Toy microscopes, or miniature microscopes that may be easily made, are of two sorts. The first and simplest is sometimes called the Magnifying Pinhole. Take a blackened card, and make a hole in it with the point of a fine needle. Hold up the card, and look through the hole so made at any small object held at about an inch from the card, and the object so held will appear magnified about ten times. Remove the card from the eye, leaving the object looked at in its former position, and it will then not be seen at all; this is accounted for from the well-known quality of the eye that it is unable unaided to discover a single object not more than an inch away.
Another sort of toy microscope is made out of a thin plate of lead or brass. Bore a hole in it with a fine awl or a large needle, and let a drop of clear water fall into the hole so as to fill it up completely. Then place any object that it is wished to examine below the thin plate, and immediately below the globule of water. Look through the globule, and the object looked at will be seen, apparently magnified about a hundred and fifty times. A full water-bottle also has microscopic powers.
MOCKING CALL.
The Mocking Call is a little instrument by which one may imitate the song of birds, animals, and various other sounds, and is to be made in the following manner:—Cut a small square piece from the green leaf of a common leek, lay it on a table or clean board, and with great care scrape away a piece of the green pulpy substance of the leaf, being very careful on no account to injure the fine outer skin. Place the instrument so made in the roof of the mouth, with that side downwards on which is the outer skin. Press the instrument gently with the tongue into its place, and then blow between the tongue and the upper teeth. At first sounds will be emitted that will not readily be recognised as similar to those of birds or animals, but with practice and patience the barking of a dog, the neighing of a horse, or the notes of many of the song birds, may be successfully imitated. When the Mocking Call is not in use, it should be kept moist by placing it in a glass of water. This toy is useful when used in a ventriloquial entertainment.
Fig. 1.—The Fort.
MOORISH FORT.
The game of Moorish Fort is a good round game of skill. It is a comparatively new game, and is supplied by the toy-dealers, with rules, at a reasonable price; but as the materials to play the game with may be found in any tolerably extensive collection of toys if supplemented by a fort and a few rods, which can easily be made, some readers of this book may, if unable to purchase the materials, feel inclined to practise their ingenuity in adapting the toys they possess to play the game.
