The book is divided into two parts. The first part consists of seven chapters, in which are included var-ious problems and amusements of the kind usually called mathematical recreations. The questions discussed in the first of these chapters are connected with arithmetic; those in the second with geometry; and those in the third relate to mechanics. The fourth chapter contains an account of some miscellaneous problems which involve both num-ber and situation; the fifth chapter contains a concise account of magic squares; and the sixth and seventh chapters deal with some unicursal problems. 

The second part consists of five chapters, which are mostly histori-cal. They deal respectively with three classical problems in geometry—namely, the duplication of the cube, the trisection of an angle, and the quadrature of the circle—astrology, the hypotheses as to the nature of space and mass, and a means of measuring time.