PERPETUAL See also:

• MOTION (Lat. motio, from movere, to move)
• MOTION, LAWS OF

MOTION, or PERPETUUM See also:

• MOBILE

MOBILE  , in its usual significance, not simply a See also:

• MACHINE
• MACHINE (through Fr. from Lat. form machina of Gr. µnxavil)

machine which will go on moving for ever, but a machine which, once set in See also:

• MOTION (Lat. motio, from movere, to move)
• MOTION, LAWS OF

motion, will go on doing useful See also:

• WORK

work without See also:

• DRAWING

drawing on any See also:

• EXTERNAL

external source of See also:

• ENERGY (from the Gr. ivipyela; iv, in, ipyov, work)

energy, or a machine which in every See also:

• COMPLETE

complete See also:

• CYCLE
• CYCLE (Gr. KUK)^os, a circle)

cycle of its operation will give forth more energy than it has absorbed . Briefly, a perpetual motion usually means a machine which will create energy . The earlier seekers after the " perpetuum See also:

• MOBILE

mobile " did not always appreciate the exact nature of their quest; for we find among their ideals a See also:

• CLOCK

clock that would periodically rewind itself, and thus go without human interference as See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long as its machinery would last . The energy created by such a machine would simply be the work done in overcoming the See also:

• FRICTION (from Lat. fricare, to rub)

friction of its parts, so that its projectors might be held merely to have been ignorant of the See also:

• LAWS

laws of friction and of the dynamic theory of See also:

• HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat . Most of the perpetual motionists, however, had more See also:

• PRACTICAL

practical views, and explicitly declared the See also:

• OBJECT

object of their inventions to be the doing of useful work, such as raising See also:

• WATER

water, grinding See also:

• CORN (a common Teutonic word; cf. Lat. granum, seed, grain)
• CORN (fromm Lat. corms, horn)

corn, and so on . Like the exact See also:

• QUADRATURE (from Lat. quadratura, a making square)

quadrature of the circle, the transmutation of metals and other famous problems of antiquity, the perpetual motion has now become a See also:

• VENERABLE (Lat. venerabilis, worthy of reverence, venerari, to reverence, to worship, allied to Venus, love; the Indo-Germ. root is wen-, to desire, whence Eng. " win, properly to struggle for, hence to gain)

venerable See also:

• PARADOX (Gr. treat, beyond, contrary to, Sofia, opinion)

paradox . Still, like these others, it retains a See also:

• GREAT

great See also:

• HISTORICAL

historical See also:

• INTEREST

interest . Just as some of the most interesting branches of See also:

• MODERN

modern pure See also:

• MATHEMATICS (Gr. /saBnµar1Kil, Sc. vOcvn or E7rlQTt'µn; from p iN.La, "learning" or "science ")

mathematics sprang from the problem of squaring the circle, as the researches of the alchemists See also:

• DEVELOPED

developed into the See also:

• SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science of modern See also:

• CHEMISTRY
• CHEMISTRY (formerly "chymistry"; Gr. xvµela; for derivation see ALCHEMY)

chemistry, so, as the result of the vain See also:

• SEARCH, or VISIT AND SEARCH

search after the perpetual motion, there See also:

• GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew up the greatest of all the generalizations of See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical science, the principle of the conservation of energy . There was a See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time when the problem of the perpetual motion was one worthy of the See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of a philosopher . Before that See also:

• ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis of the See also:

• ACTION

action of See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

• MACHINES

machines which led to the laws of See also:

• DYNAMICS
• DYNAMICS (from Gr. bbvayts, strength)

dynamics, and the discussion of the dynamical interdependence of natural phenomena which accompanied the See also:

• ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment of the dynamical theory of heat, there was nothing plainly unreason-able in the See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea that work might be done by the See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere concatenation of machinery . It had not then been proved that energy is uncreatable and indestructible in the ordinary course of nature; even now that See also:

• PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof has only been given by See also:

• INDUCTION (from Lat. inducere, to lead into; cf. Gr. ilrayu yli)

induction from long observation of facts . There was a time when See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• WISE, ISAAC MAYER (1819-1900)

wise men believed that a spirit, whose See also:

• MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

maintenance would cost nothing, could by magic See also:

• ART

art be summoned from the deep to do his See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master's work; and it was just as reasonable to suppose that a structure of See also:

• WOOD, ANTHONY A2 (1632-1695)
• WOOD, JOHN GEORGE (1827—1889)
• WOOD, MRS HENRY [ELLEN] (1814—1887)
• WOOD, SEARLES VALENTINE (1798—188o)

wood, See also:

• BRASS
• BRASS (O. Eng. braes)

brass and See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron could be found to work under like conditions .

The disproof is in both cases alike . No such spirit has ever existed, See also:

• SAVE, or SAVA (Ger. Sau; Hungarian Szdva; Lat. Savus)

save in the See also:

• IMAGINATION

imagination of his describer, and no such machine has ever been known to See also:

• ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act, save in the See also:

• FANCY (a shortened form, dating from the 15th century, of " fantasy," which is derived through the O. Fr. fantasie, modern fantaisie. from the Latinized form of the Gr. cbavraoia, Oavrai'ecv, Oat Pais, to show)

fancy of its inventor . The principle of the conservation of energy, which in one sense is simply denial of the possibility of a perpetual motion, rests on facts See also:

• DRAWN

drawn from every See also:

• BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of physical science; and, although its full establishment only See also:

• DATES

dates from the See also:

• MIDDLE

middle of the19th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, yet so numerous are the cases in which it has been tested, so various the deductions from it that have been proved to See also:

• ACCORD (from Fr. accorder, to agree)

accord with experience, that it is now regarded as one of the best-established laws of nature . Consequently, on any one who calls it in question is thrown the See also:

• BURDEN, or BURTHEN

burden of proving his See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case . If any machine were produced whose source of energy could not at once be traced, a See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man of science (complete freedom of investigation being supposed) would in the first See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place try to trace its See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power to some hidden source of a See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind already known; or in the last resort he would seek for a source of energy of a new kind and give it a new name . Any assertion of creation of energy by means of a mere machine would have to be authenticated in many instances, and established by long investigation, before it could be received in modern science . The case is precisely as with the See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law of See also:

• GRAVITATION (from Lat. gravis, heavy)

gravitation; if any apparent exception to this were observed in the case of some heavenly See also:

• BODY

body, astronomers, instead of denying the law, would immediately seek to explain the occurrence by a wider application of it, say by including in their calculations the effect of some disturbing body hitherto neglected . If a man likes to indulge the notion that, after all, an exception to the law of the conservation of energy may be found, and, provided he submits his idea to the test of experiment at his own charges without annoying his neighbours, all that can be said is that he is engaged in an unpromising enterprise . The case is otherwise with the projector who comes forward with some machine which claims by the mere ingenuity of its contrivance to multiply the energy supplied to it from some of the ordinary See also:

• SOURCES

sources of nature and sets to work to pester scientific men to examine his supposed See also:

• DISCOVERY

discovery, or attempts therewith to induce the credulous to See also:

• WASTE (O. Fr. wast, guast, gast, gaste; Lat. vastus, vast, desolate)

waste their See also:

• MONEY

money . This is by far the largest class of perpetual-motion-mongers nowadays . The interest of such cases is that attaching to the morbid See also:

• ANATOMY
• ANATOMY (Gr. avaroyil, from ava-silo c', to cut up)

anatomy of the human mind . Perhaps the most striking feature about them is the woful sameness of the symptoms of their madness .

As a body perpetual-motion seekers are ambitious, lovers of the See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short path to See also:

• WEALTH

wealth and fame, but wholly superficial . Their inventions are very rarely characterized even by See also:

• MECHANICAL

mechanical ingenuity . Sometimes indeed the inventor has simply bewildered himself by the complexity of his See also:

• DEVICE

device; but in most cases the machines of the perpetual motionist are of See also:

• CHILD
• CHILD, FRANCIS JAMES (1825-1896)
• CHILD, L
• CHILD, LYDIA MARIA (1802-1880)
• CHILD, SIR FRANCIS (1642-1713)
• CHILD, SIR JOHN (d. 1690)
• CHILD, SIR JOSIAH (163o - 1699)

child-like simplicity, remarkable only for the extraordinary assertions of the inventor concerning them . Wealth of ideas there is none; simply assertions that such and such a machine solves the problem, although an identical contrivance has been shown to do no such thing by the brutal test of See also:

• STANDING

standing still in the hands of many previous inventors . Hosts of the seekers for the perpetual motion have attacked their insoluble problem with less than a schoolboy's See also:

• SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share of the'requisite knowledge; and their confidence as a See also:

• RULE

rule is in proportion to their See also:

• IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

ignorance . Very often they get no further than a mere See also:

• PROSPECTUS (Lat. for view, look-out, prospect, from prospicere, to look forward)

prospectus, on the strength of which they claim some imaginary See also:

• REWARD

reward, or offer their See also:

• PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious discovery for See also:

• SALE
• SALE, GEORGE (c. 1697-1736)
• SALE, SIR ROBERT HENRY (1782—1845)

sale; sometimes they get the length of a See also:

• MODEL (0. Fr. modelle, mod. modele; It. modello, pattern, mould; from Lat. modus, measure, standard)

model which wants only the last perfection (already in the inventor's See also:

• BRAIN (A.S. braegen)

brain) to solve the great problem; sometimes See also:

• FRAUD (Lat. fraus, deceit)

fraud is made to See also:

• SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply the See also:

• MOTIVE (from Lat. movere, to move)

motive power which their real or pretended efforts have failed to discover . It was no doubt the barefaced See also:

• FALLACY (Lat. fall-ax, apt to mislead)

fallacy of most of the plans for perpetual motion that led the See also:

• MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of scientific men to conclude at a very See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early date that the " perpetuum mobile " was an impossibility . We find the See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris See also:

• ACADEMY, GREEK
• ACADEMY, ROYAL

Academy of Sciences refusing, as early as 1775, to receive schemes for the perpetual motion, which they class with solutions of the duplication of the See also:

• CUBE (Gr. K46os, a cube)

cube, the trisection of an See also:

• ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle and the quadrature of the circle . See also:

• STEVINUS, SIMON (1548-1620)

Stevinus and See also:

• LEIBNITZ (LEIBNIZ), GOTTFRIED WILHELM

Leibnitz seem to have regarded its impossibility as axiomatic; and See also:

• NEWTON
• NEWTON, ALFRED (1829–1907)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1823-1895)
• NEWTON, SIR CHARLES THOMAS (1816-1894)
• NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (1642-1727)

Newton at the beginning of his Principia states, so far as ordinary See also:

• MECHANICS

mechanics are concerned, a principle which virtually amounts to the same thing . The famous proof of P . De la Hire simply refers to some of the more See also:

• COMMON

common gravitational perpetual motions . The truth is, as we have said already, that, if proof is to be given, or considered necessary, it must proceed by induction from See also:

• ALI

ali physical phenomena .

W devices, such as curved spokes, It would serve no useful purpose here to give an exhaustive historical See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

account 1 of the vagaries of mankind in pursuit of the " perpetuum mobile." The reader may refer to See also:

• HENRY
• HENRY (1129-1195)
• HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
• HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
• HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
• HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
• HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
• HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
• HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
• HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
• HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
• HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
• HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
• HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)

Henry Dircks's Perpeluum Mobile (2 vols., 1861 and 1870), from which, for the most Dart, we select the following facts . By far the most numerous class of perpetual motions is that which seeks to utilize the action of gravity upon rigid solids . We have not read of any actual proposal of the kind, but the most obvious thing to imagine in this way would be to procure some substance which intercepts gravitational attraction . If this could be had, then, by introducing a See also:

• PLATE

plate of it underneath a body while it was raised, we could elevate the body without doing work; then, removing the plate, we could allow the body to fall and do work; eccentrics or other imposing device being added to move the gravitation intercepter, behold a perpetual motion complete ! The great difficulty is that no one has found the proper material for an intercepter . Fig . 1 represents one of the most See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient and oftenest-repeated of gravitational perpetual motions . The idea is that the balls See also:

• ROLLING

rolling in the compartments between the See also:

• FELLOE

felloe and the rim of the See also:

• WHEEL (0. Eng. hweol, hweohl, &c., cognate with Icel. hjol, Dan. hiul, the Indo-European root is seen in Sanskrit chakra, Gr. r in Aos, circle, whence " cycle ")
• WHEEL, BREAKING ON THE

wheel will, on the whole, so comport themselves that the moment about the centre of those on the descending See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side exceeds the moment of those on the ascending side . Endless levers with See also:

• ELBOW

elbow-See also:

• JOINTS

joints, eccen- trics, &c., have been proposed for effecting this impossibility . The student of dynamics at once convinces himself that no machinery can effect any such result; because if we give the wheel a complete turn, so that each See also:

• BALL (in Mid. Eng. bal; the word is probably cognate with " bale," Teutonic in origin, cf. also Lat. falls, and Gr. 7raXXa)
• BALL, JOHN (1585-1640)
• BALL, JOHN (1818-1889)
• BALL, JOHN (d. 1381)
• BALL, SIR ALEXANDER JOHN, BART
• BALL, THOMAS (1819- )

ball returns to its See also:

• ORIGINAL

original position, the whole work done by the ball will, at the most, equal that done on it . We know that if the laws of motion be true, in each step the kinetic energy given to the whole See also:

• SYSTEM

system of wheel and balls is equal to that taken from the potential energy of the balls less what is dissipated in the See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of heat by frictional forces, or See also:

• VICE

vice versa, if the wheel and balls be losing kinetic energy—save that the friction in both cases leads to dissipation . So that, whatever the system may lose, it can, after it is See also:

• LEFT

left to itself, never gain energy during its motion .

The two most famous perpetual motions of See also:

• HISTORY

history, viz. the wheels of the See also:

• MARQUIS

marquis of See also:

• WORCESTER
• WORCESTER, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF
• WORCESTER, JOHN TIPTOFT, EARL OF (1427—1470)
• WORCESTER, WILLIAM (c. 1415-c. 1482)

Worcester (d . 1667) and of Councillor Orffyraeus, were probably of this type . The marquis of Worcester gives the following account of his machine in his Century of Inventions (art . 56) : " To provide and make that all the Weights of the descending side of a Wheel shall be perpetually further from the Centre than those of the mounting side, and yet equal in number and heft to one side as the other . A most incredible thing, if not seen but tried before the See also:

• LATE

late See also:

• KING
• KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
• KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
• KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
• KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
• KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
• KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
• KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
• KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
• KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
• KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
• KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)

king (of blessed memory) in the See also:

• TOWER (Lat. turris; Fr. tour, clocker; Ital. torre; Ger. Thurm)

Tower, by my directions, two Extraordinary Embassadors accompanying His See also:

• MAJESTY (Fr. majeste; Lat. majestas, grandeur, greatness, from the base mag-, as in magnus, great, major, greater, &c.)

Majesty, and the See also:

• DUKE (corresponding to Fr. duc, Ital. duca, Ger. Herzog)

Duke of See also:

• RICHMOND
• RICHMOND, EARLS AND DUKES OF
• RICHMOND, LEGH (1772-1827)
• RICHMOND, SIR WILLIAM BLAKE (1842– )

Richmond, and Duke See also:

• HAMILTON
• HAMILTON (GRAND or ASHUANIPI)
• HAMILTON, ALEXANDER (1757-1804)
• HAMILTON, ANTHONY, or ANTOINE (1646-1720)
• HAMILTON, ELIZABETH (1758–1816)
• HAMILTON, EMMA, LADY (c. 1765-1815)
• HAMILTON, JAMES (1769-1831)
• HAMILTON, JAMES HAMILTON, 1ST DUKE OF (1606-1649)
• HAMILTON, JOHN (c. 1511–1571)
• HAMILTON, MARQUESSES AND DUKES OF
• HAMILTON, PATRICK (1504-1528)
• HAMILTON, ROBERT (1743-1829)
• HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM
• HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM (1730-1803)
• HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM ROWAN (1805-1865)
• HAMILTON, THOMAS (1789-1842)
• HAMILTON, WILLIAM (1704-1754)
• HAMILTON, WILLIAM GERARD (1729-1796)

Hamilton, with most of the See also:

• COURT
• COURT (from the O. Fr. court, Late Lat. cortis, curtis, a popular form of class. Lat. cohors, gen. cohortis; the mod. Fr. form tour is due to the influence of the Lat. curia, the word used in medieval documents to translate " court " in the feudal sense)
• COURT, ANTOINE (1696-176o)

Court, attending him . The Wheel was 14 . See also:

• FOOT

Foot over, and 40 . Weights of 5o. pounds apiece . See also:

• SIR

Sir See also:

• WILLIAM
• WILLIAM (1143-1214)
• WILLIAM (1227-1256)
• WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
• WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
• WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
• WILLIAM, 13TH

William Balfore, then See also:

• LIEUTENANT

Lieutenant of the Tower, can justify it, with several others . They all saw that no sooner these great Weights passed the See also:

• DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

Diameter-See also:

• LINE

line of the See also:

• LOWER

lower side, but they hung a foot further from the Centre, nor no sooner passed the Diameter-line of the upper side but they hung a foot nearer . Be pleased to See also:

• JUDGE (Lat. judex, Fr. juge)

judge the consequence." 1 We may here See also:

• NOTICE

notice, so far as more See also:

• RECENT

recent times are concerned, the claim of an See also:

• AMERICAN

American enthusiast, who, having worked a Hampson plant for liquefying See also:

• AIR (from an Indo-European root meaning " breathe," " blow ")
• AIR, or ASBEN

air, stated that 3 lb of liquid air sufficed to liquefy ten, and of these ten seven could be employed as a source of motive power, whilst the remaining three could he utilized in the See also:

• PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of another 10 lb of the liquid See also:

• GAS

gas . There was thus available an inexhaustible supply of energy !

The absurdity of the proposition is obvious to any one acquainted with the laws of See also:

• THERMODYNAMICS (from Gr. Bepµos, hot, Siva trs, force)

thermodynamics . Of more interest is the See also:

• RADIUM (from Lat. radius, ray)

radium clock devised by the Hon . R . J . See also:

• STRUTT, JEDEDIAH (1726-1797)

Strutt . This consists of a vacuum See also:

• VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas, vase, urn)

vessel from the See also:

• TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top of which depends a short See also:

• TUBE (Lat. tuba)

tube containing a fragment of a radioactive substance . At the lower end of this tube there are two See also:

• GOLD
• GOLD [symbol Au, atomic weight 195.7(H = 1),197.2(0 =16)]

gold leaves as in an See also:

• ELECTROSCOPE

electroscope . Fused into the sides of the vacuum vessel at points where the extended gold leaves See also:

• TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch the See also:

• GLASS
• GLASS (O.E. glees, cf. Ger. Glas, perhaps derived from an old Teutonic root gla-, a variant of glo-, having the general sense of shining, cf. " glare," " glow ")
• GLASS, STAINED

glass are two See also:

• PLATINUM [symbol Pt, atomic weight 145.0 (0=16)]

platinum wires, the See also:

• OUTER

outer ends of which are earthed . The " clock " acts as follows . The radio-active substance emits a preponderating number of positively electrified particles, so that the leaves become charged and hence extended . On contact with the wires fused into the vessel, this See also:

• CHARGE
• CHARGE (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. carricare, to load in a carrus or wagon; cf. " cargo ")

charge is conducted away and the leaves fall together . The See also:

• PROCESS

process is then repeated, and will continue until all the energy of the radium has been dissipated .

This See also:

• PERIOD
• PERIOD (Gr. irepioSos, a going or way round, circuit, aepi, round, and &Sis, way, road)

period is extremely long, for woo years must elapse before Sven See also:

• HALF

half the radium has disappeared.—[ED.j Orffyraeus (whose real name was Johann See also:

• ERNST, HEINRICH WILHELM (1814–1865)

Ernst See also:

• ELIAS, JOHN (1774-1841)

Elias Bessler) (168o–1745) also obtained distinguished patronage for his invention . His last wheel, for he appears to have constructed more than one, was 12 ft. in diameter and i ft . 2 in. broad; it consisted of a See also:

• LIGHT

light framework of wood, covered in with oilcloth so that the interior was concealed, and was mounted on an See also:

• AXLE (in Mid. Eng. axel-tre, from O. Norweg. oxull-tre, cognate with the O. Eng. exe or eaxe, and connected with Sansk. dksha, Gr. a wv, and Lat. axis)

axle which had no visible connexion with any external mover . It was examined and approved of by the See also:

• LANDGRAVE (Ger. Landgraf, from Land, " a country" and Graf, "count" )

landgrave of See also:

• HESSE
• HESSE (Lat. Hessia, Ger. Hessen)

Hesse-See also:

• CASSEL
• CASSEL, or KASSEL

Cassel, in whose See also:

• CASTLE
• CASTLE (Lat. castellum, a fort, diminutive of castra, a camp; Fr. chateau and chdtel)

castle at Weissenstein it is said to have gone for eight See also:

• WEEKS, EDWIN LORD (1849-1903)

weeks in a sealed See also:

• ROOM

room . The most remarkable thing about this machine is that it evidently imposed upon the mathematician W . J . 'sGravesande, who wrote a See also:

• LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter to Newton giving an account of his examination of Orffyraeus's wheel undertaken at the See also:

• REQUEST, LETTERS OF

request of the landgrave, wherein he professes himself dissatisfied with the proofs theretofore given of she impossibility of perpetual motion, and indicates his See also:

• OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion that the invention of Orffyraeus is worthy of investigation . He himself, however, was not allowed to examine the interior of the wheel . The inventor seems to have destroyed it himself . One See also:

• STORY, JOHN (c. 1510-1571)
• STORY, JOSEPH (1779-1845)
• STORY, ROBERT HERBERT (1835-1907)
• STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE (1819—1895)

story is that he did so on account of difficulties with the landgrave's See also:

• GOVERNMENT
• GOVERNMENT (0. Fr. governement, mod. gouvernement, O. Fr. governer, mod. gouverner, from Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, guide, rule; cf. Gr. xv(3epvav)

government as to a See also:

• LICENCE (through the French from Lat. licentia, licere, to be lawful)

licence for it; another that he was annoyed at the examination by 'sGravesande, and wrote on the See also:

• WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the original O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
• WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

wall of the room containing the fragments of his model that he had destroyed it because of the impertinent curiosity of 'sGravesande . The overbalancing wheel perpetual motion seems to be as old as the 13th century . Dircks quotes an account of an invention by Wilars de Honecort, an architect whose sketchbook is still preserved in the Ecoles See also:

• DES

des Chartes at Paris .

De Honecort says, " Many a time have skilful workmen tried to contrive a wheel that shall turn of itself ; here is a way to do it by means of an uneven number of mallets, or by quicksilver." He thereupon gives a See also:

• RUDE, FRANCOIS (1784–1855)

rude See also:

• SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch of a wheel with mallets jointed to its circumference . It would appear from some of the See also:

• MANUSCRIPTS

manuscripts of Leonardo da See also:

• VINCI, LEONARDO (1690-173o)

Vinci that he had worked with similar notions . Another See also:

• SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme of the perpetual metionist is a water-wheel which shall feed its own See also:

• MILL
• MILL (O. Eng. mylen, later myln, or miln, adapted from the late Lat. molina, cf. Fr. moulin, from Lat. mola, a mill, molere, to grind; from the same root, mol, is derived " meal;" the word appears in other Teutonic languages, cf. Du. molen, Ger. muhle)
• MILL, JAMES (1773-1836)
• MILL, JOHN (c. 1645–1707)
• MILL, JOHN STUART (1806-1873)

mill-stream . This notion is probably as old as the first See also:

• MILLER, HUGH (1802–1856)
• MILLER, JOAQUIN (CINCINNATUS HEINE) (1841- )
• MILLER, JOE (JosEPH or JosIAS( (1684-1738)
• MILLER, SAMUEL FREEMAN (1816-1890)
• MILLER, WILLIAM (1782-1849)
• MILLER, WILLIAM (1795-1861)
• MILLER, WILLIAM (1796–1882)
• MILLER, WILLIAM HALLOWES (18o1–188o)

miller who experienced the difficulty of a dry See also:

• SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season . One form is figured in the Mathematical Magic (1648) of See also:

• BISHOP (A.S. bisceop, from Lat. episcopus, Gr. irio-Korros, " overlooker " or " overseer ")
• BISHOP, ISABELLA (1832-1904)
• BISHOP, SIR HENRY ROWLEY (1786-1855)

Bishop See also:

• WILKINS, GEORGE (ii. 1607)
• WILKINS, JOHN (1614-1672)
• WILKINS, MARY ELEANOR (1862– )
• WILKINS, SIR CHARLES (1749?-1836)

Wilkins (1614–1672); the essential See also:

• PART

part of it is the water-See also:

• SCREW (O.E. scrue, from O. Fr. escroue, mod. ecrou; ultimate origin uncertain; the word, or a similar one, appears in Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Schraube, Dan. skrue, but Skeat, following Diaz, finds the origin in Lat. scrobs, a ditch, hole, particularl

screw of See also:

• ARCHIMEDES (c. 287–212 B.C.)
• ARCHIMEDES, SCREW OF

Archimedes, which appears in many of the earlier machines of this class . Some of the later ones dispense with even the subtlety of the water-screw, and boldly represent a water-wheel pumping the water upon its own buckets . Perpetual motions founded on the hydrostatical paradox are not uncommon; See also:

• DENIS (DIoNysms), SAINT
• DENIS, JOHANN NEPOMUK COSMAS MICHAEL (1729-1800)

Denis See also:

• PAPIN, DENIS (1647-c. 1712)

Papin exposes one of these in the Philosophical Transactions for 1685 . The most naive of these devices is that illustrated in fig . 2, the idea of which is that the larger quantity of water in the wider part of the vessel weighing more will overbalance the smaller quantity in the narrower part, so that the water will run over at C, and so on continually . Capillary attraction has also been a favourite See also:

• FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
• FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
• FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
• FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
• FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
• FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
• FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
• FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
• FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
• FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
• FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)

field for the vain quest; for, if by capillary action fluids can be made to disobey the law of never rising above their own level, what so easy as thus to produce a continual ascent and overflow, and thus perpetual motion ? Various schemes of this kind, involving an endless See also:

• BAND

band which should raise more water by its capillary action on one side than on the other, have been proposed . The most celebrated is that of Sir William See also:

• CONGREVE, RICHARD (1818-1899)
• CONGREVE, SIR WILLIAM
• CONGREVE, WILLIAM (167o-1729)

Congreve (1772–1828) .

EFG (fig . 3) is an inclined See also:

• PLANE

plane over pulleys; at the top and bottom travels an endless band of sponge, abed, and over this again an endless band of heavy weights jointed together . The whole stands over the See also:

• SURFACE

surface of still water . The capillary action raises the water in ab, whereas the same thing cannot hap-See also:

• PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

pen in the part ad, since the weights squeeze the water out . Hence, See also:

• INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch for inch, ab is heavier than ad; but we know that if ab were only just as heavy inch for inch as ad there would be See also:

• EQUILIBRIUM (from the Lat. aequus, equal, and libra, a balance)

equilibrium, if the heavy See also:

• CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain be also See also:

• UNIFORM

uniform; therefore the extra See also:

• WEIGHT

weight of ab will cause the chain to move See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round in the direction of the arrow, and this will go on continually . The more recondite vehicles of energy, such as See also:

• ELECTRICITY

electricity and See also:

• MAGNETISM
• MAGNETISM, TERRESTRIAL

magnetism, are more seldom drawn upon by perpetual-motion inventors than might perhaps be expected . William See also:

• GILBERT
• GILBERT (KINGSMILL) ISLANDS
• GILBERT (or GYLBERDE), WILLIAM (1544-1603)
• GILBERT, ALFRED (1854– )
• GILBERT, ANN (1821-1904)
• GILBERT, GROVE KARL (1843– )
• GILBERT, J
• GILBERT, JOHN (1810-1889)
• GILBERT, MARIE DOLORES ELIZA ROSANNA [" LOLA MONTEZ "] (1818-1861)
• GILBERT, NICOLAS JOSEPH LAURENT (1751–1780)
• GILBERT, SIR HUMPHREY (c. 1539-1583)
• GILBERT, SIR JOSEPH HENRY (1817-1901)
• GILBERT, SIR WILLIAM SCHWENK (1836– )

Gilbert, in his See also:

• TREATISE

treatise De Magnete, alludes to some of them, and Bishop Wilkins mentions among others a machine " wherein a loadstone is so disposed C that it shall draw unto it on a reclined plane a See also:

• BULLET (Fr. boulet, diminutive of boule, ball)

bullet of See also:

• STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel, which, still, as it ascends near to the loadstone, may be contrived to fall through some hole in the plane and so to return unto the place whence at first it began to move, and being there, the loadstone will again attract it upwards, till, coming to this hole, it will fall down again, and so the motion shall be perpetual." The fact that screens do exist whereby See also:

• ELECTRICAL
• ELECTRICAL (or ELECTROSTATIC) MACHINE

electrical and magnetic action can be cut off would seem to open a See also:

• DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door for the perpetual-motion seeker . Unfortunately the bringing up and removing of these screens involves in all cases just that gain or loss of work which is demanded by the law of the conservation of energy . A shoemaker of See also:

• LINLITHGOW
• LINLITHGOW, JOHN ADRIAN LOUIS HOPE, 1ST MARQUESS

Linlithgow called See also:

• SPENCE, THOMAS (1750-1814)

Spence pretended that he had found a See also:

• BLACK
• BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874)
• BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)
• BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

black substance which intercepted magnetic attraction and repulsion, and he produced two machines which were moved, as he asserted, by the agency of permanent magnets, thanks to the black substance . The fraud was speedily exposed, but it is worthy of remark that Sir See also:

• DAVID
• DAVID (a Hebrew name meaning probably beloved 1)
• DAVID, FELICIEN (1810—1876)
• DAVID, GERARD [GHEERAERT DAVIT], (?=1523)
• DAVID, PIERRE JEAN (1789–1856)
• DAVID, ST (Dewi, Sant)

David See also:

• BREWSTER, SIR DAVID (1781–1868)
• BREWSTER, WILLIAM (c. 1566–1644)

Brewster thought the thing See also:

• WORTH
• WORTH, CHARLES FREDERICK (1825-1895)

worth mentioning in a letter to the Annales de chimie (1818), wherein he states " that Mr See also:

• PLAYFAIR, JOHN (1748-1819)
• PLAYFAIR, LYON PLAYFAIR

Playfair and See also:

• CAPTAIN (derived from Lat. ca put, head, through the Low Lat. capitanus)

Captain See also:

• KATER, HENRY (1777-1835)

Kater have inspected both of these machines and are satisfied that they resolve the problem of perpetual motion." The See also:

• PRESENT

present writer once was sent an elaborate drawing of a See also:

• LOCOMOTIVE

locomotive See also:

• ENGINE
• ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

engine which was to be worked by the agency of per- manent magnets . He forgets the details, but it was not so See also:

• SIMPLE

simple as the See also:

• PLAN
• PLAN (from Lat. planes, flat)

plan represented in fig . 4, where M and N are permanent magnets, whose attraction is " screened " by the wooden blocks A and B from the upper left and lower right quadrants of the soft iron wheel W, which consequently is attracted round in the same direction by both M and N, and thus goes on for ever .

One more See also:

• PAGE
• PAGE, THOMAS NELSON (1853- )
• PAGE, WILLIAM (1811-1885)

page from this See also:

• CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter of the See also:

• BOOK

book of human folly; the author is the famous See also:

• JEAN

Jean See also:

• BERNOULLI

Bernoulli the See also:

• ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)
• ELDER (Gr. 1rpev(3iTepos)

elder . We N translate his Latin, as far as possible, into modern phraseology . In the first place we must premise the following (see fig . 5) . (1) If there be two fluids of different of G to L, the height of equiponderating cylinders on equal bases will be in the inverse ratio of L to G . (2) Accordingly, if the height AC of one fluid, contained in the See also:

• VASE
• VASE (through Fr. from Lat. vas, a vessel, pl. vasa, of which the singular vasum is rarely found; the ultimate root is probably was-, to cover, seen in Lat: vestis, clothing, Eng. " vest," Gr. to-th c, and also in " wear," of garments)

vase AD, be in this ratio to the height EF of the other liquid, which is in a tube open at both ends, the liquids so placed will remain at See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest . (3) Wherefore, if AC be to EF in a greater ratio than L to G, the liquid in the tube will ascend; or if the tube be not sufficiently long the liquid will overflow at the orifice E (this follows from hydrostatic principles) . (4) It is possible to have two liquids of different See also:

• DENSITY (Lat. densus, thick)

density that will mix . (5) It is possible to have a See also:

• FILTER (a word common in various forms to most European languages, adapted from the medieval Lat. fi-ltrum, felt, a material used as a filtering agent)

filter, colander, or other separator, by means of which the lighter liquid mixed with the heavier may be separated again therefrom . Construction.—These things being presupposed (says Bernoulli), I thus construct a perpetual motion . Let there be taken in any (if you please, in equal) quantities two liquids of different densities mixed together (which may be had by hyp . 4), and let the ratio of their densities be first determined, and be the heavier to the lighter as G to L, then with the mixture let the vase AD be filled up to A .

This done let the tube EF, open at both ends, be taken of such a length that AC: EF> 2L:G+L; let the lower orifice F of this tube be stopped, or rather covered with the filter or other material separating the lighter liquid from the heavier (which may also be had by hyp . 5) ; now let the tube thus prepared be immersed to the bottom of the vessel CD ; I say that the liquid will continually ascend through the orifice F of the tube and overflow by the orifice E upon the liquid below . F of the tube is covered by the filter (by constr.) which separates the lighter liquid from the heavier, it follows that, if the tube be immersed to the bottom of the vessel, the lighter liquid alone which is mixed with the heavier ought to rise through the filter into the tube, and that, too, higher than the surface of the surrounding liquid (by hyp . 2), so that AC:EF=2L: G+L; but since by constr . AC: EF>2L: G+L it necessarily follows (by hyp . 3) that the lighter liquid will flow over by the orifice E into the vessel below, and there will meet the heavier and be again mixed with it; and it will then penetrate the filter, again ascend the tube, and be a second time driven through the upper orifice . Thus, therefore, will the flow be continued for ever.—Q.E D . Bernoulli then proceeds to apply this theory to explain the perpetual rise of water to the mountains, and its flow in See also:

• RIVERS
• RIVERS, ANTHONY WOODVILLE, or WYDEVILLE, 2ND EARL (c. 1442—1483)
• RIVERS, EARL
• RIVERS, RICHARD SAVAGE, 4TH EARL (c. 1660—1712)

rivers to thesea, which others had falsely attributed to capillary action—his idea being that it was an effect of the different densities of See also:

• SALT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch zout, Ger. Salz, Scand. salt; cognate with Gr. &Xs, Lat. sal)
• SALT, SIR TITUS, BART

salt and fresh water . One really is at a loss with Bernoulli's wonderful theory, whether to admire most the conscientious statement of the See also:

• HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis, the See also:

• PRIM, JUAN, MARQUIS DE LOS CASTILLEJOS, COUNT DE REDS (1814-187o)

prim See also:

• LOGIC (Xoy1K7, sc. rixvrt, the art of reasoning)

logic of the demonstration, so carefully cut according to the See also:

• PATTERN

pattern of the ancients, or the weighty superstructure built on so frail a See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation . Most of our perpetual motions were clearly the result of too little learning; surely this one was the product of too much . (G .