Note 8 — Physical Phenomena.
Reading edition
Lord Bacon proposed that, in order to determine whether the gravity of the earth arises from the gravity of its parts, a clock-pendulum should be swung in a mine, as was recently done at Harton colliery by the Astronomer-Royal.
When, in 1812, Ampère noted the phenomena of the pendulum, and showed that its movement was produced only when the eye of the observer was fixed on the instrument, and endeavoured to prove thereby that the motion was due to a play of the muscles, some members of the French Academy objected to the consideration of a subject connected to such an extent with superstition.