22

Logic II 22

a weight equal to of the maximum value that he proposed to
himself as permissible for the weight he was making; and in
all his successive grindings would be aiming at that. The
consequence would be a curve [diagram] concave upwards
and stopping abruptly at its maximum ordinate; -- a
form easily manageable by a slight modification of the
method of least squares. [I have drawn the curve in the upper
left hand corder of the plate.] But most of the balances shown
upon the Egyptian monuments are provided with stops or other
contrivances which would be needless if the balances were not
top-heavy. ^* Now a top-heavy balance will not show that two
weights are equal, otherwise than by remaining with either
end down which may be down. It only shows when, a new
a weight is put in dec being already in one pan, a decidedly
heavier weight is placed in the other. The workman using
such a balance would have no warning that he was
approaching the limit, and would be unable to aim at

^* Such balances, working automatically, are in [main?] all the mints
of the civilized world, for throwing out light and heavy coins.