Part 3

Cut a round piece off a cork, on the top of which place some pieces of paper and matches, push the whole underneath the glass, light the matches and wait. As soon as the combustion is over, you will see the water leave the plate and enter the glass, wherein it rises, leaving the piece absolutely dry at the bottom of the plate. You can then execute what you offered at first--take out the coin without wetting your fingers.

As a variation of the preceding experiment, obtain a flat-bottomed tumbler or glass goblet (but the bottom must be flat), a pocket handkerchief and a coin. These are to be seen by everybody present.

Procure a watch glass, or a round piece of glass like an eye-glass. This is not to be shown.

Now show to the bystanders that you place the coin (say a fifty-cent piece, for example) in the middle of the handkerchief, and, throwing back two sides of the latter, point out again that the coin is still in its place.

To show that there is no deception ask someone to hold the coin in the handkerchief.

Then place underneath it a glass containing a little water and call out, “Hey, Presto! Fly!”

The person lets go of the coin and the noise of its falling to the bottom of the glass is plainly heard.

You take up the handkerchief, and every one is astonished at the disappearance of the coin, which you can produce from another person’s hat.

Really the trick is very simple. For the coin supposed to be held in the handkerchief you must dexterously substitute the watch glass or eye glass. The person holding it, of course, declares he has the coin fast.

When he drops the eye glass it makes the same noise against the tumbler as would the coin, though, of course, it cannot be seen in the water.

It is a capital trick if smoothly performed.

The Smoke Rings.

When the air of a room is very calm, have you ever noticed that tobacco smoke rises slowly and in a nearly vertical direction? Have you never watched with interest the grayish or bluish streaks of smoke issuing from the smoke of a cigar or pipe? And in seeing the smoke rise in such a capricious fashion, have you ever ascertained that it is due to the calm of the surrounding air?

One may get some amusement out of the agitation of the atmosphere. For the materials you only require a square or round cardboard box, in the lid of which cut a round hole of about two inches in diameter. In the interior of the box place two sheets of blotting paper, the one impregnated with muriatic acid, the other with ammoniac, in equal quantities. Immediately a whitish smoke will escape through the hole and rise straight to the ceiling. If with both hands you give a series of simultaneous taps on the sides of the box, you will see the smoke issue in well defined rings, which will disperse rapidly in the air, and succeed each other as long as you continue the pressure. These rings are the result of the concussion of the air which you occasion in the box. The experiments can be made also with ordinary tobacco smoke, but it will last longer in the way we have indicated.

The Walking Cork.

Stick two knives in a cork, on the same level, and opposite each other, so as to form a balance. In the bottom of the cork, at an equal distance, insert two pins, sufficiently deep not to bend under the weight which they will have to carry. Rest the pins on a flat ruler, slightly inclined, and give them a slight balancing movement. The weight of the apparatus will fall on the pin, A, on which the whole turns the knife placed at the side, B, will knock against the support, and will tend to bring the apparatus again into its original position as the oscillating movement continues, pin, B, will, in its turn, support the whole weight, and pin, A, will shift on to the other point, A, indicated in the figure. The walking cork will thus continue its movement till it has gone over the course assigned to it. This recreation is interesting, for it demonstrates once more that all bodies are attracted by the earth, and that, as soon as they are thrown off their balance they obey the force which constantly draws them down.

The Obstinate Cork.

Take a glass or metal tube, closed at one end, and cut a stopper in cork or india-rubber to its size so that it closes the tube hermetically, and take care that it glides in the tube without difficulty, and pierce it with a hole. On the top of this hole adapt a small piece of leather, rather larger than the hole, which you must take care to wet before proceeding with the following experiment. In order to be able to withdraw the cork when in the tube, you take the precaution to fasten in it both ends of a piece of string, as indicated in the figure.

These various objects being prepared, will serve to demonstrate once more the atmospheric pressure.

Lift the valve up, force the cork into the tube towards the middle, and when there, put the valve in its place again, and pull quickly on the string as if trying to pull the cork out. The latter will not come out, for the reason that producing a vacuum before itself, the atmospheric prepare will prevent it from coming out. But if instead you draw it gently towards you, it will offer much less resistance, because the outer air will enter through the smallest interval between the cork and the glass, and partly destroy the exterior pressure.

Petroleum Pulverizer.

With the aid of the compressed air reservoir you are able to conduct various soldering operations, requiring often great heat.

Let us construct the following pulverizer:

Into a bottle of the shape shown in the figure, put some petroleum, and introduce a glass tube that does not quite reach the bottom. Close with wax that no air can enter, and at the upper extremity of the tube let a fitting be embedded, a section of which is shown in the engraving. This fitting has three openings, two horizontals and one corresponding with the tube that is plugged into the petroleum.

Adjust the india-rubber tube to the reservoir, and when the pressure is exercised on the surface of the liquid it will force the petroleum upwards through the tube, and thence it will be blown in a fine spray, which burns as if coming out of an ordinary burner. The particles of oil are mixed with air, and consequently the atoms of air are heated to a high degree. This jet develops a heat of great intensity.

This pulverizer may serve also to disinfect rooms. You have only to replace the petroleum with an antiseptic liquid.

Electric Attraction and Repulsion.

The poles of the same sign repel, and the contrary poles attract each other, or, in other words, the negative, or the positive electricity attracts the electricity of a contrary sign, whereas the electricities of the same signs repel each other.

In order to demonstrate this principle we will contrive a little plaything which will be as interesting as amusing to see in operation.

For a pivot take a needle stuck in a cork, and, as magnetic needles, two old corset steels will do very well. If these cannot be had a clock spring may do instead.

Magnetize these two steel rods by rubbing them with a magnet. In the middle of one of the rods punch a small hollow so that it may freely move on the needle in the cork without fear of falling off. You have thus manufactured a rough compass.

Then cut out four dolls in paper, two gentlemen and two ladies, and stick them in the extremities of the two magnetized needles. Remember to put at each end a figure of the opposite sex.

Now, each time you present a man to the other man, which is placed on the magnetized needle, they will repel each other; if to a lady, the dolls are attracted.

The explanation is easy. You will have taken care to put the puppets on contrary poles: a man on the positive pole, a lady on the negative pole. In this way the principle enunciated above is thoroughly proved and easily grasped.

One may easily vary this experiment by replacing the gentlemen and ladies by personages of actual notoriety, or of the company, in placing them in groups which have a mutual dislike to each other, such as the schoolmaster and pupil, etc.

The Bust of the Sage.

Every person wonders how the sensational decapitation scene is produced.

To all appearance a head is thrust through the neck opening of a guillotine, the knife descends and the head is cut off. However, in order that none of the fair sex may be alarmed, it may be varied as follows:

In a cabinet a mirror is set across, sloping from the top at the back to the front. It reflects the ceiling, which is covered with the same material as that which is seen of the floor in front of the mirror. In the center of the glass is cut a hole which admits of the passing through of a man’s head. He sits or stands in under the glass at his ease. The front edge of the mirror is concealed by a few astronomical and geographical instruments, old folio books, skulls, etc.

The head and shoulders are made up and draped like one of the seven wise men of Greece, and he answers questions in a grave, portentous voice.

The Witchery of the Hand.

In order to ascertain the existence of animal magnetism the following apparatus, very simple, and not at all difficult to construct, answers perfectly.

Stick a pin in a cork, point upwards. On that pivot place horizontally a sheet of paper so that it remains in perfect equilibrium.

If you now put your hand over the sheet of paper, a rotary movement will manifest itself, the sheet swerving from right to left. This movement is caused by the influence of the hand’s magnetism.

The Perspectograph.

This simple instrument, invented by Mr. Jarlot, renders the tracing of a sketch extremely easy, besides avoiding absolutely faults of perspective, which is, without doubt, the principal advantage of this instrument. Thanks to it, one obtains an easy reproduction on one plane of objects placed on different planes.

Here is a description of this very simple instrument. A wooden frame A B C D, with a slot in the side, A B, in which a pane of glass can slide so as to cover the whole space of the frame, _a, b, c, d_, is fixed on a stand.

The frame is maintained in a perfectly horizontal position by means of a water level _n n’_, placed on the lower side of the frame. At E is a small rule moving on a hinge at E, allowing the angle to be varied at the plane A B C D, by resting it on two supports E E’.

The supports themselves move round on an axle fixed on the rule. At the extremity E’ of this rule is fixed a copper blade curved in E’, C’, and pierced by a small hole of about an eighth of an inch in circumference, the edges are made thinner as represented in the diagram placed above; the widened part is turned toward the frame.

So much for the body of the instrument, now for the accessories. In the slot left in side, A B C D, lower a glass pane covering the space, _a, b, c, d_, which is not, however, a necessary condition, it depends on the size of the design you desire to take.

This pane requires a little preparation. It is done in this way: One chooses a pane of the desired glass, as free as possible from defects. Cover one side only with turpentine, and which you know is a natural varnish.

See that this coating is as thin as possible, and to ensure this, go over the surface with a very soft brush steeped in the liquid. When you see that the latter does not run any more, leave off brushing. Let it dry for two days if necessary; take care, meanwhile, to protect the varnished side from dust.

Now it remains only to show the use of the instrument. Put yourself in front of the object you wish to represent. Put the frame in a perfectly horizontal position, slide the pane in it, and dispose the rule, E E’ (Fig. 2), in such a manner that, when looking through the little hole, O, you are able to see the object you want to draw.

Then, with a blue or other colored pencil, trace the outlines of the object on the glass coated with turpentine, the use of the latter being to allow the pencil marks to fix itself on the surface. One sees that the outlines thus obtained will be those of the real object as clearly as possible because they are traced as seen, so to speak.

But the principal object of the instrument is not so much exactness of outline as to get the exact proportion existing between the different sizes of the objects placed in different planes. We will try to show this last result by means of another figure.

Suppose A B to be an object situated at a certain distance from the eye posted at _o_, the rays from the eye, O A O B, meets the instrument at _a_ and _b_, and the image of this object is given by the line, _a b_.

Now, suppose A’ B’ to be another object situated beyond A B; the eye has not changed position, it cannot do so, with reference to the glass, on account of the small rule which is fixed; the image of the object A’ B’, will be _a’ b’_; thus, one has the true dimensions of A’ B’, in respect to A B.

It is precisely this proportion which must exist between the sizes of the objects placed in different planes, which constitute perspective. The instrument, therefore, well deserves its name of Perspectograph.

It will be observed that this apparatus obviates two difficulties: 1, that of the exactness of the sketch, in copying nature as it is presented to the eye; 2, that of perspective. Having the sketch on glass it is easy to transfer it on paper. Lift up the rule, E E’, so as not to be in the way, place oiled or transparent paper on the glass, and counter-draw the sketch on it.

You can then stick this paper on a cardboard, and, if the operator is a designer, he may reproduce in crayon a very fine drawing. For the shading he must use his own talent, the aim of the instrument not being to give a finished drawing, but only a sketch, vigorously exact, and in unexceptionable perspective.

This instrument is often very convenient. When wishing to have a true sketch, you trace it on the glass; you then transfer it to an oil-paper, and again on drawing paper if the former is not to be used. Besides, if one has an exact sketch on whatever paper, you may reproduce it in freehand, if you are blessed with any idea of drawing.

If the varnished plane has to serve again, wash it with warm water, and let it get dry; then the varnishing can be done over again.

Camphor in Water.

If you put very small pieces of camphor on the water, you will see them turn round each other with great velocity. These movements are due to the diminution of the superficial tension of the liquid in the vicinity of the pieces of camphor.

In order to stop them throw a drop of oil in the water, and you will produce a perfect calm. One may utilize the camphor for an amusing recreation.

Construct a small paper or cardboard boat and fasten underneath on the hind part or stern a piece of camphor. Your boat will maneuver on the water. Persons not initiated will be much puzzled, and be long to find out by what contrivance this small craft is propelled.

A Simple Multiplier.

Write on a card or strong paper the letters, figures, etc., which you want to reproduce. Then all along the lines or tracing, with a needle, prick holes in close proximity at equal distances.

Place the sheet so prepared on a pad made of several sheets of blotting paper, smeared with blue analine ink, or a mixture of lamp-black and oil.

Fix the corners with tacks or drawing pins, and draw your copies by simply placing the blank sheets over the pricked one, and press them down. The words, figures or designs will be reproduced in dotted lines if the holes have been well pricked. In this way a good number of copies can be drawn.

The Drawing Room Mirror.

On one of the faces of a pane of glass smear some lamp-black mixed with oil. If you place this glass, thus prepared, vertically on an engraving representing flowers, fruits, birds, etc., you will obtain an infinity of forms, some of which will be very striking.

If you want to reproduce these, to fix their outlines, you have only to interpose a transparent paper, to draw along the glass pane a line in pencil and to trace over the part of the picture which terminates at the foot of the pane.

Fold the transparent paper along this pencil line, and to get the whole reproduced you have only to copy over the designs just traced. The glass, which does the duty of a mirror, doubles the forms in a symmetrical way, and as it is moved new forms come to view.

Elementary Gas-Burner.

Fill an old round tin box, at least two inches high, with sawdust and pieces of blotting paper. Close it as well as possible, and introduce a small metal, or glass, tube in the lid to a depth of about one-third of the box.

Make the joint tight with putty. Put this box on any two supports and place the flame of a lamp or candle underneath it.

Soon the overheated sawdust and blotting paper will evolve vapors of alcohol and combustible gases. Approach a lighted match to the upper end of the tube and you will see the gas ignite and continue to burn.

Rapid Vegetation.

A cheap sponge can be converted into a hanging bunch of greenery for room decoration. Plunge it into hot water, press it dry, then put in its holes or pores seeds of millet, red clover, barley, linseed, grasses, etc., in fact any species of plants which germinate easily and produce, as far as possible, leaves or blades of different shades. Place the sponge thus prepared on a vase or in a saucer, or better still, suspend it in the recess of a window, where it may get as much sunshine as possible. Every morning, for a week, sprinkle its surface lightly with water. Soon the seeds will germinate and grow. In a short time they will form a ball of greenery, making a charming decoration for a room.

Miniature Volcanoes.

In a rather large porcelain or glazed earthenware basin place a small quantity of nitrate of lead. This may be obtained for a few cents from any painters’ supplies store. Then upon it throw some flakes of sal ammoniac. Immediately a number of conical elevations will be formed, which give off vapors and burst with a popping noise.

Altogether the experiment represents very exactly, volcanoes in a state of eruption. When the eruption ceases, the rough, broken state of the remaining mats, represents as nearly as a thing on this earth of ours can, the appearance of the moon through a powerful telescope.

Indeed the moon at one time of its history was undoubtedly in the soft lava-like state that you will observe in the basin, during the first stage of this elegant and instructive experiment.

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