The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring / Being a complete hand-book of parlor magic, and containing over one thousand optical, chemical, mechanical, magnetical, and magical experiments, amusing transmutations, astonishing sleights and subtleties, celebrated card deceptions, ingenious tricks with numbers, curious and entertaining puzzles, together with all the most noted tricks of modern performers.

by George Arnold; Frank Cahill

Under the receiver of an air-pump, when the air has been thoroughly exhausted, light and heavy bodies fall with the same swiftness. Animals quickly die for want of air, combustion ceases, gunpowder will not explode, a bell sounds faint, magnets are powerless, and waters and other fluids turn to vapor.

TO PROVE THAT AIR HAS WEIGHT.

Take a florence flask, fitted up with a screw and fine oiled silk valve. Screw the flask on the plate of the air-pump, exhaust the air, take it off the plate and weigh it. Then let in the air, and again weigh the whole, and it will be found to have increased by several grains.

TO PROVE AIR ELASTIC.

Place a bladder, out of which all the air has apparently been squeezed, under the receiver, upon it lay a weight, exhaust the air, and it will be seen that the small quantity of air left within the bladder will so expand itself as to lift the weight. Put a corked bottle into the receiver, exhaust the air, and the cork will fly out.

AIR IN THE EGG.

Take a fresh egg and cut off a little of the shell and film from its smaller end, then put the egg under a receiver and pump out the air, upon which all the contents of the egg will be forced out by the expansion of the small bubble of air contained in the great end between the shell and the film.

AIR IN THE EGG. DESCENDING SMOKE.