Provide a strong glass bottle which will contain about eight ounces,
or half a pint, into which put a few pieces of zinc; then mix half an
ounce of sulphuric acid with four ounces of water, and pour it into the
bottle upon the zinc; fit the mouth closely with a cork, through which
put a metal tube which ends upward in a fine opening: the mixture in
the bottle will soon effervesce, and hydrogen gas will rise through the
tube. When it has escaped for about a minute, apply a lighted paper to
the tube, and the gas will burn like a candle, but with a pale flame.
Its brightness may be increased to brilliance, by sifting over it a
small quantity of magnesia.
[Illustration]