“It is easy to discover in the education of children,” says M. Peiffer in his preface, “how to turn their budding faculties to the best account. Would you utilize them in a satisfactory manner?—Then put in their hands playthings which, in an attractive form, serve to familiarize them at an early age with those sciences, a knowledge of which will be at a later period absolutely indispensable to them; and they will be much more amused than with ordinary commonplace toys.”
These are sensible words, in which we heartily concur. Yes! Science properly taught, and properly understood, can indeed be brought within the range of children; it should give a lasting interest to all amusements, and form a part of the culture of the youthful mind, as at a later period it will contribute to the perfect development of the grown man.
Magic Fish.
An ingenious physicist, M. de. Combettes, who is a civil engineer at Paris, has devoted himself to constructing a number of playthings and scientific appliances for young people, among which we will describe the very curious one represented in fig. 279. A jar is filled with water, holding in suspension some fish made of tin, similar to those which children put in water and attract with a magnet. In this case, however, the mechanism is hidden, and the operator can turn the fish first in one direction and then in the other at pleasure. The secret of this experiment is easily explained by examining the illustration (fig. 279). In the wooden stand which supports the jar there is concealed a small electro-magnet which acts on the soft iron contained in the floating fish. When the current passes the small magnet turns round and attracts the little fish swimming in the water. This gyratory movement can be changed at pleasure by means of a regulator.
Fig. 279.—Experiment of magic fish set in motion by electricity.
Fig. 280.—An electric toy.
We will give an illustration of a few electric toys which M. Trouvé has found for us. In the picture (fig. 281) we see three different objects,—a rabbit beating a small bell, a representation of a bird with outstretched wings, and a pin surmounted by a skull. All these are capable of having movement imparted to them by means of electricity, although made and intended for ordinary use in the form of scarf-pin or other ornament.