Magic tricks -- Juvenile literature; Scientific recreations -- Juvenile literature
Prick a hole in a card with a needle; place the same needle near the
eye, in a line with the card-hole, look by daylight at the end of the
needle, and it will appear to be behind the card, and reversed.
Prick a hole with a pin in a black card, place it very near the eye,
look through it at any small object, and it will appear larger as it
is nearer the eye; while, if we observe it without the card, it will
appear sensibly of the same magnitude at all parts of the room.
ACCURACY OF SIGHT.
Rule a short line upon a slate, and upon another slate rule another
line, one-eleventh longer than the first: a person possessing what is
called “a true eye,” may perceive the difference in length, even though
fifty or sixty seconds elapse between looking at the first and the
second lines. If they differ only one-twentieth, then an interval of
thirty-five seconds may elapse without destroying the judgment; but,
if it be longer, the estimate will be incorrect. When the difference
between the lines amounts only to one-fiftieth, an interval of three
seconds between the examination of each, is the longest that can be
allowed without interfering with the correctness of the comparison.
VISUAL DECEPTION.
Let a room be only lit by the feeble gleam of a fire, almost
extinguished, and the eye will see with difficulty the objects in the
apartment, from the small degree of light with which they happen to be
illuminated. The more exertion is made to ascertain what these objects
are, as by fixing the eye more steadily upon them, the greater will be
the difficulty in accomplishing it. The eye will be painfully agitated,
the object will swell and contract, and partly disappear, but will
again become visible when the eye has recovered from its delirium.
HAND-WRITING UPON THE WALL.
Cut the word or words to be shown, out of a thick card or pasteboard,
place it before a lighted lamp, and the writing will be distinctly seen
upon the wall of the apartment.
IMITATIVE HALOES.
Look at a candle, or any other luminous body, through a plate of glass,
covered with vapour, or dust in a finely divided state, and it will be
surrounded with a ring of colours, like a halo round the sun or moon.
These rings increase with the size of the particles which produce them;
and their brilliancy and number depend on the uniform size of these
particles.
Or, haloes may be imitated by crystallizing various salts upon thin
plates of glass, and looking through the plate at a candle or the sun.
For example, spread a few drops of a strong solution of alum over a
plate of glass so as to crystallize quickly, and cover it with a crust
scarcely visible to the eye. Then place the eye close behind the
smooth side of the glass plate, look through it at a candle, and you
will perceive three fine haloes at different distances, encircling the
flame.
TO READ A COIN IN THE DARK.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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