the narrowest part. These may be cutter yacht is shown in the figure. made of hard wood or of brass. Be- (For definitions of the various terms fore fixing the mast in the place pre-used, and hints on rigging different pared for it, about a dozen brass styles of boats, see the article on rings are placed on it. A cross-tree SAILING.) The bowsprit should have of flattened brass wire equal in length a length of about twice the beam, to the width of the boat is fastened and a notch should be cut in the stem at the top of the lower cap, and, of the boat to receive it. through holes drilled in the ends, cords pass from the top of the mast to the bulwarks. These are called stays. The arrangement of these and other parts of the rigging for a Instead of having a hull hollowed out of a block of wood, the boat may be built up like a real one. The keel is first made, then the stem and stern posts are set up, and then the over the ribs with fine brads, to form the planking, the cracks between being filled in with putty. The rest of the construction is the same as with hollowed-out boats. ribs, which are sawed out of wood with a scroll saw, in curves, which are given by the cardboard models described above. The ribs are fitted in notches in the keel, held in place by glue, and then a strip of wood called Sails. Patterns should first be the keelson is laid along the inside cut from paper and adjusted in place, and nailed down to both ribs and and, when these have been cut to the keel, as shown in the figure. Then proper shape, they should be copied flexible boards, not more than one-in white muslin. Each sail should eighth of an inch thick, are nailed be hemmed around the edges. The 570549 luff of the mainsail is sewed to the rings on the mast, and its upper edge is fastened to the gaff by cords. The lower edge is fastened to the boom only at the corners. BOAT RACING. See ROWING. BOBECHON, a game played by any number of persons with the toy shown in the illustration, which is made as follows: Make a tight roll of flannel or cloth, about three inches high and half an inch in diameter, and secure it by winding thread around it. Sew this to the center of a circular piece of fur or very thick cloth, an inch and a half in diameter, so that it will stand upright on this circle as a base. This toy is called the Bobéchon. It Bobéchon. is placed upright in the center of an ordinary dinner plate, and a small coin is laid on the top of the flannel roll. The object is to remove both Bobéchon and coin from the plate with a flexible rod or cane, like the end of a fishing rod. The coin need not keep its place on the flannel roll, so long as both it and the Bobéchon fall clear of the plate. The players take turns, and he who succeeds most times, in a number previously agreed upon, is the winner. The task seems an easy one, but it is really very difficult, as will be seen on trial. If the rod be applied near the base, the Bobéchon with its coin may be slid along till it reaches the sloping edge of the plate, and if it is then given a push, the coin will fall off into the plate. If, on the other hand, the rod be now applied to the upper part of the toy, it will tip over, throwing the coin outside, but itself falling on the plate. The proper way is to press the end of the rod on the farther edge of the plate so that it curves downwards, as shown in the second figure, the lower part of the curve touching the flannel roll just where it is sewed to the circle. The Bobéchon is then pushed slowly along till it reaches the sloping edge, when by a peculiar twist of the rod, learned only by practice, both it and the coin can be thrown without the plate. The toy is shown in the upper part of the cut; the way of removing it in the lower. Bobéchon is a French game, and is said to be much used by sharpers in that country, who, being practiced, can always succeed, while their victims, who think the task very easy, always fail. BOILING, Experiments in. I. The boiling of water is described in C. C. T. in the article STEAM. It is best observed by filling a test-tube (see CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS) a quarter full of cold water, and holding the lower end in the flame of an alcohol lamp or Bunsen burner. Little bubbles will first form and stick to the sides of the tube. By and by these will disappear, and other little bubbles, like white specks, will form in the lower part of the liquid, and rise toward the top, but will disappear before they get there. These rapidly increase in numbers and size and go higher and higher, till finally they burst from the top, when it is seen that they consist of steam. When they vanish before reaching the top a simmering or "singing" noise is heard. Afterward the noise is the bubbling sound of boiling. The first formed bubbles, which stick to the sides, are composed of air, which was dissolved in the water. The others are composed of steam, but as fast as they get further away from the heat of the flame they condense back to water, making the sound of simmering. By and by the water gets so hot all the way through that they can rise out of the top. 2. Buy a small chemical thermometer, which is simply a thermometer without any tin case, so that it can be put into liquids to get their temperature. The scale is marked directly on the glass tube. One can be made by taking an ordinary thermometer, scratching the divisions of the scale on the tube with a diamond, or a sharp file, and then removing the bulb and tube from the case. Put the thermometer into water before it begins to boil, being careful that it does not touch the bottom or sides of the vessel. As the water gets hotter, the mercury will rise until it boils, when the thermometer will stand at about 212°, if it has a Fahrenheit scale, or at 100° if it is Centigrade (See THERMOMETER, in C. C. T.). Chemical thermometers usually have the Centigrade scale, but if the one used has been made from an ordinary thermometer it will probably be Fahrenheit. This temperature is called the boiling point. If you now try to make the thermometer rise higher by continuing to hold it in the boiling water, you will find it impossible. No matter how much the heat is increased, the mercury will not rise any more, but the water will simply boil away faster. The reason is, that as soon as the water begins to boil all the heat is used in turning it to steam and not in raising its temperature. 3. Boil some water for ten or fifteen minutes; let it cool and then heat it again with the thermometer in it. By keeping it very still, you will probably find that it can be raised several degrees above the boiling point, without causing it to boil. If some scraps or filings of metal be now cast into it the water will at once begin to boil, and the mercury will fall to the boiling point. The reason is that water with air dissolved in it boils sooner than pure water, and by boiling it once the air is driven out, so that at the second heating it rises higher than 212°. But when scraps of metal are dropped in they carry air with them, and boiling begins. 4. Find the boiling point of water with various substances-for instance salt or sugar-dissolved in it. In all cases it is higher than the boiling point of pure water. The reason is that it takes some heat to separate the water from the salt or sugar when it is turning to steam. 5. Boil water in a glass flask, and while it is boiling cork the flask tightly, and remove it at once from the flame. When it stops boiling pour cold water over the flask, and it will begin to boil again. This may be done several times. The same result will follow if the flask be plunged into cold water. The rea son is that when a flask of boiling water is corked the space above the water is filled with steam, when thi: steam is turned to water by being cooled some of the pressure is removed from the surface of the water, which, accordingly, begins to boil again, since it is easier for the bubbles of steam to get out of the water. 6. Some time when you go up on a high mountain, take with you a chemical thermometer and an alco. hol lamp, and find the boiling point of water there. It will be lower than 212°. This is because not sc much air is pressing on the water on the summit as in the valley below. Sometimes the height of mountaing is measured by finding the boiling point of water on their summits. On a mountain 6000 feet high, water boils at about 200° Fahrenheit, instead of 212°. 7. Find the boiling points of other fluids than water. It will be found that some are higher and some are lower, and that it is impossible to boil some of them at all-oils for instance. 8. Pour a little ether into a test-tube places the book and tries to do the and hold it in the hand. The heat of same with some one else. The bookthe hand will cause it to boil, its boil-binder may pretend to seize a book ing point being only 99° Fahrenheit. without actually doing so, and if the 9. Mix together water and bisul- holder pulls away his hands so that phide of carbon, both previously the book fall, he must take the leadheated to 113° Fahrenheit. The er's place as if his knuckles had been mixture will at once begin to boil. rapped. The leader can make this This is because, contrary to the game very exciting if he run quickly usual rule, a mixture of these two from one to another, pretending to liquids boils at a lower temperature take up one book and then seizing than either of them separately. another, thus keeping the players constantly on the lookout. 10. Weight a piece of ice as large as the tip of the little finger, by tying a bit of lead to it, so that it will sink to the bottom of a test-tube of water. Incline the tube and hold it in a flame so that the upper part of the water will be heated. The water above the ice may thus be boiled while the ice remains unmelted. The reason is that the water is a poor conductor of heat. If the ice be above the place where the heat is applied, the experiment does not succeed, because hot water, being lighter than cold, ascends and melts the ice. BOOKBINDER, a game played by any number of persons, who sit in a circle, each holding a book on the back of his clenched fists. One, who has been chosen bookbinder and stands in the middle of the Manner of Holding Book. BOOK NOTICES. A game played by any number of persons, each of whom has a pencil and sheet of paper. The players usually sit around a table, and each begins the game by writing at the top of the paper the pretended title of a book. The papers are then folded so as to hide what has been written, and passed to the left. Each then writes, just under the hidden title, the word "or" and follows it by a pretended sub-title. After this, the following are written in like manner, the papers being folded and passed, after each writing, as before. (3) The word "by," followed by a person's name (generally that of one of the players); (4) the words "author of," followed by another title; (5) the word "or" followed by another sub-title; (6) a pretended critical notice of the book; (7) the name of a newspaper or magazine. The number of titles and notices may be increased at the pleasure of the company. When the papers are finished they are passed to the left again, and read aloud, one by each player; or one of the company may be chosen to read them all. An example of one of the papers thus written is as follows: The Witch's circle, goes to any player and seizing Fate; or, A Treatise on Soap Boilthat player's book attempts to rap ing, by James M, author of The his knuckles, which the holder of the Heavenly Bodies; or, What I Found book tries to avoid by pulling back in My Hat. This work, by its prohis hands quickly. If the book- found learning and fascinating style, binder succeed in this, the player can scarcely fail to place the author whose knuckles he raps changes in the same rank with Shakespeare. places with him; otherwise, he re- London Times." The Australian Throwing a Boomerang. space should be taken for the trial, since the boomerang may curve in an unexpected direction. are nearly at a right angle. The wood can be held in shape by tying it, till it is dry, and then strips about a quarter of an inch thick may be sawed from it, each of which when shaped with a knife will be a boomerang. shape is shown at 2, and the endwise view, when it is sawed across The boomerang is used as a the middle, at 3. A single boom-weapon by the natives of Australia, erang may be cut or sawed from who throw it with great skill, making a flat piece of wood, but it will it strike an enemy in the back, while be apt to split. A small boom- he is advancing toward them. |