FIRST off, drown a fly. That may not be a conventional way to start a scientific experiment, but then again, the instruction is taken from a rather unconventional book.
The Young Man’s Book of Amusement, first published by William Milner in 1839, is among the stranger relics of an era when scientific experimentation was starting to take off as a form of popular entertainment. Elsewhere in its pages, there are instructions to rub liquid mercury on your skin, stick explosives under a toy spider and apply voltage to a corpse. It’s a wonder that any of its readers survived long enough to be amused.
Today, The Young Man’s Book of Amusement – or, to give its full title, The Young Man’s Book of Amusement Containing the Most Interesting and Instructive Experiments in Various Branches of Science to Which Is Added All the Popular Tricks and Changes in Cards and the Art of Making Fire Works