Take any number of two-inch tubes, ten inches long, and close the bottom
except one small hole. Place a piston in each, as in a syringe. In the
bottom place a worm spring under a figure of a man or woman, each one
different and in a different attitude, and of such a size as to fill up
the hollow cylinders.
Set them all in a circular wooden frame, and create a vacuum under each
piston by pushing them down, stopping the hole, and drawing them up to
any height you please.
On placing the frame in the receiver, and exhausting the air, the force
of the spring being greater than the friction of the piston and the
weight of the figure, they will rise up gradually in their proper
attitudes. On admitting the air into the receiver they will retire.
If the tubes be inflated with air, they will be extended when the
pressure of that in the receiver is taken.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Fig. 111.]
What is the difference between this subject and a young widow? The
latter is a widdy girl, while the above is a giddy whirl.