“There cannot be any doubt that such would be the effect, were it possible to change the axis in the way you propose, but how is this to be effected?” asked the vicar.
“At first I attempted to produce the change by the addition of several other strings, but I soon found, that, in order to avail myself of this expedient, I should be obliged to stop the card before I could alter the axis, whereas my great object, as I have just stated, was to produce the change while the card was in the act of spinning,” answered Mr. Seymour.
“And I shrewdly suspect that such must necessarily be the case, adopt whatever expedient you may,” observed the major.
“No indeed; I have at length succeeded to my entire satisfaction, and that too by a most simple scheme, after having tried without success many very complicated contrivances.”
The party were very desirous of witnessing this triumph of skill, and Mr. Seymour produced the card, with its appendages, of which we shall here present our readers with an engraving:--
In all respects the card is constructed like the common Thaumatrope; the subject, it will be perceived, is that of a man drinking, the bottle being placed on one side, and the head on the other; upon revolving the card, in the ordinary manner, the two images will appear together as represented in:
The improvement consists in inserting in one, or, if a still greater change be desired, in both sides of the card, two strings, as seen in Fig. 1; viz. A D and A E, which united at A, form a common string for twirling the card. The cord A D is elastic, while the string A E is incapable of being stretched. If, therefore, while the card is in the act of spinning, the cord A D be pulled with an increased force, it will take the position D C, while the inelastic string A E will at the same time assume that of E C. The consequence of which will be that, instead of the card spinning on an axis in the direction A B, it will now spin on that which is in the direction C B, and we shall accordingly see the images on the opposite sides of the card in different positions, with respect to each other; at one moment the bottle will be seen in the hand of the drinker as represented in Fig. 2, and in the next, at his mouth as shown in the cut below:
