ON THE MOTION OF PENDULUMS, 15
of equilibrium will ultimately reduce themselves to this, that the oblique pressure which the fluid element experiences on the side of the solid must be equal and opposite to the pressure which it experiences on the side of the fluid. Now if the fluid could flow past the solid with a finite velocity, it would follow that the tangential pressure called into play by the continuous sliding of the fluid over itself was no more than counteracted by the abrupt sliding of the fluid over the solid. As this appears exceedingly improbable a priori, it seems reasonable in the first instance to examine the consequences of supposing that no such abrupt sliding takes place, more especially as the mathematical difficulties of the problem will thus be materially diminished. I shall assume, therefore, as the conditions to be satisfied at the boundaries of the fluid, that the velocity of a fluid particle shall be the same, both in magnitude and direction, as that of the solid particle with which it is in contact. The agreement of the results thus obtained with observation will presently appear to be highly satisfactory. When the fluid, instead of being confined within a rigid envelope, extends indefinitely around the oscillating body, we must introduce into the solution the condition that the motion shall vanish at an infinite distance, which takes the place of the condition to be satisfied at the surface of the envelope.
To complete the determination of the arbitrary functions which would be contained in the integrals of (2) and (3), it would be requisite to put t = 0 in the general expressions for uy v, w, obtained by integrating those equations, and equate the results to the initial velocities supposed to be given. But it would be introducing a most needless degree of complexity into the solution to take account of the initial circumstances, nor is it at all necessary to do so for the sake of comparison of theory with experiment. For in a pendulum experiment the pendulum is set swinging and then left to itself, and the first observation is not taken till several oscillations have been completed, during which any irregularities attending the initial motion would have had time to subside. It
remains finite we cannot suppose 7t to vanish altogether, on account of the curvature of the elementary surface. Such extreme precision in unimportant matters tends, I think, only to perplex the reader, and prevent him from entering so readily into the spirit of .an investigation.