A. Schilling, whose palatial home is on the shore of Lake Merritt, at the head of Jackson Street, is the owner of a novel machine, the only one of its kind in existence. It is a shaking machine, and it was made especially to shake Mr. Schilling, though he is generous enough to allow his friends to try it when they are so inclined.

The machine is the joint invention of Dr. E. H. Woolsey and Mr. Schilling. Some months ago Mr. Schilling went to the doctor for treatment, and among other things the doctor said he should take more exercise. "Good, vigorous exercise," said the doctor, "is what you want. You need a good shaking up. Buy a hard-trotting horse and ride him five or six miles a day. Better still, if you could only manage to ride half an hour a day on a bumping freight train you would soon be all right."

It was this last sentence that gave Mr. Schilling his cue, and straight away he set out to build something that would answer the purpose, so far as shaking was concerned over a freight train. He took Dr. Woolsey into the scheme, and together they worked on a model, which has since been perfected and put in a summerhouse in Mr. Schilling’s garden. As a shaker is beats a half dozen freight trains. It beats a runaway team attached to a rock wagon.

To an ordinary observer the machine looks something like a small platform scale, but it is anything else. A system of cogwheels is so arranged that the bumping and shaking are given with regularity and precision. The motive power that runs the "shaker" is electricity, and by regulating the current any degree of shake may be had. An idea of the amount of shaking it does may be had when it is known that a jar of cream securely attached to the shaker will be turned into butter in less time than it could be done with an ordinary churn.

For over a month Mr. Schilling has been taking a ten-minute shake every morning before breakfast, and in speaking of the machine he says he feels confident that it is a great thing to stir up the liver, and incidentally to get rid of surplus flesh. He recommends a ten-minute shake immediately after eating a hearty dinner.

Dr. Woolsey is as enthusiastic over the invention as Mr. Schilling is, and although he occasionally takes a shake, he does not make a regular business of it, as does Mr. Schilling. The two are thinking of applying for a patent on the machine.