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

Place four fives so as to make six and a half. Ans.—5 ⁵/₅·5.

A room with eight corners had a cat in each corner, seven cats before each cat, and a cat on every cat's tail. What was the total number of cats? Ans.—Eight cats.

Prove that seven is the half of twelve. Ans.—Place the Roman figures on a piece of paper, and draw a line through the middle of it, the upper will be VII.

THE FOX, GOOSE AND CORN.

A countryman having a Fox, a Goose, and a peck of Corn, came to a river, where it so happened that he could carry but one over at a time. Now as no two were to be left together that might destroy each other, he was at his wit's end, for says he "Though the corn can't eat the goose, nor the goose eat the fox; yet the fox can eat the goose, and the goose eat the corn." How shall he carry them over, that they shall not destroy each other?

Let him first take over the Goose, leaving the Fox and Corn; then let him take over the Fox and bring the Goose back; then take over the Corn; and lastly take over the Goose again.

MULTIPLYING MONEY BY MONEY.

Amongst the various questions that are given for the purpose of puzzling the unwary arithmetician, the multiplication of money by money is one of the most curious: take for instance the following problems:

Multiply £99 19s. 11³/₄d. by £99 19s. 11³/₄d.
Multiply £11 11s. 11d. by £11 11s. 11d.