position or positions through ruling finishing an equal number of times in the same position, the one occupying the best position in the concluding heat shall be awarded the prize. In every heat a rider must finish within 150 yards of the winner or be adjudged distanced. In case a rider fails to win one heat in three, he will or rulings of the referee. The second and other prizes shall be distributed according to the standing of the rider in the summary, heat winners to be placed before all those who have occupied lesser positions, and in case two riders are tied by were many travel long distances on them; they are used in delivering letters and parcels, and in England and Since the introduction of the bicycle proper (about 1876), so many improvements have been made in it that it is now a very important machine and has found many uses which once scarcely thought of. One of the greatest differences between the modern bicycle and the old velocipede is in the construction of the wheels. They were formerly made like those of a carriage, with stout wooden spokes, the weight resting on each spoke in turn as it came underneath the hub. Now the spokes are of steel wire, and the weight is supported by the spokes above the Germany soldiers are trained to ride hub, which is hung, as it were, from the military cycle. Cycling has bethe rim of the wheel. This plan, which come a very popular pastime, and is called the "suspension principle," has grown to be something beyond by enabling the builders to make mere boy's sport. Bicycles were light wheels, has done much toward first made in the United States in perfecting the modern bicycle. 1878, and hundreds of bicycle Many grown people use cycles now manufactories are now situated in for health as well as recreation; this country. Dancing Imp. the surface as D Fig. 15.-Military Cycle. DANCING hole with an awl in the lower side IMP. Join tight- of the nut and float it in a jar of ly with sealing water, filled within an inch or two of wax the halves the top. Tie a piece of India-rubber of a walnut shell cloth tightly over the top of the jar. from which the If the India-rubber be now pressed kernel has been with the finger the doll will sink, and removed. Fast- when the pressure is removed it will en a little wooden rise again. This is because the presdoll, three or sure forces some water into the nut four inches long, through the hole in the bottom, and by threads to the the additional weight is just enough nut, weighting to sink it. This toy is called also the doll with shot Ludion or Bottle Imp, and small or otherwise, so ones were sold on the streets of New that the nut will York in 1889 under the name of float in water "McGinty," being supposed to ilwith as little of lustrate the popular song "Down its shell above went McGinty to the Bottom of possible. Make a the Sea." DEVIL ON TWO STICKS. FLYING CONE. See then the numbers in reverse order back to 1. Each player may throw until he fails to score, when the turn passes to the left. Each player keeps his score by writing the numbers on paper as he makes them, and then crossing them out in reverse order. He whose numbers are crossed out first wins the game. Several numbers may be scored in one throw: thus 1, 2, and 3 score all the numbers up to 6. Partners have only one score between them, and the numbers thrown by each count toward it. DIBS. See JACK STONES. DICE (plural of die), small white cubes of ivory, bone, or celluloid, used in gaming. Each of the six faces or sides of a die is marked by a different number of black spots or dots, from 1 to 6. The dots are so arranged that the sum of the dots on opposite sides is always seven; that is, the One and Six, the Two and Five, and the Three and Four are opposite each other. As in cards, the one, two, and three-spots are often called respectively, the Ace, Deuce, and Tray. In playing, one or more of the dice are shaken and thrown from a dice-box upon a table. This is called a throw, and the numbers on the uppermost faces of the dice are said to have been thrown. The throw is unfair if a die rolls on the floor; if any one touches it while it is rolling on the table; if it is tilted on edge against some obstacle; or if one die rests on the top of another. Dice are used to determine the moves in games like Backgammon and Parchesi, but several games may be played with them alone. Raffling or Raffles, a game of dice, played by any number of persons with three dice. Each in turn throws till he throws two numbers alike, called a Pair. When all have thrown, he who made the highest throw wins. Pairs rank according to the number of spots on the paired dice, and a triplet, or three of a kind ranks higher than any Pair. Thus, a pair of Fives is higher than a pair of Fours, but three Twos is still higher. Centennial, a game of Dice played by two or more persons, each for himself, or by partners, two or three on a side. The players use three dice at a time, and not only the numbers thrown, but the sum of any two or of all of them counts toward the score. The object is to score the numbers from 1 to 12 in order, and Help Your Neighbor, a game of dice played by any number of persons, with one die. Each player marks the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, on paper. The one who begins the game then throws the die and marks out of his figures the number he throws; and he continues throwing as long as he can mark off the number thrown. When he throws a number that he has already marked off, the. player on his left crosses it off his own score, and then takes his turn. Each player does likewise, and he whose score is all crossed off first wins. If, in the course of the game, neither a player nor his left-hand neighbor have the number that is thrown, the nearest player on the left who has it marks it off. Draw Poker. The players use five dice, which are first thrown at one cast, and then any or all of them may be thrown again; just as in the card game each player may draw new cards. The "hands" are the same as in ordinary DRAW POKER, save that there is no Flush and that there can be five of a kind, which ranks above four of a kind and is the highest possible hand. The highest hand wins the pool. As every one sees the hands of all the other players, there is no "betting." Multiplication. Three dice are thrown by each player, who, leaving the highest on the table, throws the other two again, and then the low est of these is thrown a third time. The sum of the first two is multiplied by the third, and the player whose result is the highest wins the game. Vingt-et-Un. Two dice are used, and each player throws as many times as he wishes. He, the sum of whose throws is nearest 21, is the winner. But if any one throw more than 21 he loses. Vingt-et-Un is French for Twenty-one. Dice with Eight Sides. Dice formed of four-sided pyramids, fastened base to base, have recently been invented in France. Each die has thus eight sides, on which are marked numbers from two to nine. The value of a throw is the product of the numbers thrown; thus, with two dice it may be anywhere from four to eighty-one. These dice are intended to be used by children, to make them familiar with the multiplication table. They are called also octahedral dice, from the Greek okto, eight, and hedron, side. History. Dice have been known since the earliest times. The Greeks said that they were invented by Palamedes at the siege of Troy. Plutarch says they were devised by the Egyptians; and bone or ivory dice have been found in Thebes, Egypt, similar to those now in use. They are mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, in the Rig Veda (one of the sacred books of the Hindoos), and in other ancient writings. The Greeks and Romans gave to the various throws the names of heroes and gods, the best being called Venus, after the goddess of love. The game was very popular in Rome, where rich men, in the later days of the empire, sometimes staked their fortunes on a single throw. The Romans used two kinds of dice; tali, made of the huckle bones from the legs of sheep and goats, or to imitate them, and tessera, cubical like our dice. The ends of the tali were left blank because they were so narrow, and the four other sides were numbered 1, 3, 4 and 6. With in the illustration. The dice used in it had no spots at all, and the value of the throw depended on where they fell when put into the funnel-shaped tube at the top. Dice made of huckle bones, or to imitate them, are still used in Eastern countries, where the different throws are given names, as among the ancients. Thus the Arabs call the Ace "Thief," the Three "Lamb," and the Six "King"; and the Turks call the Three "Peasant" and the Four "Knight." The origin of the word die is not certainly known, though in some form it appears in every language in Europe. The late Latin form was dadus, which some think is from datus (a thing given or thrown forth) and some from the Arabic dadd, a die. DICTIONARY or VERBARIUM, a game played with pencil and paper, by any number of persons, who try to see which can make the largest number of words from the letters composing a larger word, called the Head-word. The word to be used, which should contain as many vowels and as few double letters as possible, is first agreed upon, and each player writes it plainly at the head of his sheet of paper. Each then writes all the words he can think of, that can be made from letters in the Head-word. Those beginning with its initial letter are taken first, and a given time (usually from two to five minutes) is allowed in which to write them. At the end of that time the players count their words, and he who has made the longest list reads it. Any word that is on all the lists counts nothing, but other words count each as many points as the number of players who have omitted it. Afterwards each of the other players reads any words on his list that have not been marked. All words are crossed out as they are read. After this, words beginning with the second letter of the Headword are written, and so on till the last letter has been reached. The player who scores the greatest number of points wins. same verb are to count as separate words or not. 2. No letter may be repeated in any of the words, unless it is also repeated in the Head-word. 3. A time-keeper shall be selected who shall keep his watch open before him. No one shall write before the time-keeper says "begin," nor after he says "stop. The word Verbarium is Latin and means a place where words abound. The game is sometimes called in New England" Androscoggin." DIFFRACTION GRATING, Experiment with a. Paint one side of a square of glass with India ink or liquid blacking, so that light cannot shine through it, and then, with the point of a needle, rule parallel lines on it about one-tenth of an inch apart, scratching quite through the layer of black. Look through this glass at a candle flame, or the edge of any bright object, standing about twenty feet from it. Move the glass toward the eye and from it till it is at the proper distance, when one or more The game may often be made rainbow colored spots will be seen more interesting by choosing sides, on each side of the flame. These but the sides should contain the spots can often be seen by half clossame number of players, otherwise ing the eyes, and looking at the flame an omission would add more to the through the eyelashes, which thus score of one side than to that of the take the place of the grating. The other. The game is excellent train-colors are produced by the interfering for rapidity of thought. The player's ability to write long lists of words quickly, increases greatly with practice, so that a beginner is almost always defeated. RULES OF THE GAME. 1. At the beginning the players must agree as to what classes of words are allowable. One of the standard dictionaries may be selected, and any word allowed that can be found in it; or, no word may be allowed that the writer cannot define correctly. This prevents putting down groups of letters that sound like words, in hope that they may be in the dictionary. It must also be settled whether plurals in s and different moods and tenses of the ence of the light passing through the various scratches in a way which cannot be explained here, for want of room. DISTILLATION. The process of distillation is described in C. C. T. under ALCOHOL. To make a simple still to distill water (See CHEMICAL EXPERIMENTS) fit a flask or test-tube with a stopper and delivery tube connecting with a flask or bottle (Fig. 1). The first flask or tube is partially filled with water and supported or held over an alcohol lamp, and the second stands in a basin of cold water. The water should come up much farther around the bottle than shown in the illustration. When the water in the first flask |