The Acrobat For this toy you will want two thin strips of wood each 6 inches long, and a third 3 inches long. Ordinary I inch laths will serve, but wood a ¼ inch square in section is better. The three pieces are nailed together to form the letter H, but the horizontal strip is fixed two-thirds of the way …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Electrified Mirror A silver-backed hand mirror on a lady’s dressing table looks very unlike an electrical instrument, yet a number of electrical experiments can be made with its help. A friend of the writer once described how he had used one in intercepting a wireless message. Perhaps he will be inducted to tell the story some day, but it is …

An Experiment With Sound Waves Here is an experiment dealing with sound waves that is extremely illuminating. It is just the thing for a gathering of young friends who are scientifically inclined. Stretch a piece of string tightly across the room and on it pin a silk handkerchief or any other handy article made of silk-the larger the better. When …

Making a Dog Kennel Some people think that anything will do for a dog to sleep in. As a matter of fact, a good kennel makes for a healthy dog, and a bad one does the animal harm. Therefore, if your own a canine friend, see that he has comfortable quarters. Below we describe the way to make an attractive …

A Splendid Catch If you have a fret-saw, cut out the letters forming the word last, adhering as much as possible to the shapes of the letters shown in the diagram. Use thin wood for the purpose. Then, set out the letters as we have given them and ask your friends to change the last into first. They can employ …

Such a Commotion If you would like to play a trick on a friend, send him one of these contrivances in an envelope. It consists of a stout card, folded into three. To the card is fixed a U-shaped piece of wire, held firmly in position by means of a gummed label. At each end of the wire is an …