In order to see whether, as claimed, no force was exerted on the chair, the performer was invited to stand on the platform of the scales while making the chair move. The weights had been so adjusted as to balance a weight of forty pounds above her own. The result was that after some general attempts to make the chair move the lever clicked, showing that a lifting force exceeding forty pounds was being exerted by the young woman on the platform. The click seemed to demoralize the operator, who became unable to continue her efforts.
The experiment of raising a hat turned out equally simple, and the result of all the trials was only to increase my skepticism as to the whole doctrine of unknown forces and media of communication between one mind and another. I am now likely to remain a skeptic as to every branch of "occult science" until I find some manifestation of its reality more conclusive than any I have yet been able to find.
[1] Prowe: Nicolaus Copernicus, Bd. ii. (Berlin, 1884), p. 33.
INDEX
Absence of mind, examples of, 73, 169.
Academy of Science, a would-be, 351.
Academy of Sciences, Paris, 327.
Adams, Prof. John C., 220; intellectual capacity, 282; politics, 283.
Agnesi, Donna Maria, 294.
Agassiz, Louis, discusses Origin of Species, 70.
Airy, Sir George B., Observations of Transit of Venus, 166;
hospitality, 285; poetic taste, 286; executive ability, 286;
methods of works, 289.
Alexander, Columbus, 368.
Anderson, Sir James, 300.
Angle, trisection of, 387.
Argelander, Prof., master of observational astronomy, 318, 319.
Atlantic Cable, the first, 300.
Auwers, the great astronomer, 306.
Bacon, Mr., teacher at Bedeque, 9.
Baillie, William, U. S. engineer, 361.
Baird, Spencer F., 240.
Bancroft, George, reviews judicial decision of Star Catalogue case,
378.
Barnard, E. E., 190.
Barnard, Gen. John G., 335.
Bartlett, William P. G., 83.
Belknap, Admiral G. H., 228.
Bell, Alexander Graham, tries to locate ball in Garfield's body, 358.
Black, Jeremiah, 168, 169.
Blackie, Prof. J. S., 294.
Bond, George P., 250.
Booth, Edwin, 157.
Borst, Charles A., 373.
Boss, Prof. Lewis, 124, 230.
Bowditch, Nathaniel, 1.
Bradford, Isaac, 74.
Brewster, Elder, 3.
Brown, Prof. S. J., 125.
Burnham, S. W., 188.
Campbell, William W., 190.
Carey, Henry C., 400.
Cassey, Thomas L., Jr., 174.
Casserly, Eugene, 128.
Cassini, astronomer, of Paris Observatory, 331.
Cayley, Prof. Arthur, 280.
Chandler, Captain Ralph, U. S. N., 171.
Chandler, W. E., 126.
Chauvenet, William, 111.
Chevreul, M., his remarkable age, 327.
Circle, quadrature of, 387.
Clark, Alvan, 129, 144.
Clark, Alvan, & Sons, character of the firm, 147.
Cleveland, Keith, 224.
Cobbett, William, 7, 53.
Coe, George S., financier, 402.
Coffin, J. H. C., 111.
Combe, George, 4, 16.
Commune of Paris, 321-326.
Comstock, G. C., 126.
Cooke, Thomas, & Sons, 133.
Cox, Jacob D., 258.
Crank, the anti-gravitation, 381; a reasonable, 383.
Cranks, specimen letters from, 389.
Darwin's "Origin of Species," discussion of, 70.
Dawes, Henry L., 82.
Dawes, Rev. W. R., 148.
Davis, Charles H., 63; becomes superintendent at Naval Observatory,
107.
Dayton, A. G., 126.
Delaunay, Charles, indorses Prof. Newcomb, 317; director of Paris
Observatory, 319; attractive personality, 329, 330.
Draper, Dr. Henry, expert in astronomical photography, 171, 223.
Draper, Dr. John W., 250.
Dudley Observatory troubles, 80.
Early, Gen. Jubal A., raid of, 339.
Eastman, John R., 107, 274.
Eclipse, solar, of 1860, journey to observe, 88.
Economics, studies in, 399; alleged schools of, 405.
Education in mountain regions of South, 397.
Eggleston, Edward, 89.
Eliot, Charles W., 74.
Elkin, Dr. W. L., 176.
Elliot, Benjamin S., 50.
Ely, Prof. R. T., as economist, 404; organizes American Economic
Association, 406; merits as a teacher, 408.
Evarts, William M., 241.
Eveleth, G. W., 55.
Feil, maker of optical discs, 185.
Ferguson, James, 111.
Ferrell, William, 72, 88.
Field, Cyrus W., 128.
Fiske, John, on eccentric literature, 382.
Fixed stars, Paris conference regarding, 230.
Floyd, Richard S., 186.
France, universities of, 392.
Franklin, Admiral, 122.
Furber, Mr., starts movement for admission of American students
in French universities, 396.