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    ^¦ ¦ ¦R--;"' ; ''' ; -;" ' ."V : :V " ;:'Lt T|*Imtlttre: " .-; : ;--¦/-- .- ¦/ '

    ^¦ ¦ ¦ r-- ;"' ; ''' ; - ;" ' . "V : : v " ; : 'lT t |* iMtlttre : " .- ; ; -- ¦/ -- .- ¦/ '

    Untitled Article

    Fara-day has this week thrown the weight of his authoritative opinion in the iin 6 venly balariced scaleof "table-raoving" discussion . He decides i ^?^ fi ^ y ajjrainst JEI ^ ctricity , and in fayour of Unconscious Muscular Action ; tliat is io say , his explanation is ' the one proposed in these eojumns , seven weeks ago , ( wide No / 165 . ) In that , as in so many other instances , this journalhas been true , to its title ; a title , be it observed in passing , not claiming priority of rank , ' but independence of action . A leader isf one who acts oft his own authority , and does not wait to receive the order ^ of others . Every one must hayfe noticed that most journals represent the opinions of certain Parties , and , instead of teadihgV flatter . Tftey d o , of course ^ lead indireptly , for they enlighten . But they only help the movement , theynever initiate it . Unless they expressed the opinions of their subscribers , their subscribers would cease to be subscribers I

    Qur own position is very different , and We may be permitted to ¦ allude to it , a& an answer to one irrational pretension very frequently brought undet our notice . Persons subscribe tothe Leader in spite of its opinionsbeingantagonistic $ p their own , and then seem to demand that its opinions shall squarewith theirs , becattse they are subscribers ! ¦;••; Th $ distinctive character -of this journal is owing to its writers being resolved to write what they think , not what the public would expect , or wish them to thiiiki Hence the title , Leader * does not imply that the journal

    pretends to lead the world , Tint that it takes its own lead , without awaitmg one from others . In ibis example of ** table-moving , " wbicfc we instance asltjie naost recent , ( although : jhe Ariglb-Amerjcan Alliance and the Catholic question were more striking , ) we did not wait till the " authorities" had decided , r No sooner < 3 id the delusion assume aserious shape , than we examined the nature of the evidence / and , on Srientific grounds , pointed out the absurdity of the explanations , and suggested the actual cause . A shower of controversial letters fell upon ' us ! ' After the discussion had become exhausted in these columns , a medical journal published a Repoct , emanating from scientific men , ( not named , ^) which Report was littl e more

    than the re-assertion of the explanation suggested by Us ; anothei' journa declared that " it had long been of opinion" to the same eifect— -nevertheless , it published an article , wherein the agency of the '' new force' * was openly proclaimed ! And now that Fakai > ay has declared his opinion , we shallfind all the journals unanimous enough . If we had waited , there would have been lefcs chance of " committing ourselves ; " the proceeding would have bepn «< safer / ' but what wbuld become of our leading To be free from error is no pretension of this journal ; its pretensicih is to publish the opinions of its writers , with all sincerity , convinced that if there is truth in them ; the truth will finally prevail : : , .

    This is a somewhat long preface to FAttAbAY ' s letter , which we wsert here ; to Complete the history of this strange delusion irr-£ nt , —I jiaive recently be , en engage ^ in the ; investigation of table-turning . I should be sorry that you should , suppose I , thought thia necessary on my own account , for my conclusion respecting , its nature was goon arrived at , and ia not changed but I have been so often misquoted , and applications to me for an opinion ' are so numerous , that 1 hoped , if I enabled myself by experiment to give a strong one you would consent to convey it to all persons . interested in the matter . The eifect produced by table-turnera bus been referred to electricity to magnetism , to attraction ! to some unknown or hitherto unrecognised physical power able to affect

    inanimate bodies—to the revolution of the earth , and even to diabolical or supernatural agency . The natural philosopher , can investigate all' these supposed cause * but the last that must , to him , be too . much connected with credulity or superstition to require any attention on his part . The investigation would bo too long in description to obtain a place in your columns . I therefore purpose asking admiss . on for that into the AtJiencB % m of next Saturday , and propose here to give the general result . Believing that tho first cause assigned—namely , a quasiinvoluntary muscular action ( for the etfect ia with many subject to the wish or will)—was the true cause , the first point was to prevent the mind of the turner having an undue influence the effects produced in relation to the naturo of the substances

    emover ployed , A bundle of plates , consisting of sandpaper , millboard , glue , gla « a p adtio clavft nfotl , cardboard , gutt ^ -porcha , vulcanized , caoutchouc , wood , «« d ^ Sn , waJ therefore made up and tied together , and being pjieed on a table , « nJer Shaid of a turner , did not prevent the transmismou ot the power ; the table trned or moved exnc ly a » if the , bundle had been away , to the full satisfaction of S print The experiment was repeated , with various substances and persons , and ; LSrHimes , wiff constant succU . and henceforth no ^ J ^^^ ^ J to ' tiiouse of those substances in the conatruction of apparatus 1 ho next point to tno use 01 , t * , ? i . « , ^ fj ^ - . _ whether the table moved the

    Onfof thesq consisted of a light lover , having its fulcrum on ho table , . ty hort , rm attached to P » «^ d on a cardboard , which coukMip on the surface of the table , anS iZ long « projecting n « an u > a ^ of motion . It is evident that it the ^ experi - menter S ^ to n , ove towards the left , and ifc did so move &rt »* «" SJ 31 at tho time on tho cardboard , then . thd ind <* would move to tho left hands placcu a , t , ^^ involuntarily moved towards also tho ^» r » J ^ ™ inde * would go towards tho right ; and , if neither SlotorS moved the Sdex VOuld itself remain immovable Tho result w «« , table noi minus i" »^ » r « mained vorv Hteudy ; when It was hidden 2 f" tI 'n tX TooS " a m t ^ ZlZU though they believed that from ^ ^ J ^^^^ t ^ . ftnd , when the table did not move , there they « ^ 'S ^^ jZeo in the dh ection in which it was wished the wm . Btll » »™™ ch however , was exercised quite unwittingly by the party S ^^ S ^ ti ^ wiw . in the co «?« e of the waiting time , while

    the fingers and hands become stiffs numbi and , insensible by continued pressure , grows up to an amount sufficient to move the table or the substances pressed upon . Itut the most valuable effect of this test-apparatus ( which was afterwards made more perfect and indepeiiderit of the table ) is the corrective power it possesses over the mind of the table-turner . As soon as the index is placed before the most earliest , and they perceived—as in my ^ presence they have always done- ^ that it telisytraly Whether they are pressing downwards only or obliquely , then " all effects of table-turning cease , even though the parties persevere , earnestly desiring itiotion , till they become weary and worn out . No prompting

    or checking of the hands is needed—the power is . gone ; and this only because the parties are made conscious of what they are really ; d 6 ing . mechanically , and so are unable unwittingly to deceive theinjelves . r I know that some may say that it is tlie cardboard next the fingir ^/ 'piich nioves : ^ firsfe and that it both ^ rags the ^ ible and alsa the table-turti ^^^ tb ) it . ; ' All' { I have to reply is , that the cardboard | tey in practice be ifi ^ ucea ^ to '¦ & ^ thirT sheet of paper weighing only a fey graS , or to a piece of 'go ^ dte ^^^ even the end of the lever , and ( in principle ) to the very : cuticle . oif the finders itself . Then the results that follow are too absurd to be ^ admitted : the ' table-becomes an

    incumbrance , and a person holding out ; the ; Brigers Jir the air , ezthjer naked or tipped with goldbeater ' s skin or cardWr ^ nought to be drawn about the room , &c . ; but I refrain from considering ^ imag lriary yet consequent restilts which have nothing philosophical or real ; in tK 6 tti ^ ; I hav e b een happy thus far in meeting with the most honourable and candid though most sanguine persons , and I believe the mental check which I propose will be available in the hands of all Who desire truly to investigate the philosophy of the subject , and , being content to resign expectation , wish only to be led by the facts and the truth of nature . As I am unable , even at present , to answer all the letters that come to me regarding this matter , perhaps you will allowme to prevent any increase by saying that my apparatus may be seen at the Bhop of the philosophical instrument maker—Newman , 122 , Regent-street .

    Permit me to say , before concluding , that I have been greatly startled by the revelation which this purely pbyBical subject has made of the condition of the public mind . No doubt there are mauy persons who have formed a right judgment or used a cautious reserve , for I know several such , and public communications have shown it to be so ; but their number is almost as nothing to the great body who have believed arid borne testimony , as I think , In the cause of error . I do not here refer to the distinction of those who agree with me and those who differ . By the great body , I mean such as reject all consideration of the equality of cause and effect , who refer the results to electricity and magnetism—yet know nothing of the laws of these forces ; or to attraction—yet show no phenomena of

    pure attractive power ; or to the rotation of the earth , as if tho earth revolved round the leg of a table ; or to some unrecognised physical force , without inquiring whether the knoWri forces are not sufficient ; or who even refer them to diabolical or supernatural agency , rather than suspend their judgment , or acknowledge to themselves that they are not learned enough in these matters to decide on the nature of the action . I think the system of education that could leave the mental condition of the public body in the state in which this subject has found it must have been greatly deficient in some very important principle . ¦ ¦ ¦ : ¦ ¦¦ ¦ I am , Sir , your very obedient servant ,

    Boyal Institution , June 28 . M . Pakad ^ Y . The remark with which Faiiaday concludes is one of serious import . Truly his this delusion been a revelation of the unsuspected potency and extent of credulity underlying the boasted culture of our age ! One reason for the facile acquiescence in any marvel now-a-days is the marvellousness of our ne ^ y acquisitions . An age which has seen the birth of railways and electric telegraphs may well pause ere it admit a doubt of any possibility . Electricity has already done so much , why may it not do all ? That is the ready logic of credulity . Therefore , while men are not more credulous in this age than they were in any previous age , they are more credulous of marvels having a scientific aspect , because of the marvellousness of scientific progress ! _

    .... By this advance and this credulity we are made to feel the imperious necessity of , a new Education . Fakaday seriously and truly points to the fatal deficiency in general education , which could admit such a delusion as that of " Table-moving , " with its accompanying hypotheses . The deficiency does not lie so much in the absence of scientific instruction as in the absence of a proper appreciation of the . positive Method—the logic of science . Men are taught sciences—they are not taught Science . Not one man in a hundred knows what is evidence ; not one in a thousand restrains the errant impulses of his thought within the limits of evidence . Thus not being aware of the sources of fallacy , or the direct bearing of evidence , what wonder if we are not sufficiently on our guard ?

    On this great question of Education let us not omit to notice the common rumour , that the Commissioners of the Irish Board of Education have agreed to expunge Wpi ate ivy ' s Evidences of Christianity and the Scripture Lessons from the list of books used in the schools under the Board of National Education . It is Understood that at the meeting of the Board , the one orthodox commissioner present , Mr . Blackbuune , was opposed by Catholic , Presbyterian , arid Unitarian commissioners . Consider this for a moment , and sec what a difficulty it implies in the way of nny . scheine for uniting religious with secular education ! This Irish Hystem has been boastfully upheld as an example of the practicability pf a successful union of unsectorinn religion with secular instruction . There arc separate hours for sectarian instruction . Yet , in spite of the endeavour to get " unaectarian religion" taught , we see how the slightest mixture of religious inatrhctiori mars the whole schetne !

    The failure of the Irish system will , be interpreted m two ways . O « c , that a system of secular instruction is impracticable , and tjhat we must return to the " good old plan . " The other , and as wo think the true interpretation being that the mixture of religious with secular instruction is , and must be , impracticable j they are as fire and tow , and the breath of fanaticism ia certain to kindle them .

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    Critics are ^ ot'the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They donob ^ pftkelawa—they ^ interpret and try to erifoTceihem . — : £ ! dinlUrahHevisw .

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    y :: J ^ t ^' MMj ^^ ,: Vj . TH E LEADfiRl 643

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1853, page 643, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1993/page/19/