_Od._--One of the experiments by which the existence of this agency is
tested, consists in attaching a horsehair to the first joint of the
forefinger, and suspending to it a smooth gold ring. When the elbow is
rested on the table, and the finger held in a horizontal position, the
ring begins to oscillate in the plane of the direction of the finger;
but if a female takes hold of the left hand of the person thus
experimenting, the ring begins forthwith to oscillate in a plane at
right angles to that of its former direction. I have never tried the
experiment, for the simple reason that I have not been able to prevail
upon any married lady of my acquaintance to lend me her wedding-ring for
the purpose; and even if I had found it come true, I should still doubt
whether the motion were not owing to the pulsations of the finger veins;
but whatever be the cause, the fact is not new. My father recently told
me, that in his boyhood he had often seen it tried as a charm. For this
purpose it is essential, as may be supposed, that the ring be a
wedding-ring, and of course the lady towards whom it oscillates is set
down as the future spouse of the gentleman experimenting.