Hearing Monsieur Roger's jest, Miette raised her head, and said,—
"Yes, it is very curious to see water fall like that, in a single mass; and, besides, it fell quicker than the water in my tube."
"Of course: because it did not encounter the resistance of the air. This resistance is very easy to prove; and if Miss Miette will give me a sheet of any kind of paper——"
Miss Miette looked at Monsieur Roger, seeming to be slightly nettled,—not by the errand, but by something else.
Then she went in search of a sheet of letter-paper, which she brought back to Monsieur Roger. He raised his hand and dropped the paper. Instead of falling directly towards the earth, as a piece of lead or stone would do, it floated downward from the right to the left, gently balanced, and impeded in its fall by the evident resistance of the air. When this bit of paper had at last reached the ground, Monsieur Roger picked it up, saying,—
"I am going to squeeze this bit of paper in such a way as to make it a paper ball; and I am going to let this paper ball fall from the same height as I did the leaf."
The paper ball fell directly in a straight line upon the floor.
"And yet it was the same sheet," said he, "which has fallen so fast. The matter submitted to the action of gravity remains the same; there can be no doubt on that point. Therefore, if the sheet of paper falls more quickly when it is rolled up into a ball, it is certainly because it meets with less resistance from the air; and if it meets with less resistance, it is because under this form of a ball it presents only a small surface, which allows it easily to displace the air in order to pass."
"That is so," said Miss Miette, with a certainty which made every one smile.