There are three volumes, called La Science, Amusante, written in French—easy and very beautiful French—by some one whose nom de plume is 'Tom Tit' They supply suggestions for a great variety of experiments which can be carried on at home, and which seem to be admirably selected for the purpose of training the fingers, and through them the unconscious brain, into harmony with natural law.
Real and repeated experimentation with commonplace objects has a far more educative influence than a constant variety of so-called 'mechanical' toys. The common peg-top is a valuable teacher, and, like other teachers, should be allowed to speak to its pupil in its own language. When a top is asleep (i. e. when its rotation is perfect) it can be picked up from the ground and made to jump from hand to hand without its rotary motion being interfered with; whereas the same action stops the rotation of a top which has not yet settled into its spin or which has nearly exhausted its impulsion. There are some conceptions in physical science which present no difficulty to one who, years before he hearis any discussion about matter and force, has made a long series of experiments with the same object rotating under varied conditions. A useful toy for illustrating the interaction of opposing forces is the sling, which
