Feed the Brute You and your friends can get endless fun with this easily-made toy. Obtain a piece of cardboard tubing about 5 inches in length and I ½ inches in diameter. Cut out a large circular hole in the side, as shown in the illustration. Draw a face around the hole, using the latter as a big mouth. Then …

Monograms for Ornamental Purposes There are many things that will be considerably improved in appearance by the simple addition of a monogram. The back of a hair-brush is an obvious example, the lid of a trinket box is another, and so is the cover of a blotting book. A very easy way to provide the monogram is to cut it …

Camera Stereoscopic Slides Have you ever looked through a stereoscope at a pair of pictures and noted how marvelously everything stands out in relief? As you probably know, two picture almost identically alike are needed in order to provide the stereoscopic effect. When the pictures are made by photography, two exposures are necessary, one taken with the lens in the …

Lively Scorpion All sorts of strange experiments can be made with camphor, and here is one that will cause lots of fun and amusement. Obtain a few pieces of hard camphor and exercise some kill in cutting them into small ovals and spheres. When you have a fair supply of these, bore a hole through each with the aid of …

Inverted Flame Obtain a large cardboard box, as well made as possible. Cut out a portion about 5 inches square at one end and paste over the opening a piece of tracing paper. At the opposite end of the box make a large pin hole, but see that the hole has a clear cut circumference without any frayed pieces of …

They Change Places This experiment is rather difficult to perform because its success depends on exact conditions; it is, nevertheless, well worth all the trouble you may expend on getting it accurate. Look first at the accompanying drawing. You will see two wine glasses, one inverted over the other. Naturally, this will call for two glasses of exactly similar dimensions. …

Porous Materials Practically everything is porous, but some articles are more so than others. In the case of things which are only slightly porous, it requires tremendous pressure to reveal their porosity and, for ordinary purposes, we might say they are non-porous. A piece of sheet tin, for instance, might come under the heading of non-porous bodies, but a postcard …

Misleading Reflections You can perform quite a number of curious experiments by the agency of reflections. In fact, many of the optical illusions seen on the stage are the result of misleading reflections. Here is one item that will be certain to mystify a good many of your friends. Construct a cardboard box that is a perfect cube. A 6 …

Writing in Fire The following piece of chemical magic is rather interesting. Take a thin sheet of paper, about the size of this page, and draw or write on it a simple design, taking care to note that the lines of the drawing are continuous; that is to say, they must follow on. For ink, use a strong solution of …

Cooling a Candle Flame Take a long length of copper wire, the thicker the better, and wind it loosely around a round ruler. When you have made a spiral coil about an inch and a half long, slip it off the ruler and leave a length of the wire to serve as a handle. Now, light a candle, and hold …