tral circle to that question; and, putting one of the needles
on each of the seven circles, you turn it about, and when they all
settle, the seven words they point to compose the answer.

The moveable needle, whose point in the figure stands at September, is
to place against the names of the months; and when the party has fixed
upon a question, you place that needle against the month in which he
was born, which will make the ceremony appear a sort of magic
divination. The planetary signs are merely intended to aid this
deception, and give it the appearance of astrology.

_The Magic Verse._

The eight words which compose this Latin verse,

"_Tot sunt tibi dote, quot coeli sidera, virgo,_"[F]

being privately placed in any one of the different combinations of
which they are susceptible, and which are 40,320 in number, to tell
the order in which they are placed.

[F] "Thy charms, O, Virgin! are as numerous as the stars of
heaven."

Provide a box that shuts with hinges, and is eight inches long, three
wide, and half an inch deep, Fig. 17. Have eight pieces of wood, about
one-third of an inch thick, two inches long, and one and a half wide,
which will therefore, when placed close together, exactly fill the
box. In each of these pieces or tablets place a magnetic bar, with
their poles, as is expressed in Fig. 18. The bars being covered over,
write on each of the tablets, in the order they then stand, one of the
words of the foregoing Latin verse.

[Illustration: Fig. 17.]

[Illustration: Fig. 18.]

[Illustration: Fig. 19.]

On a very thin board of the same dimensions with the box, draw the
eight circles, Fig. 19, A B C D E F G H, whose centres should be
exactly over those of the eight tablets in the box, when the board is
placed upon it. Divide each of those circles into eight parts, as in
the figure, and in each of those divisions write one of the words of
the Latin verse, and in the precise order expressed in the plate, so
that when the board is placed over the box, the eight touched needles
placed at the centre of the circles may be regulated by the poles of
the bars in the box, and consequently the word that the needle points
to in the circle will be the same with that inscribed on the tablet.
Cover the board with a glass, to prevent the needles from rising off
their pivots, as is done in the sea-compass.

Over the board place four plates of glass, I L M N, Fig. 17, which
will give the machine