrown, and does not return. 
 
 "A pasteboard disc, With a turned-up edge, has the same 
 effect as a hat." 
 
 In the Scandinavian mythology, the god Thor always carried 
 a mallet, which, as often as he discharged it, returned back to 
 the hand of itself. These people must have had some notion of 
 the Boomerang. It has also a resemblance to a weapon used 
 by the ancient Egyptians, for killing wild-fowl, as the pastime 
 is represented on the walls of a tomb at Thebes. 
 
 Note 24, p. 136. BODIES REVOLVE ON THE SHORTER Axis. 
 
 The philosophy of the fact is simply this : while a body 
 revolves on its axis, the component particles of the mass move 
 in circles, the centres of which are placed in the axis ; a centri- 
 fugal force therefore is generated, which is resisted by the 
 cohesion of the parts of the mass, and this tendency of each 
 particle to fly off is expended in exciting a pressure upon the 
 axis ; and it is this strain which produces the effect in question, 
 the axis of least pressure being alone the permanent axis. 
 
 Note 25, p. 140. CENTRE OF PERCUSSION. 
 
 If a stick be held at one of its extremities, and allowed to 
 fall on the edge of a table, the farther end will rebound, or the 
 
NOTES. 475 
 
 hand will sustain a shock, unless it be struck exactly on the 
 centre of percussion, in which case the stick will fall as a dead 
 weight. The repetition of this simple experiment will readily 
 convey to the young philosopher an idea of the nature of what 
 is termed the centre of percussion. The power of the hammer 
 entirely depends upon the position of its centre of percussion ; 
 and so of that of the sword ; many of which have this particular 
 spot marked on the blade ; for should it strike on any point far 
 from it, it is probable that, like the sword of Atrides, in his 
 conflict with Paris, it may" be shivered. 
 
 Note 26, p. 147. SPINNING OF THE TOP. 
 
 It has been stated in the text, that the gyrations of the top 
 depend exactly upon the same principle as that which pro- 
 duces the precession of the equinoxes; viz. an unequal attrac- 
 tive force exerted upon the revolving mass. In the one case, 
 this is known to arise from the action of the sun and moon 
 on the excess of matter about the equatorial regions of the 
 earth ; in the other, from the parts of the top being unequally 
 affected by gravity, while it is spinning in an inclined or ob- 
 lique position. To those philosophers who have condescended 
 to read the present work, if there be any such, and are thereby 
 induced to pursue the investigation of a subject which has 
 hitherto excited far too little attention, we beg to submit the 
 following remarks : 
 
 If a top could be made to revolve on a point without friction, 
 and in a vacuum, in the case of its velocity being infinite, it 
 would continue to revolve for ever, in the same position, 
 without gyration. If the velocity were finite, it would for ever 
 remain unchanged in position, in the event of the centre of 
 gravity being directly over the point of rotation. In any other 
 position (supposing its velocity very great, although not infi- 
 nite) there would arise a continued uniform gyration ; the line 
 which passes through the point of rotation, and the centre of 
 gravity, always making the same angle with the horizon, or 
 describing the same circle round the zenith. But in all arti- 
 ficial experiments the circumstances are very remarkably 
 changed ; if, indeed, the centre of gravity happens to be situ- 
 ated perpendicularly over the point of rotation, the top will 
 continue quite steady, or sleeping, as it is termed, till nearly the 
 whole of its velocity of rotation is expended. In any other 
 position the top begins to gyrate, but, reclining at all times on 
 the outside of its physical point of gyration, the top is uni- 
 formly impelled inwards : and this (when the velocity is con- 
 siderable, and the point broad) acts with a force sufficient for 
 carrying the top towards its quiescent or deeping point ; but 
 when the velocity is much diminished, this power becomes 
 feeble, the gyrations increase in diameter, and the top ulti- 
 mately falls. 
 
476 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Note 27, p. 160. THE CYCLOID. 
 
 A cycloid is a peculiar curved line, and is described by any 
 one point of a circle as it rolls along a plane, and turns round 
 its centre ; thus, for instance, the nail on the felly of a cart- 
 wheel traces a cycloid in the air as the wheel proceeds. This 
 curve is distinguished by some remarkable properties, the most 
 important of which is that mentioned in the text, viz. that any 
 body moving in such a curve, by its own weight, or swing, will 
 pass through all distances of it in exactly the same time ; and 
 it is for such a reason that pendulums are made to swing in 
 cycloids, in order that they may move in equal times, whether 
 they go through a long or a short part of the same curve. 
 Where the arc described is small, a portion of the circle will be 
 sufficiently accurate, because it will be seen that such an arc 
 will not deviate much from an equal portion of a cycloidal 
 curve. 
 
 The cycloid is remarkable as being that path, with the 
 exception of the perpendicular, through which a body will 
 move with the greatest velocity : suppose, for example, a body 
 is to descend from any one point to any other, by means of some 
 force acting on it, together with its weight : a person unac- 
 quainted with mechanics would say at once that a straight line 
 is the path it must take io effect this in the shortest possible 
 time, since that is the shortest of all lines that can be drawn 
 between two points. Undoubtedly it is the shortest ; notwith- 
 standing which, however, the body would be longer in travers- 
 ing it than in moving through a cycloid. If a body were to 
 move through a space of fifty or a hundred yards, by its weight 
 and some other force acting together, the way it must take to 
 do this in the shortest possible time is by moving in a cycloid. 
 It is supposed that birds which build in rocks possess an 
 instinctive knowledge of this fact, and drop or fly down from 
 height to height in this course. There is certainly a general 
 resemblance between the curved path they describe on such 
 occasions and the cycloid, but it would be difficult to esta- 
 blish the fact by experiment. Man, however, has founded upon 
 this principle some applications of great value in practical me- 
 chanics. In Switzerland, and in several parts of Germany, for 
 example, slides have been constructed along the sides of moun- 
 tains, by which the timber felled near their summits is con- 
 ducted with extreme rapidity to the distant valleys. 
 
 Note 28, p. 165. BILLIARDS. 
 
 This interesting game is of French origin (billiard, of bile, and 
 from the Latin pila, a ball). It was hailed as a favourite 
 diversion at the court of Henry III. of France ; and was thence 
 communicated to all the courts of modern Europe. To the 
 novice it may appear as a game of accidents and chances, but 
 experience has enabled us to determine the effects of the stroke 
 
NOTES. 477 
 
 given to a ball with wonderful precision ; and it is quite 
 extraordinary to observe the accuracy with which an accom- 
 plished player can effect his object, by measuring with his eye 
 the angle at which he should make the stroke, the position of 
 the ball with respect to the cushion, and the distance of the 
 point of the ball from its centre, at which it should be struck. 
 By such skilful management the ball may be made to take 
 directions which would, at first view, be regarded as contrary 
 to all the known laws of motion, such, for instance, as passing 
 round an object, such as a hat placed on the table, and to strike 
 a ball behind it into a pocket. 
 
 Upon this subject the reader should consult a work by M. 
 Mingaud, translated and published by John Thurston, the late 
 celebrated billiard-table maker of Catherine Street, Strand, to 
 whom we are indebted for mechanical improvements in the 
 table which have brought it as near to perfection as the nature 
 of the materials will probably ever allow. His plain surface, 
 composed of slate, is no longer liable to be warped by meteoric 
 changes, which rendered the old wooden table so uncertain ; 
 then, again, he has substituted India-rubber for the cushions, 
 and which, by a late peculiar process, termed, " vulcanizing," is 
 enabled to retain its elasticity under all the vicissitudes of 
 temperature. 
 
 Note 29, p. 166. COLLISION OF BODIES. 
 
 In investigating the effects produced upon bodies by col- 
 lision, it is necessary to distinguish between elastic and non- 
 elastic substances, since their motions after impact are go- 
 verned by very different laws. The subject, however, is far too 
 important to admit of discussion in a note, but the reader is 
 advised to refer to some elementary work on mechanics, with a 
 view to obtain a general knowledge of this subject. 
 
 Note 30, p. 176. DBUIDICAL KEMAINS. 
 
 Karn-breh hill rises a little to the south-west of Redruth, in 
 Cornwall, to an elevation of 697 feet. Its principal interest is 
 derived from the speculations of the antiquary, Dr. Borlase, who 
 regarded it as having been once the grand centre of druidical 
 worship : and he asserts, in his ' Antiquities of Cornwall,' that, 
 at this very time, the remains of those monuments which were 
 peculiar to that priesthood may be discovered, such as rock- 
 basins, circles, rock-idols, cromlechs, karns, caves, religious enclosures, 
 logan stones, a gorseddau, or place of elevation, whence the druids 
 pronounced their decrees, and the traces of a grove of oaks. 
 This is all very ingenious and imposing, and may be easily 
 believed by those who have either not visited the spot, or, 
 having visited it, not viewed the objects with geological eyes. 
 The author, who has repeatedly examined this rocky eminence, 
 does not hesitate to state that there is not the slightest pretence 
 
478 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 for considering the druidical monuments of Dr. Borlase as thq 
 works of man : on the contrary, they are evidently the results 
 of the operation of time and the elements, the usual agents- 
 employed by Nature in the decomposition of mountain masses. 
 The " rock- basins" of antiquaries are rounded cavities on the 
 surface of rocks, and are occasionally as spheriodal internally as 
 if they had been actually formed by a turning-lathe. It was 
 this artificial appearance which first suggested the hypothesis 
 concerning their origin, and induced the antiquary to regard 
 them as pools of lustration. It may, however, be remarked, in 
 the first place, that, supposing them to have been the works of 
 the druids, these priests must have been indefatigable artists, 
 for there is scarcely a block of granite on which one or more of 
 such pools are not visible, although some are, undoubtedly, 
 much more complete and imposing than others. 
 
 Dr. Macculloch, in an interesting paper, published in the 
 Transactions of the Geological Society, on the decomposition of 
 the granite of Cornwall, has justly observed that the true 
 nature of these rock-basins may be easily traced by inspecting 
 the rocks themselves. On examination, they will always be 
 found to contain distinct grains of quartz, and fragments of the 
 other constituent parts of the granite. A small force is suffi- 
 cient to detach from the sides of these cavities additional frag- 
 ments, showing that a process of decomposition is still going on 
 under favourable circumstances. The principal of these cir- 
 cumstances is the presence of water, or rather the alternate 
 action of air and water. If a drop of water can only make an 
 effectual lodgment on a surface of this granite, a small cavity 
 is sure to be sooner or later produced ; this will insensibly 
 enlarge as it becomes capable of holding more water ; and the 
 sides, as they continue to waste, will necessarily retain an even 
 and rounded cavity, on account of the uniform texture of the 
 rock. This explanation is sufficiently satisfactory : in addition 
 to which, it may be stated, that these very basins not un- 
 frequently occur on the perpendicular sides of rocks, as may be 
 distinctly seen in the granite of Scilly, and in the gritstone 
 rocks in the park of the late Sir Joseph Banks, in the parish of 
 Ashover, in Derbyshire ; a fact which at once excludes the idea 
 of their artificial origin. 
 
 The other grotesque and whimsical appearances of rocky 
 masses, such as rock idols, logan stones, rf-c., are to be explained 
 by the tendency which granite possesses of wearing more 
 rapidly on the angles and edges than on the sides : thus, then, 
 upon simple and philosophical principles, are such appearances 
 to be satisfactorily accounted for, and the pftantosmagoHa of 
 Borlase vanishes as the light penetrates the theatre so long 
 dedicated to its exhibition. 
 
 We shall conclude this note with a few observations upon 
 the celebrated logan, or logging, stone, near the Land's End, 
 Cornwall, of which we present our readers with a faithful sketch. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 479 
 
 The foundation of this part of the coast is a stupendous group 
 of granite rocks, which rise in pyramidal clusters to a great 
 altitude, and overhang the sea. The celebrated logan stone here 
 represented is an immense block weighing above sixty tons. 
 The surface in contact with the under rock is of very small 
 extent, and the whole mass is so nicely balanced, that, notwith- 
 standing its magnitude, the strength of a single man applied to 
 its under edge is sufficient to make it oscillate. It is the nature 
 of granite to disintegrate into rhomboidal and tabular masses, 
 which, by the further operation of air and moisture, gradually 
 lose their solid angles, and approach the spheroidal form. The 
 fact of the upper part of the cliff being more exposed to atmo- 
 spheric agency than the parts beneath will sufficiently explain 
 why these rounded masses so frequently rest on blocks which 
 still preserve the tabular form; and since such spheroidal 
 blocks must obviously rest in that position in which their lesser 
 axes are perpendicular to the horizon, it is equally evident, 
 that, whenever an adequate force is applied, they must vibrate 
 on their point of support. 
 
 Although we are thus led to deny the druidical origin of this 
 stone, for which so many zealous antiquaries have contended, 
 still we by no means inteiid to deny that the druids employed it 
 as an engine of superstition ; it is possible that, having observed 
 so curious a property, they dexterously contrived to make it 
 answer the purposes of an ordeal, and, by regarding it as the 
 touch-stone of truth, acquitted or condemned the accused by its 
 
480 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 motions. Mason poetically alludes to this supposed property 
 in the following lines : 
 
 " Behold yon huge 
 
 And unknown sphere of living adamant, 
 Which, poised by magic, rests its central weight 
 On yonder pointed rock ; firm as it seems, 
 Such is its strange and virtuous property, 
 It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch 
 Of him whose heart is pure; but to a traitor, 
 Though ev'n a giant's prowess nerv'd his arm, 
 It stands as fix'd as Snowdon." 
 
 Note 31, p. 179. CONTACT, AND ITS NECESSARY CONSEQUENCE, 
 COHESION. 
 
 After all, there may be no such thing in nature as absolute 
 contact; the term is purely conventional, denoting such a 
 proximity as rnay be necessary for the production of certain 
 phenomena; and in all philosophical discussions such is the 
 interpretation of the term. As long as pores exist in bodies 
 it is obvious that their particles cannot be said to be in con- 
 tact, and the existence of such porosity in every species of 
 matter which can be subjected to our senses is sufficiently 
 proved by its compressibility. There is no known substance, 
 however dense, that may not be made, either by pressure 
 or reduction of temperature, to occupy less space ; and were 
 it possible to bring the ultimate atoms into absolute contact, 
 the globe it-self might be compressed into such an extremely 
 narrow compass as to be too small even as a foot-ball for the 
 Pigmies. 
 
 When we speak therefore of contact, we only mean that 
 proximity necessary for educing the power of cohesive attrac- 
 tion. It has been shown that by friction we are enabled to 
 retain a firm footing, and to walk steadily along a surface ; 
 whereas, could we insure absolute contact, we should not be 
 able to move at all ; suppose, for instance, the soles of our feet 
 came into actual contact with the ground, a cohesive attraction 
 would take place between the surfaces which no muscular eflbrt 
 could overcome. We may, to a certain extent, have experienced 
 this difficulty in walking over a muddy road, when the water, 
 by filling up the inequalities of the surfaces, converts our shoes 
 into a kind of " Mucker." 
 
 The cohesive power imparted to particles of matter, by bring- 
 ing them into the closest possible contact, receives a pleasing 
 illustration from the ingenious invention of the late Mr. Brocke- 
 don, for forming lead pencils, and for which he received an 
 honorary medal from the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition. 
 His process consists in consolidating finely -powdered and sifted 
 black-lead into a mass as dense, and of the same specific gravity, 
 as native Cumberland lead, which is effected by packing the 
 powder in air-tight cases, and pumping out the air, which 
 
NOTES. 481 
 
 always offers a great obstacle to contact, and then subjecting 
 the contents thus prepared to a pressure of five thousand tons, 
 inflicted by two blows. 
 
 Note 32, p. 180. ANIMAL SUCTION. 
 
 We are indebted to Sir Everard Home for a description of 
 that peculiar structure by which several species of animals 
 are enabled to sustain their bodies in opposition to the force of 
 gravity. His first paper upon this subject is published in the 
 106th volume of the ' Philosophical Transactions,' in which he 
 says he was not aware that any animal larger than the house- 
 fly was endowed by nature with such a power, as to admit of 
 examination, until Sir J.oseph Banks mentioned that the lucerta 
 gecko, a species of lizard, which is a native of the island of Java, 
 comes out of an evening from the roofs of the houses, and walks 
 down the smooth, hard, and polished chinam walls, in search of 
 the flies which settle upon them, and which are its ' natural 
 food, and then runs up again to the roof of the house. Sir 
 Joseph, while at Batavia, amused himself with catching this 
 animal, by standing close to the wall, at some distance from the 
 lizard, with a long flattened pole, which, being made suddenly 
 to scrape the surface of the wall, knocked the animal down. 
 He presented Sir Everard with a specimen weighing five ounces 
 and three-quarters avoirdupois, which enabled him to ascertain 
 the peculiar mechanism by which the feet of this animal can 
 keep their hold of a smooth, hard, perpendicular wall, and carry 
 up so large a weight as that of its body. 
 
 The foot has five toes, at the end of each of which, except 
 that of the thumb, is a very sharp and much-curved claw ; on 
 the under surface of each toe are sixteen transverse slits, lead- 
 ing to so many cavities or pockets, the depth of which is nearly 
 equal to the length of the slit that forms the orifice ; .they all 
 open forward, and the external edge of each opening is serrated, 
 like the teeth of a small-toothed comb. The cavities, or pockets, 
 are lined with a cuticle, and the serrated edges are also covered 
 with it. The structure just described is supplied with various 
 muscles, whose action is to draw down the claw, open the 
 orifices of the pockets, and turn down the serrated edges upon 
 the 'surface on which the animal stands. Upon examining 
 attentively the under-surface of the toes, when the pockets are 
 closed, Sir Everard Home was struck with their resemblance to 
 the surfaces of that portion of the Echineis remora, or sucking 
 fish, by which it attaches itself to the shark, or to the bottom 
 of ships ; and it consequently suggested the probability of obtain- 
 ing, from an examination of this latter apparatus, much useful 
 information which might be applicable to the subject of the 
 lizard, more especially as the parts of which it is composed are 
 so much larger, and therefore more within the reach of ana- 
 tomical examination. 
 
 2 i 
 
482 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 The surface on the top of the head of this fish, fitted for 
 adhesion, is of an oval form, and bears a considerable propor- 
 tion to the size of the whole animal; it is surrounded by a 
 broad, loose, moveable edge, capable of applying itself closely 
 to the surface on which it is placed : and it is evident that, 
 when the external edge is so applied, and the cartilaginous 
 plates are raised up, the interstices must become so many 
 vacua, and the serrated edge of each plate will keep a sufficient 
 hold of the substance on which it rests to retain it in that 
 position, assisted by the pressure of the surrounding water, 
 without a continuance of muscular exertion. It thus appears 
 that the adhesion of the sucking fish is produced by so many 
 vacua being formed through an apparatus worked by the volun- 
 tary muscles of the animal, and the pressure of the surrounding 
 water. 
 
 From the similarity of the mechanism of the under surface of 
 the toes of the lacerta gecko, there can be no doubt that the pur- 
 pose to which it is applied is the same : but as in the one case 
 the adhesion is to take place under water, and is to continue 
 for longer periods, the means are more simple ; in the other, 
 where the mechanism is to be employed in air, under greater 
 disadvantages with respect to gravity, and is to last for very 
 short periods, and then immediately afterwards to be renewed, 
 a more delicate structure of parts, a greater proportional depth 
 of cavities, and more complex muscular structure, become 
 necessary. 
 
 Having ascertained the principle or which an animal of so 
 large a size as the lacerta geeko is enabled to support itself in its 
 progressive motion against gravity, Sir E. Home felt himself 
 more competent to inquire into the mechanism by which the 
 common fly is enabled, with so much facility, to support itself 
 in still more disadvantageous situations. In the natural size 
 the feet of the fly are so small, that nothing can be determined 
 respecting them ; Keller was the first person who made a draw- 
 ing of the fly's foot in a highly-magnified state, in which the 
 concave surfaces are visible, and which, no doubt, like those of 
 the lizard above described, are employed to form vacua, which 
 enable the fly to move under such disadvantageous circum- 
 stances. Mr. Bauer, who has so greatly distinguished himself 
 in microscopic researches, was judiciously enlisted into the 
 service of Sir E. Home upon this occasion ; and he has shown 
 that this principle, on which progressive motion against 
 gravity depends, is very extensively employed by nature in the 
 structure of the feet of insects ; and Sir Everard observes, that 
 now this structure is known, it can be readily demonstrated 
 by looking at the movement of the feet of any insect upon the 
 inside of a glass tumbler, through a common magnifying glass ; 
 the different suckers are readily seen separately to be pulled 
 off from the surface of the glass, and re-applied to another 
 part. 
 
NOTES. 483 
 
 \ 
 
 In consequence of the expedition to the polar regions, Sir 
 E. Home was enabled to obtain and examine the foot of the 
 walrus, in which he detected a resemblance in structure to that 
 of the fly ; and it is not a little curious that two animals so dif- 
 ferent in size should have feet so similar in their use. In the 
 fly, the parts require to be magnified one hundred times to 
 render the structure distinctly visible ; and in the walrus, the 
 parts are so large as to require being reduced four diameters, to 
 bring them within the size of a quarto page. 
 
 Nor is progressive motion the only function in which Nature 
 avails herself of the pressure of the atmosphere for the accom- 
 plishment of her purposes. The act of feeding is continually 
 effected in this manner. The operation of sucking is too fami- 
 liar to require comment. It may not, perhaps, be so generally 
 known, that it is by the very same process that bees reach the 
 fine dust and juices of hollow flowers, like the honeysuckle, and 
 some species of foxglove, which are too narrow to admit them. 
 They fill up the mouth of the flower with their bodies, and 
 suck out the air, or at least a large portion of it, by which 
 the soft sides of the flower are made to collapse, and the juice 
 and dust are squeezed towards the insect, as completely as if 
 the hand had pressed it externally. It is by a similar process 
 that the oyster is enabled to close its shell so firmly ; for, if 
 a hole be bored in it, it may be opened without the least dif- 
 ficulty. 
 
 Note 33, p. 185. ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERIES, AND OF INVENTIONS 
 
 SUGGESTED BY THE ANALOGIES OF NATURE. 
 ' Art lives on Nature's alms.' 
 
 Those who are not acquainted with the operations by which 
 the mind is enabled to arrive at truth, are too apt to attribute 
 to accident that which is the result of great intellectual labour 
 and acuteness. Observation, analogy, and experiment are the 
 three great stepping-stones by which the philosopher is enabled 
 to ascend from darkness to light : it is true that his foot may 
 accidentally be placed upon the first, but his own efforts are 
 required to complete the ascent. To the mass of mankind the 
 preliminary step is obvious, and they at once conclude that the 
 succeeding ones are equally easy and simple. In this view of 
 the subject, it was ~by accident that Sir Isaac Newton discovered 
 the laws of gravitation, for his mind was directed to the investi- 
 gation by the accidental fall of an apple from its tree ; it was 
 by accident that Galileo discovered the isochronous movement of 
 the pendulum, for it was suggested by the vibration of a 
 chandelier : but how many persons might have witnessed the 
 fall of an apple, or the vibration of a chandelier, without arriv- 
 ing at similar truths ! It has been said that we are indebted 
 for the important invention in the steam-engine, termed hand- 
 gear, by which its valves or cocks are worked by the machine 
 
484 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 itself, to an idle boy of the name of Humphrey Potter, who, 
 being employed to stop and open a valve, saw that he could 
 save himself the trouble of attending and watching it, by fixing 
 a plug upon a part of the machine which came to the place at 
 the proper times, in consequence of the general movement. If 
 this anecdote be true, what does it prove? That Humphrey 
 Potter might be very idle, but that he was, at the same time, 
 very ingenious. It was a contrivance, not the result of accident, 
 but of acute observation and successful experiment. Again, 
 one of the most important improvements, the condensation of 
 steam by the injection of a shower of cold water directly into 
 the cylinder, was discovered by a leakage, letting in the water 
 where it was never intended to penetrate. Glass is said to have 
 been discovered by persons having accidentally kindled a fire 
 on the sandy shore with sea-weed, when the alkali from the 
 ashes united with the silex of the sand. In like manner the 
 history of pottery is mixed up with an unusual amount of tales, 
 which attribute discoveries to accident; as, for instance, the 
 servant of a potter was boiling brine in an earthen pan, and, the 
 fire being fierce, and she careless, the saline solution boiled 
 over, when, by the action of the intense heat, the alkali com- 
 bined with the earth ; and hence the origin of salt-glaze. Pliny 
 tells us that minium, or red lead, was first recognised in conse- 
 quence of a fire that took place at the Piraeus at Athens, where 
 some ceruse, which had been exposed to the fire, had been found 
 converted into a red substance. The method of purifying sugar 
 with clay is asserted to have been the result of accident : a 
 hen, having her feet dirty, had gone over a pot of sugar, and 
 the sugar under her tread was found whiter than elsewhere. 
 The idea of mezzotinto engraving is recorded as having struck 
 Prince Kupert while he was watching a soldier scouring a rusty 
 breastplate. A thousand such fertile accidents might be 
 enumerated, but sufficient has been said to combat a popular 
 but mischievous error ; and we are happy at finding the same 
 feeling expressed in a work* which, from its extensive circula- 
 tion, must prove highly useful in correcting it. "Very few 
 discoveries," says the author, " have been made by chance and 
 by ignorant persons ; much fewer than is generally supposed. 
 They are generally made by persons of competent 'knowledge, 
 and who are in search of them. The improvement of the steam- 
 engine by Watt resulted from the most learned investigation of 
 mathematical, mechanical, and chemical truths. Arkwright 
 devoted many years, five at least, to his invention of spinning- 
 jennies. The new process of refining sugar, by which more 
 money has been made in a shorter time, and with less risk and 
 trouble, than was perhaps ever gained by an invention, was dis- 
 covered by Mr. Howard, a most accomplished chemist ; and it 
 was the fruit of a long course of experiments, in the progress of 
 
 * ' Library of Useful Knowledge.' 
 
NOTES. 485 
 
 which, known philosophical principles were constantly applied, 
 and one or two new principles ascertained." 
 
 Then, again, the originality of an invention has been ques- 
 tioned, from the fact that Nature had adopted a similar 
 mechanism in some of her works. Let us illustrate our meaning 
 by a reference to two of the most stupendous architectural 
 wonders of the age THE CRYSTAL PALACE, and THE TUBULAR 
 BRIDGE. Sir Joseph Paxtori, in describing the construction of 
 the former, states that the large umbrella-shaped leaves of the 
 Victoria regina suggested to him the means of giving to it 
 stability. "If you examine," says he, "this leaf, and compare 
 it with my models and drawings, you will perceive that Nature 
 has provided it with longitudinal and transverse girders and 
 supporters." In the construction of the TUBULAR BRIDGE it 
 was found that the rectangular was much stronger than the 
 circular beam. If this fact were not suggested, it was at least 
 confirmed by Nature. But before we proceed to its explanation, 
 be pleased, gentle reader, to take up your pen, not the unfledged 
 steel instrument of the present day, but the veritable goose- 
 quill of pur grandfathers. Are you prepared? if so, observe 
 how the square shaft is disposed so as to impart the greatest 
 strength to that part of the feather most exposed to the strain 
 in flight ; while, as it extends towards the body of the bird, and 
 becomes of less importance as to its power of resistance, the 
 rectangular is tapered down to the circular form, apparently to 
 prevent the sharp angles from lacerating the body of its active 
 bearer. The beam is not hollow, but, to preserve its form, it is 
 filled with a pithy substance, clumsily imitated by art in those 
 gusset-pieces and angle-irons introduced to add strength to the 
 square beam. 
 
 We might add numerous other instances of the same kind ; 
 such as the Ball and Socket-joint the Flexible Water-main, sug- 
 gested to Mr. Watt by the mechanism of the lobster's tail the 
 plan of tunnelling through the bed of the Thames, by the opera- 
 tion of the teredo the improvement in the manufacture of our 
 paper, so as to obtain toughness by long fibres, from the process 
 adopted by the wasp the art of shotting silk from the wing of 
 the butterfly, &c., affording a striking testimony to the cele- 
 brated aphorism of Robert Hooke, that * Nature is generally the 
 best guide for Art ;' or, in the words of the poet, that 
 
 * Art lives on Nature's alms.' 
 
 But let it be remarked that it is one thing to adopt the sugges- 
 tions of Nature, which may be regarded as the common pro- 
 perty of all, and another to copy and appropriate the inventions 
 of our fellows, and by ingeniously disguising them, as gipsies 
 do their stolen children, to make them pass as their own. Such 
 has been too frequently the case in the present day : workmen, 
 as candidates for employment, have entered the factories, and 
 surreptitiously stolen ideas, and taken out patents for inven- 
 
486 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 tions to which they had no honest claim : thus realising the 
 fable of JEatus and Polyelea, who, as our classical readers will 
 remember, were informed by the Oracle that the one who first 
 touched the land, should obtain the kingdom. Polyclea ap- 
 peared lame and disabled, and appealed to the kindness of her 
 brother to carry her across on his shoulders : no sooner, how- 
 ever, had they arrived on the opposite side, then Polyclea leaped 
 ashore from the back of .ZEatus, and exclaimed that the kingdom 
 was her own. 
 
 Note 34, p. 187. RAREFIED STATE OF THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE 
 HIGHER REGIONS. 
 
 This rarefied state is not only shown by the barometer, which 
 is a very faithful measure of the air-pressure (p. 190), but by 
 phenomena which may not have been duly regarded ; it may 
 therefore be advisable to explain them. That water should 
 boil at a lower temperature in an elevated region was a fact 
 consistent with theory, and proved by experiment ; but until 
 the experiments of Archdeacon Wollaston, it was not known 
 that the elevation of a few feet could be thus indicated. He 
 constructed an apparatus by which the height of St. Paul's 
 was ascertained. Water, in vacuo, boils at 88 Fahr. ; on the 
 summit of Mont Blanc, at 187 ; and it has been stated that 
 the monks of St. Bernard complain of not being able to make 
 good bouilli they certainly could not make good tea in 
 that elevated region. The town has lately been amused by Mr. 
 Albert Smith's graphic account of his ascent to the summit of 
 Mont Blanc ; and if we may be allowed to gain knowledge at 
 the expense of our sympathies, we may tell our readers, that 
 when this adventurous gentleman, in a state of exhaustion, 
 anticipated the delight of a refreshing draught of champagne, 
 the contents of the bottle were forcibly ejected and lost, the 
 moment its cork had been withdrawn. 
 
 " Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat 
 Flumina."* 
 
 The great fatigue experienced by persons ascending the 
 higher regions has received an additional explanation from the 
 philosophical discovery of Dr. Edward Weber, that the head 
 of the thigh-bone cannot be separated by the mere weight of 
 the limb from the surface of the articular cavity, to which it is 
 accurately adapted : but that in all its motions it is retained 
 close to the articular surface by the pressure of the atmosphere. 
 All the muscles which surround the hip-joint may be divided, 
 but the weight of the limb does not remove the head of the 
 bone from its cavity ; but if a hole be bored into the cavity, or 
 it be exposed under an air-pump, the separation will take place. 
 
 * Horat. Sat, i., 509. 
 
NOTES. 487 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that, in all the movements of rotation, 
 the head of the bone is retained in its place by atmospheric 
 pressure. In ascending very high mountains, where the air is 
 greatly rarefied, the muscular force must on that account be 
 increased in order to maintain the head of the bone in its cavity, 
 and hence the peculiar kind of fatigue experienced by such 
 persons. All sounds are materially modified in such regions ; 
 the discharge of a pistol is not louder than a pop-gun ; the 
 human voice undergoes a similar charge, and an opera-singer 
 would be very much surprised on hearing her own musical notes. 
 The rate of combustion is also modified by altitude. This was 
 first ascertained by the difference of time in the burning of the 
 fuses of shells at Bangalore, and other places, when it was found 
 that combustion was retarded at considerable elevations. 
 Quartermaster Mitchell, who communicated the fact to the Royal 
 Society, attributes it to the deficiency of oxygen ; but, according 
 to the experiments of Sir H. Davy, we are induced to refer it to 
 the want of heat in rarefied air. 
 
 Note 35, p. 188. WEIGHT OF THE SUPERINCUMBENT 
 OCEAN. 
 
 If we include the pressure of the atmosphere, a body at the 
 depth of 100 feet would sustain that of 60 pounds on the square 
 inch ; while one at 4000 feet, a depth by no means considerable, 
 would be exposed to a pressure of about 1830 pounds. We need 
 not, therefore, feel surprised, that on the foundering of a ship at 
 sea, though its timbers part, not a spar floats to the surface ; 
 for if the hull has sunk to a great depth, all that is porous is 
 penetrated with water or greatly compressed. Captain Scoresby 
 states that when, by the entangling of the line of the harpoon, 
 a boat was carried down with the whale, it required after it was 
 recovered two boats to keep it at the surface. Sir J. Herschel 
 has recorded a melancholy anecdote, which may well be 
 adduced in further illustration of our subject : " After the 
 invention of the diving-bell, and its success in sub-aqueous 
 processes, it was considered highly desirable to devise some 
 means of remaining for any length of time under water, and 
 rising at pleasure without any assistance. Some years ago an 
 ingenious individual proposed a project by which this end was 
 to be accomplished. It consisted in sinking the hull of a ship 
 made quite water-tight, with the docks and sides strongly 
 supported by shores, and the only entry secured by a stout trap- 
 door, in such a manner that, by disengaging from within the 
 weights employed to sink it, it might rise of itself to the surface. 
 To render the trial more satisfactory, the projector himself 
 made the first essay. It was agreed that he should sink in 
 twenty fathoms of water, and rise again without assistance at 
 the expiration of twenty-four hours. Accordingly, making all 
 secure, and provided with the means of making signals to 
 
488 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 indicate his situation, this unhappy victim of his own ingenuity 
 entered and was sunk. Xo signal was made, and the time 
 appointed elapsed. The pressure of the water at so great a 
 depth had, no doubt, been completely under estimated, and the 
 sides of the vessel being at once crushed in, the unfortunate 
 projector perished, before he could even make the signal 
 concerted to indicate his distress." At the present time the 
 subject of the ocean's pressure, at its diiferent depths, derives a 
 peculiar interest, from its possible bearing upon the successful 
 submersion of the electrical submarine-cable for. telegraphic 
 communication with America. 
 
 Note 36, p. 204. THE CAUSE OF IRIDESCENCE. 
 
 If a soap-bubble be blown up, and set under a glass, so that 
 the motion of the air may not affect it, as the water glides down 
 the sides and the top grows thinner, several colours will 
 successively appear at the top, and spread themselves from 
 thence in rings down the sides of the bubble, till they vanish in 
 the same order in which they appeared ; at last, in consequence 
 of the film becoming too attenuated to reflect light, a black 
 spot appears at the top, and spreads till the bubble bursts."* 
 Hence it follows that the colours of a body depend in some 
 degree upon the thickness and density of the particles that 
 compose it ; and that, if the density be changed, the colour will 
 likewise be changed. That the production of colours depends 
 upon the nature of the surfaces upon which light falls, is 
 beautifully exemplified by the iridescence of mother-of-pearl ; 
 and which has been satisfactorily shown to depend upon a 
 singular peculiarity in the structure of that substance. On its 
 surface, which to the unassisted eye, and eA~en to the touch, 
 appears to be finely polished, there are innumerable little lines, 
 or grooves, in some places as many as two or three thousand in 
 the space of an inch, which, lying parallel, regularly follow each 
 other in all their windings ; by the edges of which the rays of 
 light are reflected, and the continual change of colour arises 
 from their continual bendings. Whatever doubts might have 
 existed upon the subject, some late experiments of Sir David 
 Brewster have dissipated them, by showing that the colours 
 which play so beautifully on the surface of mother-of-pearl, 
 may be communicated by pressure to sealing-wax and several 
 other substances. The discovery of this fact was in some 
 measure accidental ; he had stuck a piece of mother-of-pearl on 
 a cement made of rosin and bees'-wax, and on separating the 
 cement he found that it had acquired the property of exhibiting 
 colours. Several persons who witnessed the effect concluded 
 that it arose from the presence of a thin film of the mother-of- 
 
 * This also confirms the observation (p. 202) regarding the tendency of the 
 lather to gravitate towards the depending part of the bubble. 
 
NOTES. 489 
 
 pearl, which might have scaled off and adhered to the wax : but 
 such an explanation was at once refuted by plunging the wax 
 in acid, which must have dissolved the mother-of-pearl, had any 
 been present ; but the acid had no effect, and the colours of the 
 impression remained unimpaired. It is clear, then, that the 
 grooves, as Sir David Brewster conjectured, occasioned the 
 iridescence in the mother-of-pearl, as well as in the waxen im- 
 pression. In consequence of this curious discovery, Sir John 
 Barton succeeded in producing the same appearance on glass, 
 and on different metals, by simply cutting grooved lines on their 
 surface. These lines are so fine, that, without a microscope, 
 they are scarcely visible, and the glass and the metal appear to 
 retain their polish : yet they and the colours also may be com- 
 municated by an impression, like those from the mother-of- 
 pearl to the wax. In like manner, the varying and delicate 
 hues exhibited by the wings of certain butterflies arise from the 
 action of light upon the parallel and equidistant striae upon 
 their surfaces. To Sir David Brewster, science is not only 
 indebted for optical discoveries of the highest value, but for a 
 clear and comprehensive history of this fascinating department 
 of natural knowledge. We strongly recommend his ' Treatise 
 on Optics.' Edit. 1853. 
 
 Note 37, p. 227. VEGETABLE BAROMETERS. 
 
 The following are a few of those plants which indicate 
 changes in the weather : 
 
 Chickweed is an excellent 'barometer* When the flower ex- 
 pands fully, we are not to expect rain for several hours ; should 
 it continue in that state, no rain will disturb the summer's day. 
 When it half conceals its miniature flower, the day is generally 
 showery ; but if it entirely shuts up, or veils the white flower 
 with its green mantle, let the traveller take the hint and put on 
 his greatcoat. The different species of trefoil always contract 
 their leaves at the approach of a storm ; so certainty does this 
 take place, that these plants have acquired the name of the 
 husbandman' 1 s barometer. 
 
 The tulip and several of the compound yellow flowers also 
 close before rain. There is, besides, a species of wood-sorrel, 
 which doubles its leaves before storms and tempests. The 
 bauhima, or mountain ebony, cassia, and sensitive plants, ob- 
 serve the same habit. 
 
 Note 38, p. 228. SAINT SWITHIN. 
 
 The popular adage of Forty days' ram after St. Switliin is a 
 tradition which seems to have derived its origin from the follow- 
 
 * This term is used in its popular acceptation, and does not necessarily 
 imply a change in the weight of the air. 
 
490 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 ing circumstance. Swithin, who held the office of chancellor 
 under two Anglo-Saxon kings, and was preceptor to Alfred the 
 Great, was also bishop of Winchester, and died in 862. He 
 desired that he might be buried in the open churchyard, and 
 not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with other 
 bishops, and his request was complied with ; but the monks, on 
 his being canonized, considering it disgraceful for the saint to 
 lie in a public cemetery, resolved to remove the body into the 
 choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on 
 the 15th of July. It rained, however, so violently for forty 
 days together at this season, that the design was abandoned. 
 And thus has St. Swithin figured in our Protestant Calendar 
 as the Jupiter Pluvius of our Saxon ancestors. " Now, without 
 entering into the case of the bishop," says Mr. Howard, in his 
 work on the ' Climate of London,' " who was probably a man of 
 sense, and wished to set the example of a more wholesome, as 
 well as a more humble, mode of resigning the perishable clay to 
 the destructive elements, I may observe, that the fact of the 
 hindrance of the ceremony by the cause related is sufficiently 
 authenticated by tradition ; and the tradition is so far valuable, 
 as it proves that the summers in this southern part of our 
 island were subject, a thousand years ago, to occasional heavy 
 rains, in the same way as at present." Mr. Howard has shown, 
 by a table, that the notion commonly entertained on this 
 subject, if put strictly to the test of experience, at any one 
 station in this part of the island, will be found fallacious : he, 
 however, very justly observes, that " the opinion of the people on 
 subjects connected with Natural History is commonly founded, 
 in some degree, on fact or experience ;" and to do justice to 
 the popular observation in question, he states that, " in a 
 majority of our summers, a showery period, which, with some 
 latitude as to time and local circumstances, may be admitted to 
 constitute daily rain for forty days, does come on about the 
 time indicated by this tradition ; not that any long space before 
 is often so dry as to mark distinctly its commencement." It is 
 recorded that, while presiding over the erection of a bridge, 
 near his city of Winchester, a poor old woman complained to 
 St. Swithin that some workmen had broken all her eggs ; 
 whereupon the good bishop restored them all, according to the 
 popular legend, which thus converted a simple act of charity 
 into a miracle by which the broken eggs became whole. 
 
 Note 39, p. 231. THE WHALE. 
 
 Did the whale understand his own power, he would easily de- 
 stroy all the machinery which the art of man could devise for 
 catching him ; it would be only necessary for him to swim on 
 the surface in a straight line in order to break the thickest 
 rope ; but the fish, on being struck by the harpoon, obeys a 
 natural instinct, which, in this instance, betrays him to his 
 
NOTES. 491 
 
 death. Sir H. Davy, in his ' Salmonia,' observes that the whale, 
 not having an air-bladder, can sink to the lowest depths of the 
 ocean, and, mistaking the harpoon for the teeth of a sword-fish 
 or a shark, he instantly descends, this being his manner of free- 
 ing himself from these enemies, who cannot bear the pressure 
 of a deep ocean ; and, from ascending and descending in small 
 space, he thus puts himself in the power of the whaler. 
 bee Note 35. 
 
 Kote 40, p. 234. FLYING BY ARTIFICIAL WINGS. 
 
 From men of consummate genius, like Eobert Hooke, clown 
 to the most humble and luckless schemer, has the accomplish- 
 ment of flight by artificial appliances been an object of ardent 
 pursuit, but hitherto of impossible attainment. If we except 
 the unwearying search after the philosopher's stone, and the 
 invention of perpetual motion, there is not a subject that has 
 inspired such sanguine hopes, and led to such bitter disappoint- 
 ment. The false analogy which convinced Dr. Johnson's 
 Easselas of the possibility of flying, has betrayed many a 
 mechanical genius to his ruin " He that can swim needs not 
 despair to fly : to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is to 
 swim in a subtler" Dr. Robert Hooke, to associate with whose 
 name the idea of failure is little less than profanation, was 
 induced, by the earnest promptings and encouragement of 
 Bishop Wilkins, to attempt the construction of artificial wings ; 
 but his sagacity soon discerned the cardinal difficulty opposed 
 to any such scheme, that of the inadequacy of the muscular 
 powers of man to wield such machinery as might overcome 
 gravity, by exciting an adequate reaction of the air. He tells 
 us that in the year 1658, he had contrived means to enable 
 persons to fly, and had made a model which, by the aid of 
 springs and wings, raised and sustained itself in air ;* but finding 
 by his own trials, and afterwards by calculation, that the 
 muscles of a man's body were not sufficient for that purpose, he 
 contrived a way to make artificial muscles, " divers designs 
 whereof," he says, " I showed to Dr. Wilkins, but was in many 
 of my trials frustrated." His plan, it would appear, was to 
 fasten succedaneous wings, not unlike those of bats, to the 
 arms and legs, as well as a contrivance to raise him up by 
 means of horiozontal vanes, placed a little aslope to the wind, 
 which, being blown round, turned an endless screw in the centre, 
 w^hich helped to move the wings, to be managed by the person 
 thus raised aloft ; and it would appear from a paper in 1674, 
 that he had not then abandoned his efforts.! 
 
 Bishop Wilkins, who must be regarded as the chief instigator, 
 
 * Could this have resembled the ' Flying-Top,' described in the text, 
 p. 247 ? 
 
 f Waller's * Life of Robert Hooke.' 
 
492 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 was eager to realize his favourite dream of visiting tne 
 moon, and possibly of entering intQ a treaty of commerce with 
 her inhabitants, was not to be dismayed by failure, and there 
 probably does not exist another book so replete with amusing 
 absurdity as that entitled ' The discovery of a Neiv World ; or 
 a Discourse tending to prove that 'tis probable there may be another 
 habitable world in the Moon ; with a Discourse of the possibility of 
 a passage thither.' Had its philosophy been as rational as its 
 learning was profound, it would have commanded our respect ; 
 as it is, we can only grieve to find such an amount of mental 
 power so unworthily expended. The way in which he combats 
 and parries each difficulty as it arises is certainly amusing : he 
 contends that it would be only necessary to raise the body by 
 wings a few miles to escape from the magnetical influence of 
 the earth, and that " a man might there stand as firmly in the 
 open air as he can now upon the ground ; and not only so, but 
 also move with a far greater swiftness than any living creature 
 here below." No food he thinks would be required during his 
 aerial journey, since no exhaustion would be produced by exer- 
 tion. Besides which, he thinks, the air itself, purified from all 
 the gross impurities of earth, would sufficiently sustain his life. 
 
 " Si A'escitur aura 
 
 JStherea." 
 
 Should the scheme of flight by wings fail, he falls back upon 
 other resources for raising the body beyond the sphere of the 
 earth's magnetical vigour ; as, for instance, by riding like Sinbad 
 upon such a gigantic bird as Marcus Polus relates is to be found 
 in Madagascar called the liuck, "that is," he prudently adds, 
 " if such a bird really exists." 
 
 His next proposition is a " Flying Chariot, in which a man might 
 sit, and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through 
 the air, and carry a viaticum, and commodities for traffic " for 
 traffic with the Lunarians ! The late Sir W. Congreve, of 
 Eocket celebrity, entertained the idea of a flying raft, to be 
 actuated by windmills ; but, notwithstanding his naturally 
 aspiring instincts, he was far less ambitious than the volant 
 Bishop of Chester, for, in a conversation with the author of the 
 present note, he stated that he did not intend that it should sail 
 higher than what might be sufficient to clear the church spires 
 and other elevated obstacles. 
 
 Note 41, p. 237. PROGRESSIVE MOTION IN FISHES ; BOATS 
 
 IMPELLED BY PADDLING, ROWING, &C. 
 
 To render the subject to which this note refers further 
 intelligible, we may show the means by which a fish moves 
 forward in the water. The accompanying diagram and demon- 
 stration are from Dr. Roget's ' Bridgewater Treatise.' 
 
NOTES. 493 
 
 The tail is the principal instrument by which the progressive 
 motion is effected. Tims suppose that the tail is inclined to 
 the right ; if, in this situation, the muscles of the lei't side, 
 tending to bring the tail in a right line with the body, are 
 suddenly thrown into action, the resistance of the water, by 
 reacting against the broad surface of the tail, in the direction 
 P K, perpendicularly to that surface, will 
 cause the muscular action to give the whole 
 body an impulse in that direction ; and the 
 centre of gravity, C, will move onwards in 
 the direction C B, parallel to P K. This im- 
 pulse is not destroyed by the further flexion A 
 of the tail towards the left side, because the 
 principal force exerted by the muscles has 
 already been expended in the motion from 
 K to M, in bringing it to a straight line with 
 the body ; and the force which carries it on 
 to L is much weaker, and therefore occasions 
 a more feeble reaction. When the tail has 
 arrived at the position L, indicated by the L 
 dotted outline, a similar action of the muscles 
 on the right side will create a resistance and / i \ 
 
 an impulse in the direction of K L, and a K M p 
 
 motion of the whole body in the same direc- 
 tion, C A. These impulses being repeated in quick succession, 
 the fish moves forward in the diagonal C D, intermediate 
 between the direction of the two forces. 
 
 Upon the same principle a boat is impelled by paddling ; and 
 the action of the rudder of a ship in turning the vessel will be 
 readily understood. In this latter case, however, there is an 
 additional mechanical advantage ; since the point round which 
 the vessel turns is beyond the middle and towards the prow, 
 and hence the force applied at the extremity of the keel acts as 
 by an arm of a lever. 
 
 Note 42, p. 238. FLIGHT OF INSECTS. 
 
 The command possessed by insects, in directing and changing 
 their course, seems more perfect even than that of birds. Many 
 of them travel on their wings to immense distances, and, con- 
 sidering their comparative size, they generally move through 
 the air with greater velocity than that of birds. Bees have 
 been known to fly great distances from their hive, in search of 
 food ; and the silk-worm moth has travelled more than a 
 hundred miles in a very short space of time. Many of our 
 readers have, no doubt, noticed with surprise the apparent 
 facility with which gnats have accompanied them, although 
 they may have been advancing on horseback at a full gallop ; 
 and the author, during the last summer; has been forcibly 
 struck with the manner in which flies and other insects have 
 
494 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 kept up with a railway carriage, alternately flying in and out 
 of the vehicles, as though they had been at perfect rest. Some 
 species possess a remarkable power of poising themselves in the 
 air, and hovering for a length of time over the same spot, 
 without falling or rising, advancing or retreating : the Dragon-fly 
 affords a striking example of this fact. 
 
 Note 43, p. 240. A GEOMETRIC PROPOSITION. 
 
 This fact may be demonstrated by converting the triangle 
 into a parallelogram, of which one of the sides of the triangle 
 will become its diagonal : the other two sides will of course 
 represent two forces equivalent to such diagonal, which, acting 
 in opposition to it, must produce a balance. 
 
 Note 44, p. 243. KITE MESSENGERS. 
 
 The curious experiments of Mr. Faraday upon the optical 
 effects produced by the revolutions of different wheels, might 
 be exhibited by arrangements adjusted as messengers. 
 
 Note 45, p. 246. BLOWING HOT AND COLD. 
 
 It may be presumed that most persons have observed that 
 after having blown out a taper, it may be readily rekindled by 
 again blowing upon the yet glowing wick ;* but we suspect 
 that but few of such observers are prepared to give a philoso- 
 phical explanation of it.f In truth, all the phenomena connected 
 with the structure and burning of a common candle teem with 
 so much scientific interest, that, had not this volume exceeded 
 the limits originally assigned to it, the author would have 
 invited the reader's attention to them ; but at present we can 
 only deal with its flame, the structure of which may be readily 
 geen by placing behind it the strong light of an Argand lamp, 
 and throwing its shadow upon the wall, whence we shall leam 
 that it is an elongated bubble, the exterior of which, being in 
 contact with the air, alone burns, while its interior is filled by 
 a magazine of combustible vapour. As soon as the wick is 
 ignited, it melts a certain portion of the wax or tallow, and 
 
 * This is the more remarkable in the small green wax taper in common 
 use. When the flame is blown out, the wick will continue red-hot for some 
 hours, which does not happen with the white or red taper. This fact has 
 been supposed to depend upon the metallic colouring of the former (an oxide 
 of copper) yielding a portion of its oxygen. 
 
 f It is recorded of- St. Gudule, a Flemish saint, that she had the faculty of 
 being able, when her candle was extinguished, to blow it in again ; and it is 
 added, that it was the only miracle ever performed by that lady-saint. She 
 would have performed a greater miracle had she explained it. She is usually 
 represented in pictures with a lantern. 
 
NOTES. 495 
 
 forms a cup or crater, from which combustible matter, for the 
 supply of the flame, is continually drawn up by the capillary 
 action of the wick. When a candle is " blown out" this bubble 
 is mechanically separated, and driven oft', from the wick ; and 
 its supply of combustible vapour having- been so withdrawn, it 
 is necessarily extinguished. By blowing upon the yet glowing 
 wick, still enveloped in an inflammable atmosphere, we suddenly 
 direct upon it a stream of fresh air, and, by thus raising its tem- 
 perature, rekindle the hot vapour that continues to flow from 
 it ; so that it may be said we " blow it out " mechanically, and 
 " blow it in" chemically. 
 
 This explanation is in some respects opposed to that of Sir 
 H. Davy, who says, when we blow out a candle, the extinction 
 is produced by the cooling power of the current of air projected 
 into the flame. The answer is, that a blast of hot air will puff 
 it out. 
 
 Note 46, p. 247. WINDS AND STORMS CYCLONES. 
 
 The sea and land breezes which occur in the islands of the 
 torrid zone very strikingly illustrate the position laid down in 
 the text, and afford a good explanation of the manner in which 
 winds may be occasioned by a change of temperature in the 
 air. In these, during the hottest part of the day, the wind sets 
 in from all quarters, and appears to be blowing towards the 
 centre of the island, while in the night it changes its direction, 
 and blows from the centre of the land towards the sea ; for, 
 since the sun's rays produce much more heat by their reflection 
 from land than they do from water, that portion of the air 
 which is over the land will soon become heated, and will ascend ; 
 a rarefaction and diminution of the quantity of air over the 
 central part of the land will be thus occasioned, which must be 
 supplied from the sides ; but, as the land cools again during the 
 night, that portion of air which had been previously heaped up 
 will begin to descend, and by spreading and equalizing itself, 
 will produce a breeze blowing from the centre. 
 
 The trade-ivinds, so called from the advantage which their 
 certainty affords to trading-vessels, are another example of the 
 same kind ; they are generally stated to blow from east to west 
 over the equator, and are occasioned by the rarefaction of the 
 air by the sun's heat and the motion of the earth from west to 
 east. While writing the present note, we have seen an essay 
 upon the subject by Captain Basil Hall, published in an appendix 
 to Mr. Daniell's admirable work on Meteorology ; the perusal of 
 this paper has induced us to cancel what we had written, and to 
 refer the reader to the essay itself, for it is quite impossible to 
 do justice to the views it entertains in the limited space neces- 
 sarily prescribed to us in this note. 
 
 On the coast of Guinea the wind always sets in upon the land, 
 blowing westerly instead of easterly : this exception arises 
 from the deserts of Africa, which lie near the equator, and, being 
 
496 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 a very sandy soil, reflect a great degree of heat into the air 
 above them, which being thus rendered lighter than that which 
 is over the sea, the wind continually rushes in upon the land to 
 restore the equilibrium. 
 
 Among the irregular winds, or those which are not constant, 
 but accidental, may be noticed the whirlwind, the harmattan, 
 and the sirocco. The first of these is occasioned by the meeting 
 of two or more currents of wind from opposite directions, and 
 which can only be occasioned by some temporary but violent 
 disturbance of equilibrium. The harmattan is met with on the 
 western coast of Africa, and is generally attended by great heat 
 and fog : it appears to be occasioned by a conflict between the 
 heated sands >f Africa, and the regular direction of the trade- 
 winds over that continent, and, by disturbing their progress, it 
 is frequently the forerunner of a hurricane in the West Indies. 
 The sirocco occurs in Egypt, the Mediterranean, and in Greece, 
 and is chiefly characterised by its unhealthy qualities. The 
 air, by passing over the heated sands of Egypt, becomes so 
 dried and rarefied as to be scarcely fit for respiration, and, 
 being thus prepared, it absorbs so much humidity on passing 
 the Mediterranean as to form a suffocating and oppressive kind 
 of fog. 
 
 Mr. Daniell observes, that the currents of a heated room in 
 some measure exemplify the great currents of the atmosphere. 
 If the door be opened, the flame of a candle held to the upper 
 part will show, by its inclination, a current flowing outwards ; 
 but, if held near the floor, it will be directed inwards. If the door 
 be closed suddenly from without, it moves with the incoming 
 current, and against the outgoing, and a condensation of air 
 takes place in the room ; which is proved by the rattling of the 
 windows, and the bursting open of any door in the room, if 
 slightly closed. If the door closes from within, it moves against 
 the incoming current, and with the outgoing, and a rarefac- 
 tion of the air in the room takes place ; which is evidenced by 
 the rattling of the windows, and the bursting open of another 
 door in the contrary direction. 
 
 Meteorology has been long considered the least perfect branch 
 of natural knowledge : so apparently capricious and irregular 
 are its phenomena, that philosophers had almost abandoned 
 the idea of bringing them under the operation of any general 
 laws. Brighter lights are, however, now dawning upon us. 
 Dr. Whewell, in his ' Bridgewater Treatise,' has explained the 
 manner in which the various currents of the atmosphere main- 
 tain a necessary balance in the distribution of heat and moisture 
 around the globe, and has thus reduced to order and design 
 phenomena which have hitherto been regarded as unconnected 
 and fortuitous. Lieut-Col. Reid, by his late happy investigation 
 of the law of storms, will, no doubt, lead us into a novel path 
 of the most important discoveries. He has satisfactorily proved, 
 by a mass of evidence derived from numerous log-books, that 
 
NOTES. 497 
 
 storms obey fixed laws. His attention was ardently directed to 
 the subject by having been at Barbadoes immediately after the 
 great hurricane of 1831, which in the short space of seven hours 
 killed upwards of 1400 persons on that island alone. The dis- 
 coveries of Col. Reid may be thus briefly stated : That hurri- 
 canes are whirlwinds of great diameter (cydones), always 
 revolving according to an invariable law, viz. from right to left 
 (supposing yourself standing in the centre), or in the opposite 
 way to the hands of a watch, in the northern hemisphere, and 
 in a contrary direction in southern latitudes ; at the same time 
 they have a progressive motion in a curved line, and as they 
 advance their diameters appear to enlarge and their violence 
 to diminish : it has been also found that in the centre of the 
 vortex there is a lull or calm. Col. Reid observes that the 
 simplest mode of illustrating the subject is to cut out concentric 
 circles, so as to represent progressive whirlwinds, by moving 
 which over any tract the veering of the wind will be easily 
 understood. The reader may form a more familiar idea by 
 causing the water to circulate in a basin, which will represent 
 the violent circular motion of the storm-wind, with a calm in 
 the centre of the vortex. Suppose this to be also moving 
 onward at a rate of about seven miles an hour, and he will have 
 a correct notion of the subject. Since the storms expand in 
 size and diminish in force as they proceed towards the poles, 
 and the meridians at the same time approach each other, gales 
 become huddled together; and hence, apparently, the true 
 cause of the very complicated nature of the winds in our 
 latitude. Observations would also appear to render it probable 
 that there exists an accordance of the force of storms with the 
 law of magnetic intensity : for example, it is at its minimum at 
 St. Helena, where storms never occur ; on the contrary, the lines 
 of greatest intensity seem to correspond with the latitudes of 
 typhoons and hurricanes. To what important discoveries may 
 not the pursuit of this inquiry lead us ! 
 
 The practical importance of the foregoing facts must be 
 obvious : to use the expression of Sir John Herschel, " they will 
 teach seamen how to steer their ships, and save thousands of 
 lives." They will thus learn on which side to lay-to a ship in a 
 storm, for, by watching the veering of the wind, they will 
 ascertain the direction in which it is falling ; if violent and the 
 changes sudden, the ship will probably be near the centre of 
 the vortex ; whereas, if the wind blows a great length of time 
 from the same point, and the changes are gradual, it may 
 reasonably be supposed the ship is near the extremity of it. 
 The barometer also becomes a very important instrument upon 
 these occasions ; the rapid rotatory motion of a column of the 
 atmosphere necessarily occasions its fall, and this fall is always 
 greatest at the centre of the storm. When it begins to rise, the 
 centre has passed ; and when the wind has sufficiently abated 
 to enable a ship to make sail, she may then bear away with 
 
 2 K 
 
498 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 safety ; but near the middle of the hurricane, before the baro- 
 meter begins to rise, all square sails must be dangerous. 
 
 With respect to the velocity of wind, as mentioned at p. 247, 
 we may here observe that the apparent motion of the clouds is 
 a fallacious test ; since we cannot take any account of their 
 distance. The sail of a windmill sweeps past the spectator close 
 to it with lightning speed, whereas when seen at the distance 
 of some miles, it seems to revolve with extreme slowness ; a 
 difference which varies with the angular visual space passed 
 through in the same time. 
 
 Note 47, p. 252. ANCIENT ARCHERY. 
 
 We are reminded, upon this occasion, of part of a stanza in 
 the well-known ballad of 'Chevy Chace,' where an English 
 archer aimed his arrow at Sir Hugh Montgomery : 
 
 "The grey goose wing that was thereon 
 In his hearte's blood was wett." 
 
 The more ancient ballad, however, reads wane-feathers. In 
 the ' Geste of Kobyn Hode,' among Mr. Garrick's old plays, in 
 the Museum, the arrows of the outlaw and his companions are 
 particularly described : 
 
 " With them they had an hundred bowes, 
 
 The strings were well ydight : 
 An hundred shefe of arrows good, 
 
 With hedes burnish' d full bryght ; 
 And every arrowe an ell longe, 
 
 With peacocke well ydight, 
 And rocked they were with white silk ; 
 
 It was a semely sight." 
 
 And Chaucer, in the description of the squyer's yeoman, 
 says, 
 
 " And he was clad in cote and hode of greene ; 
 A sheafe of peacocke arrows, bright and shene, 
 Under his belt he bare full thriftely, 
 Well coude he dresse his tackle yemanly : 
 His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe, 
 And in his hand he bare a mighty bowe." 
 
 Prol. to Cant. Talcs. 
 
 ]n order to show the dandyism displayed by the archers of 
 former times, it may be stated, that, in the wardrobe accounts 
 of the 28 Edw. I. p. 359, is a charge for verdigris to stain the 
 feathers of the arrows green. A wardrobe account of the 
 4 Edw. IT. furnishes an entry for peacock arrows, " Pro 
 duodecim flecchiis cum pennis de pavone, emptis pro rege de 
 12 den. 
 
NOTES. 499 
 
 Note 48, p. 271. SOUND HEARD UNDER WATER. 
 
 In Quartermaster Conolly's 'History of the Corps of Royal 
 Sappers and Miners,' an anecdote is related which well illustrates 
 this subject : "One of their most dramatic undertakings was 
 the submarine destruction of the Royal George. This operation 
 was carried on during several successive seasons, and tried the 
 courage of divers as bold as Persians, who were hung in chains 
 at the bottom of the sea, while they made up faggots of timber 
 and spars. During one of these experiments, a curious fact 
 was ascertained : Corporal Jones, wearing a diving-helmet, was 
 fathoms below the surface, forcing his way through the danger- 
 ous intricacies of the wreck, when he heard a voice singing, 
 * Bright, bright are the beams of the morning sky.' 
 
 " The corporal recognised the voice of private Skelton, who 
 was rummaging through the dislocated hull of the Royal 
 George, for copper-sheathing, iron-ballast, and brass guns. He 
 met, and actually chatted with him, under an enormous weight 
 of billows." 
 
 Note 49, p. 271. SOUND CONVEYED BY SOLID BODIES. 
 
 A beautiful experiment was instituted at Paris, to illustrate 
 this fact, by Biot. At the extremity of a cylindrical tube, 
 upwards of 3000 feet in length, a ring of metal was placed, of 
 the same diameter as the aperture of the tube; and in the 
 centre of this ring, in the mouth of the tube, was suspended a 
 clock-bell and hammer. The hammer was made to strike the 
 ring and the bell at the same instant, so that the sound of the 
 ring would be transmitted to the remote end of the tube through 
 the conducting power of the matter of "the tube itself ; while 
 the sound of the bell would be transmitted through the medium 
 of the air included within the tube. The ear being then placed 
 at the remote end of the tube, the sound of the ring, transmitted 
 by the metal of the tube, was first distinctly heard ; and, after 
 a short interval had elapsed, the sound of the bell, transmitted 
 by the air in the tube, was heard. The result of several ex- 
 periments was, that the metal of the tube conducted the sound 
 with about ten and a half times the velocity with which it was 
 conducted by the air ; that is, at the rate of about 11,865 feet 
 per second. 
 
 Note 50, p. 288. EXPRESSIVE Music. 
 
 The biographer of Josqum des Prez, the celebrated musician 
 and maestro di capella to Louis XH. King of France, relates an 
 anecdote which may be here told in connexion with the present 
 subject. When Josquin was first admitted into the service of 
 the French monarch, he had been promised a benefice by his 
 Majesty ; but this prince, contrary to his usual habits, for he 
 was in general both just and liberal, forgot the promise he had 
 
500 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 made ; when Josquin, after suffering great inconvenience from 
 the shortness of his Majesty's memory, ventured by the follow- 
 ing expedient to remind him publicly of his promise without 
 giving offence. He had been commanded to compose a motet 
 for the Chapel Royal, on which occasion he selected part of the 
 119th Psalm, " Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo" " think of thy 
 servant as concerning thy word" which he set in so supplicating 
 and exquisite a manner, that it was universally admired, 
 particularly by the King, who was not only touched by the 
 music, but felt the words so effectually, that he soon afterwards 
 granted his petition, by conferring on him the promised prefer- 
 ment. For which act of justice and munificence, Josquin, with 
 equal felicity, composed as a hymn of gratitude another part of 
 the same Psalm, " Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo, Doinine" 
 " Lord, thou hast dealt graciously ivith thy servant" * 
 
 Josquin, among musicians, was the giant of his time, and 
 seems to have arrived at universal monarchy and dominion 
 over the affections and passions of the musical part of man- 
 kind ; indeed, his compositions were as well known and as much 
 practised throughout Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century, as those of Handel were in Europe sixty years ago. 
 
 Xote 51, p. 294. IMAGINARY FORMS, OR CHANCE BESEMBLANCES ; 
 AND IMAGINARY SOUNDS. 
 
 The following case, quoted by Sir David Brewster, in his 
 work on * Natural Magic,' from the life of Peter Heaman, a 
 Swede, who was executed for piracy and murder at Leith in 
 1822, will afford a very curious example of the influence of the 
 imagination in creating distinct forms out of an irregularly- 
 shaded surface. " One remarkable thing was, one day as we 
 mended a sail, it being a very thin one, after laying it upon 
 deck in folds, I took the tar-brush and tarred it over in the 
 places which I thought needed to be strengthened. But when 
 we hoisted it up, I was astonished to see that the tar I had put 
 upon it represented a gallows and a man under it without a 
 head. The head was lying beside him. He was complete, body, 
 thighs, legs, arms, and in every shape like a man. Now, I 
 oftentimes made remarks upon it, and repeated them to the 
 others. I always said to them all, ' You may depend upon it 
 that something will happen.' I afterwards took down the sail 
 on a calm day, and sewed a piece of canvas over the figure to 
 cover it, for I could not bear to have it always before my eyes." 
 Thus may be explained how Theodoric saw in the head of a fish 
 which was served up to him, that of Symachus, whom he had 
 unjustly executed. 
 
 The curious effect of chance resemblance was particularly 
 remarked by Leonardo da Vinci in the moss and stains on old 
 
 * The ballad was originally a mission to awaken men to their duty ; for 
 jSoAAet*' signified to send forth, to preach, or to prophesy. 
 
NOTES. 501 
 
 stones, so that persons wholly unacquainted with drawing 
 have been thus enabled by such imaginary guides to sketch a 
 number of clever figures upon a wall so stained. It is told of 
 Protogenes, a painter of Rhodes, that, having been engaged to 
 represent a dog panting and with froth in his mouth, after 
 many unsuccessful attempts, in a fit of despair, he threw his 
 wet sponge at it, and thus produced an appearance which, with 
 a little assistance from his brush, accomplished the design. In 
 our own times, this faculty of the imagination has not unfre- 
 quently been enlisted into *the service of the fortune-teller for 
 purposes of fraud and imposition. The following story is related 
 on credible testimony: "A British officer, in expectation of 
 promotion, and of being united to a lady in marriage, sought a 
 gipsy fortune-teller. The sorceress, no doubt, had made herself 
 well acquainted with these circumstances. On entering the 
 room, she ordered a large glass of spring-water, into which 
 she poured the white of a newly-laid egg. After shaking the 
 mixture for some time, she so far succeeded as to induce the 
 credulous observer to declare that he saw most distinctly the 
 image of the ship in which he was to hoist his flag, the church 
 in which he was to be married, and his bride going with him 
 into the church." (Tlie Gipsies' Advocate, by J. Crabb.) In 
 certain cases the chance resemblance is so striking, as to 
 require little or no aid from the imagination to complete 
 the figure. A young friend of the author, who lately made a 
 pedestrian tour through Wales, has furnished him with the 
 accompanying faithful portrait of a rocky prominence, which 
 may be seen at the foot of Snowdon, on the road from Beddgelert 
 to Caernarvon. 
 
 Uti de marmore ccepto 
 
 Non exacte satis, rudibusque simillima signis. 
 
 " Marble so appears, 
 
 Rough-hewn to form a statue, ere the hand 
 Completes the change." Ovid. Metam. lib. i. 
 
502 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Hence may have originated Rock Idols. Cornwall abounds 
 with such objects, to which many legendary tales are attached, 
 and, with a dim mist and faint moonlight, the imagination will 
 not require the aid of glamour, nor the spells of the Lapland 
 Witch, to convert the looming masses on the wild moors into 
 shapes of mysterious bearing ; 
 
 While the mists 
 
 Flying, and rainy vapours, call out shapes 
 And phantoms from the crags/ 3 
 
 Excursion. 
 
 So, again, the grotesque forms, to be seen on the gnarled 
 boughs of the forest may have readily suggested the idea of 
 Sylvan Genii and Wood Demons. The figured marks visible on 
 sections of the pebble evidently gave rise to the cameo. 
 
 The floral kingdom will also supply many very remarkable 
 instances of what may be said to be " chance resemblances," 
 although we are far from being prepared to say that they are 
 not designs premeditated by Nature for some wise purpose. 
 We more particularly refer to the Orchidcce, the animal shape 
 of whose blossoms is singularly striking: thus -we have flies, 
 bees, spiders, butterflies, &c., so naturally represented as to 
 require no aid of the imagination to realise their forms. At 
 Leigh Park, the seat of Sir George Staunton, we have lately 
 seen, in the splendid conservatories of that accomplished 
 baronet, the Mexican Peristeria, in whose corolla appears a dove, 
 with its wings and beak assuming a reality that is perfectly 
 astonishing. 
 
 It may not be out of place to observe, that fancy plays as 
 many tricks upon the ear as upon the eye, and that we have 
 imaginary sounds, as well as imaginary forms : thus we have 
 the midnight blast, bearing in its cadences the echoing sounds 
 of mysterious voices ; while phantom-bells are rung in the ears 
 of our mariners by imaginary sea-nymphs, and we have, as 
 Milton tells us 
 
 " The airy tongues, that syllable men's names 
 On shores, in desert sands, and wildernesses." 
 
 Groves and forests, from the rustling sound of their leaves 
 and branches, have ever been a fruitful source of such hallu- 
 cinations, and, according to Gray, " the beeches dream out their 
 old stories to the wind." It was thus that the oaks of Dodona 
 gave out oracles ; while to the fancy of the poet, the wintry 
 murmurs of the forest are her audible mournings for the loss of 
 offspring cut off by the blasts of Autumn. There are few of 
 us who have not fancied intelligible sentences pronounced by a 
 peal of bells, and to have thus realised the story of Whittington, 
 listened to with such interest in the days of our boyhood. 
 
 Nor is the sense of touch free from deceptive impressions, 
 
NOTES. . 503 
 
 which may be shown by the following experiment mentioned by 
 Aristotle : Let the reader cross his middle and fourth finger, 
 and place a small object, as a pea, at the point of intersection, 
 and he will immediately perceive the presence of two peas. 
 An intelligent boy, on being shown this trick, exclaimed 
 " Why, this is squinting with the fingers !" If the reader 
 demands a philosophical explanation of the phenomenon, we 
 will endeavour to afford it. When the pea is thus placed in an 
 artificial position in respect to the fingers, we perceive two 
 convex surfaces opposed to each other, and as the mind 
 concludes that two convexities so related cannot belong to one 
 sphere, the imagination converts them into two. This experi- 
 ment leads us to consider a similar false perception incident to 
 the sense of sight. When an object is so artificially presented 
 to the eye as to form an image inconsistent with the one 
 which experience has taught us to expect, by optically render- 
 ing their shadows incompatible with the known laws of light, 
 the mind by an intuitive action seeks to rectify the anomaly, 
 and may thus become the source of its own illusion. 
 
 Asa special instance, we will suppose that a seal, with a head 
 cut in the usual concave figure, be placed on a table with the 
 light from a window or a candle on our right hand ; should its 
 shaded side appear on the same side with the light, the mind, by 
 a very short process of reasoning, concludes that the image is 
 an Intaylio, that is, sunk or concave ; if now, without altering 
 the direction of the light, the same impression be viewed 
 through any combination of lenses that will invert it, the 
 shady side will be reversed, and now appear to be farthest from 
 the window, when the mind will as readily reverse its judgment, 
 and the depression will assume the appearance of an elevation, 
 the Intaglio becoming as realised a Cameo, as its waxen im- 
 pression would be ; and so powerful is this illusion, that even 
 the sense of touch, which has been universally held as the 
 vigilant guardian of the eye's truth, will not be able to dispel it. 
 Sir David Brewster, in his ' Natural Magic,' has entered very 
 fully into the philosophy of this experiment, showing the in- 
 fluence of the mind over the testimony of the senses. 
 
 Note 52, p. 296. FAIRY "RINGS. 
 
 Dr. Wollaston, in a paper published in the ' Philosophical 
 Transactions' (1807, p. 133), relates some interesting observa- 
 tions he made on the progressive changes of these rings, and 
 which satisfactorily explain their origin. He observed that 
 some species of fungi were always to be found at the exterior 
 margin of the dark ring of grass if examined at the proper 
 season. The position of the fungi led him to believe that pro- 
 gressive increase from a central point was the probable mode 
 of formation of the ring ; and he thought it likely that the soil 
 which had once contributed to the support of fungi might be so 
 
504 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 exhausted as to be rendered incapable of producing a second 
 crop. The delect of nutriment on one side would occasion the 
 new roots to extend themselves solely in the opposite direction, 
 and would cause the circle of fungi continually to proceed, by 
 annual enlargement, from the centre outwards. The luxuriance 
 of the grass follows as a natural consequence, as the soil of an 
 interior circle is enriched by the decayed roots of fungi of the 
 preceding year's growth. During the growth of fungi, they so 
 entirely absorb all nutriment from the soil beneath, that the 
 herbage is often for a while destroyed, and a ring appears bare 
 of grass, surrounding the dark ring ; but, after the fungi have 
 ceased to appear, the soil where they had grown becomes 
 darker, and the grass soon vegetates again with peculiar vigour. 
 Dr. Wollaston had many opportunities of remarking that, when 
 two circles interfere with each other's progress, they do not 
 cross each other, but are invariably obliterated between the 
 points of contact. The exhaustion occasioned by each 
 obstructs the progress of the other, and both are starved ; a 
 circumstance which affords a strong confirmation of the above 
 theory. 
 
 Note 53, p. 300. RESONANCE. 
 
 In order to comprehend the theory of reciprocated vibration, 
 or resonance, let the reader keep in his remembrance the ana- 
 logy between musical vibration and the oscillation of the pen- 
 dulum, as explained at page 274. If he well understands the 
 phsenomena of the latter, he will readily comprehend those of 
 the former. Galileo observed that a heavy pendulum might 
 be put in motion by the least breath of the mouth, provided the 
 blast were often repeated, and made to keep time exactly icith the 
 vibrations of the pendulum : from the same sympathetic com- 
 munication of vibrations will two pendulum clocks fixed to the 
 same wall, or two watches lying upon the same table, take the 
 same rate of going, though they would not agree with one 
 another if placed in separate apartments. Mr. Ellicot indeed 
 observed that the pendulum of one clock was even able to stop 
 that of the other ; and that the stopped pendulum, after a 
 certain time, would resume its vibrations, and in its turn stop 
 the vibrations of the other. We have here a correct ex- 
 planation of the phsenomena of Resonance ; for the undulations 
 excited by a vibratory body are themselves capable of putting 
 in motion all bodies whose pulses are coincident with their own, 
 and consequently with those of the primitive sounding body ; 
 hence the vibrations of a string, when another, tuned in unison 
 with it, is made to vibrate. 
 
 Upon this fact is founded a very affecting story by Kotzebue. 
 The lover of a young lady died. His harp, on which he had 
 been accustomed to accompany her, hung neglected in her 
 chamber. After a long period of grief she again touched the 
 chords of her instrument ; the lover's harp, tuned in accord- 
 
NOTES. 505 
 
 ance, responded, which impressed her with the superstitious 
 belief that his spirit swept the strings in sympathy. A scientific 
 friend, however, more philosophically than wisely, explained to 
 her the principal of phonic harmonies : from that hour the 
 dear illusion vanished her harp was heard no more she 
 drooped and died. Well might she have exclaimed with 
 Horace " Pol me occidistis /" the classical reader will complete 
 the quotation.* 
 
 Upon the same principle does the resonance, or reciprocated 
 vibrations, of columns of air depend. We are much indebted 
 to Mr. Wheatstone for our knowledge of this branch of acoustics : 
 he has shown, that if a tuning-fork or a bell be sounded before 
 a tube enclosing a column of air of the necessary length, the 
 original sound will be augmented by the rich resonance of that 
 air ; and that the sounds of tuning-forks, if held before the 
 cavity of the mouth, may be reciprocated most intensely by 
 adjusting the alterable volume of air contained within it to the 
 pitch of the instrument ; by placing, for instance, the tongue, 
 &c., in the position for "the nasal continuous sound of ng (in 
 song), and then altering the aperture of the lips until the 
 loudest sound was obtained, he readily accomplished his object. 
 
 If two vibrating tuning-forks, differing in pitch, be held over 
 a closed tube, furnished with a moveable piston, either sound 
 may be made to predominate, by so altering the piston as to 
 obtain the exact column of air which will reciprocate the 
 required sound. The same result may be obtained by selecting 
 two bottles (which may be tuned with water), each correspond- 
 ing to the sound of a different tuning-fork ; on bringing both 
 tuning-forks to the mouth of each bottle alternately, that sound 
 only will be heard, in each case, which is reciprocated by 
 the unisonant bottle ; or, in other words, by that bottle which 
 contains a column of air susceptible of vibrating in unison with 
 the fork. 
 
 Among the Javanese instruments brought to England by the 
 late Sir Stamford Raffles, there is one called the gender, in which 
 the resonances of columns of air are. employed to augment, we 
 might also say to render audible, the sounds of vibrating 
 metallic plates. Under each of these plates is placed an 
 upright bamboo, containing a column of air of the proper 
 length to reciprocate the lowest sound of such plate. If the 
 aperture of the bamboo be covered with pasteboard, and its 
 corresponding plate be struck, a number of acute sounds only 
 (depending on the more numerous subdivisions of the plate) 
 will be heard ; but, on removing the pasteboard, an additional 
 
 Ah ! cruel friends, she cried, 
 
 Is this to save me ? Better far have died, 
 Than thus be robb'd of pleasure so refin'd, 
 The dear delusion of a raptur'd mind." 
 
 Hor. Epist. B. ii. Epist. 2. 
 
506 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 deep rich tone is produced by the resonance of the column of 
 air within the tube.* 
 
 It is only by a knowledge of this principle that the theory of 
 the Guimbarde, or Jew's-harp, can be well understood. 
 
 A striking instance of the power of resonance has been 
 recorded of a person who, by a clear and powerful voice, was 
 enabled to break several tumbler-glasses in succession, by 
 singing the fundamental note proper to each close to them. 
 
 Note 54, p. 301. THE JEW'S-HAKP. 
 
 The Memoirs of Madame de Genlis first made known the 
 astonishing powers of a poor German soldier on the Jew's- 
 harp. This musician was in the service of Frederick the Great, 
 and finding himself one night on duty under the windows of 
 the king, played the Jew's-harp with so much skill, that 
 Frederick, who was a great amateur of music, thought he 
 heard a distinct orchestra. Surprised on learning that such an 
 effect could be produced by a single man with two Jew's-harps, 
 he ordered him into his presence ; the soldier refused, alleging 
 that he could only be relieved by his colonel ; and that, if he 
 obeyed, the king would punish him the next day for having 
 failed to do his duty. Being presented the following morning 
 to Frederick, he was heard with admiration, and received his 
 discharge and fifty dollars. This artist, whose name Madame 
 de Genlis does not mention, was called Koch ; he had not any 
 knowledge of music, but owed his success entirely to a natural 
 taste. He made his fortune by travelling about, and performing 
 in public and private ; and retired at Vienna at the advanced 
 age of more than eighty years. He used two Jew's-harps at 
 once, in the same manner as the peasants of the Tyrol ; and 
 produced, without doubt, the harmony of two notes struck at 
 the same moment, which was considered by the musically- 
 curious as somewhat extraordinary, when the limited powers of 
 the instrument were remembered. It was Koch's custom to 
 require that all the lights should be extinguished, in order that 
 the illusion produced by his playing might be increased. 
 
 It was reserved, however, for Mr. Eulenstein to acquire a 
 musical reputation from the Jew's-harp. After ten years of 
 close application and study, this young artist obtained a 
 perfect mastery over this untractable instrument. In giving 
 some account of the Jew's-harp, considered as a medium for 
 musical sounds, we shall only present the result of his disco- 
 veries. This little instrument, taken singly, gives whatever 
 grave sound you may wish to produce, as a third, & fifth, or an 
 
 * The air-bladder of fishes, in addition to other uses (p. 189), serves the 
 purpose of increasing by resonance the intensity of the sonorous undulations 
 communicated from the water to the fish ; and in many species the bladder 
 has an immediate connexion with the labyrinth of the ear ; and in other cases 
 the connexion takes place through the vertebrae. 
 
NOTES. 507 
 
 octave. If the grave tone is not heard in the bass Jew's-harp, 
 it must be attributed not to the defectiveness of the instru- 
 ment, but to the player. In examining this result, you cannot 
 help remarking the order and unity established by nature in 
 harmonical bodies, which places music in the rank of exact 
 sciences. The Jew's-harp has three different tones ; the bass 
 tones of the first octave bear some resemblance to those of 
 the flute and clarionet ; those of the middle and high to the 
 vox humana of some organs ; lastly, the harmonical sounds 
 are exactly like those of the harmonica. It is conceived that 
 this diversity of tones affords already a great variety in the 
 execution, which is always looked upon as being feeble and 
 trifling, on account of the smallness of the instrument. It was 
 not thought possible to derive much pleasure from any attempt 
 which could be made to conquer the difficulties of so limited an 
 instrument ; because, in the extent of these octaves, there were 
 a number of spaces which could not be filled up by the talent 
 of the player ; besides, the most simple modulation became 
 impossible. Mr. Eulenstein has remedied that inconvenience 
 by joining sixteen Jew's-harps, which he tunes by placing 
 smaller or greater quantities of sealing-wax at the extremity of 
 the tongue. Each harp then sounds one of the notes of the gamut, 
 diatonic or chromatic, and the performer can fill all the intervals, 
 and pass all the tones, by changing the harp. That these 
 mutations may not interrupt the measure, one harp must always 
 be kept in advance, in the same manner as a good reader 
 advances the eye, not upon the word which he pronounces, but 
 upon that which follows. 
 
 Note 55, p. 318. VERBAL TELEGRAPH. 
 
 This project has been revived : in a number of the ' Eevue 
 Encyclopedique' there is a proposal to communicate verbal in- 
 telligence, in a few moments, to vast distances ; and this not 
 by symbols, as in the Telegraph, but in distinct articulate 
 sounds uttered by the human voice. The plan is said to have 
 originated with an Englishman, Mr. Dick, according to whose 
 experiments the human voice may be made intelligible at the 
 distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. It has been stated, in 
 Note 49, that the celebrated Biot had ascertained that sound 
 travels more than ten times quicker when transmitted by solid 
 bodies, or through tubes, than when it passes through the 
 open air: at the distance of more than half a mile the low 
 voice of a man was distinctly heard. Father Kircher relates 
 in some of his works, that the labourers employed in the sub- 
 terranean aqueducts of Rome heard each other at the distance 
 of several miles. The invention of the Electrical Telegraph had, 
 it was supposed, consigned all such schemes* to Lethe ; but it 
 
 * Amongst these schemes was one constructed on the principle of water 
 always keeping its own level ; as, for example, suppose a leaden pipe to pass 
 
508 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 has lately been, in some degree, revived by the exhibition of 
 the ' Telephonic Concert,'* see p. 427, and Note 49. 
 
 Note 56, p. 318. ELECTRICAL TELEGRAPH. 
 " Thought-executing fires." Lear. 
 
 The following note is reprinted, as far as it is marked with 
 inverted commas, just as it appeared in the earlier editions of 
 this work, long before the subject had attracted any notice, 
 or, indeed, before any railroad had been constructed. It is 
 curious to feel how wonderfully the anticipation there expressed 
 has been realized : 
 
 " It has often occurred to the author of these pages, during 
 his reveries, that the means of conveying intelligence with 
 immense rapidity may be hereafter invented by the Electrician. 
 Should a system of railways be established throughout the 
 country, it might lead to some expedient by which such a de- 
 sideratum could be accomplished through the medium of elec- 
 trical discharges. Upon this subject we have accidentally fallen 
 upon a curious notice in Arthur Young's ' Travels in France ' 
 (vol. i. p. 65) : * M. Lomond has made a very curious discovery 
 in electricity ; you write two or three words on a paper, he 
 takes it with him into his room, and there turns a machine 
 enclosed in a cylindrical case, at the top of which is an electro- 
 meter of pith-balls ; by means of a wire a connexion is made 
 with a similar cylinder and electrometer in a distant apartment, 
 and his wife, by remarking the corresponding motions of the 
 balls, writes down the words they indicate ; from which it 
 appears that he has formed an Alphabet of Motion. A.S the 
 length of the conducting wire makes no difference in the effect, 
 a correspondence might be carried on at any distance, as, for 
 example, within or without a besieged town ; or for purposes 
 much more interesting and useful. Whatever the uses may be, 
 the invention is beautiful.' " 
 
 But what shall we say of the instrument described by 
 Farnianus Strada, the elegant Jesuit, in his rhetorical prolu- 
 sions ; which instrument resembles, in every respect, with the 
 exception of the conducting wires, the Electrical Telegraph of 
 Mr. Wheatstone ! The necessity of wires, as a material me- 
 dium of communication, was considered unnecessary, from a 
 belief that the magnets would sympathise with each other, 
 
 between two distant places, and to have a perpendicular tube to each 
 extremity ; then if the pipe be constantly filled with water to a certain height, 
 it will always rise to its level on the opposite end ; and if but one inch of water 
 be added at one extremity, it will almost instantly produce a similar elevation in 
 the tube at the other end; so that by corresponding letters being adapted to 
 the vertical tubes, at different heights, intelligence may be quickly conveyed. 
 
 * In 1823, Mr. Wheatstone made the important discovery that sounds of 
 all kinds might be transmitted perfectly and powerfully through solid wires, 
 and reproduced in distant places. (Journal of Royal Institution, 1828.) 
 
NOTES. 509 
 
 whatever might be the intervening distance. The following 
 are the observations of Sir T. Browne, in his ' Vulgar Errors,' 
 on this very curious subject : " The conceit is excellent, and, 
 if the effect would follow, somewhat divine, whereby we might 
 communicate like spirits, and confer with Menippus in the 
 moon. And this is pretended from the sympathy of two 
 needles touched with the same loadstone, and placed in the 
 centre of two circles, or rings, with letters described round 
 about them ; one friend keeping one, and another friend the 
 other, and agreeing upon an hour wherein they will commu- 
 nicate ; for then saith tradition, at what distance of place 
 soever, when one needle shall be removed unto any letter, the 
 other, by a wonderful sympathy, will move unto the same. 
 But, herein, I confess my experience can find no truth ; for 
 having expressly framed two circles of wood, and according to 
 the number of the Latin letters divided each into twenty-three 
 parts, placing therein two needles composed of the same steel, 
 touched with the same loadstone, and at the same point, of 
 these two needles, whenever I removed the one, although but 
 at the distance of half a span, the other would stand like 
 Hercules' pillars." Having thus demonstrated, experimentally, 
 the fallacy and utter failure of the scheme, he concludes with 
 a very candid and rational apology : " Now this magical con- 
 ceit, how strange soever, might have some original in reason ; 
 for men, observing no solid whatever did interrupt the action of 
 the magnet, might be induced to believe no distance would 
 terminate the same." 
 
 The Electrical Telegraph, as at present worked, is unques- 
 tionably the greatest wonder the world ever witnessed, and 
 the highest triumph ever achieved by science ; nor has even 
 familiarity, that most potent of all disenchanters, as yet dis- 
 solved the spell that rivets our imagination, and perpetuates 
 our astonishment ; its miraculous agency, indeed, daily becomes 
 an object of increasing wonder, as ' our nimble spirit' extends the 
 magic girdle, which is shortly destined to encircle the wide 
 world, and at once to annihilate time and space. Even during 
 the progress of the present little book through the press, wires, 
 for the first time, have been carried along the bed of the sea, 
 and, unlike the wand and book of Prospero, have lost no power 
 by their immersion. While preparing this present edition, we 
 are informed by the ' Times,' that an electric communication has 
 been completed throughout the whole of the East India 
 Company's dominion ; the length of wire extending no less than 
 3500 miles ; through forests and across torrents ; and we are 
 informed, from another source, that the Mediterranean Company 
 have issued their plans of extension from Algiers to the 
 western coast of India, and from Pegu to Australia and Van 
 Diemen's Land. In a few weeks their line will connect London 
 with the capital of French Africa. 
 
 The ink was scarcely dry on this page, when we were again 
 
510 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 startled by the following paragraph in the * Times,' headed 
 " DIRECT TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LONDON AND ST. 
 PETERSBURGH. Since the re-establishment of commercial rela- 
 tions between Great Britain and Russia, the Electric and Inter- 
 national Telegraph Company have received despatches direct 
 from St. Petersburg, within a second of their leaving that 
 capital ; the length of wire being about 1,700 miles. The 
 medium by which the messages Avere conveyed is the printing 
 telegraph, and simultaneously with the necessary touch of the 
 finger on the instrument at St. Petersburg the words indicated 
 appear on a similar instrument at the Lothbury or Strand 
 stations in London. This is the greatest telegraphic feat yet 
 achieved through the medium of the submarine wires, and 
 indicates the progressive and rapid extension of instantaneous 
 communication. The direct transmission of messages between 
 London and the other principal continental cities is now a 
 matter of daily occurrence." 
 
 In the flush of our success, and in the pride of our conquest, 
 let us not forget the master-spirits to whom our obligations are 
 justly due. Let us bow humbly at the shrine of Oersted of 
 Copenhagen, the immortal discoverer of electro-magnetism ; 
 let us do all honour to Faraday for his consummation of that 
 discovery, by having been the first to draw electric sparks from 
 the magnet ; and let us as duly acknowledge the services of 
 "Wheatstone, in seizing and taking captive this subtle power, so 
 as to render it subservient to the will of man, by the construc- 
 tion of the Electric Telegraph. All honour to this great 
 triumvirate ! 
 
 Note 57, p. 331. THE YULE LOG, THE CHRISTMAS TREE, AND 
 THE MISTLETOE BOUGH. 
 
 The yule log is a billet of wood that, from time immemorial, 
 has been burnt on Christmas-eve to enliven the family circle 
 with its ruddy blaze ; and the custom is still perpetuated in many 
 of the rural districts : 
 
 " The village matron, round the blazing hearth, 
 Suspends the infant audience with her tales, 
 Breathing astonishment !" 
 
 It is evidently a relict of Northern mythology ; in which the 
 circling year was- symbolized by a wheel, closing only to 
 recommence its round. This annual burnt-oifering is therefore, 
 properly speaking, the wheel-log, the word wheel having been 
 derived from Iuel t and corrupted into yule. 
 
 The Christmas tree, so generally displayed at this festive 
 season, dates its origin from a period very far antecedent to the 
 Christian era, and serves well to show, not only how heathen 
 customs and cereraonies have been consecrated for Christian 
 
NOTES. 511 
 
 purposes, but how the changes have accommodated themselves 
 to the varying circumstances of the age and countries through 
 which they have been transmitted : thus in Egypt the palm- 
 tree being known to put forth a shoot every month, a spray of 
 that tree, with twelve shoots on it, was appropriately selected 
 at the time of the winter solstice, as a symbol of the year com- 
 pleted ; but, on passing to the south, and reaching Italy, the 
 palm was necessarily lost, and a branch of the fir was substi- 
 tuted, which, on account of the conical or pyramidal form of its 
 summit, was considered most appropriate for the purpose of a 
 winter tree ; and since the Koman Saturnalia were celebrated 
 at the period of the winter solstice (from the 17th to the 21st of 
 December), so into this tree was now imported one of the most 
 distinguishing emblems, and lighted tapers, in honour of Saturn, 
 were accordingly suspended from its branches. Next came the 
 festival of ' Sigillaria,' on which days it was customary to present 
 impressions stamped on wax (' Oscifla '), and which still form a 
 part of the furniture of our own Christmas tree.* On passing 
 into Christendom, the tree became the symbol of our great 
 Christian festival, and very naturally received various additions 
 emblematic of our faith : it is now almost universal in Scandi- 
 navia and Germany, and its traces are to be found in Spain. 
 Such is the history of the origin and historic growth of the 
 pagan tree, and its passage into the Christmas memorial ; and 
 it is interesting to observe how its emblems of adverse faith 
 have, in the progress of time, all harmoniously united to do 
 homage to our Christmas festival. 
 
 The mistletoe lough suspended from the ceiling at Christmas is 
 regarded as a remnant of Druidical superstition, although it 
 must be confessed that the youth of the present day takes more 
 interest in its continuance than the antiquary does in its origin. 
 If it be no longer regarded as the provident shelter for sylvan 
 genii, during the blasts of winter, it is recognised as a merry 
 snare for the capture of jovial spirits around the Christmas 
 hearth ; and if it has ceased to confer a mysterious charm, it at 
 least sanctions a very agreeable and harmless privilege, that of 
 saluting any female who may be luckily caught beneath its 
 hallowed shadow. From the fact of the mistletoe not growing 
 on the ground from not being of the earth, earthy it has 
 enjoyed a certain mystical virtue : thus Virgil has alluded to 
 it ;t and that the same idea entered into Scandinavian mythology 
 appears in the legend of Baldar, 'beloved by the whole world',' 
 and to whom all that grew or lived on the earth's surface had 
 sworn never to injure : but, unfortunately, the mistletoe that 
 did not grow on the earth's surface had been overlooked, and 
 Baldar was accidentally killed by a bough of it, wantonly 
 thrown at his breast during the winter solstice. 
 
 * " Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu." Georg. 2, 389. 
 f /En. vi. 205. 
 
512 PHILOSOPHY 1^ SPORT. 
 
 Note 58, p. 394. CARRIER PIGEONS. 
 
 The carrier is a variety of the common domestic pigeon, 
 and which, from the superior attachment that it shows to its 
 native place, is employed in many countries as the most expe- 
 ditious courier. The letters are tied under its wing, it is let 
 loose, and in a very short space returns to the home it was 
 brought from, with its advices. This practice was much in 
 vogue in the East ; and at Scanderoon, till of late years, it was 
 used, on the arrival of a ship, to give the merchants at Aleppo 
 a more expeditious notice than could be done by any other 
 means. In our own country, these aerial messengers have 
 been employed for a very singular purpose, having been let 
 loose at Tyburn at the moment the fatal cart was drawn 
 away, to notify to distant friends the departure of the un- 
 happy criminal. 
 
 In the East, the use of these birds seems to have been 
 greatly improved, by having, if we may use the expression, 
 relays of them ready to spread intelligence to all parts of the 
 country: thus it is stated by Ariosto (Canto 15), that the 
 governor of Damiata circulated the news of the death of 
 Orrilo. " As soon as the commandant of Damiata heard that 
 Qrrilo was dead, he let loose a pigeon, under whose wing he 
 had tied a letter. This fled to Cairo, from whence a second 
 was despatched to another place, as is usual ; so that, in a 
 very few hours, all Egypt was acquainted with the death of 
 Orrilo." 
 
 But the simple use of them was known in very early times. 
 Anacreon tells us (Ode ix.) that he conveyed his billet-doux to 
 Bathyllus by a dove. 
 
 Taurosthenes also, by means of a pigeon he had decked with 
 purple, sent advice to his father, who lived in the isle of JEgina, 
 of his victory in the Olympic games, on the very day he had 
 obtained it.* And, at the siege of Modena, Hirtius without, 
 and Brutus within the walls, kept, by the help of pigeons, a 
 constant correspondence ; baffling every stratagem of the 
 besieger, Antony, to intercept their couriers. During the 
 siege of Haarlem, when that city was reduced to the last ex- 
 tremity, and on the point of opening its gates, a design was 
 formed to relieve it, and the intelligence was conveyed to the 
 citizens by a letter which was tied under the wing of a pigeon. 
 In the times of the crusades there are many more instances 
 of these birds of peace being employed in the service of war : 
 Joinville relates one during the crusade of Saint Louis, and 
 Tasso another during the siege of Jerusalem. 
 
 In the old days, coasting sailors sometimes took pigeons 
 
 * JElian. Var. Hist., lib. ix. c. 2. Pliny, lib. x. c. 24, says that swallows 
 have been made use of for the same purpose. Their rate of flight has been 
 estimated at a mile in a minute for ten hours, or 600 miles per day. 
 
NOTES. 513 
 
 with them, and when at fault would let one fly, which it did at 
 once to the land. The late mysterious loss of the Pacific would 
 suggest the expediency of reviving such a practice. 
 
 The Dutch variety is the most valuable, a pair of the best 
 kind being worth from five to eight pounds. It is lighter than 
 the English pigeon, and flies nearly as fast again. It proceeds 
 at the rate of 60 miles an hour, and has been known to com- 
 plete a journey of 800 miles ; but this, it is presumed, is not 
 continuous, but assisted by occasional rest. The bird learns 
 but one lesson ; it may carry from Antwerp to London or to 
 any other place, but it will only pass between two such places. 
 It evidently travels by sight : when tossed, it circles, then 
 rises in a spiral, observes its route, and darts off. It will not 
 fly at night ; and, should the day be foggy, it is delayed, and 
 sometimes lost. 
 
 Note 59, p. 398. THE KEMOTE AND OFTEN OBSCURE ORIGIN OF 
 CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, AND CURRENT EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 Not a day passes in which we do not witness a ceremony, 
 perform an act, or use a phrase, of whose origin and import we 
 have any satisfactory and intelligible conception. Memories, 
 long since expired in history, may still lie entranced in a 
 custom, linger in a proverb, or be even embodied and embalmed 
 in a single word. So truly has it been said that "words 
 are fossilised thoughts, left stranded on the shores of Time." 
 In the progress of this work the reader (thanks to our vicar) 
 has met with several well-characterized instances, and the 
 very limited and desultory character of these notes forbids 
 any lengthened exposition. In fact, these notes should only 
 be regarded as finger-posts to direct him to the diggings, 
 and should the author accompany him on the road, it is only 
 for the sake of a little instructive gossip. With this under- 
 standing, then, we will remind him that, by a thoughtless 
 word or an unmeaning act, he may unwittingly perpetuate the 
 most ancient superstition, or become ancillary in preserving and 
 illustrating the thoughts, rights, and practices of departed 
 ages : thus, for example, when the farmer ' stipulates ' with his 
 landlord, he is little perhaps aware that he recalls the ancient 
 practice observed upon all occasions on which land changed 
 hands, that of transferring a straw stipula from the estate by 
 the seller to the buyer, as a pledge or earnest of the bargain. 
 As little is the Pantaloon of pantomime aware that in his gro- 
 tesque actions he is a veritable historian of the Venetian 
 republic. When a man is denounced as an assassin, how very 
 few know that they apply to him an epithet significant of the 
 Arabic term for hemp, ' haschisch ; ' a drug with which certain 
 men of the Saracen army, during the wars of the Crusaders, 
 became intoxicated, rushed into the Christian camp, and 
 committed the most direful murders, being themselves regardless 
 
 2 L 
 
514 PHILOSOPHY IX SPORT. 
 
 of life, whence they gained the appellation of ' Heuhaskeefa? * 
 In like manner, when we speak of one * running amuck? we 
 unknowingly allude to the Javanese, who, under the influence of 
 the same narcotic, 'bang? run about in a state of wild fury, 
 exclaiming ! Amok I Amok I which in their language, signifies, 
 kill I kill ! The word ' Pagan ' tells us that villagers remained 
 idolaters long after townsmen had become Christians. When 
 we call a man a * Dunce? we unwittingly assign to him the 
 learning of a great logician of the middle ages ; and should we 
 complain of a lady's dress being ' tawdry? we intimate that it 
 was bought at St. Audrey's Fair. The term * canter'' is derived 
 from its being the favourite pace of the Canterbury Pilgrims. 
 Thus do words whisper forgotten truths in the ear of the 
 etymologist, as 'little birds' have been said to whisper secrets 
 in the nursery. 
 
 To pass to more familiar instances. How little does the fond 
 mother, on suspending the coral toy around the neck of her 
 infant, entertain the superstitious belief of the soothsayer, that 
 its mystic virtue affords protection against the sinister in- 
 fluence of an evil eye I or that its silver bells, instead of affording 
 amusement to the child, were designed to drive away evil spirits ? 
 Then, again, does the housewife, by placing the poker across 
 the grate to draw up the fire, suspect that the custom was 
 suggested by the belief, that by thus forming a cross with the 
 bars the fire was protected from the malignant hostility of 
 witches ? But let us quit the cottage, and pass into the adjoin- 
 ing farm-yard ; what do we find there to illustrate our subject ? 
 There stand a stable and cowhouse with keys in their respective 
 doors ; to the one key is appended a naturally-perforated stone, 
 to the other, a horn ; can the ploughboy explain their mean- 
 ing ? Not he, he does but follow the practice of his predecessors 
 without the least desire to know their meaning ; he cares not 
 to be told by the learned secretary of the Archaeological Asso- 
 ciation^ that the perforated flint, the lioly stone, or haystone, is 
 the talisman employed from the most remote time to guard the 
 cattle from the attack of the fiendish Mora, or that the horn of 
 the goat is the ensign and emblem of the sylvan deity Pan, the 
 protector of cattle, and hence regarded as a potent charm, and 
 fit appendage to the key of the stable and cowhouse. 
 
 That customs have survived the tradition of their origin 
 might be proved by almost endless instances. The common 
 practice of persons unable to write their names, making their 
 cross to be regarded as a kind of manual oath, is derived from 
 our Saxon ancestors, who affixed the sign of the cross as a 
 signature to a deed, whether they could write or not. Several 
 charters are still extant, to which kings, and persons of great 
 
 * We are now accustomed to associate the idea of hemp with the punish- 
 ment rather than with the crime. 
 
 t ' History of Keys,' by H. Syer Cuming, Esq., Hon. Sec. Brit. Arch. 
 Association. 
 
NOTES. 515 
 
 eminence, affix, ' Signum crucis manu proprid pro ignorantia, 
 Uterarum. 1 Hence is derived the expression of signing instead 
 of subscribing a paper, without reference to the inability or 
 otherwise of the person concerned. So the physician of the 
 present day heads his prescription with the letter , which is 
 supposed to stand for recipe, whereas it is in truth a relict 
 of the astrological symbol of Jupiter, who is thus uninten- 
 tionally invoked. We shall conclude this gossip by earnestly 
 repeating our recommendation to the reader to study * Lectures 
 on the Study of Words? ly It. C. Trench B. I)., Dean of Westminster. 
 
 Note 60, p. 404. INVENTION OF THE GAME OF CHESS. 
 
 Alphesadi, an Arabian writer, quoted by Montucla in his 
 ' Histoire des Mathematiques,' expressly mentions the inven- 
 tion of chess as of Indian origin, and relates the following very 
 curious Indian tradition : Ardscliir, king of the Persians, 
 having invented the game of Tr-ic-Trac, and being exceedingly 
 vain of it, a certain Indian, named Sessa, the son of Daher, in- 
 vented the game of chess, and presented his chess-board and 
 chess-men to the king of the Indies. The sovereign was so 
 much pleased, that he desired Sessa to name his reward ; when 
 this man made the apparently modest request, that he should 
 receive as a gift so much corn as could be estimated by begin- 
 ning with one grain, and doubling as many times as there 
 were squares upon the chess-board, viz. 64. The king felt 
 displeased at having his munificence thus slighted by a request 
 so limited and so unworthy to be the gift from royalty ; but, as 
 Sessa remained firm, orders were given to the chief minister 
 that he should be satisfied ; when, however, the vizir had by 
 calculation ascertained the enormous quantity of corn which 
 would be required, he waited upon the king, and with some 
 difficulty convinced him of the fact ; upon which the king sent 
 for Sessa, and said to him, that he admired his powers of 
 calculation even more than the ingenuity of the game which 
 he had presented to him, and, in respect to his promise as to 
 the corn, he was compelled to acknowledge himself to be 
 insolvent. 
 
 Dr. Wallis, the friend of Sir Isaac Newton, and Savilian 
 Professor of Oxford, found that the quantity of corn would 
 be such as to be capable of forming a pyramid, the measure- 
 ment of which would be nine English miles in height, and 
 nine similar miles for each of the four sides of the base. 
 After this, Montucla also states some elaborate calculations 
 made by himself, and proves, amongst other remarkable facts, 
 that the quantity of corn in question would cover 162,000 
 square leagues to the depth of one foot, French measure, 
 which would be at least three times the extent of the surface 
 of France as it was about the year 1796, and which he esti- 
 mates at 50,000 square leagues. 
 
516 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 Note 61, p. 411. How TO POISE AN EGG ON ITS END. 
 
 By smartly shaking the egg, we disorganise its contents, 
 whence the heavier particles fall down ; and thus, by lowering 
 its centre of gravity, enable the egg to stand steadily on its 
 base. 
 
 Note 62, p. 412. THE MAGIC WAND. 
 
 From remote antiquity the rod, or wand, has been regarded 
 as the symbol, as well as the agent, of magical power. Bacchus 
 had his Thyrsus, Hercules his club ; Mercury, when sent 
 on his missions to .ZEneas by Jupiter, took especial care to pro- 
 vide himself with the essential instrument of power : 
 
 " But first he grasps within his awful hand 
 The mark of sov' reign power his MAGIC WAND : 
 With this he draws the ghosts from hollow graves ; 
 With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight, 
 And eyes, tho' clos'd in death, restores to light." 2En. iv. 
 
 Circe transformed the companions of Ulysses into swine by 
 " the waving of her circling wand ; " and thus spake her fabled 
 son, Comus, in the ' Mask ' of Milton : 
 
 " If I but wave this Wand, 
 Tour nerves are all chain'd up in alabaster, 
 And you a statue ; or, as Daphne was, 
 Root-bound, that fled Apollo." 
 
 And when the brothers interposed, they failed to disen- 
 chant the lady from the chair, in consequence of having 
 neglected to secure the rod of Comus : 
 
 " What ! have you let the false enchanter 'scape ? 
 0, ye mistook ; ye should have snatch'd his Wane?, 
 And bound him fast ; without his Rod reversed, 
 And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
 We cannot free the lady." 
 
 Prospero, on abjuring his power, 
 
 " breaks his Staff, 
 And buries it in certain fathoms of the earth."* 
 
 JSneas was only enabled to pacify the Infernal deities by the 
 "Fatalis Virya." In later times witches were supposed to 
 
 * Hence the herald breaks his staff of office, and buries it in the grave, at 
 the funeral of a prince. " The lord high steward, after condemning Lord Straf- 
 ford ot deaih, broke his white staff, and the court was dissolved." (Evelyn's 
 Diary.) 
 
NOTES. 51 7 
 
 repair to their "Sabbath" or assembly, on a magic rod or 
 broomstick : and no conjuror of the present day would dare to 
 appear before the audience without his conjuring-stick. What, 
 again, could Harlequin achieve without his wand? At this 
 very day, too, the hazel-twig, or " divining-rod," is believed 
 by many a Cornish miner to indicate by its movements the 
 locality of subterranean treasures. Quitting the magical 
 history of the rod, we find it introduced into our civil institu- 
 tions as the emblematic symbol of authority : the King has his 
 sceptre ; the mace is borne before magistrates ; the verge (yirga) 
 is carried before deans ; and the crosier before bishops : then, 
 again, we have the marshal's baton, which, when shortened, 
 becomes a truncheon (truncare). 
 
 We now descend from these exalted insignia forgive us, ye 
 magnates of the bench! to the barber's pole. Many of our 
 younger, and perchance some of our elder readers, may not 
 be aware that, before surgery assumed the dignity of a science, 
 the barber performed the operation of " letting blood" and that 
 a city company is still in existence under the denomination of 
 "Barber Surgeons." The pole, now rarely seen, except in rural 
 districts and suburban byways, represents the staff held in the 
 hand of the patient, and the red riband coiled around it, the 
 tape by which the arm was compressed during the operation. 
 
 Note 63, p. 419. THE MYSTERIOUS LADY. 
 
 We cannot be expected to run through all the categories of 
 the ingenious system of ciphers by which the feats of this 
 lady were performed ; but we shall be able, by a general de- 
 scription of the scheme, aided by a few examples, to convey 
 such a clear idea of its principles as will even enable our 
 readers to practise it on a limited scale as an occasional even- 
 ing pastime, beyond which it is not desirable to tax the mind 
 for so unprofitable an object. It is interesting to observe to 
 what an extent classification can abbreviate the labour of 
 thought and memory. By an ingenious arrangement, it will be 
 seen that any particular object which the lady may be called 
 upon to name can be at once brought within a very limited list, 
 and that her confederate will then be easily enabled so to frame 
 his question as to make it indicate the required answer. The 
 annexed table will serve as a specimen to illustrate the process. 
 It will be seen that various objects, most likely to become the 
 subjects of inquiry, are arranged in six distinct columns, each 
 of which is denoted by a vowel, thus : NUMBERS (a) ; CARDS (e) ; 
 MONEY (*') ; TRINKETS (o) ; FOOD (u) QUALITIES, as colour, figure, 
 &c. <y). 
 
 By aid of this arrangement, the first vowel which occurs in 
 any short word uttered by the confederate secretly points out 
 the column in which stands the object of inquiry : such words, 
 for instance, as ATTEND READY LISTEN COME HUSH YES, 
 
518 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 or TRY, will respectively indicate the desired column. This 
 first advance towards the solution of the problem having been 
 accomplished, the next step is to indicate the particular object 
 in the column thus predicated, and this is performed by the 
 initial letters of the words addressed to the lady by her con- 
 federate. For this purpose, the reader will, by reference to the 
 table, observe that on its margin are placed the letters of the 
 alphabet iu, pairs, which are to be considered as equivalents 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' QUALITIES AS 
 
 
 
 CARDS. 
 
 MONEY. 
 
 TRINKETS. 
 
 FOOD. \ T0 COLOUR 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 AND FIGURE. 
 
 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 y 
 
 A B 
 
 C D 
 E F 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 Clubs. 
 Diamonds. 
 Hearts. 
 
 Farthing. 
 Halfpenny. 
 Penny. 
 
 Brooch. 
 Card-case. 
 Pencil. 
 
 Cod. 
 Eel. 
 Sole. 
 
 Black. 
 Blue. 
 Brown. 
 
 G H 
 I J 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 Spades. 
 
 Three pence. 
 
 Penknife. 
 Pincushion. 
 
 Turbot. 
 Whiting. 
 
 Green. 
 Red. 
 
 K T, 
 
 6 
 
 Clubs. 
 
 Four pence. 
 
 Purse. 
 
 Beef. 
 
 Yellow. 
 
 M N 
 
 7 
 
 Diamonds. 
 
 
 Ring. 
 
 Chicken. 
 
 White. 
 
 P 
 
 S 
 
 Hearts. 
 
 Shilling. 
 
 Seal 
 
 Mutton. 
 
 INITIALS. 
 
 Q R 
 
 S T 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 Spades. 
 
 Half-crown. 
 Crown. 
 
 Smelling-bottle. 
 Thimble. 
 
 Pork. 
 Veal. 
 
 Crest. 
 Coat of arms. 
 
 U V 
 
 ]] 
 
 Clubs. 
 
 Half-sovereign. 
 
 
 Tart. 
 
 
 WX 
 
 12 
 
 Diamonds. 
 
 Sovereign. 
 
 
 Pudding. 
 
 
 Z Y 
 
 13 
 
 Hearts. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 that is to say, the confederate is at liberty to avail himself of 
 the one or the other, in order that he may have a wider range 
 of signals at his disposal. It will also be observed that these 
 equivalent pairs are arranged in divisions of fives, which, by 
 thus rendering them referable to the thumb and fingers of the 
 hand, will be found to facilitate the comprehension of the ques- 
 tion ; it will, besides, contract the range over which the mind 
 has to glance on the instant ; for the lady, by knowing that all 
 the letters after i J fall in the second division, and those after 
 s Tin the third, is at once enabled to discard from her considera- 
 tion two-thirds of the list. 
 
 We shall now proceed to exemplify this explanation by a 
 reference to the dialogue introduced in the text (page 419). 
 In some instances the questions themselves point out the 
 column, without the necessity of calling in the aid of the vowel- 
 indication, as exemplified in questions 1, 2, 3, 4. With regard 
 to the fifth question, it may be asked, by what means was the 
 queen of clubs indicated? The reader is informed that the 
 column of figures not only indicate abstract numbers, but any 
 individual card in a suit. No. 1, for instance, stands for the ace, 
 and 11, 12, 13, for knave, queen, and king. In like manner, the 
 
NOTES. 519 
 
 first twelve figures are used to denominate the months of the 
 year, as in question 13. Questions 6, 7, and 8 require the ante- 
 cedent of a vowel to denote the column. In the sixth question, 
 for instance, the vowel i, marking the third column, is an- 
 nounced by the exclamation, "Lz'sten!" while the following 
 word " Let " points out the article in that column to be a four- 
 penny piece. So, in the seventh question, the word " come " 
 intimates the fourth column, while the word " Pray " shows the 
 article in question to be a seal. In question 9 the vowel is not 
 required, because the column containing articles of food is indi- 
 cated by the question ; the initial B Begin points out co<L In 
 question 12 the vowel is again required, and, accordingly, the 
 word "now " is used to signify the fourth column. The word 
 " Mention " specifies a ring. 
 
 The scheme we have endeavoured to explain implies the 
 necessity of the one who puts the questions, as well as the other 
 who is to answer them, having their table by heart ; but this is 
 far from difficult, unless, indeed, it be extended to a great 
 number of columns. The telegraphic letters, as we have shown, 
 may be readily remembered ; then the suits of cards are alpha- 
 betical the series of money according to value the trinkets, 
 again, alphabetical, as well as the different articles of food 
 and the qualities as to colour and figure ; while the figures on 
 seals are arranged according to their ascending complexity, as 
 initials, crests, and coats-of-arms. With such assistance the 
 succession of the different articles in each column is readily 
 learnt, and easily remembered. 
 
 But however extensive a table may be, it is impossible to 
 provide for every article that may be submitted for trial ; many 
 of which are frequently of a singular nature, with a view to 
 embarrass the performer. Our fifteenth question was intro- 
 duced for the purpose of showing how the difficulty is to be en- 
 countered. The confederate, in such a case, has no other 
 resource than to spell the word by initial letters.* This was 
 accomplished in the question alluded to by a number of words 
 in the form of an unpremeditated interjection ; any other form 
 
 * Or, still farther to disguise the artifice, he might adopt the expedient 
 of Julius Caesar, who, when he wrote secretly to any one, always made use of 
 the fourth letter after that which he ought to have used viz., as D for A, 
 and E for B. Augustus used a similar plan, substituting, however, the letter 
 following the right one, as B for A, and C for B. If a sentence be thus made 
 to indicate a word, so has a single word, by the several letters of which it 
 consists, been made the vehicle of a sentence crowded with meaning ; thus, 
 for instance, the word ix,6vs, fish, was adopted by the early Christians under 
 persecution, covertly to express the perilous sentence " 'ivirov? Xplffres @ia 
 ulos, 2aT^" Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour. May we then 
 venture to express an opinion, that the legend of the fishes assembling to hear 
 the discourse of St. Anthony might be only a myth to denote the presence of 
 a Christian congregation ? 
 
520 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 of conversation or remonstrance between the confederate and 
 the party may, however, be readily adopted. Let the reader 
 refer to the words employed in our fifteenth question, and he 
 will perceive that the word SQUIRREL was communicated to the 
 lady without difficulty, thus : 
 /Somewhat Quaint. It's Remarkably Relieved. .Every Line. 
 
 Note 64, p. 423. THE FIRE-KING THE INCOMBUSTIBLE GAR- 
 MENT THE SPHEROIDAL STATE OF LIQUIDS. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that the garment, 
 restored to its whiteness by the action of fire, was an incom- 
 bustible cloth manufactured out of the fibres of the Asbestos, a 
 mineral usually found in serpentine rocks, and which the 
 ancients employed for the purpose of wrapping round the 
 bodies of the dead, when exposed on the funeral-pile. 
 
 The extraordinary feats that followed are to be referred for 
 explanation to a peculiar condition assumed by liquids, under 
 the action of great heat, which has been termed " spheroidal," 
 and which we shall hope to render intelligible to our readers. 
 
 Take a silver or metallic spoon, heat it to redness, or a little 
 below that point, over a spirit-lamp, and in that state let some 
 water be dropped into it ; you will then observe that, instead of 
 at once passing off in steam, it will float on the heated metal in 
 a globular form : the fact is, that the water cannot come into 
 actual contact with the heated surface, since it is separated 
 from it by an unconducting layer of highly-elastic steam, 
 generated on the first impulse, and which is sufficient to sup- 
 port the water in a globular form ; but no sooner is the lamp 
 withdrawn than the temperature falls to a certain point, at 
 which contact takes place, and the water passes off in the state 
 of steam : now, a liquid under such conditions is said to be in a 
 " spheroidal state" 
 
 It is a happy circumstance that philosophical phenomena, 
 apparently of the most recondite character, may be frequently 
 understood by an attentive observation of the most ordinary 
 circumstances ; * a red-hot cinder falling upon water, swims 
 
 * Of this we have lately received an exemplification, no less curious than 
 convincing, in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, by Professor 
 Tyndall, ' On slaty cleavage, as the result of crystalline or polar forces ;' a 
 theory which he proposed to refute by showing that it was alone due to 
 enormous pressure on surfaces of structural weakness, exerted at right angles 
 to the planes of cleavage. And to this end, he sought no higher argument 
 than that afforded by the slate of the schoolboy, the fracture of a biscuit, and 
 the manufacture of puff-paste. Who has not observed the nodules, or whitish- 
 green spots, dotting the surface of the common writing-slate, over which the 
 pencil slides as if they were greasy ? These were originally mud rolled up into 
 nodular masses, and if observed edgeways, are at once discovered to have been 
 flattened by pressure, in the direction above indicated, and establish beyond 
 doubt the concurrence of the phenomena of cleavage and pressure; "and 
 
NOTES. 521 
 
 upon its surface for some seconds, and then sinks with a hissing 
 sound, and the sudden irruption of steam. ]n this case the 
 heated body was isolated by a layer of vapour, as long as it 
 retained a sufficiently high temperature to sustain the 
 spheroidal condition. Again, who has not observed water, 
 when accidentally dropped upon the heated bars or hobs of the 
 grate, run along like globules of quicksilver ? although it may 
 not be equally well-known that, if such globules be smartly 
 struck with a hammer, the water, being thus suddenly and 
 violently brought into contact with the hot iron, instantly flies 
 off in the state of steam, and affords a striking proof of the 
 theory of spheroidal action. With the knowledge of these facts, 
 let us see whether we cannot satisfactorily explain the apparent 
 miracles of the "FiRE ORDEAL," and of those feats of the 
 Priestesses of Diana, recorded by Strabo, or those of the Herpi, 
 who marched over burning coal to gain exemption from military 
 service. 
 
 We are indebted to M. Boutigny for a philosophical explana- 
 tion of the immunity experienced on passing the hand through 
 melted lead or copper ; this momentary incombustibility is to 
 be attributed to the moisture of the skin* passing into the 
 spheroidal state. " No particular precautions," says he, "ap- 
 pear necessary to prevent the disorganizing action of the incan- 
 
 thus," observes the professor, " do we elevate a common experience of our 
 boyhood into evidence of the highest significance as regards one of the most 
 important problems of geology." As to the proof indicated by the biscuit, he 
 says " I have never eaten one without an intellectual joy having been super- 
 added to the mere sensual pleasure ; for I have remarked on all such occasions, 
 cleavage developed in the mass, by the rolling-pin of the pastry-cook. I have 
 only to break these cakes, and to look at the fracture, to see the laminated 
 structure of the mass." Then, again, he tells us that a lady friend initiated 
 him into the mystery of manufacturing puff-paste. " If the cleavage of our 
 hills be accidental cleavage, here is cleavage with intention : the volition of 
 the pastry-cook has entered into the formation of the mass, and it has been 
 his aim to preserve a series of surfaces of structural weakness, along which 
 the dough divides into layers. Puff-paste must not therefore be too much 
 handled, for then the continuity of the surfaces is broken ; it ought to be 
 rolled on a cold slab to prevent the butter from melting and diffusing itself 
 through the mass, which would thus render it more homogeneous and less 
 liable to split. This is the whole philosophy of puff-paste ; it is a grossly- 
 exaggerated case of slaty cleavage." Who after this will question the truth 
 of Major SnapwelFs remark (p. 328), that " there is philosophy even in our 
 pies and puddings?" In short, to a philosophic observer there is scarcely an 
 event, however trivial, nor an object, however humble and apparently insig- 
 nificant, that will not suggest analogies, confirm or correct received theories, 
 and unfold truths of the highest scientific interest. We are desirous of 
 directing the reader's earnest attention to note 33, and to page 185 of the 
 text, in farther illustration of the subject. 
 
 * Beckmann, on a visit to the copper-works at Awestad, saw a workman 
 draw his hand over a ladle filled with melted copper, having previously held 
 it for a few minutes under his arm-pit, as he said, tl to make it perspire " 
 
522 PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT. 
 
 descent matter, except to dismiss all fear, and to make the 
 experiment with confidence. The hand should be passed with 
 a moderated rapidity, and with steadiness, through the metal ; 
 otherwise, by a jerking or hurried motion, the repulsive force 
 which exists in the incandescent body might be overcome and 
 the contact with the skin take place. The experiment," he 
 adds, " although dangerous in appearance, is almost insignificant 
 in reality." We have given the explanation in the words of 
 M. Boutigny ; we will now divest it of its technical phraseology, 
 and state that the hand, when sufficiently moist, is, on its immer- 
 sion, invested, as it were, with a jacket of steam, which protects 
 it during its short and rapid passage through the burning 
 metal. M. Boutigny, however, adds, and we think wisely, that, 
 although the involuntary dread that one feels on facing these 
 masses of liquid fire almost always puts the body into that state 
 of moisture so necessary to safety and success, still certain pre- 
 cautions may be advisable. " I rub my hands," says he, " with 
 soap, so as to give them a polished surface ; then, at the 
 moment of making the experiment, I dip my hand into water 
 containing some sal ammoniac, and, default of that, into pure 
 water." In short, he takes care that his hand shall have an 
 evaporable surface ; when our young friends next play at Snap- 
 dragon, it were well that this fact should be kept in remem- 
 brance, for truly, there is Philosophy, even in that Christmas 
 Sport. 
 
 The extraordinary experiment of freezing water, or even 
 quicksilver, in a red-hot crucible, loses all its mystery when the 
 principles of science are brought to bear upon the process. 
 Mr. Faraday exhibited the freezing of quicksilver, by first intro- 
 ducing into the incandescent crucible some ether, and then a 
 portion of solid carbonic acid ; after these had passed into a 
 spheroidal state, he dipped into it a small metal spoon, contain- 
 ing about four hundred grains of quicksilver, and in less than 
 three seconds it was frozen. 
 
 Water may be thus frozen by the aid of sulphurous acid ; and 
 the ice so produced may be made to inflame by the contact of a 
 grain or two of potwsium. 
 
 To an unphilosophical observer, chemistry cannot present a 
 greater marvel than the combustion of the metal Potassium, by 
 coming into contact with water or ice ; so that the miracle said 
 to have been performed by St. Patrick when a boy, of setting 
 on fire a quantity of ice, might in the present day be repeated 
 without the aid of saintly licence ; while the exploit of " setting 
 the Thames on fire," so long typified as the crowning accomplish- 
 ment of human wisdom, may be now actually achieved by any 
 mere chemical tyro. 
 
 VALETE. 
 
[ 523 ] 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 PAGE 224. CERF-VOLANT THE KITE. 
 
 HAMLET. " Do you see that cloud, that's almost in shape like 
 a camel?" 
 
 POLONIUS. " By the 
 mass, and 'tis like a 
 camel, indeed." 
 
 HAM. "Methinks it 
 is like a weasel." 
 
 POL. "It is backed 
 like a weasel." 
 
 HAM. "Or like a 
 whale ?" 
 
 POL. "Yery like a 
 whale." 
 
 To enlighten the ob- 
 scurity in which the 
 Vicar confessed himself 
 
 involved regarding the origin of the term ' Cerf- Volant,' as ap- 
 plied to the Kite, a correspondent in * NOTES AND QUERIES' 
 informs us that it is significant of the STAG-BEETLE ( Lucanus 
 Cervus, Linn.), and, on the authority of Pierre Eichelet (' Dic- 
 tionnaire de Langue Frangoise a Amsterdam, 1782,') that the 
 boy's kite was named after that insect, as being * Ludicra 
 Scarabcei Lucani effigies.' To recognise any similitude in the 
 ordinary figure of the kite and in that of the horned beetle in 
 question, certainly demands no small measure of the courtly 
 pliancy of a Polonius ; but although the likeness may fail with 
 regard to the shape and figure, we are by no means prepared to 
 say that it cannot be found in the peculiar character which 
 marks the flight of that insect ; for since it rises perpendicularly, 
 and then shapes its course laterally, it may be thought some- 
 what to resemble the kite in its ascent, and in its subsequent 
 movements in the air. 
 
 At page 312 in the Text, will be found an allusion to several 
 acoustic instruments, such as the trumpet, speaking tubes, &c., 
 for the purpose of augmenting sounds, and for conveying them 
 to a distance ; such must have been the principal object of the 
 Mask, worn by the actors of the ancient theatre, or how are we 
 otherwise to understand the meaning of that hideous exaggera- 
 tion of the mouth, except as an organ for vocal purposes ? so 
 
524 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 vast indeed was the area through which the performer had to 
 throw his voice, an area, as we are 
 told, capable of holding 80 ; 000 per- 
 sons, that without some such con- 
 trivance, the actor could not have 
 been heard. In confirmation of this 
 opinion we may appeal to the etymo- 
 logist, the word 1'ersona, a Mask or 
 Yisor, comes from personare, to sound 
 through. In further support of this 
 opinion, we learn from Lucian, that 
 the mask of the dancers, ' orchestrie,' 
 or mute as it was termed, was not 
 disfigured by such an exaggeration 
 of mouth, but was more natural and 
 less repulsive. 
 
 NOTE 4, p. 446. " THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS." In addition 
 to the statements in this note, we are anxious to observe, that 
 Cornelius Agrippa, in his Satirical Essay on the varieties of 
 Sciences and Arts, speaks of the opposite opinions held by phi- 
 losophers respecting the Plurality of Worlds ; that " Empedocles 
 said there was one world, but that it was a small particle only 
 of the universe that Metrodorus, a disciple of Democritus, and 
 after him, Epicurus, thought there were innumerable worlds, 
 because the causes of them were innumerable ;" and he con- 
 cludes with the following striking illustration " It was not less 
 absurd to think that, amidst the universe of stars, there should be 
 only one world, than to imagine but one ear of corn in a whole 
 corn-field I" 
 
[ 525 ] 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ACCELERATING. 
 
 ACCELEBATIN& velocity of falling bodies, 
 36. 
 
 Accidental discoveries, 483. 
 
 Action and reaction are equal, and in oppo- 
 site directions, 60. 
 
 Addison, his remark on the value of ancient 
 coins, 44. 
 
 Agriculture, geology applied to it, 470. 
 
 Air, 186 the most elastic of all known sub- 
 stances, 94 why it ascends when heated, 
 245. 
 
 Air-bladder of fishes, 189, 506. 
 
 Air-gun, 191. 
 
 Amusement and Instruction, 12 meaning 
 of the terms, 13. 
 
 Anaxagoras, his advocacy of half-holidays, 
 and the reason of it, 12. 
 
 Angle, its definition, 110. 
 
 Angles of incidence and reflexion, 168. 
 
 Animal suction, 481. 
 
 Anthony. St., the legend of his congrega- 
 tion of fishes, 519. 
 
 Arbalet, or cross-bow, 258. 
 
 Archery, 257 in the olden time, 498. 
 
 Arrow, the use of the feathers, 251. 
 
 Asbestos, 520. 
 
 Ascent of elevated mountains, why fatigu- 
 ing, 486. 
 
 Assassin, origin of the word, 513. 
 
 Atmosphere, its density at different alti- 
 tudes, 186 its weight, 207 rarefied in 
 the higher regions, 486. 
 
 Atmospheric currents, illustrated by the 
 currents of a heated room, 496. 
 
 Atmospheric pressure, 179, 186 experi- 
 ments in illustration, 210. 
 
 Attraction, acts from the centre and not 
 from the surface of the earth, 35. 
 
 Autumnal tints, 357. 
 
 Axis of a revolving body, 50, 135, 370, 474. 
 
 Bachelor, origin of the name, 517. 
 Balancer, his art explained and illustrated, 
 
 74. 
 Balancing-toys, what they elucidate, 22 
 
 various kinds, 79. 
 Baleares, 127. 
 
 BOOMERANG. 
 
 Ball, the game will illustrate the three 
 great laws of motion, 21 will elucidate 
 elasticity, rotatory motion, reflected mo- 
 tion, the angles of incidence and reflexion, 
 and the theory of projectiles, 22 its anti- 
 quarian history, 151 the rebounding, 95. 
 
 Ballad, original meaning of the word, 500. 
 
 Ballads, their importance, 281. 
 
 Balloon, its motion insensible to the aero- 
 naut, 51 its rotatory motion, 52. 
 
 Bandalore, 158 exemplifies the nature of 
 the momentum of rotatory motion, 23, 67 
 its history, 67 its construction, 67 
 notice of it in 'Moore's Diary,' 67. 
 
 Bandy-baU, 154. 
 
 Barber's pole, 517. 
 
 Barometer, 189. 
 
 Barometers, vegetable, 489. 
 
 Baton of the marshal, 517. 
 
 Battering-ram, why it should have given 
 place to the cannon, 63. 
 
 Battledoor, origin of the name, 250. 
 
 Beckers, copies of ancient coins by a Frank- 
 fort artist, 46. 
 
 Beds, elastic, 465. 
 
 Bees, how enabled to reach the juices of 
 plants too narrow for them to enter, 482. 
 
 Bellows, 205 by whom invented, 206. 
 
 Bending, a combination of compression and 
 distension, 92. 
 
 Bilboquet, 136. 
 
 Billiards, 476. 
 
 Biot, his experiment to show the velocity 
 with which sound is conveyed by solid 
 bodies, 499. 
 
 Birds, why they sleep with their heads 
 under their wings, 75. 
 
 Birds, why they can stand on one leg with- 
 out fatigue, 78. 
 
 Birds, why they rise by flapping their 
 wings, 232. 
 
 Birds, the tail of a bird, compared with the 
 rudder of a ship, 237. 
 
 Blowing hot and cold, 494. 
 
 Blow-pipe of Guiana, 462. 
 
 Boat, how impelled by paddling, 493. 
 
 Boomerang, 135, 47 . 
 
526 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 BOTTLE-IMPS. 
 
 Bottle-imps, a toy showing the relative 
 elasticity of air and water, 22, 188. 
 
 Bow and Arrow, 257. 
 
 Box, the plant, its seeds dispersed by a 
 spring, 467. 
 
 Box, the word, 28. 
 
 Bride-cake, 333. 
 
 Brief-card, or the " old gentleman," 413. 
 
 Brockedon's compressed lead for pencils, 
 480. 
 
 Brompton Messenger, 242. 
 
 Buffoon, origin of the word, 397. 
 
 Bun, its origin, 331. 
 
 Butter, derivation of the word, 331. 
 
 Butterfly, the object and cause of its ir- 
 regular flight, 238 its wings, 489. 
 
 Calchas, the soothsayer, the story of his 
 death, 421. 
 
 Calculation, origin of the word, 193. 
 
 Calendar of Flora, 444. 
 
 Cameo, its origin, 503. 
 
 Candle, the explanation of blowing it out 
 and blowing it in, 495. 
 
 Cannon, origin of the word, 464. 
 
 Canon of the church, origin of the word, 
 464. 
 
 Canopus, its origin, 445. 
 
 Canter, origin of the word, 514. 
 
 Cap, why the symbol of liberty, 365. 
 
 Capitol, origin of the term, 193. 
 
 Cards, 406 the "brief card," 413 con- 
 juring with cards, 413. 
 
 Carrier-pigeon, 512. 
 
 Cartesians, 362. 
 
 Casting of the bar, an ancient amusement, 
 430. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, the myth of, 270. 
 
 Catherine-wheels, 435. 
 
 Centre of Gravity, 68, 461 how to find it, 
 71 of a ring, 72. 
 
 Centre of Magnitude, 63. 
 
 Centre of Percussion, 140, 474. 
 
 Centrifugal Railway, 124. 
 
 Centripetal and centrifugal forces, 123, 448 
 balance each other in circular motion, 
 123. 
 
 Ceremonies, their remote and often obscure 
 origin, 513. 
 
 Cerf-volant, 523. 
 
 Chairs, elastic, 465. 
 
 Chance resemblances, 500. 
 
 Chess, the game, story of its invention, 403, 
 515. 
 
 Chess-board, origin of its book-like form, 
 407, 
 
 Chevreul, his works on colour, 345. 
 
 Chickweed, a barometer, 489. 
 
 Chinese Tumblers, a toy exemplifying the 
 combined effects of momentum and a 
 change in the centre of gravity, 23 the 
 toy described, 85 its movements ex- 
 plained, 86. 
 
 Christmas-tree, 510. 
 
 Cinderella's " glass slipper," 144. 
 
 Cinders, why when red-hot they will float 
 upon water, 520. 
 
 CULBUTEUR. 
 
 Cipher of Julius Ctesar, 519 of Augustus, 
 
 519. 
 
 Circle, its definition, 112. 
 Circumference, 112. 
 Clairvoyance, 469. 
 Clock, 464 Polar, 444. 
 Clouds, their apparent motion a fallacious 
 
 test of the velocity of the wind, 498. 
 Cohesion, 178. 
 Coinage-towns, 453. 
 
 Coins, 44, 452 origin of the word, 453 
 their history, 452 a coin of Ptolemy 
 VIII., 45 a brass corn of Tiberius, 46 
 the shilling of Henry VII. curious as the 
 first shilling struck, 47 the silver groat 
 of Perkin Warbeck, 47 the farthing and 
 sixpence of Oliver Cromwell, 47 the pe- 
 tition crown-piece of Charles II., 48 the 
 farthing of Queen Anne, 47 copies of 
 corns, 46. 
 
 Coleridge, his pun on the Johnian Bridge, 9. 
 Collision of bodies, 477. 
 Coloured fires, 439. 
 
 Colours of which white light is compounded, 
 
 349 primary, 350 compound, 350 
 
 shades or tones, 350 complementary, 351 . 
 
 Combustion, retarded in elevated regions, 
 
 487. 
 
 Complementary colours, 351. 
 Composition offerees, 115 always attended 
 
 with loss of power, 118. 
 ! Compound forces, 115. 
 Concave mirror, its effects exhibited, 425. 
 Conic Sections, 469. 
 Conjuring tricks, 413. 
 
 Contrast, an important condition of the 
 Beautiful, 347 successive and simul- 
 taneous, 352. 
 j Convolvulus, 4.44. 
 
 j Coral and bells, a relic of superstition, 514. 
 CoreUi, the musician, anecdote of, 279. 
 Corkington, Sam, his proposal to light up 
 the Continent from Mount Vesuvius, 16. 
 Cornwall, seat of an old superstition, 451 
 j a county in which the relations between 
 the varieties of soil and the subjacent 
 I rocks can be well traced, 471. 
 Courantine, or line-rocket, 434. 
 ; Creaking shoes, 318 how to remedy the 
 
 defect, 319. 
 
 Crepundia, or noisy toys, 270. 
 Crescent, its origin as the Turkish ensign, 
 
 292. 
 
 Cricket, origin of the name, 154. 
 Cricket-bat, illustrates the centre of per- 
 cussion, 22. 
 
 Crosier of the bishops, 517. 
 Cross in the place of a signature, origin of 
 
 the custom, 514. 
 Cross of Constantine, 372. 
 Crosses, 457. 
 
 Cross-bow, 258 invented by the Sicilians, 
 259 when first used in England, 259 
 its history, 259. 
 Cross-buns, 331. 
 Crystal Palace, 485. 
 Culbuteur, Le petit, 87. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 527 
 
 CUP. 
 
 Cup and Ball, 136 illustrate the theory of 
 
 the rifle-gun, 23. 
 Customs, their remote and often obscure 
 
 origin, 513. 
 Cycloid, 476. 
 Cyclones, or revolving storms, 497. 
 
 Dacier, Madame, owed her literary emi- 
 nence to early family lessons, 11. 
 
 Dancing balls, 89. 
 
 Dandelion, 443. 
 
 Daphne, 374. 
 
 Day and Martin, 340. 
 
 Denarius of Tiberius, the coin which 
 tempted Judas to betray his Master, 46. 
 
 Devil and the Bag of Nails, sign of the 
 village inn, explained, 107. 
 
 Diagonal, 112. 
 
 Diameter, 112. 
 
 Diotimus the Athenian, 341. 
 
 Discoveries, accidental, 483. 
 
 Distances, a method of calculating, 37. 
 
 Diving, an anecdote of the wreck of the 
 Koyal George, 499. 
 
 Divining-rod, 517. 
 
 Dodona's oracular oaks, 502. 
 
 Doll, 325. 
 
 Dorsiferus ferus, its elastic spring for eject- 
 ing the seed, 467. 
 
 Doseall, Dr., the Esculapius of Overton, 88 
 why called Polyphemus by Mr. Twaddle- 
 ton, 88. 
 
 Dragon-fly, how its larva is enabled to 
 swim, 434. 
 
 Druidical remains, 477 rock-basins, 176. 
 
 Duck and Drake, 94, 466 an instructive 
 game, 22 its antiquity. 95. 
 
 Dunce, origin of the word, 514. 
 
 Earth, weight of the, 446. 
 
 Earthquake of Lisbon, 470. 
 
 Echo, 303 a remarkable example near 
 
 P.ouen, 304 near Milan, 306 near Kil- 
 
 larney, 307 in the cloisters of Trinity 
 
 College, Cambridge, 426. 
 Edgeworth, Miss, her advocacy of scientific I 
 
 toys, 20 . 
 
 Egg, how to poise it on its end, 516. 
 Elastic beds and chairs, 465. 
 Elastic springs, illustrated by toys, 22, 93. 
 Elasticity, the term explained, 92 toys 
 
 which illustrate it, 93 a law of, 98 
 
 elasticity of plants, 467. 
 Ellipse, 470. 
 Enigma, 113, 321. 
 Equinoctial flowers, 4. 
 Eulenstein, a celebrated performer on the 
 
 Jew's Harp, 506. 
 
 Euphorbia, its elastic seed-vessel, 467. 
 Eurydice, 374. 
 
 Exchequer, origin of the word, 404. 
 Expressions, current, their remote and 
 
 often obscure origin, 513. 
 Eye, retentive power of the retina, 370 
 
 winking, 371. 
 
 Fairies of Ireland, 352 of New Zealand, 348. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL. 
 
 Fairy rings, 296, 503. 
 
 Falling bodies under the influence of two 
 
 opposing forces, gravity and the air's 
 
 resistance, 33. 
 Family, indication of its character from its 
 
 grounds and gardens, 3. 
 Fantoccini, 325. 
 Farthing, origin of the word, 454 of Queen 
 
 Anne, 47. 
 Fertility of a country dependent on its 
 
 geological structure, 470. 
 Field-sports enjoyed by the fathers of the 
 
 church, 105. 
 
 Fire, produced by friction, 230. 
 Fire-king, 520 his exploits, 421. 
 Fire-ordeal, 521. 
 Fireworks, 432 their exhibition in Osterley 
 
 Park, 437. 
 Fishes, how they move forward in the 
 
 water, 492 their air-bladder, 506. 
 Flame of a candle, 494. 
 Fleas, how enabled to leap, 95 the father 
 
 of leapers, 95 the Industrious, 96. 
 Flight of insects, 493. 
 
 Flora-, her statue attired by spring, 4 horo- 
 loge of, 4, 44^3 calendar of, 444. 
 Floral kingdom supplies many instances of 
 
 chance resemblances, 502. 
 Flower-garden, 344 why it should be near 
 
 your dwelling, 345 laws which should 
 
 direct the arrangement of the flowers, 
 
 349, 356. 
 Flowers, equinoctial, 443 meteoric, 443 
 
 oracular of the weather, 227 tropical, 
 
 443. 
 
 Flute, origin of the name, 301. 
 Fluttering-hearts, an optical illusion, 384. 
 Fly, structure of its foot, 180, 482. 
 Fly, a regulator of machinery, 235. 
 Flying, a disquisition on the theory of, 233 
 
 by artificial wings, 491 plans of 
 
 Robert Hooke, Bishop Wilkins, and Sir 
 
 William Congreve, 491. 
 Flying-chariot proposed by Bishop Wilkins, 
 
 492. 
 
 Flying-top, 247. 
 Flying-witch, 91. 
 Foot-ball, 153. 
 Force, what it is, 53 we cannot destroy or 
 
 create it, 53, 458 we may accumulate it, 
 
 53 compound, 115 may be resolved 
 
 into any number of forces, 118. 
 Forest murmurs suggestive to the ear of a 
 
 poet, 502. 
 
 Fountain, the dancing figure of the, 91. 
 Foxglove, origin of the name, 297. 
 Fox-hunters, a word or two addressed to 
 
 them, 105. 
 Freezing water or quicksilver in a red-hot 
 
 crucible, 522. 
 Friction, 57 without it everything would 
 
 be hi perpetual motion, 57. 
 Fusee of a watch, 465. 
 
 Galileo, the pulse his measure of time, 38. 
 Gender, a Javanese instrument, 505. 
 Geological temple, 5. 
 
528 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL. 
 
 Geological theories, 445. 
 
 Geology, a conversation on it, 128 applied 
 to agriculture, 470. 
 
 Geometrical definitions, 109. 
 
 Geranium, its seed-vessel, 467. 
 
 Gerbe, the firework so called, 436. 
 
 Glass, its discovery, 48 i. 
 
 Glass-slipper of Cinderella, 144. 
 
 Goat and Compasses, sign of an inn, ex- 
 plained, 108. 
 
 Goat in Boots, sign of an inn, explained, 
 108. 
 
 Goatsbeard, a flower which closes at noon, 
 443. 
 
 Goethe, 446 the optical illusion which 
 suggested the introduction of the black 
 dog in his poem of Faust, 373. 
 
 Goff, the game, 154. 
 
 Gold, its standard in England, 453. 
 
 Gravitation, 29, 34, 446. 
 
 Gravity, centre of, 68, 71, 461. 
 
 Gravity and centrifugal force, 448. 
 
 Green-man and Still, sign of an inn, ex- 
 plained, 108. 
 
 Groat of Perkin Warbeck, 47. 
 
 Gudule, St., the miracle performed by her, 
 494. 
 
 Hagstone, or holy-stone, a talisman to pro- 
 tect cattle, 514. 
 
 Halfpenny, origin of the word, 454. 
 
 Harmattan, a hot wind on the west coast 
 of Africa, 496. 
 
 Hawkweed, 443. 
 
 Herald, why he breaks his staff of office at 
 the funeral of a prince, 516. 
 
 "Hercules cannot throw a feather farther 
 than a child," the adage explained, 62. 
 
 Herpi, how they marched over burning 
 coals, 521. 
 
 Holy wells, 451. 
 
 Hoop, 139. 
 
 Horace a punster, 367. 
 
 Horn, why an appendage to the key of a 
 stable, 514. 
 
 Horologe of Flora, 4, 443. 
 
 House-fly, structure of its foot, 482. 
 
 Hurricanes, 497. 
 
 Hustings, probably a corruption of Hoist- 
 ings, 396. 
 
 Hydromancy, 451. 
 
 Ice, how to set it on fire, 522. 
 
 Imaginary forms, 500 sounds, 502. 
 
 Incombustible garment, 520. 
 
 Indian blow-pipe, 462. 
 
 Insects, their flight, 493. 
 
 Inventions suggested by the analogies of 
 
 nature, 483. 
 Invisible girl, 313. 
 Iridescence, 488. 
 
 Jew's Harp, 299, 506 its antiquity, 299 a 
 national instrument in Chili, 300 origin 
 of the name, 300 wonderful performers 
 on the instrument, 506. 
 
 Johnians, punsters by tradition, 9 have the 
 soubriquet of " Hogs," 9. 
 
 MEDALLIONS. 
 
 Kam-breh Hill, Cornwall, a supposed seat 
 of the Druids, 477. 
 
 Kite, 214 develops the theory of the com- 
 position and resolution of forces, 23 how 
 to make one, 215 the tail, 217 origin of 
 the name, 223 the French name, 224 
 of Chinese origin, 225 musical kites, 225 
 the flight of the kite, 232 the forces 
 which cause its ascent, 236 the use of 
 the tail, 238 why its ascent is limited, 
 239 how a kite may be raised above the 
 clouds, 240 fall of the kite, 241 the 
 messenger, 241, 494 a kite carriage, 240 
 practical uses to which the kite has 
 been applied, 243 employed by Arctic 
 voyagers, 214. 
 
 Koch, a wonderful performer on the Jew's 
 Harp, 506. 
 
 Lacerto Gecko, 481. 
 
 Lamprey, 181. 
 
 Language, Philosophical, 114. 
 
 Lead, how compressed by the late Mr. 
 
 Brockedon for pencils, 480. 
 Leathern money, 192. 
 Leathern Sucker, a lesson derived from it, 
 
 22. 
 
 Lettuce, an equinoctial flower, 444. 
 Light, its velocity, 448 theories of its 
 
 nature, 450. 
 Light and Shade, an important feature of 
 
 the Beautiful, 348. 
 Light of the sun resolvable into three 
 
 primary colours, 349. 
 Limpet, 180. 
 Line of direction, 69. 
 Line-rockets, 434. 
 
 Liquids, their spheroidal state, 520. 
 Lisbon, earthquake of, 470. 
 Lizard of Java, how enabled to walk on 
 
 perpendicular walls, 481. 
 Logan-stones, 478. 
 Ludus latrunculorum, whether our game of 
 
 chess or draughts, 403, -IDA. 
 Ludus Trojaj, 399, 428. 
 Lydians, said to have been the inventors of 
 
 play, 155. 
 
 Mace, to be traced back to the magician's 
 wand, 517. 
 
 Magic bottle, 212 wand, 516. 
 
 Magic of Music, a game, 284. 
 
 Mall of St. James's Park, origin of the 
 name, 154. 
 
 Mallow, an equinoctial flower, 444. 
 
 Marble, why it revolves as it runs, 119. 
 
 Marbles, the game, 163 illustrates the law 
 offerees, 22 its antiquarian history, 163 
 where and how manufactured, 164. 
 
 Marionette, 325. 
 
 Marroons, 435. 
 
 Mask worn by the actors and dancers of 
 the ancient theatre, 523. 
 
 Mechanical powers, 460. 
 
 Mechanical resources of the ancients, evi- 
 dence of, 85. 
 
 Medallions, 454. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 529 
 
 MEDALS 
 
 Medals, ancient, 44 their usefulness, 455. 
 
 Memnon, statue of, 301. 
 
 Merry-andrew and his companion the 
 boudoir, 396. 
 
 Meteorology, 496. 
 
 Mezzotinto engraving, 434. 
 
 Mill, the horizontal, 254. 
 
 Mince-pie, 330. 
 
 Mirror, concave, 425. 
 
 Missilitsa, or small medals, 454. 
 
 Mistletoe-bough, 510. 
 
 Momentum, denned and explained, 61, 460 
 its velocity makes up for weight, 89 
 toys in illustration, 89. 
 
 Money, 452 of various kinds, 192 origin 
 of the word, 452. 
 
 Moon, Bishop Wilkins on the possibility of 
 a passage thither, 492. 
 
 Mop, the trundling of it illustrates the 
 action of the centripetal and centrifugal 
 forces, 124. 
 
 Morra, an Italian and Chinese game, 414. 
 
 Mother-of-pearl, why iridescent, 488. 
 
 Motion, Diodorus denied its existence, 50 
 definition, 50 we are not conscious of 
 it unless we feel it, 52 its knowledge a 
 deduction of reasom'ng, not a perception 
 of sense, 381 the three great laws of, 64 
 the laws practically exemplified, 65 
 absolute and relative, 51 uniform, acce- 
 lerated, and retarded, 54 rotatory, 119, 
 133, 370 reflected, 168 of the celestial 
 bodies, 126. 
 
 Motive power, 458. 
 
 Muses, indulged in holiday recreations, 13. 
 
 Music, ancient compared with modern, 278 
 conveyed into our houses like water, 
 17 the magic of, 284, 499. 
 
 Musical instruments classed under three 
 heads, 298. 
 
 Musical sounds, theory of, 274. 
 
 Mysterious Lady, 418 principle of her inge- 
 nious system of ciphers, 517. 
 
 Narcissus, the fable of, 310. 
 
 Nature's time-piece, 4. 
 
 Nautilus, the means by which it moves 
 over the surface of the water, 434. 
 
 Ned Hopkins, a character of odd combina- 
 tions, 334 his opinion of the Komans, 
 337 and of antiquaries, 337 gives some 
 account of his life, 339. 
 
 Neptunists and Plutonists, 445 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, as a schoolboy, 23 his 
 monument in Westminster Abbey, 30 
 the story of the fall of the apple, 49. 
 
 Nimbus, how it might be seen round the 
 head of a saint, 373. 
 
 Nipplewort, 444. 
 
 Nostrum, 397. 
 
 Nuts, 393 origin of the Roman proverb 
 "nucibus relictis," 393. 
 
 Oat, its seed projected by a spring, 467. 
 
 Ocean, its Aveight, 487. 
 
 Ocular Spectra, 372. 
 
 Optical fallacies, 353 illusions, 372. 
 
 PLAY. 
 
 Orchids, the animal shape of their blossoms, 
 
 502. 
 
 Orrery, a simple one, 469. 
 Oscillation, doctrine of, 158. 
 Overton, its eccentric vicar, 6 proposed 
 
 Mechanics' Institution iu the parish, 14. 
 Overton Lodge, description of it, 3. 
 Oxalis, its elastic pouch, 467. 
 Oyster, how enabled to close its shell so 
 
 firmly, 482- 
 
 Paduans, copies of Roman coins, 46. 
 
 Pagan, origin of the word, 514 
 
 Pall Mall, a game played in the reign of 
 Charles II., 154. 
 
 Palming, a practice of the conjuror, 413. 
 
 Palm-play, 153. 
 
 Pancakes, 331. 
 
 Panic, derivation of the word, 107. 
 
 Pan's-pipes, 299. 
 
 Panorama, 425. 
 
 Pantaloon, origin of the name, 398. 
 
 Pantaloons, origin of the name, 398. 
 
 Pantomime, 397. 
 
 Papyro-Plastics, 109. 
 
 Parabola, the curve so called, 123, 470 why 
 described by a projectile, 125. 
 
 Parachute, 34. 
 
 Parallelogram, denned, 109. 
 
 " Peg too low," origin of the saying, 108. 
 
 Pendulum, 158, 464 by its means M. Fou- 
 cault has shown the rotation of the 
 earth, 161 may be put in motion by the 
 least breath of the mouth, 504. 
 
 Penny, the first silver coin struck in Eng- 
 land, 454 origin of the word, 453. 
 
 Penumbra, 385. 
 
 Percussion, the centre of, 140, 474. 
 
 Perfumes and flavours produced from refuse, 
 
 Peristeria, or Holy Ghost plant, 502. 
 
 Peter of Cortona, the artist, anecdote, 366. 
 
 Petition-crown of Charles II., 48, 
 
 Phaenakistiscope, 382. 
 
 Phantasmagoria, 423. 
 
 Phantasmascope, 382. 
 
 Phantom sounds, 502. 
 
 Philotus of Cos, the poet, JElian's story, 79. 
 
 Photography, how images of bodies in rapid 
 
 motion are obtained, 381. 
 Pictures, how the eye might be assisted in 
 
 the right perception of their colouring, 
 
 355. 
 Pig and Whistle, sign of an inn, explained, 
 
 108. 
 Pigeons, carrier, 512 the practice of using 
 
 them very ancient, 512. 
 Pimpernel, 444. 
 Pink, 444. 
 Pin-wheels, 435. 
 Piskies, or Cornish fairies, 308. 
 Planets, 446. 
 Plank, Tom, the philosophical carpenter, 11 
 
 why disliked by Mr. Twaddleton, 14 
 
 Mr. Seymour banters the vicar about him, 
 
 14. 
 Play and work, not antitheses, 19, 
 
 2 M 
 
530 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 PLEASE. 
 
 " Please the pigs," origin of the saying, 108 
 
 Plurality of worlds, 447, 524. 
 
 Plutonists and Neptunists, 445. 
 
 Poker, origin of the custom of placing it 
 
 across the grate, 5 14. 
 Polar clock, 4i4. 
 Polypus, 180. 
 Pompey's Pillar, how ascended by English 
 
 sailors, 243. 
 Pop-gun, 190. 
 Poppy, 444. 
 
 Precession of the equinoxes, 475. 
 Primary colours, 350. 
 Projectiles, theory of, 123, 125. 
 Protogenes, the painter, anecdote, 501. 
 Prussians, the toy so called, 79. 
 Ptolemy VIII., a coin of, 45. 
 Puff-paste, its philosophy, 521. 
 Pump, 207 by whom invented, 209. 
 Punch, 325. 
 
 Puns patronised by King James, 18. 
 Purslain, 444. 
 
 Queen Anne's farthing, 47. 
 Quintain, the game, 431. 
 Quoits, 429. 
 
 K, on the physician's prescription, an astro- 
 logical symbol, 515. 
 
 Eacket, its' origin, 153. 
 
 Rainbow, 348. 
 
 Rarefied atmosphere of the higher regions, 
 486. 
 
 Rebounding ball, 95, 168. 
 
 Reciprocated vibration, or resonance, 504. 
 
 Reflected motion, 168, 
 
 Reid, Colonel, his discovery of the laws of 
 storms, 497. 
 
 Repose in Nature impossible, 459. 
 
 Resolution offerees, 118. 
 
 Resonance, 300, 504. 
 
 Retina of the eye, its retentive power, 369. 
 
 Revolving storms, 497. 
 
 Revolving watch-glass, 121. 
 
 Ricochet, the game, 94. 
 
 Riddle, 267, 314, 315 of Cleobulus, 269 
 the oldest on record, 269. 
 
 Rifle-gun, 471. 
 
 Ring-taw, the game, 164 meaning of the ' 
 
 term taw, 164. 
 Roast beef of England, 334. 
 Rock-basins, 176, 478 idols, 478, 502. 
 Rockets, 432, 437 Caduceus, 439 hono- 
 rary, 438 line, 434 shell, 439 towering, 
 
 438. 
 
 Rocky Glen, its romantic character, 5. 
 Roman-candles, 436. 
 Rope-dancing explained, 75. 
 Rose, why the symbol of silence, origin of 
 
 the expression " under the rose," 392. 
 Rotatory motion, 119, 133, 370 always the I 
 
 result of two forces, 122. 
 Rudder, how it acts, 493 the angle it | 
 
 should make with the keel, 239. 
 " Running amuck," origin of the expression, 
 
 514. 
 Rural taste, an indication of refinement, 3. 
 
 SOUND. 
 
 Russia, her Imperial Arms, 108. 
 Ruthven's propeller for steam-ships, 434. 
 Ryland, Miss Kitty, the extraordinary sub- 
 tlety of her ears, 99. 
 
 Saint Gudule, 494. 
 
 Saint Swithin, 489. 
 
 Salad, how made by the Greeks, 401. 
 
 Salmon, how enabled to leap, 96. 
 
 Sandwort, 444. 
 
 Saturnalia of the Romans, 511. 
 
 Saucisson, 435. 
 
 Sceptre of Sovereigns, 517. 
 
 Seal, how enabled to climb the ice, 180. 
 
 Seeds of some plants dispersed by means of 
 a spring, 96- 
 
 See-saw, 155 illustrates the theory of the 
 lever, 24. 
 
 Sessa, the inventor of the game of chess, 
 story of the invention, 515- 
 
 Seymour, Mr., his proposal to teach his 
 children philosophy by the aid of their 
 toys, 11, 21. 
 
 Shadow, its passage over an illuminated 
 surface has a tendency to produce appa- 
 rent motion, 386. 
 
 Shilling, the first, 47. 
 
 Shoes, why they creak, 318. 
 
 Shot silk, -185. 
 
 Shuttlecock, 250 origin of the name, 
 250. 
 
 Sigillaria, a Roman festival, 511. 
 
 Signing a paper, origin of the expression, 
 514. 
 
 Silver, its standard in England, 453. 
 
 Simon, the artist of the petition crown- 
 piece of Charles II., 48. 
 
 Sinbad and the Old Man of the Sea, 342. 
 
 Sirens, their songs, 284. 
 
 Sirocco, 496. 
 
 Slaty cleavage illustrated by the structure 
 of a biscuit, 520. 
 
 Slaves, how made freemen by the Romans, 
 365. 
 
 Sling, exemplifies the effect of centrifugal 
 force, and explains the motions of the 
 planets, 23, 122 its antiquity, 128. 
 
 Smoke-jack, 255 a toy constructed on the 
 
 same principle, 256. 
 
 Snapdragon, how to play at it with safety, 
 522. 
 
 Snapwell, Major, his arrival at Overtoil, 99 
 his interview with Xed Hopkins, 336 
 his grand fete at Osterley Park, 408. 
 
 Soap-bubble, 199. 
 
 Soils, poor or rich according to the rock, 
 470. 
 
 Solomon Speed's plan for regulating the 
 weather, 17. 
 
 Sound, 270, its theory illustrated by the 
 humming-top and other toys, 24 heard 
 at great distances on the sea, 271 heard 
 under water, 499 travels much more 
 slowly than light, 37 transmitted with 
 great rapidity and perfection by solid 
 bodies, 271, 499, 50s how propagated 
 by aerial vibration, 272 a plan tor 
 
INDEX. 
 
 531 
 
 SOUNDS. 
 
 transmitting messages nine hundred miles 
 in an hour, 318. 
 
 Sounds, imaginary, 502 musical, 274 
 mysterious, 320. 
 
 Sow-thistle, 443. 
 
 Speaking-bust, 317 trumpet, 312. 
 
 Spectral colours, 352. 
 
 Spectre at the waterfall, 290 explained, 
 293. 
 
 Spheroidal state of liquids, 520. 
 
 Spinning of the top, 475. 
 
 Spirit-rapping, 468. 
 
 Spring-beds, 465. 
 
 Spring of a watch, 464. 
 
 Springs, then- operation depends on elasti- 
 city, 93 they afford the means of packing 
 up force, 465. 
 
 Square, its definition, 109. 
 
 Squinting with the fingers, 503. 
 
 Squirt, 204. 
 
 Standard of gold, 453 of silver, 453. 
 
 " Stars and the Earth," an ingenious Essay, 
 450. 
 
 Stars may be visible although long extin- 
 guished, 449. 
 
 Sterling, origin of the word as applied to 
 money, 453. 
 
 Stilts, walking on, 76 why used in the 
 Landes, 77 common on the banks of the 
 Meuse, 77 used by the Scotch in passing 
 rivers, 77. 
 
 Stipulate, origin of the word, 513. 
 
 Stork, why it can stand on one leg without 
 fatigue, 78. 
 
 Storms and winds, 495. 
 
 Stradella, the composer, 282. 
 
 Succory, 444. 
 
 Sucker, 177. 
 
 Sucking-fish, 481. 
 
 Suction, the meaning of the term, 179 by 
 certain animals, 481. 
 
 Sugar, discovery of the method of purifying 
 it with clay, 484. 
 
 Sun-dial, its motto, 4. 
 
 Sunset, many of its tints are optical crea- 
 tions, 354. 
 
 Suspension, the point of, 70. 
 
 Swallows employed as messengers, 512. 
 
 Swan with Two Necks, sign of an inn, ex- 
 plained, 108. 
 
 Swing, 158. 
 
 Swithin, St., 489. 
 
 Sylvan Genii, how the idea may have beon 
 suggested, 502. 
 
 Syssitia, public entertainments of the Lace- 
 daemonians, 402. 
 
 Table-turning, 467. 
 
 Tail of a bird, how it differs in its action 
 
 from the rudder of a ship, 237 of the 
 
 kite, 238. 
 
 Tangent, the term, explained, 124. 
 Taw, the marble, meaning of the word, 164. 
 Tawdry, origin of the word, 514. 
 Telegraph, electrical, 508 verbal, 507 
 
 various schemes, 507. 
 Temple, geological, 5. 
 
 TWADDLETON. 
 
 Tennis, the game, 153 where first played, 
 153 when introduced into England, 153. 
 
 Thames Tunnel, excavated after the manner 
 of the teredo, 485. 
 
 Thaumatrope, 363 its optical theory ex- 
 plained, 369 improvement of the toy, 
 375. 
 
 Thimble-rig, 414. 
 
 Thunder, the cause of its long-continued 
 sound, 304. 
 
 Thunder-cloud, how to ascertain its distance, 
 33. 
 
 Thyrsus of Bacchus, 392. 
 
 Timotheus, the musician, 278, 281- 
 
 Tobacco, 339. 
 
 Top, 141 shows the power of a whirling 
 motion to support the axis of a body, 23 
 why it sustains a vertical position, 143 
 sleeping of the top, the term explained, 
 144 gyration of the top, 144, 475 histo- 
 rical notice, 141. 
 
 Touch, even this sense is liable to deceptive 
 impressions, 502. 
 
 Touch-me-not, 467. 
 
 Tournament, origin of the word, 400. 
 
 Tower of Babel, how high it could have 
 been built, 35. 
 
 Toys, a panegyric, 171. 
 
 Toys and Games, enumerated, 21 capable 
 of giving instruction, 21 
 
 Toys and Tasks, not antitheses, 19. 
 
 Trade-winds, 495. 
 
 Tragetour, the conjuror of the fourteenth 
 century, 399. 
 
 Trap-and-ball, 148. 
 
 Trefoil, the husbandman's barometer, 489. 
 
 Triangles, 111. 
 
 Trojan game, 399, 428. 
 
 Trojan ships, 373. 
 
 Trump, explanation of the name, 280. 
 
 Truncheon, 517. 
 
 Tubular Bridge, principle of its construc- 
 tion illustrated by the feather of a bird, 
 485. 
 
 Tulip, closes its leaves before rain, 489, 
 
 Turner, the brilliancy of his pictures to be 
 attributed to the preponderance of white, 
 359. 
 
 Twaddleton, the Eev. Peter, 6 his charac- 
 ter, 7 his aversion to mathematics, 8 
 his literary acquirements, 8 his devotion 
 to Virgil, 8 his antipathy to puns, 8 
 his ardent antiquarian pursuit, 9 his 
 person and costume, 9 he remonstrates 
 with Mr. Seymour on his proposal to 
 teach his children philosophy, 12 his 
 lamentation at the popular diffusion of 
 science, 14 he abandons his prejudice, 
 and agrees to assist Mr. Seymour, 21 his 
 vicarage, 41 his magic gallery, 42 he is 
 made to change countenance, 96 his in- 
 terview with the stranger, 102 his 
 opinions on fox-hunting, 106 his conver- 
 sation with Mr. Seymour on geology, 128 
 he gives an antiquarian history of the 
 ball, 151 he gives some account of the 
 game of marbles, 163 his opinion of toys, 
 
532 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 TWADDLETON. 
 
 171 his discussion with Major Snapwell 
 on leathern money, 192 he gives an ac- 
 count of archery, 257 he contends for 
 the superiority of ancient music as com- 
 pared with that of modern times, 278 
 he converses with Mr. Seymour and 
 Major Snapwell on the subject of the 
 fete at Osterley Park, 322 he heads the 
 escort to Osterley Park, 392 his dis- 
 cussion with the major as to the origin of 
 the game of chess, 402. 
 
 Velocity, iiniform, accelerated, and retarded, 
 
 Velocity of falling bodies, 31, 34, 36. 
 
 Velocity of light, 448. 
 
 Velocity of momentum makes up for weight, 
 89 toys in illustration, 89. 
 
 Ventriloquism, 426. 
 
 Verbal corruptions, 107. 
 
 Verge of the deans, 517. 
 
 Vestibule, origin of the name, 266. 
 
 Vibration, reciprocated, or resonance, 504. 
 
 Vibrations, their sympathetic communica- 
 tion illustrated by an anecdote, 504. 
 
 Vis Inertia?, 59. 
 
 Walrus, the structure of its foot compared 
 
 with that of the house-fly, 483 
 Wand of the magician, 516. 
 Wassail-bowl, 330. 
 Watch-glass, the revolving, 121. 
 Watch-spring, 93. 
 Water, floats as a globule on red-hot metal, 
 
 520. 
 
 YULE-LOG. 
 
 Water-main, flexible, its construction sug- 
 gested by the lobster's tail, 4S5. 
 
 Weather, how to be regulated by Solomon 
 Speed, 17. 
 
 Weather-cock, 330. 
 
 Weight, 30 of the earth and the planets, 
 446 of the ocean, 4>7. 
 
 Well of Overton, its depth ascertained, 38. 
 
 Wells, Holy, 451. 
 
 Whale, the instinct which betrays him to 
 his death, 490. 
 
 Whirlwinds, 496. 
 
 Whispering-gallery of St. Paul's, 311. 
 
 Whist, probable origin of the name, 280. 
 
 Whistle, the use of the pea hi it, 3ul. 
 
 Whiz-gig, 301. 
 
 Wind, its causes, direction, and velocity, 
 245 the probable cause of its complica- 
 tion in our latitude, 497, 524. 
 
 Wind instruments, 298. 
 
 Windmill, 253. 
 
 Winds and storms, 495. 
 
 Wings, artificial, 491. 
 
 Wire-dancing, 410 
 
 Wishing-wells, 451. 
 
 Wood-demons, may be seen by an imagin- 
 ative eye, 502. 
 
 Wood-sorrel, will indicate the approach of a 
 storm, 489. 
 
 Worlds, plurality of, 447, 523, 524. 
 
 Yule-log, a relic of Northern mythology, 
 510. 
 
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