[Illustration: THE COIN VISIBLE.]

LIGHT FROM SUGAR.

In a dark room, rub smartly one against the other, a couple of lumps of
white sugar, and light will be evolved. A similar effect is produced by
rubbing two lumps of borate of soda one against the other.

MINIATURE FIRE-SHIPS.

Procure a good-sized lump of camphor. Cut it up into pieces of the size
of a hazel-nut, and having a large dish filled with cold water in
readiness, lay the pieces on the surface, where they will float. Then
ignite each one of them with a match, and they will burn furiously,
swimming about all the time that the burning is in progress, until at
last nothing remains but a thin shell, too wet to be consumed.

PURPLE AIR.

Obtain an olive-oil flask, the glass of which must be colorless. In
default of an oil-flask, a large test-tube may be employed. Put into it
a small quantity of solid iodine (procurable at the chemist's and very
cheap), then lightly stop the mouth of the flask or test-tube with some
cotton-wool, but not hermetically, and hold it slantwise over the flame
of a spirit-lamp. The heat will soon dissolve the iodine, which will
next turn into a most beautiful violet-colored vapor, completely filling
the glass, and disappearing again as the glass gets cold.

THE TWO EGGS.

Dissolve as much common table-salt in a pint of water as it will take
up, so as to prepare a strong brine. With this brine half fill a tall
glass. Then pour in pure water, very carefully. Pour it down the side,
or put it in with the help of a spoon, so as to break the fall. The pure
water will then float upon the top of the brine, yet no difference will
be visible. Next, take another glass of exactly the same kind, and fill
it with pure water. Now take a common egg, and put it into the vessel of
pure water, when it will instantly sink to the bottom. Put another egg
into the first glass, and it will not descend below the surface of the
brine, seeming to be miraculously suspended in the middle. Of course the
two glass vessels should be considerably wider than the egg is long.

THE MAGIC APERTURE.

Put several lighted candles upon the table, in a straight row and near
together. Lay upon the table, in front of them, a large piece of smooth,
white paper. Have ready a piece of pasteboard, large enough to conceal
the candles, with a small hole cut in it above the middle. Place this so
as to stand upon its edge between the row of candles and the sheet of
p