An excerpt from the Preface: To the young person who wishes to make himself agreeable and entertaining in company, this book will be one of the most helpful in literature. It will show him not only how to do things by which he can render himself more entertaining than the best talker or the best joker in the company, but will reveal to him a hundred things by which he can amuse and astonish everybody he knows. For the experiments here displayed are not only entertaining, but instructive; not only amusing, but surprising; not only attractive to the young man and the maiden, but to the old man and the matron. By means of the simplest and commonest objects, always at hand, the reader can illustrate some of the most wonderful things in science, and convey valuable instruction while amusing his audience and creating a feeling of admiration for the amusement-maker. To the teacher who wishes to create in his scholars an interest in science, no book can be of greater assistance. It will enable him practically to illustrate and enforce scientific principles, and render his instructions as interesting as an Arabian tale.