Spinning Tops

This report of an experimental lecture is inscribed to Sir William Thomson, by his affectionate pupil, the lecturer, who hereby takes a convenient method of acknowledging the real author. Nearly all the experiments, even the tops and other apparatus you have seen or will see to-night, have been arranged and made by my enthusiastic assistant, Mr. Shepherd. The following experiment is not only his in arrangement; even the idea of it is his. He said, you may grin and contort your body with that large gyrostat in your hands, but many of your audience will simply say to {24} themselves that you only pretend to find a difficulty in turning the gyrostat. So he arranged this pivoted table for me to stand upon, and you will observe that when I now try to turn the gyrostat, it will not turn; however I may exert myself, it keeps pointing to that particular corner of the room, and all my efforts only result in turning round my own body and the table, but not the gyrostat.