TABLE-MOVING. [From the Manchester Guardian.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 855, 12 October 1853, Page 3

TABLE-MOVING. [From the Manchester Guardian.]

On Thursday evening a conversazione, havingfor us object the arriving at some safe conclusioa

concerning table-moving and its causes, was held in the library hall of the Athensaum, which had been engaged by a committee of gentlemen for 'that purpose. The audience, which was numerous, was accommodated with seats round the -room, the central portion being occupied by seven tables, of various forms and sizes, all of which were during the evening experimented upon. The Rev. H. H. Jones, F.R.A.S., was called to the chair, and in opening the proceedings, said, that it appeared to him that the phenomenon of tableturning must necessarily be the result either of collusion, illusion, or of the action of some mysterious and hitherto almost unknown and unrecognized force. That it was not the result of collusion was, he thought, proved by the number of intelligent and respectable persons who were ready to vouch for the reality of the facts.. That it might be the result of illusion or self-delusion on the part of the experimenters was just possible, but, perhaps, not very probable. It was Just possible that there might be an adhesion between the fingers of the experimenters and the table, such a power of friction as, gradually accumulating, should be sufficient to overcome theinertia of the matter contained in the table, and cause it to move. Some might think that there could not be this amount of friction or adhesiveness, without the experimenters being conscious of it. He was not so sure of that. When persons had held their fingers in a certain position for a considerable length of time, their fingers became comparatively benumbed, and it was just possible that they might unconsciously exercise such an amount of force as might move the table. Then came the third and last question — supposing the phenomena not to be the' result of either of these causes, could it be that it was produced by the action of some mysterious and unknown force, hitherto unrecognized ? If so, we must suppose that this force issued from the bauds and -fingers of the experimenters, and that it flowed to the right or left in obedience to their will. Mr. W, G. Ginty moved the appointment of a committee to have the direction of the experiments and report upon them. The motion was seconded and unanimously agreed to. The 'Chairman then invited ladies and gentlemen who were willing to experiment upon tables to take -their places, and in a few minutes -all the tables but one were surrounded by experimenters, including persons of various ages and both sexes. The experiments commenced at 8 o'clock. The first table which moved was a round one, about, three feet in diameter, standing upon three legs without castors, and having a leathern top. At this table four ladies took their places, and in five -minutes it began to turn rapidly, the ladies running round with it. After several stoppages, for which the experimenters could not account, the table moved round so rapidly that several of the ladies appeared to be getting giddy, and two of them became so much alarmed that they discontinued the experiment. These ladies had simply -placed their bands upon the table, without touching those of each other. After this experiment, the chairman suggested that it should be repeated, the ladies having tissue paper placed between their hands and the table, to prevent the effects of friction. This was tried for fourteen minutes with three ladies only (the other two being too much alarmed to take part), and failed. The other two ladies were theu induced tc^join the circle, an.djn three minutes the -table rnove'd. -Upon examination it was found that the tissue .paper had been wetted by perspiration, and had adhered to tbe table. It bad, therefore, failed to counteract the probable effects of friction, and proved nothing. The second table which moved was a large -and heavy round one, of polished wood, about four feet six inches in diameter, and weighing about 1001b., having a pillar and three claws, to each of which there was a castor. Round it sat eight gentlemen, who formed the circle in the usual manner, touching each other's little fingers, but not bringing the thumbs of their own hands into contact. At 25 minutes past 8 o'clock (when the -experiment had been conducted for 25 minutes) this table began to move slowly from right to left, ■and, with some stoppages, it performed about two revolutions in that direction. It then stopped, and after waiting some minutes, the experimenters, who had previously willed that it should move from right to left, willed that it should move in a contrary direction. In a minute or two motion recommenced, and the table moved so rapidly io the direction intended, that the gentlemen, who had previously risen from their seats, were obliged to run round with it; and its revolutions did not cease until one person, feeling giddy, withdrew his hands and broke the circle. It was observed that this table turned upon one of the three claws as an axis ; this claw, however, did not remain perfectly stationary, and the circumference of the table described a series of eccentric circles. After the performance of these experiments D,r. Braid said there had been some most unexceptionable experiments. They had seen two- tables turn, and his conviction was that the motion arose from what Dr. Carpenter called the ideo-motor power. The mind being concentrated for a length of time upon an idea, it at last began to act upon the muscular system. This was not a voluntary act, and night even be io opposition to volition. He was satisfied, so far as be had seen, that this was the true solution of the matter ; that the ladies and gentlemen were not conscious that they exercised any effort, aud that the effect arose from this unconscious muscular action. In order to test whether or not the motion was caused by electricity, he suggested that a wire should be laid upon the tables, and that instead of touching the table the experimenters should hold this wire. If the motion arose from electricity, it -would take place under these circumstances ; if it was the result of muscular action, the effect of that action would be on the wire and not on the table. The experiment was accordingly tried. A piece of thin wire was laid round tbe ladies' table ; it was twisted into a loop between each of tbe operators, and was then held by tbe ladies who had previously operated so successfully. The hands of the ladies did not touch the table. They maintained their positions for half an hour without success, and then abandoned the attempt; They then placed their fingers upon the table, and in about a minute it turned rapidly. The third table which moved was a similar one to that which was moved by the ladies-. Five persons sat at it, and at 37 minutes after 8 it turned rapidly from right to left. The^e persons bad formed the circle in the ordina y manner, with only the little fingers touching. When the tabl s began to move, some of the bystanders thought that some of the experimenters were exercising pressure, and therefore suggest ft} that they should cross^th'eir^ bands, as it wa*

thought that in this position they would be unable to exercise any force upon the table. This was done, and the table afterwards moved rapidly from right to left and from left to right. The last table to turn was a square one of mahogany, about six feet long by four wide, standing upon four legs. At 8 o'clock eight gentlemen and two ladies sat down to this table and continued the experiment without success until 35 minutes past 9, when they discontinued it. Seven gentlemen and five ladies, including three of those who had previously been so successful, then sat down, and in about a quarter of 8n hour they moved the table a short distance. The circle was then broken by one of the party, and the table stopped. At 9 o'clock the gentlemen who had previously moved the large round table formed the circle as before, but without allowing their fingers to touch the table. They tried this experiment for 10 minutes, but without success. The chairman suggested that, in order to prevent the effect of friction, a table should be smeared with olive oil, upon which the experimenters should place their fingers. In accordance with this suggestion, a belt of oil about five inches wide from the edge was made upon one of the round tables. Six gentlemen then sat down, and in about 20 minutes the table moved. The large rounfl table, which had been the second to move, was then smeared with oil upon the wooden rim, aud the same eight gentlemen who had previously experimented again sat down to it. In this instance they formed the circle as before, but only the tips of their fingers touched the table. They began their experiment at a quarter past 9, ami at one minute before 10 o'clock the table made part of a revolution from right to left. It afterwards moved in differeut directions, according to the will of the gentlemen experimenting upon it, up to a quarter-past 10 o'clock, when they desisted. In the course of this experiment these gentlemen were much disturbed by the pressure of the audience upon them, and by other proceedings. Whenever their attention was thus distracted the table stopped. The chairman said that no importance could be attached to the result of this experiment, as he Saw the thumb of one of the operators upon the edge of the table. All the gentlemen engaged in the experiment denied that they had placed their thumbs in this position ; and a bystander assured us that, though the thumb of one gentleman was very near the edge of the table, yet it did not actually touch it. This gentleman was in a better position for observing than the chairman, who was on the platform, and he was paying great attention to tbe experiment. Several requests were made to the chairman to point out the gentleman whose thumb was upon the edge of the table ; but the chairman only replied that he had no doubt the gentlemen believed that they were acting fairly, and that he had not thought of charging them with doing otherwise, ' We have hitherto spoken only of .successful expert ments, but there were three "tables which were in vain attempted to be turned. One of these was a mahogany pembroke table, and the party who experimented upon it consisted of five gentlemen. Another table (resembling that with which the ladies were so successful) which was at first unoccupied, was afterwards taken possessiou of by a -party of seven gentlemen. In forming the circle they not only touched the little fingers of each other, but .brought their own thumbs into coßtacty^The result of-ttos- was that their haTids were placed in a circle very near the centre of the table top, and not, as in the other cases round its circumference. These gentlemen continued their experiment for some time, but the table did not move. Tbe third unsuccessful experiment was with a small round table, at which five gentlemen remained seated for an hour and 35 minutes without producing any effect. In the top of this table there was a crack, and some of the experimenters seemed to think that this had prevented the success of the attempt. The chairman, upon being appealed to, said that he did not imagine that it would have any effect. The chairman, before leaving the chair, said that he had come into that room withe ut any prejudice ; but that, from what he had seen anri heard, he believed that the phenomena resulted entirely from muscular action, by the power of friction. He could not for a moment believe in the emanation of any occult principle in nature, which could produce such a decided effect upon a mass of brute matter as had that night been manifested. Dr. Braid, in moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, said that if we considered the reciprocal action of tbe mind upon matter, we had a key to the whole mystery. It was a certain law that the mind, being concentrated for any length of time upon any part of the body, changed the physical action of that part. If there was an idea that the table should move in a given direction, that idea would, without a conscious effort of volition, without tbe person believing that he was exercising any effort at all, produce the effect. The vote of thanks was unanimously adopted, and the proceedings terminated about half-past 10, having lasted nearly three hours. We have not space in which to notice any of the statements we beard as to the sensations of the experimenters; but may state generally, that, as they were descriled to us, they resembled those before detailed by correspondents. We could not discover that in any case a table moved towards the north, or any other definite point 5 and we doubt whether a lecture room, occupied by an eager and inquisitive audience, is tbe best place for attempting to discover the laws or causes, whatever they may be, connected with tbe much-talked-of and tried table-moving. After each successful experiment, a member of the committee, or the chairman, inquired of each of the operators whether he orshe had abstained from muscular action upon the table ; and in every instance a decided assurance was given in the affirmative.