"The tradition of Friar Bacon and the Brazen-head is very commonly known, and considering the times he lived in, is not much more strange than what another great philosopher of his name has since deliver'd of a ring that, being ty'd in a string, and held like a pendulum in the middle of a silver bowl, will vibrate of itself, and tell exactly against the sides of the divining-cup the same thing with, Time is, Time was, &c."
I have tried this experiment with the ring, and find the oscillation takes place as described by AGMOND with the shilling. If, however, the thread is tightly pressed between the finger and thumb, the vibration ceases. This latter circumstance appears to support AGMOND'S idea, that the motive power is due to the pulse, the circulation of the blood ceasing by pressure.
C. N. S.
Rhymes on Places (Vol. v., p. 404.).
—The places mentioned in the following lines are all within about four miles of each other in the county of Gloucester, and twenty years ago the adjectives exactly described the condition of the people; but the great civiliser, the steam-engine, has now taken away the force of the description; and although the first and third lines may be as true as ever, the second and fourth are not:—
"Beggarly Bisley,
Strutting Stroud,
Hampton poor,
And Painswick proud."
W. H. BAXTER.