The next subject which we shall describe produced a considerable degree of merriment. The vicar inspected the drawing, and observed that he saw a pulpit placed on the banks of a pond; the card was made to spin, when a tailor was seen haranguing from the former, and a goose, at the same instant, fluttering over the water. The circle was now suddenly shifted, and the vicar was desired to state what he saw:--“Why, bless me!” exclaimed Mr. Twaddleton, “the tailor is justly served, he is ducked in the pond, while the goose has taken his place in the pulpit.” Fearing that we may have exhausted the patience of our reader, we shall only relate one more example. It was a Turk, who, by means of the expedient we are illustrating, was made to draw his sabre, and cut off the head of his antagonist, which immediately fell into the hands of the decapitated person, who, like St. Denys, appeared as if walking off with perfect indifference. “You must admit that these effects are no less novel than they are extraordinary, and that they are capable of almost endless variation,” said Mr. Seymour. “I admit it all,” replied Mr. Twaddleton, “and I have only to express a hope that, amidst all your improvements, you will never lose sight of your first and most laudable design, that of rendering your toy subservient to classical illustration: your triumph will then be complete, and I shall willingly acknowledge that there is not only philosophy but literature in your sport.” “I must not quit this subject,” said Mr. Seymour, “until I have exhibited another toy, which, like the Thaumatrope, is indebted for its effect to the optical principle, which I trust is now well understood by all present, viz. that _an impression made on the retina lasts for a certain period after the object itself has been withdrawn_.” The annexed wood-cut represents the instrument to which Mr. Seymour alluded. [Illustration: A blackened tin plate with slit, mounted on stand, in view A; the image of a star as seen, in view B.] It consists of a disc of blackened tin plate, which is made to revolve on its axis in the manner above exhibited. A narrow opening extends from the circumference to the centre as seen at A. If a device of any kind, as a star (which for increasing the beauty of the experiment ought to be transparent, and illuminated with a lamp) be placed behind the disc, it is evident that, as long as the circle remains at rest, no other part of the figure can be visible than that which is immediately behind the slit A, but the instant it is put into rapid motion, the whole of the star will be seen, as exhibited in figure B. Mr. Seymour observed that the explanation of the phenomenon was obvious;--each successive portion of the figure seen through the opening remains on the eye, until the circle has completed its entire revolution. “This experiment,” continued Mr. Seymour, “admits of a very curious modification, which I shall now proceed to exhibit.”