CONTENTS 



Preface 



THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE PAGE 



Introductory Note i 



I Squaring the Circle 9 



II The Duplication of the Cube 30 



III The Trisection of an Angle 33 



IV Perpetual Motion 36 



V The Transmutation of Metals Alchemy 79 



VI The Fixation of Mercury 92 



VII The Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life .... 95 



ADDITIONAL FOLLIES 



Perpetual or Ever-burning Lamps 100 



The Alkahest or Universal Solvent 104 



Palingenesy 106 



The Powder of Sympathy in 



A SMALL BUDGET OF PARADOXES, ILLUSIONS, AND MARVELS 

 (WITH APOLOGIES TO PROFESSOR DE MORGAN) 



The Fourth Dimension 117 



How a Space may be apparently Enlarged by merely chang- 

 ing its Shape 126 



Can a Man Lift Himself by the Straps of his Boots? .... 128 



How a Spider Lifted a Snake 130 



How the Shadow may be made to move backward on the Sun- 

 dial 133 



How a Watch may be used as a Compass 134 



Micrography or Minute Writing. Writing so fine that the 

 whole Bible, if written in characters of the same size, 

 might be inscribed twenty-two times on a square inch . . 136 



