66 SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



of Tantalus as per illustration (fig. 69). A wooden figure may be cut in a 

 stooping posture, and placed in the centre of a wide vase, as if about to drink. 

 If water be poured slowly into the vase it will never rise to the mouth of 

 the figure, and the unhappy Tantalus will remain in expectancy. This 

 result is obtained by the aid of a syphon hidden in the figure, the shorter 

 limb of which is in the chest. The longer limb descends through a hole in 

 the table, and carries off the water. These vases are called vases of Tantalus. 

 The principle of the syphon may also be adapted to our domestic 



Fig. 68. Molecular attraction. 



filters. Charcoal, as we know, makes an excellent filter, and if we have a 

 block of charcoal in one of those filters, now so common, we can fix a tube 

 into it, and clear any water we may require. It sometimes (in the country) 

 happens that drinking-water may become turgid, and in such a case the 

 syphon filter will be found useful. 



The old "deception" jugs have often puzzled people. -We give an illus- 

 tration of one, and also a sketch of the " deceptive" portion (figs. 70 and 71). 

 This deception is very well managed, and will create much amusement if a jug 

 can be procured ; they were fashionable in the eighteenth century, and pre- 

 viously. A cursory inspection of these curious utensils will lead one to vote 

 them utterly useless. They are, however, very quaint, and if not exactly 

 useful are ornamental. They are so constructed, that if an inexperienced 



