It is probable that this toy was not a recent invention in the time of Herrade, and that the abbess of Hohenbourg only put into her drawings a costume that was already ancient.
NOVEL TOYS.
On any pleasant day may be found on lower Broadway and other down-town thoroughfares venders who sell almost anything in the way of novelties. Among these may be seen culinary implements, toilet articles, cheap microscopes, magnifying glasses, and various toys. Nothing takes better in the way of articles for this kind of trade than some new toy. Whether a toy will probably have a good run can be determined by these venders in a very short time. If it takes well, crowds gather around him, and he does a thriving business, making money for himself as well as for the inventor. If, however, the article is not wanted, the vender very soon finds it out, and looks for other wares.
FIG. 1.—ACROBAT WITH MERCURY WEIGHT.
Some of the toys are scientific, others are not. We give two examples of scientific toys which have sold very well. They are similar in character, and illustrate what shifting the center of gravity can do. They are both acrobats. The one shown in [Fig. 1], and designated “McGinty,” and sometimes “Little Tommy,” consists of a paper figure attached to a tube closed at both ends and inserted in paper disks which are bent down on the tube, forming semicircular end pieces on which the device may roll. A drop of mercury placed in the tube completes the toy. When placed on a slightly inclined plane, with the tube parallel with the surface, the mercury rolls to the lower end of the tube, causing that end to preponderate. The lighter end, actuated by gravity, then moves forward until it strikes the inclined surface, when the mercury again rolls to the lower end and causes another half revolution, and so on. This toy moves down the incline with a slow and stately movement.