The Seven Follies of Science [Illustrated]

This edition features
• a linked Table of Contents, linked footnotes, and linked Index
• 46 illustrations

Subtitle: A popular account of the most famous scientific impossibilities and the attempts which have been made to solve them.

CONTENTS
Preface
Introductory Note
I Squaring the Circle
III The Duplication of the Cube
III The Trisection of an Angle
IV Perpetual Motion
V The Transmutation of Metals—Alchemy
VI The Fixation of Mercury
VII The Universal Medicine and the Elixir of Life

ADDITIONAL FOLLIES
Perpetual or Ever-burning Lamps
The Alkahest or Universal Solvent
Palingenesy
The Powder of Sympathy

A SMALL BUDGET OF PARADOXES, ILLUSIONS, AND MARVELS (WITH APOLOGIES TO PROFESSOR DE MORGAN)
The Fourth Dimension
How a Space may be apparently Enlarged by merely changing its Shape
Can a Man Lift Himself by the Straps of his Boots?
How a Spider Lifted a Snake
How the Shadow may be made to move backward on the Sun-dial
How a Watch may be used as a Compass
Micrography or Minute Writing. Writing so fine that the whole Bible, if written in characters of the same size, might be inscribed twenty-two times on a square inch
Illusions of the Senses
Taste and Smell
Sense of Heat
Sense of Hearing
Sense of Touch—One Thing Appearing as Two
How Objects may be apparently Seen through a Hole in the Hand
How to See (apparently) through a Solid Brick

CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL PROBLEMS
The Chess-board Problem
The Nail Problem
A Question of Population
How to Become a Millionaire
The Actual Cost and Present Value of the First Folio Shakespeare
Arithmetical Puzzles
Archimedes and His Fulcrum