The Book Of Curiosities Part 84

_How to lift up a Bottle with a Straw, or any other slight Substance._

Take a straw, (see Plate,) AB, fig. 5, which is not broken or bruised, and bend one end of it into a sharp angle ABC; then if this end of the straw be put into the bottle, so that the bent part of it may rest against either of its sides, you may take the other end in your hand, and lift up the bottle by it without breaking the straw; and this will be the more easily done, according as the angular part of the straw approaches nearer to that which comes out of the bottle.

_How to make a Cone, or Pyramid, move upon a Table without Springs, or any other artificial Means._

Take a cone, or pyramid, of paper, or any other light substance, and put a beetle, or some such small insect, privately under it; then, as the animal will naturally endeavour to free itself from its captivity, it will move the cone towards the edge of the table, and as soon as it comes there, will immediately return for fear of falling; and by moving backwards and forwards in this manner, will occasion much diversion to those who are ignorant of the cause.

_To make a Pen, which holds One Hundred Sheep, hold double the Number, by only adding two Hurdles more._

In the first pen, or that which holds one hundred sheep, the hurdles must be so disposed, that there shall be only one at the top and bottom, and the rest in equal numbers on each side; then it is obvious, that if one hurdle more be placed at each end, the s.p.a.ce enclosed must necessarily be double the former, and consequently will hold twice the number of sheep.

_An ingenious Recreation, called the Two Communicative Busts._

Take two heads of plaster of Paris, and place them on pedestals on the opposite sides of a room. Then take a tin tube, of an inch in diameter, and let it pa.s.s from the ear of one head through the pedestal, and under the floor, to the mouth of the other, observing, that the end of the tube which is next the ear of one head, should be considerably larger than that which comes to the mouth of the other.

The whole being so disposed that there may be no suspicion of a communication, let any person speak with a low voice into the ear of one bust, and the sound will be distinctly heard by anyone who shall place his ear to the mouth of the other; and if there be two tubes, one going to the ear, and the other to the mouth of each head, two persons may converse together, by applying their mouth and ear reciprocally to the mouth and ear of the busts, without being heard by any other persons in the room.

_Another Recreation of the same kind, called the Oracular Head._

Place a bust on a pedestal in the corner of a room, and let there be two tubes, one of which goes from the mouth, and the other from the ear of the bust, through the pedestal and floor, to an under apartment.

Then if a person be placed in the under room, by applying his ear to one of the tubes as soon as a proper signal is given, he will hear any question that is asked, and can immediately return an answer; and if wires be contrived to go from the under jaw and eyes of the bust, they may be made to move at the same time, and by these means appear to deliver the answer.

It was by a contrivance of this kind, that Don Antonio de Moreno so much astonished the celebrated Knight of the Woeful Countenance, and his facetious squire Sancho Panza, by resolving certain doubts proposed by the former concerning his adventures in the cave of Montesinos, and the disenchantment of my lady Dulcinea.

_How to make a Piece of Metal, or any other heavy Body, swim upon the Surface of Water, like a Cork._

The specific gravity of water is inferior to that of metals, and consequently water, absolutely speaking, cannot support a ball of iron or lead; but if this ball be flattened, and beat out to a very thin plate, it will, if put softly upon still water, be prevented from sinking, and will swim upon its surface like any light substance. In like manner, if a fine steel needle, which is perfectly dry, be placed gently upon some still water in a vessel, it will float upon the surface without sinking.

But if you would have a metallic body of large dimensions to swim upon water, you must reduce it into a thin concave plate, like a kettle; in which case, as the air it contains, together with the body itself, weighs less than the same bulk of water, it cannot possibly sink; as is evident from large copper boats, or pontoons, by which whole armies have frequently pa.s.sed over rivers without danger.

If this concave metallic vessel be placed upon the water with its mouth downwards, it will swim as before, and the contained air will keep the bottom of it from being wet; for that the water will not rise into any hollow vessel which is immersed into it, may be made evident thus:--Take a gla.s.s tumbler, and plunge it into water with its mouth downwards, and you will find, when you take it out, that the inside of the vessel is perfectly dry, so that if a live coal were put there, it would not be extinguished.

_A curious Experiment, to prove that Two and Two do not make Four._

Take a gla.s.s vessel with a long narrow neck, which, being filled with water, will hold exactly a quart; then put into this vessel a pint of water, and a pint of acid of vitriol, and you will presently perceive, that the mixture will not fill the vessel, as it did when a quart of water only was put into it. The acid of vitriol must be put in gradually, by little and little at a time, mixing each portion with the water before you add more, by shaking the bottle, and leaving its mouth open, otherwise the bottle will burst. The mixture in this case also possesses a considerable degree of heat, though the two ingredients of themselves are perfectly cold; and this phenomenon is not to be accounted for, by supposing that the acid of vitriol is received into the pores of the water, for then a small portion of it might be absorbed by the water, without augmenting its bulk, which is known not to be the case; but the very form of the bodies in this experiment is changed, there being, as Dr. Hooke, who first noticed the fact, observes, an actual penetration of dimensions. Chemistry also furnishes a number of other instances, which shew that two bodies, when mixed together, possess less s.p.a.ce than when they are separate.

_An ingenious Method of Secret Writing, by means of corresponding s.p.a.ces._

Take two pieces of pasteboard, or stiff paper, out of which cut a number of oblong figures, at different distances from each other, as in the following example. Keep one of these pieces for yourself, and give one to your correspondent; and when you are desirous of sending him any secret intelligence, lay the pasteboard upon a sheet of paper of the same size, and in the s.p.a.ces which are cut out, write what you would have him only to understand, and fill up the intermediate parts of the paper with something which makes with these words a different sense. Then, when your correspondent receives this letter, by applying it to his pasteboard, he will be able to comprehend your meaning.

EXAMPLE.

+------------+ +-------+ I shall be much obliged to you, as reading alone +------------+ +-------+ +----+ engages my attention at present, if you will send me any +----+ +-------+ of the eight volumes of the Spectator; I hope you will +-------+ +------+ +---------+ excuse this freedom, but for a winter's evening I +------+ +---------+ +-------+ +------+ don't know a better entertainment. If I fail to return +-------+ +------+ +----------+ it soon, never trust me for the time to come. +----------+

_A curious Experiment, which depends on an Optical Illusion._

On the bottom of the vessel, (see Plate,) AIBD, fig. 6, place three pieces of money, as a half-crown, a s.h.i.+lling, and a sixpence; the first at E, the second at F, and the third at G. Then let a person be placed with his eye at H, so that he can see no farther into the vessel than I; and tell him, that by pouring water into the vessel, you will make him see three different pieces of money, which he may observe are not poured in with the water.

For this purpose, desire him to keep himself steady in the same position, and, pouring the water in gently, that the pieces of money may not be moved out of their places, when it comes up to K, the piece G will become visible to him; when it comes up to L, he will see the two pieces G and F; and when it rises to M, all the three pieces will become visible: the cause of which is owing to the refraction of the rays of light, in their pa.s.sage through the water; for while the vessel is empty, the ray HI will proceed in a straight line; but in proportion as it is filled with water, the ray will be bent into the several directions NG, OF, PE, and by these means the pieces are rendered visible.

_A curious Experiment, of nearly the same kind as the last, called Optical Augmentation._

Take a large drinking-gla.s.s, of a conical figure, and having put a s.h.i.+lling into it, fill the gla.s.s about half full with water; then place a plate on the top of it, and turn it quickly over, so that the water may not get out. This being done, look through the gla.s.s, and you will now perceive a piece of money of the size of half-a-crown; and somewhat higher up, another piece of the size of a s.h.i.+lling. But if the gla.s.s be entirely filled with water, the large piece at the bottom only will be visible.

This phenomenon is occasioned by your seeing the piece through the conical surface of the water, at the side of the gla.s.s, and through the flat surface at the top of the water, at the same time; for the conical surface dilates the rays, and makes the piece appear larger, while the flat surface only refracts them, and occasions the piece to be seen higher up in the gla.s.s, but still of its natural size.

_Another curious Experiment, called Optical Subtraction._

Against the wainscot of a room fix three small pieces of paper, as A, B, C, fig. 7, (see Plate,) about a foot and a half or two feet asunder, at the height of your eye; and placing yourself directly before them, about five times the distance from them that the papers are from each other, shut one of your eyes and look at them with the other, and you will then see only two of those papers, suppose A and B; but altering the position of your eye, you will now see the third, and one of the first, suppose A; and by altering its position a second time, you will see B and C, but in neither case all three of them together.

The cause of this phenomenon is, that one of the three pencils of rays, which come from these objects, falls on the optic nerve at D, whereas, to produce distinct vision, it is necessary that the rays of light fall on some part of the retina E, F, G, H.

From this experiment, the use of having two eyes may be easily perceived; for he that has only one can never see three objects placed in this position; or all the parts of one object, of the same extent, without altering the situation of his eye.

_An Optical Experiment, shewing how to produce an Artificial Rainbow._

In any room which has a window facing the sun, suspend a gla.s.s globe, filled with water, by a string which runs over a pulley, so that the sun's rays may fall directly upon it; then drawing the globe gradually up, when it comes to the height of about forty degrees above the horizon, you will see, by placing yourself in a proper situation, the gla.s.s tinged with a purple colour; and by drawing it gradually higher up, the other prismatic colours, blue, green, yellow, and red, will successively appear; but after this they will all vanish, till the globe is raised to about fifty degrees, when they will again be seen, but in an inverted order, the red appearing first, and the blue, or violet, last; and when the globe comes up to little more than fifty-four degrees, they will entirely vanish.

These appearances serve to ill.u.s.trate the phenomena of natural rainbows, of which there are generally two, the one being about eight degrees above the other, and the order of their colours inverted, as in this experiment; the red being the uppermost colour in the lower bow, and the violet in the other.

_An artificial Rainbow may also be produced as follows._

Take some water in your mouth, and turn your back to the sun; then if it be blown forcibly out against some dark or shady place, you will see the drops formed by the beams of the sun into an apparent rainbow, which, however, soon vanishes.

_A curious Optical Illusion, produced by means of a Concave Mirror._

Take a gla.s.s bottle, (see Plate,) ABC, fig. 8, and fill it with water to the point B; leave the upper part, BC, empty, and cork it in the common manner; place this bottle opposite a concave mirror, and beyond its focus, so that it may appear reversed; then if you place yourself still farther from the mirror, the bottle will appear to you in the situation _a b c_.

And in this apparent bottle it is remarkable, that the water, which, according to the laws of catoptrics, and all other experiments of this kind, should appear at _a b_, appears, on the contrary, at _b c_, the part _a b_ seeming to be entirely empty.

And if the bottle be inverted, and placed before the mirror, as in the under part of the figure, its image will appear in its natural erect position, but the water, which is in reality at _b c_, will appear at _a b_.

And if, while the bottle is inverted, it be uncorked, and the water suffered to run gently out, it will appear, that while the part BC is emptying, the part _a b_ in the image is filling; and if, when the bottle is partly empty, some drops of water fall from the bottom A, towards BC, it seems in the image as if there were formed at the bottom of the part _a b_ bubbles of air arising from _a_ to _b_, which is the part that seems full.