Holiday Frolics; Or, Endless Amusement for the Christmas Fireside / Containing, the Most Astonishing Feats of Legerdemain, and Astounding Conjurings; Entertaining Experiments in Various Branches of Science; Tricks With Cards & Dice. Art of Making Fireworks; Together With an Excellent Collection of Puzzles, Conundrums, Riddles, Charades, &c. &c. The Whole Admirably Calculated to Beguile the Leisure Hours of Our Holiday Friends. Embellished With a Copper-plate Engraving

by Anonymous

The Fiery Flash.

Pour iron filings upon the flame of a candle, from a sheet of paper, about eight or ten inches above it, as they descend in the flame, they will enter into a very vivid scintillating combustion.

To split a piece of money into two parts.

Fix three pins in the table, and lay the piece of money upon them; then place a heap of the flowers of sulphur below the piece of money, and another above it, and set fire to them. When the flame is extinct, you will find on the upper part of the piece a thin plate of metal, which has been detached from it.

Sympathetic Ink.

Write with the nitro-muriate of gold, and brush the letters over with muriate of tin in a diluted state. The writing, before invisible, will now appear of an exquisitely beautiful purple colour.

A very easy method of gilding ivory.

Place the figure you mean to gild into a solution of nitro-muriate of gold. On taking out from the latter, it will be covered with metallic gold.

How to make the Constable catch the Knave.

Take a pack of cards and look out the four knaves, lay one of them privately on the top of the pack, and the other three on the table, saying, here you see, are three knaves got together, about no good you may be sure, then lay down a king by the side of them saying, but here comes the constable and catches them together. Oh, oh, says he, have I caught you then together? Well the next time I catch you together I’ll punish you severely for your rogueries. Oh, but, says they, you shan’t catch us together in haste; so they determine to go three different ways. I’ll go here, says one, (so take one of the knaves and put him at the top of the cards.) I’ll go here, says another, (so put him at the bottom.) And I’ll go here, says a third, (so put him exactly in the middle.) “Nay,” says the constable, “if you run I’ll make sure of one, so I’ll follow the first, then take the king and put him at the top of the pack, and let any one cut the cards three or four times, and then deal; cut the cards one by one, and you will find three together, and the constable with them.”