Hoffman, Professor: Magic At Home A Book of Amusing Science ©1891 Cassel & Company, Ltd, London Hardcover, 235 pages

Image courtesy eBay seller JayandLefty

Comments: From the preface, "The following pages are a somewhat free translation of the Science Amusante of M Arthur Good, a popular French Writer"

Contents:

13 A Plate Balanced on a Needle
15 To Balance a Pencil on its Point
17 To Balance an Egg on the Neck of a Bottle
19 The Divided Pear
21 To Drill a Hole through a Pin
23 A Startler for a Careful Housekeeper
25 To Drive a Needle through a Halfpenny
27 The Self-balanced Ladle
27 First Position
29 Second Position
31 A Self-balancing Plate
32 An Acrobatic Bottle
34 Pencils Balanced in Mid-air
36 The Shovel and the Tongs
39 A Bottle in Danger
42 A Miniature Diving-bell
44 "Red White and Blue "
46 The Cask and Bottle Puzzle
48 A Miniature Vesuvius
50 Water changed to Wine
53 The Devil and the Glass of Champagne
56 The Performing Fish
58 A Queer Kind of Candlestick
60 How to Weigh a Letter with a Broomstick
62 Bewitched Soap-bubbles
65 The Camphor Scorpion
67 A Novel Water Engine
70 The Hydraulic Tourniquet in Straw
73 The Syphon Tourniquet
76 A Miniature Steamboat
78 Artillery on the Dinner-Table
80 A Paper Fish made to Swim at Pleasure
82 Magic Figures
84 The Force of the Breath
86 The Obstinate Cork
89 A Curious Coin Trick
91 The Magic Butterfly
93 An Illustration of Centrifugal Force
95 The Dancing Egg
97 Effects of Atmospheric Pressure
100 A Singular Pendulum
102 To Lift a Tumbler with tiie Open Hand
104 To Pass a Nail into a Corked Bottle
107 The Climbing Lamp-Chimney
110 To Empty a Full Glass by means of a Full Bottle
112 Bubble-blowing Extraordinary
115 Hanging without a Cord
117 To Dip the Hand in Water without Wetting it
119 Needles and Pins made to Float on Water
122 An Economical Magnetic Compass
122 The Rival Iron-clads
124 The Rotation of the Globe
124 To make a Number of Corks Float Upright in the Water
126 A Life-sized Dancing Doll
128 Eyes Behind You
130 Shadows on the Wall
133 A Play acted in a Looking-glass
135 An Animated Shadow
137 A Novel Laryngoscope
139 The Shilling and the Syringe
141 Complementary Colours
143 I—The Devil in Green
145 II—The Tricoloured Star
147 A Wonderful Pin
149 A Game of Chance for the Home Circle
152 A Curious Optical Illusion
154 Another Optical Illusion
156 The Broken Mirror
158 The Tight-Rope Dancer
161 Electric Attraction
163 A Lamp Chimney Transformed into an Electric Machine
165 An Experiment in Electro-Magnetism
168 A Modern Tantalus
169 Candle-lighting under Difficulties
171 A Problem in Gymnastics
173 Another Gymnastic Puzzle
175 The Three Lucifer Matches
177 The Five-straw Puzzle
179 A Bridge of Lucifer Matches
181 Transmission of Force to a Distance
183 Fifteen Lucifer Matches Lifted with One
185 A New Way of Playing Backgammon
189 The Coin in the Bottle
191 A Miniature Infernal Machine
194 To Spin a Penny upon the Point of a Needle
196 The Magic Dart
198 A Cigarette-smoking Lamp Chimney
200 Pyramids in Crystal
202 A Trio of Champagne Glasses
204 The Bottle and the Keys
206 An Impromptu Soup-tureen Stand
207 The Latest Weighing Machine
209 The Kitchen Steelyard
211 Everybody’s Own Level
213 A Level op Another Kind
215 A Combined Candlestick and Watch-stand
217 Robinson Crusoe’s Pen
221 A Necklace of Nuts
223 The Japanese Ball Trick in a New Form
226 A New Vaporiser
228 The Candle Extinguished and Relighted
230 To Pass a Person’s Body through a Playing-card
232 Unconscious Movement
234 Shadows on the Wall