Mr. Panky’s friends, invited to his country seat, having admired a
beautiful little dancer on the summit of a fountain-jet (page 137), he
no sooner has led them into the house than he points to a figure, much
of the same appearance, which waltzes a few inches above the surface of
his glass table. There is no visible cause.
_Explanation._—The figure is made of a cone of silver-foil, the dress of
silver-paper, and the head of the seed-vessel of the _antirrhinum_,
which is extremely light and properly shaped. The base can be weighted
with lead pellets to keep the head uppermost, and the whole dances on a
current of air. A funnel of pasteboard, with the small end encircling
the hole in the table, will catch the figure so that it must roll down
into the proper place for an ascension again.
[Illustration]