Mr. Panky has concluded a trick in which a borrowed hat was used, and
out of it has produced a number of lanterns. These he ranks on the
table, and, taking up a glass rod, has but to touch the little tapers to
have them catch fire.
[Illustration: Fig. 119.]
_Explanation._—The lantern frames are telescopic, so that a dozen fold
into the space of one. The tapers are prepared by being once lit, blown
out, and when cold a grain of phosphorus is put on the wick. One end of
the glass rod is red-hot; for a glass stick a foot long may be hot
enough at one end to inflame phosphorus, and yet be harmless to finger
at the other.
The wicks may be prepared with match composition, and have a glass drop
containing sulphuric acid; on breaking this with a pinch the acid will
fire the wick, but, unfortunately, the fizz betrays too much.