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

OCULAR SPECTRA.

One of the most curious affections of the eye is that in virtue of which it sees what are called ocular spectra, or accidental colors. If we place a red wafer on a sheet of white paper, and, closing one eye, keep the other directed for some time to the center of the wafer, then, if we turn the same eye to another part of the paper, we shall see a green wafer, the color of which will continue to grow fainter and fainter, as we continue to look at it.

By using differently-colored wafers, we obtain the following results:

WAFER.	SPECIMEN.
Black,	White.
White,	Black.
Red,	Bluish Green.
Orange,	Blue.
Yellow,	Indigo.
Green,	Violet, with a little Red.
Blue,	Orange Red.
Indigo,	Orange Yellow.
Violet,	Bluish Green.

BRILLIANT WATER MIRROR.

Nearly fill a glass tumbler with water, and hold it, with your back to the window, above the level of the eye, as in the engraving. Then look obliquely, as in the direction E, a, c, and you will see the whole surface shining like burnished silver, with a strong metallic reflection; and any object, as a spoon, A, C, B, immersed in the water, will have its immersed part, C B, reflected on the surface, as in a mirror, but with a brilliancy far surpassing that which can be obtained from quicksilver, or from the most highly-polished metals, by any means whatever.

OPTICS OF A SOAP BUBBLE.