[Illustration]
As shown in the illustration, this experiment is performed with a lead
pencil and a razor. The razor is partly opened and the end of the blade
fixed into the wood of the pencil about an inch or two above the point,
in the position and at about the angles shown in the illustration, Fig.
8, when the pencil may be readily balanced upon its point on the
extremity of a stout needle thrust horizontally into the bottle cork, as
shown.