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The Hour Of The Day Or Night Told By A Suspended Shilling

However improbable the following experiment may appear, it has been
proved by repeated trials:

Sling a shilling or sixpence at the end of a piece of thread by means
of a loop. Then resting your elbow on a table, hold the other end of
the thread betwixt your fore-finger and thumb, observing to let it
pass across the ball of the thumb, and thus suspend the shilling into
an empty goblet. Observe, your hand must be perfectly steady; and if
you find it difficult to keep it in an immoveable posture, it is
useless to attempt the experiment. Premising, however, that the
shilling is properly suspended, you will observe, that when it has
recovered its equilibrium, it will for a moment be stationary: it will
then of its own accord, and without the least agency from the person
holding it, assume the action of a pendulum, vibrating from side to
side of the glass, and, after a few seconds, will strike the hour
nearest to the time of day; for instance, if the time be twenty-five
minutes past six, it will strike six; if thirty-five minutes past six,
it will strike seven; and so on of any other hour.

It is necessary to observe, that the thread should lie over the pulse
of the thumb, and this may in some measure account for the vibration
of the shilling; but to what cause its striking the precise hour is to
be traced, remains unexplained; for it is no less astonishing than
true, that when it has struck the proper number, its vibration ceases,
it acquires a kind of rotatory motion, and at last becomes stationary,
as before.





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