xviii AN ACCOUNT OF THE

hoop round and round, and wind upa thread tied to the outside of the hoop.

<—I thanked the gentleman, and toldhim that I understood the thing verywell. I then tried to make a watchwith wooden wheels, and made thespring of whalebone ; hut found thatI could not make the watch go whenthe balance was put on, because theteeth of the wheels were rather tooweak to bear the force of a springsufficient to move the balance ; altho’the wheels would run fast enoughwhen the balance was taken off. Iinclosed the whole in a wooden case,very little bigger than a breakfast tea-cup: but a clumsy neighbour one daylooking at my watch, happened to letit fall; and turning hastily about topick it up, set his foot upon it, andCrushed it all to pieces; which so pro-voked my father, that he was almostready to beat the man ; and discou-raged me so much, that I never at-tempted to make such another ma-chine

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