512 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[December, 
ferently with the same amount of heat, it counteracts 
the other, and the pendulum remains of the same length. 
For clocks where the greatest accuracy is required 
THE MERCURIAL PENDULUM 
is generally used. This has a tall glass jar nearly filled 
with mercury for the hob, as in figure 4. When the 
pendulum rod expands the bob is lowered, but the same 
heat causes the mercury to expand, but being confined 
in the jar, it must expand upwards, and compensate for 
the lengthening of the rod. Some one has said that every 
Fig. 5. 
Figs. 3 & 4. GRIDIRON AND MERCURIAL PENDULUMS 
American boy of 16, knows how to take apart a clock and 
put it together again. This may not be quite true, but 
most boys, if given a chance, will be very sure to make 
it half true, by taking the clock apart. Any of you who 
have done this know how the pendulum is arranged in the 
clock, and those who have not, can learn it by carefully 
watching a clock while it is going. You know that the 
hands are set in motion by the power of a weight. The 
fall of a weight moves a wheel; this 
motion finally reaches the hands 
through several wheels, called a train. 
When the weight is wound up, its 
tendency is to run down, and were 
there nothing to check it, the wheels 
would buzz at a rapid rate, causing the 
hands to move as fast in a second as 
they should go in an hour. The weight 
must be let down gradually, and this is 
what the pendulum does: it lets off the 
weight a little at a time. At each beat 
of the pendulum the wheels are allow¬ 
ed to move a little, at the next move¬ 
ment, a little more, and so on. The 
contrivance by which the pendulum 
lets off the power of the weight, a little 
at a time, is called an escapement, and 
without this the pendulum would be of 
no use. There are several forms of es¬ 
capements, but that shown in figs. 5 
and 6 will answer to explain the mat¬ 
ter. Figure 5 shows the pendulum, 
the escapement, and the scape-wheel. 
The escapement is connected with the pendulum by a 
separate rod with a forked arm. The scape-wheel is con¬ 
nected with the train or works of the clock, not shown. 
An escapement of a little different shape, but the same in 
action, is shown at figure 6, with the parts much larger. 
The wheel with slanting teeth is of course connected with 
the other wheels of the clock. The arched body above is 
the escapement, and is attached to the pendulum, a part 
of the pendulum rod being shown. The pendulum being 
swung to the left, the right hand end of the escapement 
(*) is caught in a tooth of the wheel; when the pendulum 
swings back, this end 
of the escapement will 
be liberated and the 
wheel will start, but it 
can not go far, before 
the arm, a, will catch 
in another notch, and 
stop it; by the . con¬ 
tinual vibration of the 
pendulum, a and b will 
constantly stop and let 
gothewheel. Theends 
of the escapement are 
termed pallets. In time 
the pendulum would 
stop, from the resist¬ 
ance of the air, and 
othercauses, were there 
not some contrivance 
for keeping it in mo¬ 
tion ; the shape of the teeth upon the escape wheel 
and the form of the pallets is such, that at every beat the 
Fig. 6. 
wheel gives the pallets, and through those, the pendulum, 
a little push, as it were, though very slight, but enough 
to keep the pendulum in constant and steady motion. 
Fig. 1.— SNAPPING THE CENT. 
Xriclts vvitli Coins. 
The evenings are getting longer, and the cold weather 
makes the fireside comfortable. What is more amus¬ 
ing, and, we may add, instructive, than tricks of 
magic: the mystery which surrounds any such acts often 
makes the youthful mind active, anxious to know how it 
was done, watchful, and earnest. Wo can not give a his¬ 
tory of magic art. In all ages of the world there have 
been persons who could do strange things, and for it they 
have frequently been considered more than human. We 
have persons in our own age who are called “magicians,” 
“prestigiators”—what a name 1—“jugglers,’ “sleight- 
of-hand performers,” “ legerdemainists ” (which means 
to be light or nimble with the hands), and other long 
names, by all of which we arc to understand that they can 
do certain tricks which at first seem very strange to us, 
but after we know how to do them are simple enough. 
There are tricks with a great variety of things, but we 
will now look at two or three with coins. The most 
common one is to 
throw a cent up the 
sleeve. The cent 
is taken between the 
thumb and fore¬ 
finger, as shown in 
figure 1, when, by a 
sudden snap, the cent 
is sent flying up the 
sleeve. Of course, to 
make the most of 
this trick, as of any 
other, one needs to talk very much and make many mo¬ 
tions with his hands, which have nothing to do with 
the trick, except to mislead the lookers on—an art in 
which the magicians are very expert and successful, If a 
coin is concealed in or.c hand, and the one in the other 
shown, by a few passes, the latter may be thrown up the 
sleeve, when, by opening the other hand, aftd showing the 
coin that was concealed, it will appear that the coin has 
passed from one hand to the other, but how, no one 
looking on can tell—at least, can not see “how it’s done.” 
The sleeve trick may bo followed by another which at 
first is quite mysterious. The person performing this 
trick, to increase 
the curiosity, may 
say: “You proba¬ 
bly have all ob¬ 
served that the last 
trick was perform¬ 
ed by throwing the 
cent into the 
sleeve, but to con¬ 
vince you all, that 
this is not done in 
that way, I will 
remove my sleeves, 
etc., etc.” The coin is placed in the palm of the 
hand, and bypassing the other hand over it rapidly the 
cent is gone. A small piece of wax is placed on the 
nail of the middle finger of the hand holding the cent, 
and while the other hand is passing over, the finger is 
brought up, as shown in figure 2, the coin sticking to the 
wax, and as the finger goes back the coin is carried 
away from the palm of the hand, and out of sight. 
One of the most deceptive tricks we have seen, and one 
that we did not understand until it had been done at least 
a dozen times be¬ 
fore our very eyes, 
is performed with a 
coin and a hand¬ 
kerchief. The 
handkerchief has a 
coin sewed or 
“patched in” at 
one corner, and to 
show that there is 
nothing (?) to be¬ 
gin with, in the 
Fig. 3. HANDKERCHIEF TRICK, handkerchief, it is 
shaken out with the thumb and finger holding the cor¬ 
ner containing the coin. After this, the handkerchief is 
spread over the lap and the coin (borrowed from some 
one present, and of the same size as the one in the corner) 
is placed upon the center of the handkerchief, and the 
corners are then folded over it (?) in the way shown in 
figure 3. As the first corner (l he one with the coin sewed 
in it) is brought up the other coin is removed—this part 
is done very rapidly 1—and the other corners are thrown 
up, when the handkerchief is handed to any one to feel 
that the coin is still within. So soon as all are satisfied 
that the coin is there, the magician rubs the handker¬ 
chief, and of course blows upon it—there is great virtue 
in blowing —and says, “ Presto ” (which is the Spanish for 
quickly) "■Change." As this is done the handkerchief is 
Fig. 2.— WAX, COIN TRICK. 
shaken out, the thumb and forefinger holding it by the 
coin end. The audience may feel of the handkerchief, but 
it should not go out of the hands of the performer—at 
least not the coin corner. Sometimes the trick is varied 
a little, the handkerchief being put under a hat, and the 
coin that was supposed in it, shown to be elsewhere, 
followed by the same strange and disappointing shaking- 
out. There are a number of other tricks with coins, 
some of which these mentioned may suggest to the older 
of our Boys and Girls; but let us try these first. 
Our l'uzzle>ltox. 
ANAGRAMMATICAL OMISSIONS. 
(Fill the blank with one word made from the italicised 
words just preceding it, so ns to make sense of the sent- 
tenee— e. g .. Fan's blushes arise from-. The letters in 
italics may be transposed into the word “bashfulness.”> 
1. See mine -have gone. 
2. Does Ed. try to repair the fences he-? 
3. A man laughs not at such a fearful-. 
4. I think it is a fiction. Lady Net, that you were told—. 
5 You may well lament , love , if the man is so-. 
6. One can not stir without producing —~. 
BIBLICAL DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
The primals name a celebrated Queen, and the finals a 
Persian King. 
1. An elder of Israel. 2. A province of Arabia. 
3. A mountain of Palestine. 4. A Hebrew prophet. 
5. A friend of Job. 6. An ancient city. 
Isola. 
METAGRAM. 
In a word of five letters, which names something that 
many people love to do, find—(1) a post, (2) a piece of 
meat, (3) a girl’s nickname, (4) to appropriate, (5) a re¬ 
past, (6) how you take it, and (7) what you did when you 
took it. 
CONCEALED NOUNS. 
1. I saw a flag on the mast while we were gazing at 
the combat (6b 
2. The Cuban joyfully agreed to avoid rum, and to leave 
off lying (6). 
3. Which am I to astonish them with first? I am afraid 
of Ezra, he may give me a black eye 1 (7.) 
4. If I shoot that crow, near the barn, for Kate, will 
you go at once and give it to her? (9.) 
DOUBLE DIAMOND. 
Across.— 1. The head of a mouse. 2. A vehicle. 3. An 
animal in Latin. 4. A vegetable. 5. Part of the human 
form. 6. Another part of the human form. 7. The cen¬ 
ter of the end. 
Down— 1. A pig's head. 2. A bird’s cry. 3. A weight. 
4. A building. 5. To cleanse. 6. To rest. 7. A pup’s 
tail. Adolph M. Nagel. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 30 letters: 
My 13, 8, 19, 16, 5, is a bird that is often eaten. 
My 28. 27. 4, 22, 9, is meal boiied in water. 
My 25, 7, 28, 26, 18, often helps to kindle a fire. 
My 6, 14, 24, 17. 20, 15, is an old woman. 
My 12, 11. 1, 2, 16, 24, 27, is to dismiss from office. 
My 30, 3, 23, 7, 21, 12, 29, is a well-known weed. 
My 21, 3, 10, is a fish. 
My whole is the name of a well-known song. 
1. Use a blinder. 
2. Enlist us. 
3. Nut and leg. 
4. Frail dice. 
5. Or riding. 
ANAGRAMS. 
6. 01 fine dash 1 
7. Pious, err. 
8. A moment’s cure. 
9. Die, rude Pat. 
10. Invite a lad. 
pi. 
A titell noneness own dan bent, 
Si sliedrile yb bet swites nein. 
COMBINATIONS. 
1. Join together—a man’s name, something offensive, 
and a capital in South America, and make a gum. 
2. Join together—a certain workman, and an abbrevia¬ 
tion of one of the United States, and make a goddess. 
No. 471. Illustrated Rel»u«.— A piece of 
very good advice for many persons, both young and old. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE OCTOBER NUMBER. 
Anagrams.— 1. Vanished. 2. Contrivances. 3. Isolated. 
4. Schooner. 5. Masculine. 6. Adornments. 7. Celebrated. 
8. Harangued. 9. Detrimental. 10. Substantial. 
Conundrums.— 1. D ; it made ma mad. 2. It made her a 
hero. 
Numerical Enigma.— Sometimes words wound more 
than swords. 
Puzzle.— VIOLET. 
Pi. —Some of the causes of insanity may he want of nutri¬ 
tious food, stimulating drinks, a dreary monoton}' of toil, 
muscular exhaustion, domestic distress and misery. 
