744 SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



The rotation of the wheel round its axis is produced in the present case 

 by the electro-magnet ; and the tendency of the wheel to fall, or to turn in 

 a vertical plane parallel to its axis, results in the rotation of the entire 

 instrument upon a new axis, which coincides with the pointed pedestal. 



THE AMERICAN MONEY-BOX. 



During a recent visit to London, as I was one day walking in the 

 Crystal Palace, my attention was attracted by a curious money-box, sur- 

 mounted by a pictorial representation of one of the London streets. The 

 carriages, horses, and pedestrians were represented by figures cut out of 

 cardboard, arranged in a groove. A large placard bore this inscription : 

 " Notice to visitors : Throw a penny in the money-box, and the figures will 

 perform? 



I at once responded to this invitation, and immediately beheld 

 the little tableaux become moving and life-like ; < the cabs rolled along, and 

 the passers-by walked up and down the street. A number of visitors 

 followed my example, and there is no doubt the money-box was full at the 

 end of the day. This ingenious contrivance for obtaining money in so easy 

 a manner, and without having recourse to a " show-man," appeared to me 

 worthy of investigation and description. 



The Scientific American (New York) has recently given an explanation 

 of this curious contrivance, and we will here quote what has been published 

 on the subject. 



"Among the inventions intended to obtain contributions of money from 

 the visitors at the Philadelphia Exhibition," says the American writer, " we 

 will describe the singular money-boxes placed in the salons of the principal 

 hotels and the galleries of the exhibition, etc. These contrivances all 

 consisted of a case or box, with a glass front, through which can be seen 

 a landscape in miniature, with trees, houses, figures, etc., all cut out of card- 

 board, and painted with great nicety. On the box was a label requesting 

 the visitor to drop a coin into it and await the result of the contribution. 

 When the penny has fallen in it puts in motion some hidden machinery, and 

 then we see the people in the miniature landscape all in motion, riding or 

 walking or hunting, as the case may be." 



Another box is even more successful, for it places in the hands of the 

 contributor a photograph of some celebrated person. But to obtain the 

 photograph we must contribute six pennies. The carte will not come out 

 if we do not put in the proper coins, and the apparatus is perfectly fair and 

 honest. 



The illustration, fig. 872, shows the apparatus, which is very simple* 

 On the left the ordinary box is seen, on the right there is a longitudinal 

 section of it. 



At the top of the lower portion, where the money is received in, is a 

 hollow support, A, which sustains the box in which the photographs are 



