Article From Mechanics' Magazine In 1831, the following article was contributed by an unknown correspondent to, and published in "Mechanics' Magazine": "Yes; we shall conquer! All those dangers past Will serve to enrich the future story." The application to the subject, on my part, has been accompanied by continual experimental elucidations of the subjects considered, and comparisons of these with the axioms, theorems, and demonstrations of one of the best authorities, if I may be allowed so to call my favorite author, Emerson, whose _I says_ are generally correct. I disagree with Mr. B., and do trust that even a perpetual motion seeker might deserve encouragement, if it be found that such a character may exist in a person who is not so ignorant of first principles as Mr. B. supposes _all_ are who have this bias; especially if it be found that the person's researches have been connected with subjects of a more tangible nature, relating to the improvement of the useful arts, and particularly to some modern inventions of high importance that are not perfectly correct in their construction. In this article, Mr. B. advises those who are misspending their time in this pursuit, to consider the question in its most simple form, divested of more complicated operations, which simple form is that of a pulley accurately constructed so as to reduce the resistance to motion as much as possible. He says, "it will be found, as long as the weights are equal," there will be no motion produced, but wherever the weights are placed they will remain; and to produce vertical motion in the smallest degree, it will be necessary to add a weight to one of the former to create a preponderancy. This weight he calls the mechanical loss, and an insurmountable bar to perpetual motion, etc. We need not follow Mr. B. to his conclusion, as I think this insurmountable bar can be easily removed; and I shall be able to show that this equilibrium, for such it merely is, can be destroyed without adding to one of the weights, or absolutely taking from the other; though this may virtually be considered to be the case, inasmuch as we can at least produce an effect on the system as if the weight were reduced. Mr. B. says, under this arrangement, "wherever the weights are placed they will remain, unless an addition is made to one of them." We will therefore suppose the following diagram to represent the arrangement on a small scale, delicately constructed. [Illustration]