use this instrument, it is first filled with water by closing the lower orifice (o) with a large cork, and opening all the upper ones (a b s.) Water is then poured into the shallow pan (p) until it runs out at s, which is then closed, and the remainder of the air escapes through b; when it is full, the cocks (a b) are shut; and the lower orifice being then opened, the water, sustained by the pressure of the air, cannot escape except as it is driven out by the entrance of the gas at (o), from which the water escapes as fast as the gas enters. When used, the gas-holder must stand over a tub, to catch the water which is driven out at (o.) The gas is obtained for use by drawing it off from the orifice (s,) to which the vulcanized India-rubber (h, Fig. 7) is attached, that is connected with the chamber of the blowpipe in the dissolving view apparatus. In order to draw off the gas from the cylinder the cock (a) must be open and the pan (p) full of water; the tube to which the cock is attached goes nearly to the bottom of the gas-holder, and the pressure of the water in the pan forces out the gas through the orifice (s). This gas may be stored in Pepys' gasholder, the same as oxygen. THE PHANTASMAGORIA is exhibited in the same manner as a magic lantern, but a prepared screen is placed between the spectators and the exhibitor, and instead of a round circle of light being thrown upon the screen, only the figures are observed. The peculiar effect is obtained by painting a figure upon a slide and filling in the surrounding parts with black paint, and also by having the lantern mounted upon a framework or table furnished with wheels, so that the operator may be able to make the figures appear to advance and become large, or recede and diminish by altering the position of the table or framework, and the focus. CHROMATROPES form a most pleasing exhibition for this season of the year particularly; but they are always hailed with delight, and therefore may be useful as an amusement at other seasons. To make hydrogen gas.-Procure a large wide-mouthed bottle, and fit a cork to it, then with a hot iron bore two holes in the cork, one to receive the tube- funnel through which the diluted sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol (one part of acid to five parts of water) is poured into the bottle, and the other to receive the bent tube which delivers the gas as it is generated. Place some granulated zine or zinc cuttings in the bottle, pour the diluted acid through the tube-funnel, and you will soon see an effervesence take place and the hydrogen gas escape from the mouth of the bent-tube; while the first portions of the gas are escaping, we will prepare the caoutchouc-bag marked H Y D, Fig. 7, by removing the upper press-boards and weights, turning the stop-cock and attaching the vulcanized India-rubber tubing. As the gas that is now issuing from the tube is not mixed with atmospheric air we may safely collect it in the gas-bag; but had we done so at first, an explosionN would have taken place as soon as a lightn was applied to the impure gas. You see that the gas-bag is filling rapidly, and as soon as it is full we must proceed as we did after the oxygen was procured. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. To paint the chromatropes, proceed in the same manner as if you were doing magic lantern slides, only each chromatrope requires to have two circular pieces of glass fitted in a frame and painted with some device such as Figs. 10, 11, 12, and 13. Any design constructed upon the same principle will answer well. As a guide to the general colouring required, we think it advisable to describe Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive. Fig. 10 is painted with alternate crimson and bright yellow spirals; Fig. 11, alternate blue and red sections; Fig. 12, is painted with red spiral lines for the inner circle, and alternate yellow and blue for the outer circle; and Fig. 13 has alternate yellow and red spirals for the inner circle, and the top row of rhomboids are crimson and the lower row cobalt blue. All these form very pleasing designs when nicely executed. To make a chromatrope slide.-Have a piece of wood constructed the same as Fig. 14, the grooves between the pieces of wood being for the string or catgut which is attached to the wheels at either end, to work in. The large wheels must contain the chromatrope designs, each being alike but reversed, so that when they are moved in contrary directions by means of the simple mechanical contrivance about to be described, the designs exhibited upon the screen are both surprising and beautiful. Each wheel has a groove at its edge in which a piece of catgut or string runs freely and passes along the grooves in the slides, the string attached to the upper wheel passing along as far as the upper groove in the wheel, and the string belonging to the under wheel passes along the outer grooves to the under groove in the lesser wheel, which is screwed tight in its place by a nut underneath, so that when the large wheels are required to be changed, the nut is unscrewed and the wheel pushed towards the larger one, in order to slacken the strings; this is accomplished by making the pinion slide along a notch in the frame, thus: Now when the handle of the lesser wheel (Fig. 14) is turned, the two large wheels revolve in contrary directions and cause a very pleasing appearance up the screen. The chromatropes are exhibited precisely in the same manner as a magic lantern slide; in fact this kind of slide takes its place, and may be dissolved precisely in the same manner as we directed at page 20. MAGIC DANCES.-This is a most amusing recreation for holiday time, and has astonished people almost as much as the phantasmagoria. It is founded upon the principle that the shadow of an object becomes multiplied as we multiply the number of lights. The manner of proceeding is very simple : Make a screen of tissue-paper very neatly gummed at the edges, or use a phantasmagoria screen; but, in either case, the medium or screen must be large enough the medium construct the magic curtain, which should be fixed in the open space of a doorway, as shown in the following figure. To the slides of the doorway A B C and the floor D, fix the magic curtain-which should be made of canvass painted black on both sides, or thick brown paper, or grocer's thick blue paper pasted upon an old sheet,-fasten the battens a, b, c, d, e, f between the door-posts, each batten being about 1 inch in width; then cut out five or more holes (o o o o o) in the magic curtain, immediately under the battens, as in Fig. 15. Each of these holes is to be provided with a flap of millboard which is attached to the magic curtain by a hinge below, as shown in Fig. 16, where the upper hole (0) is seen closed, the middle hole has the flap (p) partially lowered, and the lower hole has the flap hanging quite down, the same as when the figures are being exhibited. It is necessary to have these flaps about two inches wider than the holes, so as to exclude the light behind, and when the holes, which vary in size, according to the room, are closed, the flaps are fastened up by a button of this shape : A D Fig. 16. fastened to the button above, the button being placed at the side of the hole, not in the centre. The next things you have to prepare are the magic lights, and the sticks to hold them. To make the magic lights, procure two coiled wax tapers, untwist them, and cut each taper into six equal parts; place a piece of cotton wick in the centre of the six pieces of taper, and twist them well together so as to make them firm. Cut the seven-wick taper into pieces about three inches long, trim the wicks and moisten them with turpentine. To prepare the sticks, get a piece of deal batten, an inch wide, cut it into pieces three feet long, and nail these to a handle. To each arm of these sticks fasten a piece of tin coiled round to receive the candles, or drive nails through the ends and stick the tapers upon them. It now only remains to make the figures; we shall then be able to exhibit. The magic figures may represent monkeys or dogs, dancing round a man playing the violin; witches dancing round their cauldron, which is boiling over a fire in the centre; fairies, or anything that fancy may suggest. Each figure is painted upon glass, in the same manner as a magic lantern slide, then framed and hung up to a nail placed in the button, in the centre of each hole; therefore if we have five holes in the magic curtain we shall want four dogs or monkeys and one man playing the violin ; four witches and one cauldron, &c. Sometimes the magic figures are merely cut out of cardboard and fastened in the holes of the magic curtain by means of pins, but in any case the cauldron or man must occupy the centre holes and the other figures be arranged behind the remaining holes. Of course any increase in the number of apertures in the magic curtain will require an increase in the number of figures, and vice versâ. To exhibit the dances procure some person to assist you, and arrange certain signals before commencing: for example, when you point with your finger to the left, he must move in that direction; if you point to the curtain, the lights must be advanced; if over your shoulder, he must recede, and so on. At a given signal, let all the lights be extinguished in the room where the spectators are assembled. Light four tapers, not mounted upon sticks, and hold them all together in your hand; and then lower the centre flap of the curtain; and immediately this is done, a boiling cauldron will be seen upon the transparent screen; lower another flap, and then a witch will appear suddenly. Now give your assistants two of the wax tapers, and there will be two witches and two cauldrons; then take a candle in each hand, and direct your assistant to do the same, and there will be four witches and four cauldrons; move to the right or left, and the figures will move; raise, and depress the lights, advance and recede ; then reverse your operations, and there will only be one cauldron and one witch. Now get one of the sticks with three candles, and light them successively. As you do this, the witches will re-appear; give your assistant two tapers together, and as there will be five lights burning, there will be five witches and five cauldrons; ad THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. IT was the last evening in the cold and cheerless month of December, and the winter king had asserted and established his claims in the most despotic manner, vance, and lower another flap, and then another, until they are all open; then blow out your lights one by one until only one remains; and let your assistant then close up all the flaps one after the other, the cauldron being the last. Let the lights in the room where the spectators are be re-binding in icy chains every streamlet and placed, and you can then change the figures for some monkeys. Proceed the same as with the witches, and you will astonish the people with the sudden change and the grotesque movements of the animals, particularly when you have five figures of them shown upon the screen, as in the following figure. Fig. 17 When you have produced this effect, turn yourself round, but not too suddenly, and the monkeys will trot round; then move the light about, and turn round suddenly. Now light another stick holding six lights and be sure to extinguish the lights you have, as the others are ignited. Proceed as before, and thus by replacing the figures with others, and varying your movements, much amusement may be afforded during the evening. VALUE OF HAIR ON THE FACE AND NECK.-A writer in the Globe, who spent nine years in Russia, where the frost is so excessive that the thermometer falls sometimes (by our scale) to 35 degrees below zero, states that he never saw a common Russian with any covering round his neck, except that provided by Nature, which effectually protects his chin and the glands of his throat. They travel in their sledges at almost railroad speed, and are therefore exposed to the utmost severity of the frost, from which, thus protected they never suffer any inconvenience. fountain, and crushing under his feet nature's fairest works. The stars looked down from their high dwelling-place, like sentinels upon the outposts of Heaven, keeping watch and ward, lest something less true and bright than they themselves were, should enter within its holy precincts; and the wind howled sadly around, breathing a requiem for the glories which had followed each other in brief succession during the past year, seeming to tell, in plaintive tones, that they were gone, for ever gone! On such a night did they, for whom the household fire glowed brightly, bless their happy, enviable lot, and sigh, as they remembered that hundreds were suffering -nay, were dying for want of a single spark of that genial element to impart feeling and life to their rigid limbs. Home's every comfort could not shut out the haunting vision of that disconsolate mother, who once hung over a dying child amid dreary darkness, without one ray of light to give back the features she had loved to gaze upon in other and happier days. God help the poor when the winter snows are upon the earth! On such a night as this, the Old and New Year met-both struggling for supremacy, each unwilling to accord to the other unlimited sway. You may "I have been, and I am yet a monarch," said the Old Year; 66 one, too, whose subjects are almost countless. not number the tongues which have sung of my exploits; and the length of days which has been, mine, has given me a knowledge and wisdom of which thou knowest nothing. What! resign my throne to thee, thou stripling! never!" and echo caught up the last word as it fell, and "never" reverberated throughout the universe. art old and enfeebled, and thy sceptre trembles in thy hand. Thy Spring and Summer, nay, the Autumn of thy days are gone for ever, while mine are yet to come. Would it not be wise, then, for thee to retire from the active scenes of life, giving the power to one whose strength will be sufficient for the future, be it what it may." "Strength!" and the Old Year drew his form up to its loftiest height-" am I not strong? The blood may not course through my veins as rapidly as thine, but I tell thee, the current is deeper. Strength! why this arm can boast sinews and muscles that might, like the fancied lever of Archimedes, raise the world. Look upon my eye-does it not tell that the fire of my soul burns brightly still? Ay, youth-tells it not that Time hath no power over such light-that he does not quench it?" "Thou art vain, Old Year. Pause one moment and look back-dost thou not remember when thou wert as I am now, in life's glowing spring-time, and when one like thee clung to his power, unwilling to resign to thee thy rightful claims? His course was over; he had been a king during his appointed time, and according to the laws of succession thy hour of triumph drew near. Go back to that hour-rememberest thou not how unreasonable thou deemedst thy predecessor? Now, tell me if thou wilt yet madly cling to a sceptre which must pass from thee." A shade of sadness rested on the face of the Old Year, for those moments passed in bright array before him. The guardian angel of the years marked the shadow, and caught the sigh that escaped from his troubled breast. "Why art thou sorrowful?" said he. 60 Ah," ," he replied, "I feel that my glory is over. A young aspirant presents his claims to my throne, and the truth bursts upon me that they are equitable and right. Alas! alas! must I pass away and be forgotten? must the beauties and glories that I have lavished upon the earth vanish for ever?" "Be comforted," said the angel, "be of good cheer! thou shalt have power and life equal to thy successor; but it shall be in a different realm. I will remove thee from the land of Hope to that of Memory. There shalt thou be a monarch; thy subjects as numerous as they now are, and with its placid moonlight and fadeless verdure around thy path, thou shalt live for ever." Turning to the New Year, the angel bade him ascend the throne of nature, giving him sage counsel and advice as to his future course. A monarch's feelings stole over him, and with a new lustre in his eyes, and with the bright sunshine of Hope streaming around him, he "went on his way rejoicing." A tranquil smile rested on the face of the Old Year, as he slowly tied on his sandals, equipping himself for his journey. He cast one long, lingering look behind him, and then with his staff in his hand, and with a cheerful soul and trusting heart, departed. The blessed angel was at his side, uttering words of love and comfort, nor paused he until the land of Memory met his eyes, fairer than his wildest imaginings had ever portrayed. THE BOY AND THE PANTHER. A WILD WESTERN SCENE. It was a fine morning in August, when little Samuel Eaton, about seven years old, was making a dam in the brook that ran before his father's door. He was an only and beautiful child, and his mother almost idolized him. There he was, with his trousers tucked up above his knees, working like a beaver, his mother's eye gleaming out from beneath his sunburnt hair, and with some of his father's strength tugging at a large stone in the bed of the stream. "Samuel, you had better come in, hadn't you?" said Hannah, in a tone of half-mother and half-mate. "No," said Samuel. · An acorn came floating down the stream. The boy took it up, looked at it, was pleased, and "reckoned" in his mind that there were more up the "gully," and when his mother's back was turned off he started for the acorns. The gorge of the mountain into which he was about to enter had been formed (the work of many centuries) by the attrition of the stream he had just been playing in; and walking on a level, that bordered each side of the water, he boldly |