The Columbus Egg Trick.
To make an egg stand on one end on any polished surface seems very extraordinary, yet it can be done, even on a looking-glass. Now, from the form of an egg, nothing is more liable to roll, and on nothing more so than on a looking-glass. To accomplish this trick, let the performer take an egg in his hand, and while he keeps talking and staring in the face of his audience give it two or three hearty shakes; this will break the yolk, which will sink to one end, and consequently make it more heavy, by which when it is settled you may make it, with a steady hand, stand upon the glass; this would be impossible while it continued in its proper state.