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BIBLI0GRAPHV

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 337 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BIBLI0GRAPHV .—Bibliographical and See also:

historical See also:information See also:relating to tables is collected in Brit. See also:Ass. See also:Rep. for 1873, p. 6. The See also:principal See also:works are:—J. C. Heilbronner, Historia Matheseos (See also:Leipzig, 1742), the arithmetical portion being at the end . J. E. Scheibel, Einleitung zur mathematischen Biicherkenntniss (See also:Breslau, 1771—84) ; A. G. Kastner, Geschichte der Mathematik (See also:Gottingen, 1796—1800), vol. iii.

; F. G. A. Murhard, Bibliotheca Mathematica (Leipzig, 1797—1804), vol. ii.; J. Rogg, Bibliotheca Mathematica (See also:

Tubingen, 1830), and continuation from 183o to 1854 by L. A. Sohnke (Leipzig and See also:London, 1854) ; J. de See also:Lalande, Bibliographic astronomique (See also:Paris, 1803), a See also:separate See also:index on p. 96o. A See also:great See also:deal of information upon See also:early tables is given by J. B. J. See also:Delambre, Histoire de l'astronomie moderne (Paris, 1821), vol. i.; and in Nos. xix. and xx. of C.

See also:

Hutton's Mathematical Tracts (1812). For lists of logarithmic tables of all kinds see De Haan, Verslagen en Mededeelingen of the Amster-See also:dam See also:Academy of Sciences (See also:Abt. Natuurkunde) 1862, xiv. 15, and Verhandelingen of the same academy, 1875, xv. separately paged. De See also:Morgan's See also:article " Tables," which appeared first in the See also:Penny Cyclopaedia, and afterwards with additions in the See also:English Cyclopaedia, gives not only a See also:good deal of See also:bibliographical information, but also an See also:account of tables relating to See also:life assurance and annuities, astronomical tables, commercial tables, &c. Reference should also be made to R. Mehmke's valuable article " Numerisches Rechnen " in vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 941—1079 of the Encyk. der math. Wiss. (Leipzig, 1900—4), which besides tables includes calculating See also:machines, graphical methods, &c. (J. W.

L. G.) beauty. The view from the See also:

summit overlooking Table See also:Bay is also one of much grandeur. The See also:south-See also:east winds which sweep over Table See also:Mountain frequently cause the phenomenon known as " The Table-See also:cloth." The summit of the mountain is then covered by a whitish-See also:grey See also:cloud, which is being constantly forced down the See also:northern See also:face towards Cape See also:Town, but never reaches the See also:lower slopes. The clouds (not always caused by the south-See also:easter) See also:form very suddenly, and the See also:weather on the mountain is exceedingly changeable. The rainfall on the summit is heavy, 72.14 inches a See also:year being the See also:average of twelve years' observations. This compares with an average of 54.63 inches at See also:Bishop's See also:Court, See also:Newlands, at the See also:foot of the mountain on the east and with 25.43 inches at Cape Town at the northern foot of the mountain. The relative luxuriance of the vegetation on the upper See also:part of the mountain, compared with that of its lower slopes, is due not only to the rainfall, but to the large additional moisture condensed from clouds. The result of experiments conducted by Dr Marloth (Trans. S. Afrn. Phil.

See also:

Soc. for 1903 and 1905) goes to show that during cloudy weather the summit of the mountain resembles an immense sponge, and that this condensation of moisture considerably influences the yield of the springs in the lower part of the mountain. TABLE-TURNING. When the See also:movement of See also:modern See also:spiritualism first reached See also:Europe from See also:America in the See also:winter of 1852-3, the most popular method of consulting the " See also:spirits " was for several persons to sit See also:round a table, with their hands resting on it, and wait for the table to move. If the experiment was successful the table would rotate with considerable rapidity, and would occasionally rise in the See also:air, or perform other movements. Whilst by many the movements were ascribed to the agency of spirits, two investigators—count de Gasparin and See also:Professor Thury of Geneva—conducted a careful See also:series of experiments by which they claimed to have demonstrated that the movements of the table were due to a See also:physical force emanating from the bodies of the sitters, for which they proposed the name " ectenic force." Their conclusion rested on the supposed elimination of all known physical causes for the movements; but it is doubtful from the description of the experiments whether the precautions taken were sufficient to exclude unconscious See also:muscular See also:action or even deliberate See also:fraud. In See also:England table-turning became a fashionable diversion and was practised all over the See also:country in the year 1853. Dr See also:John See also:Elliotson and his followers attributed the phenomena to mesmerism. The See also:general public were content to find the explanation of the movements in spirits, See also:animal See also:magnetism, odic force, galvanism, See also:electricity, or even the rotation of the See also:earth. See also:James See also:Braid, W. B. See also:Carpenter and others pointed out, however, that the phenomena obviously depended upon the expectation of the sitters, and could be stopped altogether by appropriate See also:suggestion. And See also:Faraday devised some See also:simple apparatus which conclusively demonstrated that the movements were due to unconscious muscular action.

The apparatus consisted of two small boards, with See also:

glass rollers between them, the whole fastened together by indiarubber bands in such a manner that the upper See also:board could slide under lateral pressure to a limited extent over the lower one. The occurrence of such lateral movement was at once indicated by means of an upright haystalk fastened to the apparatus. When by this means it was made clear to the experimenters that it was the fingers which moved the table, not the table the fingers, the phenomena generally ceased. The movements were in fact simply an See also:illustration of See also:automatism. But Faraday's demonstration did little to stop the popular craze. By believers the table was made to serve as a means of communicating with the spirits; the See also:alphabet would be slowly called over and the table would tilt at the appropriate See also:letter, thus spelling out words and sentences. Some Evangelical clergymen discovered by this means that the spirits who caused the movements were of a diabolic nature, and some amazing accounts were published in 1853 and 1854 of the revelations obtained from the talking tables. Table-turning is still in See also:vogue amongst spiritualist circles. The See also:device was employed with success by Professor See also:Charles Richet and others in thought-transference experiments. See A. E. de Gasparin, See also:Des Tables tournantes, du Surnaturel, &c. (Paris, 1854) ; Thury, Des Tables tournantes (See also:Geneva, 1855) ; Faraday's letter on Table-turning in The Times, 3oth See also:June 1853.

Quarterly See also:

Review, See also:Sept. 1853—article by Carpenter on Spiritualism, &c. ; Mrs De Morgan, From See also:Matter to Spirit (London, 1863) ; Ch. Richet, Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. F. Podmore, Modern Spiritualism (London, 1902), ii. 7-21, gives an account of the movement in 1853, with references to contemporary See also:pamphlets and newspaper articles. (F.

End of Article: BIBLI0GRAPHV

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