CONTENTS

Preface
THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE
PAGE
Introductory Note[1]
ISquaring the Circle[9]
IIThe Duplication of the Cube[30]
IIIThe Trisection of an Angle[33]
IVPerpetual Motion[36]
VThe Transmutation of Metals—Alchemy[79]
VIThe Fixation of Mercury[92]
VIIThe Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life[95]
ADDITIONAL FOLLIES
Perpetual or Ever-burning Lamps[100]
The Alkahest or Universal Solvent[104]
Palingenesy[106]
The Powder of Sympathy[111]
A SMALL BUDGET OF PARADOXES, ILLUSIONS, AND MARVELS (WITH APOLOGIES TO PROFESSOR DE MORGAN)
The Fourth Dimension[117]
How a Space may be apparently Enlarged by merely changing its Shape[126]
Can a Man Lift Himself by the Straps of his Boots?[128]
How a Spider Lifted a Snake[130]
How the Shadow may be made to move backward on the Sun-dial[133]
How a Watch may be used as a Compass[134]
Micrography or Minute Writing. Writing so fine that the whole Bible, if written in characters of the same size, might be inscribed twenty-two times on a square inch[136]
Illusions of the Senses[149]
Taste and Smell[150]
Sense of Heat[150]
Sense of Hearing[150]
Sense of Touch—One Thing Appearing as Two[151]
How Objects may be apparently Seen through a Hole in the Hand[156]
How to See (apparently) through a Solid Brick[158]
CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL PROBLEMS
The Chess-board Problem[163]
The Nail Problem[164]
A Question of Population[165]
How to Become a Millionaire[166]
The Actual Cost and Present Value of the First Folio Shakespeare[168]
Arithmetical Puzzles[170]
Archimedes and His Fulcrum[171]