THE SELF-BALANCED PAIL.
You lay a stick across the table, letting one-third of it project over the edge; and you undertake to hang a pail of water on it, without either fastening the stick on the table, or letting the pail rest on any support; and this feat, the laws of gravitation will enable you literally to accomplish.
You take the pail of water, and hang it by the handle upon the projecting end of the stick, in such a manner that the handle may rest on it in an inclined position, with the middle of the pail within the edge of the table. That it may be fixed in this situation, place another stick with one of its ends resting against the side at the bottom of the pail, and its other end against the first stick, where there should be a notch to retain it. By these means, the pail will remain fixed in that situation, without being able to incline to either side; nor can the stick slide along the table, or move along its edge, without raising the centre of gravity of the pail, and the water it contains.