Endless Amusement: A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments in Various Branches of Science; Including Acoustics, Electricity, Magnetism, Arithmetic, Hydraulics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Hydrostatics, Optics; Wonders of the Air-Pump; All the Popular Tricks and Changes of the Cards, &c., &c. to Which is Added, a Complete System of Pyrotechny; Or, the Art of Making Fire-works.Unknown
Science
Endless Amusement: A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments in Various Branches of Science; Including Acoustics, Electricity, Magnetism, Arithmetic, Hydraulics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Hydrostatics, Optics; Wonders of the Air-Pump; All the Popular Tricks and Changes of the Cards, &c., &c. to Which is Added, a Complete System of Pyrotechny; Or, the Art of Making Fire-works.
In division No. 1, of the circle G, which stands opposite question
No. 1, write the first word of the first answer. In the division No.
2, of the next circle, write the second word; and so on to the last,
which will be in the seventh division of the seventh circle.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.]
In the eighth division of the first circle, write the first word of
the second answer; in the ninth, the second word of the same answer;
and so on to the fourteenth division of the seventh circle, which must
contain the last word of that answer.
The same must be done for all the seven questions, and to each of
these must be assigned two answers, the words of which are to be
dispersed through the seven circles.
At the centre of each of these circles place a pivot, and have two
sets of magnetic needles like the hands of a watch, the pointed end of
one set being north, and the other south.
Now, the index of the central circle being directed to any one of the
questions, if you place one of the two magnetic needles on each of the
seven lesser circles, they will fix themselves according to the
directions of the bars on the corresponding circles at the bottom of
the box, and consequently point to the seven words that compose the
answer. If you place one of the other needles on each circle, it will
point to the words that are diametrically opposite to those of the
first answer, the north pole being in the place of the south pole of
the other.
You therefore present this orrery to any person, and desire him to
choose one of the questions there written. You then set the index of
the central 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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