CONTENTS

PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE[5]
SECTION I.
Gymnastics, Indian Clubs, Dumbbells, and Juggling withBalls.
CHAPTER I.—Gymnastics. By a Member of the LondonAthletic Club.
I.—Preliminary Hints as to Dress, Diet, and Exercises without Apparatus[19]
II.—Exercises without Apparatus[20]
Leg Movements[21]
III.—Exercises with Apparatus[21]
The Horizontal Bar[22]
Hanging on the Bar and the Walk[22]
Breasting the Bar[23]
The Short Circle[23]
Getting on to the Bar[24]
The Leg Swing (Backwards)[24]
To Sit on the Bar[25]
Sit Swing (Backward)[26]
Hanging by the Legs[27]
The Clear Circle[27]
The Muscle Grind[28]
Hanging by the Toes[28]
The Hock Swing[28]
The Upstart[29]
The Slow Pull-up[29]
Horizontal (Back and Front)[30]
The Splits[30]
The Long Swing[30]
Combinations[31]
The Parallel Bars[31]
Exercises[32]
Vaulting Horse[35]
Leg Spring[36]
Horse Jumping[37]
Saddle Vaulting[37]
Flying over the Horse[38]
The Hand-rings or Stirrups[39]
Climbing[41]
The Ladder[42]
IV.—How to make Gymnastic Apparatus. By Charles Spencer,Author of The Modern Gymnast, &c.[42]
Horizontal Bar[43]
Portable Horizontal Bar[44]
Lawn Gymnasium[45]
Portable Frame for Trapeze, Rings, or Swing[46]
Jumping Stands[47]
The Pan-Gymnasticon[48]
Other Useful Apparatus[48]
CHAPTER II.—Indian Clubs and How to use them. By a Member of the London Athletic Club[50]
Weight of the Clubs[51]
Hints as to Dress, etc.[53]
Exercises for Light Clubs[54]
Single or Heavy Club Exercise[58]
CHAPTER III.—Dumbbells, and How to use them. By W. J.Gordon[60]
CHAPTER IV.—Juggling with Balls. By a PracticalGymnast[68]
The Vertical Fall[69]
The Inside and Outside Falls[70]
The Parallel Fall[70]
The Outside and Inside Fall from Right Hand to Left[70]
The Horizontal Pass[71]
The Double Vertical Fall[71]
The Double Inside Fall[71]
The Triple Pass[72]
The Triple Over and Under Pass[73]
The Single Over and Double Under Pass[73]
The Shower[73]
The Triple Shower[74]
The Quadruple Shower[74]
The Fountain[74]
The Double Fountain[74]
The Double Fountain Change[75]
SECTION II.
Model-making—Moving and Otherwise.
CHAPTER V.—Some Simple Models for Beginners.
I.—How to Make a Boat with a Screw Propeller. By F.Chasemore[79]
II.—How to Make a small Marine Engine for a Boat four or five feet long. ByFrank Chasemore[81]
CHAPTER VI.—The American Dancing Nigger. By C.Stansfeld-Hicks[94]
CHAPTER VII.—Moving Models, and How to Make Them; or, ‘Drop a Penny in theBox and the Model will Work.’ By Frank Chasemore[97]
A Model Windmill[97]
A Model Cutter Yacht[101]
Dancing ‘Niggers’[104]
A Real Water-wheel[106]
How to make a Cheap Clock[109]
CHAPTER VIII.—How we Made a Christmas Ship. By C.Stansfeld-Hicks, Author of Yacht and Canoe Building, &c. &c.[111]
CHAPTER IX.—Model Steam-Engines, and How to Make them. By Paul N. Hasluck, Author of Lathe-work, &c.
I.—Principles of the Steam-Engine[117]
II.—A Simple Toy Engine[120]
III.—Small Model Engines[123]
IV.—The Horizontal Engine[127]
V.—The Oscillating Engine[131]
VI.—Model Boilers and their Construction[134]
CHAPTER X.—The Boy’s Own Model Launch Engine. By H. F. Hobden[138]
CHAPTER XI.—The Boy’s Own Model Locomotive, and How to Build it.By H. F. Hobden[144]
SECTION III.
Games of Skill, etc.
CHAPTER XII.—Chess—Single and Double, etc.
I.—Chess for Beginners.—By Herr Meyer[165]
The Universal Notation[165]
II.—A New Chess Game—‘The Jubilee.’ By HerrMeyer[171]
III.—Another Jubilee Game[172]
IV.—The Game of Double Chess. By the late CaptainCrawley and Herbert Mooney[173]
Circular Chess[180]
CHAPTER XIII.—Draughts. By the late CaptainCrawley
I.—All About the Game[181]
II.—The Losing Game[190]
III.—Polish Draughts[191]
The Openings[192]
CHAPTER XIV.—Solitaire. By the late CaptainCrawley[199]
CHAPTER XV.—Fox and Geese. By the late CaptainCrawley[202]
CHAPTER XVI.—Go-ban. By Herr Meyer[204]
CHAPTER XVII.—The Malagasy Game of Fanòrona. By W. Montgomery[208]
CHAPTER XVIII.—The American Puzzles[212]
CHAPTER XIX.—Some Minor Games
I.—A New Indoor Game[214]
II.—Knuckle Bones. By Captain A. S. Harrison[215]
SECTION IV.
The Magic-Lantern, and all about it.
CHAPTER XX.—The Magic Lantern and all about it.
I.—Pleasant Hours with the Magic Lantern. By A. A. Wood,F.C.S.[219]
1.—All about Lanterns[219]
2.—Various Kinds of Lanterns[219]
3.—The Phantasmagoria Lantern[220]
4.—The Euphaneron Lantern[221]
5.—Dissolving Views[223]
6.—The Lime-light[224]
7.—Oxyhydrogen Jet[226]
8.—The Gas and Gas-Bags[227]
9.—Oxygen and Hydrogen[228]
10.—Slide Painting, etc.[229]
II.—How to make a Cheap Magic Lantern. By FrankChasemore[231]
III.—How to make the Slides for a Magic Lantern[240]
IV.—Revolving Slides for the Magic Lantern, without Rack-work. By F. Chasemore[245]
V.—Screen Frame for the Magic Lantern. By FrankChasemore[247]
VI.—Magic Lantern for Opaque Slides. By W. J.Gordon[250]
CHAPTER XXI.—How to make an Aphengescope, or Apparatus for exhibitingPhotographs, Opaque Pictures, and Living Insects in the Magic Lantern. By Frank Chasemore[252]
CHAPTER XXII.—Ingenious Adaptations for the Lantern. By W. J. Gordon
I.—Chromatropes and Paper Fireworks[257]
II.—The Lantern and the Kaleidoscope[259]
III.—The Lantern Praxinoscope[260]
SECTION V.
How to Build Boats, Punts, Canoes, etc.
CHAPTER XXIII.—The Building of the Swallow; or, How to Make a Boat. ByE. Henry Davies, C.E.[265]
CHAPTER XXIV.—How to Make a Canvas Canoe. By E. T.Littlewood, M.A.[273]
CHAPTER XXV.—Canadian, Indian, Birch-Bark and other Light Canoes. ByC. Stansfeld-Hicks.
I.—Canadian and Birch-Bark Canoes[279]
II.—Paper and other Typical Canoes[283]
CHAPTER XXVI.—How to Build a Punt. By the Rev. HarryJones, M.A.[287]
CHAPTER XXVII.—Rafts and Catamarans, and How to Make them. By W. J. Gordon and W. W. L. Alden[291]
SECTION VI.
Pleasant and Profitable Occupations for Spare Hours.
CHAPTER XXVIII.—Practical Hints on Taxidermy. By Lieut.-Colonel Cuthell
I.—Catching and Setting Butterflies[299]
II.—How to Cure and Set up a Bird’s Skin[302]
III.—On Preserving the Skins and Heads of Animals[305]
CHAPTER XXIX.—Hints on Polishing Horn, Bone, Shells, Stones, Etc. ByGordon Stables, C.M., M.D., R.N.[308]
CHAPTER XXX.—British Pebbles. By the Rev. A. N.Malan, M.A., F.G.S.
I.—The Pebbles and How to Find them[314]
II.—The Lapidary’s Bench[320]
III.—How to Polish a Pebble[322]
IV.—How to Cut a Pebble[325]
A Postscript[329]
CHAPTER XXXI.—Graphs and Graph-making. By TheodoreWood[330]
CHAPTER XXXII.—Cryptograph, or Cipher. By a NavalSurgeon[333]
CHAPTER XXXIII.—Hammock-making and Netting.
I.—Hammocks and Hammock-making[337]
II.—Netting, and How to Net[339]
CHAPTER XXXIV.—A Perpetual Calendar. By HerrH. F. L. Meyer[342]
CHAPTER XXXV.—How to make a Sundial. By F.Chasemore
I.—The Horizontal Dial[347]
II.—The Equatorial Dial[349]
Table of Minutes[354]
CHAPTER XXXVI.—The Camera Obscura: How to make and use it. ByGordon Stables, C.M., M.D., R.N.[355]
SECTION VII.
The Boy’s Own Workshop.
CHAPTER XXXVII.—Cardboard-Modelling and Wood Modelling.
I.—How the Reedham Boys make their Cardboard Models.—By the Head Master[361]
II.—A Home-Made Humming-Top[374]
CHAPTER XXXVIII.—Artificial Wood: How to Make it and what to make of it.By the late Dr. Scoffern[375]
CHAPTER XXXIX.—How to Make an Astronomical Telescope. ByFrank Chasemore[380]
CHAPTER XL.—The Kaleidoscope, and How to Make it. ByW. J. Gordon[385]
CHAPTER XLI.—How to Make a Portable Stage and Figures for the LivingMarionettes. By F. Chasemore[388]
CHAPTER XLII.—How to Make a Pantagraph[391]
CHAPTER XLIII.—My Flagstaff, and How I Rigged it[393]
CHAPTER XLIV.—How to Make a Pocket Compass and Timepiece. By F. Chasemore[396]
CHAPTER XLV.—Wood-Working and Carving; or, Walking-Sticks and how to treatthem[398]
CHAPTER XLVI.—Cages and Hutches: and How to Make them. By Gordon Stables, C.M., M.D., R.N.
I.—The Tools and Materials—Useful Hints[403]
II.—Canary Breeding-cages, German and English[405]
III.—Nests and Nest-Boxes—The German method of Breeding—Hutches for Rabbits,Guinea-Pigs, Rats, and Squirrels[408]
CHAPTER XLVII.—How to Make a Cage for White Mice. By W. G. Campbell[410]
SECTION VIII.
Music and Musical Instruments and Toys.—How to Make Them and How to Play Them.
CHAPTER XLVIII.—Musical Glasses and the Wood Harmonicon.
I.—The Glass Harmonicon[417]
II.—Musical Tumblers[419]
III.—A Wood Harmonicon[420]
CHAPTER XLIX.—Æolian Harps, and How to Make Them[422]
CHAPTER L.—The Penny Whistle, and How to Play it. By W. J. Gordon[425]
SECTION IX.
Electricity, and How to Use it in Play and Earnest.
CHAPTER LI.—Curiosities of Electricity. By Dr. ArthurStradling[431]
CHAPTER LII.—The Leyden Jar, and How to Make it[434]
CHAPTER LIII.—The Electrical Machine, and How to Make it[437]
CHAPTER LIV.—A Storm in a Teacup[443]
SECTION X.
Conjurers and Conjuring—Ventriloquism and Spiritualism,etc.
CHAPTER LV.—Mystery and Mummery; or, Houdin and the Arabs. ByJohn Nevil Maskelyne, of the Egyptian Hall[449]
CHAPTER LVI.—Ventriloquism, and How to Acquire the Art. By William Crompton[454]
CHAPTER LVII.—Second Sight[457]
CHAPTER LVIII.—Spiritualism at Home. By Dr.Stradling[470]
SECTION XI.
Diversified Diversions.
CHAPTER LIX.—Fire-Balloons and Gas-Balloons: How to Make and Use them.By the late Dr. Scoffern.
I.—The Principle of Ballooning[481]
II.—Fire-Balloons and their Construction[483]
III.—On Gases and Gas-Balloons[491]
IV.—How to prepare Hydrogen Gas[492]
V.—The Construction of the Balloon[493]
CHAPTER LX.—Model Balloons and all about them. By a Professional Aëronaut and Balloon Maker[497]
How to make a Model Balloon[503]
The Netting[506]
The Gas[507]
Cost[508]
CHAPTER LXI.—Smudgeography; or, How to Tell the Character byHandwriting[509]
CHAPTER LXII.—The Ludion. By the late Dr.Scoffern[512]
CHAPTER LXIII.—Mechanical and other Puzzles.
I.—Some Mechanical Puzzles. By F. Chasemore[515]
II.—Thought-Guessing[516]
III.—An Improved Ring-Puzzle. By Herr Meyer[517]
IV.—Aërial Rings[518]
V.—Bubble Blowing[520]
VI.—Marionettes[521]
VII.—Model Wrestlers[522]
CHAPTER LXIV.—Keeping the Balance. By the Rev.T. S. Millington, M.A.[524]

SECTION I.
GYMNASTICS, INDIAN CLUBS, DUMBBELLS, AND JUGGLING WITH BALLS.