“Certainly,” answered Mr. Seymour; “I will soon convince you that, under the condition you propose, the pins are not essential.”
So saying, he placed the tube in his mouth, and by carefully holding the ball at a distance of about half an inch from its orifice, he was enabled to consign it at once to a continuous and steady stream of air, which can never be commanded at the point from which the air issues; and he thus succeeded in sustaining the ball in motion, in the same manner as he did in the preceding experiment.
“We will now proceed to the orchard,” said Mr. Seymour, “where I have prepared another pleasing exhibition of a similar description.”
The party accordingly left the Lodge, and when they had arrived at the fountain, their father produced a small wooden figure, of which the annexed is a sketch. Within its base was fixed a hollow sphere, or ball of thin copper, which, when properly adjusted on a fountain, or jet d’eau, was sustained by the momentum produced by the velocity of the stream; so that the whole figure was balanced, and made to dance on the fountain, as the pith-ball had been made to play in the current of air.
The children were much gratified at witnessing so curious an exhibition. Mr. Twaddleton laughed heartily at the ludicrous effect it produced, and observed that, although he had never before seen the experiment, he had frequently heard of it; and he added, that he understood it to be a very common toy in Germany and Holland.
“I have for some time,” said Mrs. Seymour, “been trying to construct a light figure of this kind, which shall dance on a current of air; and I believe I have at length succeeded. The head I have formed of the seed vessel of the Antirrhinum, which has a striking resemblance to a face, and possesses, moreover, the indispensable condition of lightness. The dress is made of silver paper, stretched over a cone of the same material. From its appearance I have named it the Flying Witch.”
“I admire your ingenuity,” said Mr. Seymour, “and I have no reason to doubt the success of your enterprise.”
“I found it convenient,” continued Mrs. Seymour, “to place a stage of card below the orifice of the tube, in order to steady the figure as she rises, and to receive her as she falls.”
“Your principal care,” observed her husband, “must be to throw the centre of gravity of the figure as low as possible.”