74 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
-stance, you see, the superstition lias proved 
correct, for surely it is a great calamity 
to have to pay for three such watches as 
those that my assistant just borrowed." 
"However," he continues "I must do 
the best that I can under the circum- 
stances, and as there is no use of blowing- 
up my asistant, I will try the effect of 
blowing up these fragments." 
He then collects carefully, all the frag- 
ments of the watches and plate, and places 
them in the funnel of a gun. 
" Now that I have got the pieces to- 
g-ether," he says, " I must find some wad- 
ding for my gun. Ah ! here's good blow- 
ing material. The New York Herald, that 
will do first rate, but I still want more. " 
Here he looks about the stage, and then 
discovering another paper, holds it up 
Bnd reads. 
"Ah, what have we here? The New 
York Tribune. In that goes too, and now 
if there ain't an explosion, its because 
^'unpowder won't burn, for when those 
two papers come together, its worse than 
that terrible time we have read so much 
of 'when Greek meets Greek.' " 
He turns the gun toward the audience, 
:and they see that it is loaded to the 
muzzle. 
He next calls their attention to a large 
gilt frame which is hanging from the 
■ceiling by two cords. Inside this frame 
instead of a picture is stretched a piece of 
black velvet. He informs the audience 
that "This is a picture of Brooklyn on a 
moonlight night, but the moon not having 
risen and the gas not being lit, I am afraid 
you hardly have a very distinct view of 
the city." 
" I now propose to fire the contents of 
that gun at this picture, and the moment 
1 do so, the city will be illuminated, whilst 
the watches will be found in the pockets 
of the owners." 
He picks up the gun, which has been 
lying on a table, aims and fires it at the 
frame, and on the instant, the plate and 
watches appear in the velvet as in the 
illustration. He turns the gun again 
toward the audience, and shows that it is 
^mpty. 
The watches he takes from the frame 
and returns their owners. 
A very pretty effect is sometimes intro- 
duced by discovering the plate to be im- 
perfect in one place where a piece is out. 
This piece is picked up on the stage, and 
when the performer appears to throw it at 
the frame the imperfection instantly dis- 
appears and the plate is perfect. 
For this trick you will need two or three 
brass watch cases, some springs, wheels, 
and other watch material, a frame pro- 
perly prepared, and a peculiar pistol or 
gun. 
The pistol is different from any that I 
have described, inasmuch as it is fur- 
nished with two funnels instead of one ; 
these funnels fit one within the other, and 
it is in the inner one that the watches, 
papers, etc., are placed. 
When the performer calls the attention ' 
of the audience to the picture, he places 
the pistol on the table, and whilst they 
are engaged in looking at the frame, the 
assistant takes out the inner funnel of the 
pistol, and puts it on the "servant" or 
shelf at the back of the table ; sometimes 
the performer does this himself before 
picking up his weapon. 
The frame is a shallow box lined with 
black velvet, and with a velvet curtain 
falling down in front ; this curtain is fas- 
tened to a roller, at one end of which is a 
spring arranged in such a way that the f 
roller will revolve and the curtain fly up, 
unless held down in some way. A little 
