burned._
Soak a piece of thread in urine, or common salt and water. Tie it to a
ring, not larger than a wedding-ring. When you apply the flame of a
candle to it, it will burn to ashes, but yet sustain the ring.
_To form Figures in relief on an Egg._
Design on the shell any figure or ornament you please, with melted
tallow, or any other fat oily substance; then immerse the egg into
very strong vinegar, and let it remain till the acid has corroded that
part of the shell which is not covered with the greasy matter: those
parts will then appear in relief, exactly as you have drawn them.
_To give a ghastly Appearance to Persons in a Room._
Dissolve salt in an infusion of saffron and spirits of wine. Dip some
tow in this solution, and, having set fire to it, extinguish all other
lights in the room.
_To change Blue to White._
Dissolve copper filings in a phial of volatile alkali; when the phial
is unstopped, the liquor will be blue; when stopped, it will be white.
_Magical Transmutations._
Infuse a few shavings of logwood in common water, and when the liquor
is sufficiently red, pour it into a bottle. Then take three
drinking-glasses, and rinse one of them with strong vinegar; throw
into the second a small quantity of pounded alum, which will not be
observed if the glass has been recently washed, and leave the third
without any preparation. If the red liquor in the bottle be poured
into the first glass, it will appear of a straw colour; if into the
second, it will pass gradually from bluish-grey to black, when stirred
with a key, or any piece of iron, which has been previously dipped in
strong vinegar. In the third glass, the red liquor will assume a
violet tint.
_To make Pomatum with Water and Wax._
Water and wax are two substances that do not naturally unite together;
therefore, to those who witness the following process, without knowing
the cause, it will have the appearance of marvellous. Put into a new
glazed earthen pot, six ounces of river water and two ounces of white
wax, in which, you must previously conceal a strong dose of salt of
tartar. If the whole be then exposed to a considerable degree of heat,
it will assume the consistence of pomatum, and may be used as such.
_Iron transformed into Copper._
Dissolve blue vitriol in water, till the water is well impregnated
with it; and immerse into the solution small plates of iron, or coarse
iron filings. These will be attacked and dissolved by the acid of the
vitriol, while the copper naturally contained in the vitriol will be
sunk and deposited in the place of the iron dissolved. If the piece of
iron be too large for dissolving, it will be so completely covered
with particles of copper, as to resemble that metal itself.
_Iron transformed into Silver._
Dissolve mercury in marine acid, and dip a piece of iron into it, or
rub the solution over the iron, and it will assume a silver
appearance.
It is scarcely necessary to say, that these transmutations are only
apparent, though to the credulous it would seem that they were
actually transformed.
_Chemical Illuminations._
Put into a middling-sized bottle, with a short wide neck, three ounces
of oil or spirit of vitriol, with twelve ounces of common water, and
throw into it, at different times, an ounce or two of iron filings. A
violent commotion will then take place, and white vapours will arise
from the mixture. If a taper be held to the mouth of the bottle, these
vapours will inflame and produce a violent explosion, which may be
repeated as long as the vapours continue.
_The Philosophical Candle._
Provide a bladder, into the orifice of which is inserted a metal tube,
some inches in length, that can be adapted to the neck of a bottle,
containing the same mixture as in the last experiment. Having suffered
the atmospheric air to be expelled from the bottle, by the elastic
vapour produced by the solution, apply the orifice of the bladder to
the mouth of the bottle, after carefully squeezing the common air out
of it, (which you must not fail to do, or the bladder will violently
explode.) The bladder will thus become filled with the inflammable
air, which, when forced out against the flame of a candle, by pressing
the sides of the bladder, will form a beautiful green flame.
_To make the appearance of a Flash of Lightning, when any one enters a
Room with a lighted Candle._
Dissolve camphor in spirit of wine, and deposit the vessel containing
the solution in a very close room, where the spirit of wine must be
made to evaporate by strong and speedy boiling. If any one then enters
the room with a lighted candle, the air will inflame, while the
combustion will be so sudden, and of so short a duration, as to
occasion no danger.
_To melt Iron in a Moment and make it run into Drops._
Bring a bar of iron to a white heat, and then apply to it a roll of
sulphur. The iron will immediately melt and run into drops.
This experiment should be performed over a basin of water, in which
the drops that fall down will be quenched. These drops will be found
reduced into a sort of cast-iron.
_Never-yielding Cement._
Calcine oyster-shells, pound them, sift them through a silk sieve, and
grind them on porphyry till they are reduced to the finest powder.
Then take the whites of several eggs, according to the quantity of the
powder; and having mixed them with the powder, form the whole into a
kind of paste. With this paste join the pieces of china, or glass, and
press them together for seven or eight minutes. This cement will stand
both heat and water, and will never give way, even if the article
should, by accident, fall to the ground.
_To remove Stains and Blemishes from Prints._
Paste a piece of paper to a very smooth clear table, that the boiling
water used in the operation may not require a colour which might
lessen its success. Spread out the print you wish to clean upon the
table, and sprinkle it with boiling water; taking care to moisten it
throughout by very carefully applying a very fine sponge. After you
have repeated this process five or six times, you will observe the
stains or spots extend themselves; but this is only a proof that the
dirt begins to be dissolved.
After this preparation, lay the print smoothly and carefully into a
copper or wooden vessel, larger than the size of the print. Then cover
it with a boiling ley of potash, taking care to keep it hot as long as
possible. After the whole is cooled, strain off the liquor, take out
the print with care, spread it on a stretched cord, and when half dry,
press it between leaves of white paper, to prevent wrinkles.
By this process, spots and stains of any kind will be effectually
removed.
_To so fill a Glass with Water, that it cannot be removed without
spilling the whole._
This is a mere trick, but may afford some amusement. You offer to bet
any person that you will so fill a glass with water that he shall not
move it off the table without spilling the whole contents. You then
fill the glass, and, laying a piece of paper or thin card over the
top, you dexterously turn the glass upside down on the table, and then
drawing away the paper, you leave the water in the glass, with its
foot upwards. It will therefore be impossible to remove the glass from
the table without spilling every drop.
_Two Figures, one of which blows out and the other re-lights a
Candle._
Make two figures, of any shape or materials you please; insert in the
mouth of one a small tube, at the end of which is a piece of
phosphorus, and in the mouth of the other a tube containing at the end
a few grains of gunpowder; taking care that each be retained in the
tube by a piece of paper. If the second figure be applied to the flame
of a taper, it will extinguish it; and the first will light it again.
_A vessel that will let Water out at the Bottom, as soon as the Mouth
is uncorked._
Provide a tin vessel, two or three inches in diameter, and five or six
inches in height, having a mouth about three inches in width; and in
the bottom several small holes, just large enough to admit a small
needle. Plunge it in water with its mouth open, and when full, while
it remains in the water, stop it very closely. You can play a trick
with a person, by desiring him to uncork it; if he places it on his
knee for that purpose, the moment it is uncorked the water will run
through at the bottom, and make him completely wet.
_A Powder which catches Fire when exposed to the Air._
Put three ounces of rock alum, and one ounce of honey or sugar, into a
new earthen dish, glazed, and which is capable of standing a strong
heat; keep the mixture over the fire, stirring it continually till it
becomes very dry and hard; then remove it from the fire, and pound it
to a coarse powder. Put this powder into a long-necked bottle, leaving
a part of the vessel empty; and, having placed it in a crucible, fill
up the crucible with fine sand, and surround it with burning coals.
When the bottle has been kept at a red heat for about seven or eight
minutes, and no more vapour issues from it, remove it from the fire,
then stop it with a piece of cork; and, having suffered it to cool,
preserve the mixture in small bottles well closed.
If you unclose one of these bottles, and let fall a few grains of this
powder on a bit of paper, or any other very dry substance, it will
first become blue, then brown, and will at last burn the paper or
other dry substance on which it has fallen.
_Fulminating Gold._
Put into a small long-necked bottle, resting on a little sand, one
part of fine gold filings, and three parts of aqua regia,
(nitro-muriatic acid.) When the gold is dissolved, pour the solution
into a glass, and add five or six times the quantity of water. Then
take spirit of sal ammoniac or oil of tartar, and pour it drop by drop
into the solution, until the gold is entirely precipitated to the
bottom of the glass. Decant the liquor that swims at the top, by
inclining the glass; and, having washed it several times in warm
water, dry it at a moderate heat, placing it on paper capable of
absorbing all the moisture.
If a grain of this powder, put into a spoon, (it should be an iron
one,) be exposed to the flame of a candle, it will explode with a very
loud report.
_To melt a piece of Money in a Walnut-shell, without injuring the
shell._
Bend any thin coin, and put it into half a walnut-shell; place the
shell on a little sand, to keep it steady. Then fill the shell with a
mixture made of three parts of very dry pounded nitre, one part of
flowers of sulphur, and a little saw-dust well sifted. If you then set
light to the mixture, you will find, when it is melted, that the metal
will also be melted at the bottom of the shell, in form of a button,
which will become hard when the burning matter round it is consumed:
the shell will have sustained very little injury.
_A Liquid that Shines in the Dark._
Take a bit of phosphorus, about the size of a pea; break it into small
parts, which you are to put into a glass half full of very pure water,
and boil it in a small earthen vessel, over a very moderate fire. Have
in readiness a long narrow bottle, with a well-fitted glass stopper,
and immerse it, with its mouth open, into boiling water. On taking it
out, empty the water, and immediately pour in the mixture in a boiling
state; then put in the stopper, and cover it with mastich, to prevent
the entrance of the external air.
This water will shine in the dark for several months, even without
being touched; and, if it be shaken in dry warm weather, brilliant
flashes will be seen to rise through the middle of the water.
_Luminous Liquor._
Put a little phosphorus, with essence of cloves, into a bottle, which
must be kept closely stopped. Every time the bottle is unclosed, the
liquor will appear luminous. This experiment must be performed in the
dark.
_The changeable Rose._
Take a common full-blown rose, and, having thrown a little sulphur
finely pounded into a chafing-dish with coals, expose the rose to the
vapour. By this process the rose will become whitish; but if it be
afterwards held some time in water, it will resume its former colour.
_Golden Ink._
Take some white gum arabic, reduce it to an impalpable powder, in a
brass mortar; dissolve it in strong brandy, and add a little common
water to render it more liquid. Provide some gold in a shell, which
must be detached, in order to reduce it to a powder. When this is
done, moisten it with the gummy solution, and stir the whole with a
small hair-brush, or your finger; then leave it for a night, that the
gold may be better dissolved. If the composition become dry during the
night, dilute it with more gum water, in which a little saffron has
been infused; but take care that the gold solution be sufficiently
liquid to flow freely in a pen. When the writing is dry, polish it
with a dry tooth.
_Another way._
Reduce gum ammoniac into powder, and dissolve it in gum arabic water,
to which a little garlic juice has been added. This water will not
dissolve the ammonia so as to form a transparent liquid; for the
result will be a milky liquor. With the liquor form your letters or
ornaments on paper or vellum, with a pen or fine camels'-hair brush;
then let them dry, and afterwards breathe on them some time, till they
become moist; then apply a few bits of leaf gold to the letters, which
you press down gently with cotton wool. When the whole is dry, brush
off the superfluous gold with a large camels'-hair brush, and, to make
it more brilliant, burnish with a dog's tooth.
_White Ink, for Writing on black Paper._
Having carefully washed some egg-shells, remove the internal skin, and
grind them on a piece of porphyry. Then put the powder into a small
vessel of pure water, and when it has settled at the bottom, draw off
the water, and dry the powder in the sun. This powder must be
preserved in a bottle; when you want to use it, put a small quantity
of gum ammoniac into distilled vinegar, and leave it to dissolve
during the night. Next morning the solution will appear exceedingly
white; and if you then strain it through a piece of linen cloth, and
add to it the powder of egg-shells, in sufficient quantity, you will
obtain a very white ink.
_To construct Paper Balloons._
Take several sheets of silk paper; cut them in the shape of a spindle;
or, to speak more familiarly, like the coverings of the sections of an
orange; join these pieces together, into one spherical or globular
body, and border the aperture with a ribbon, leaving the ends, that
you may suspend them from the following lamp.
Construct a small basket of very fine wire, if the balloon is small,
and suspend it from the aperture, so that the smoke from the flame of
a few leaves of paper, wrapped together, and dipped in oil, may heat
the inside of it. Before you light this paper, suspend the balloon in
such a manner, that it may, in a great measure, be exhausted of air,
and as soon as it has been dilated, let it go, together with the wire
basket, which will serve as ballast.
_Water-Gilding upon Silver._
Take copper-flakes, on which pour strong vinegar; add alum and salt in
equal quantities; set them on a fire, and when the vinegar is boiled,
till it becomes one-fourth part of its original quantity, throw into
it the metal you design to gild, and it will assume a copper colour.
Continue boiling it, and it will change into a fine gold colour.
_A Water which gives Silver a Gold Colour._
Take sulphur and nitre, of each an equal quantity; grind them together
very fine, and put them into an unglazed vessel; cover and lute it
well; then set it over a slow fire for 24 hours; put what remains into
a strong crucible, and let it dissolve; put it into a phial, and
whatever silver you anoint with it will have a gold colour.
_To make an old Gold Chain appear like new._
Dissolve sal ammoniac in urine, boil the chain in it, and it will have
a fine gold colour.
_To give Silver the Colour of Gold._
Dissolve in common aqua fortis as much silver as you please. To eight
ounces of silver, take four ounces of hepatic aloes, six ounces of
turmeric, and two ounces of prepared tutty, that has been several
times quenched in urine. Put these to the solution of the silver; they
will dissolve, but rise up in the glass like a sponge; this glass must
therefore be large, to prevent running over. Then draw it off, and you
will have ten ounces of silver as yellow as gold.
_A Water to give any Metal a Gold Colour._
Take fine sulphur and pulverize it; then boil some stale spring water;
pour it hot upon the powder, and stir it well together; boil it again,
and pour into it an ounce of dragon's blood. After it is well boiled,
take it off, and filter it through a fine cloth; pour this water into
a matrass, (a chemical vessel,) after you have put in what you design
to colour; close it well, and boil it a third time, and the metal will
be a fine gold colour.
_Another way._
Take hepatic aloes, nitre, and Roman vitriol, of each equal
quantities; and distil them with water, in an alembic, till all the
spirits are extracted; it will at last yield a yellowish water, which
will tinge any sort of metal of a gold colour.
_To give Silver-plate a Lustre._
Dissolve alum in a strong ley, and scum it carefully; then mix it up
with soap, and wash your silver utensils with it, using a linen rag.
_The Fiery Fountain._
If twenty grains of phosphorus, cut very small, and mixed with forty
grains of powder of zinc, be put into four drachms of water, and two
drachms of concentrated sulphuric acid be added thereto, bubbles of
inflamed phosphoretted hydrogen gas will quickly cover the whole
surface of the fluid in succession, forming a real fountain of fire.
_To take Impressions of Coins, Medals, &c._
Cut fish-glue, or isinglass, into small pieces, immerse it in clear
water, and set it on a slow fire; when gradually dissolved, let it
boil slowly, stirring it with a wooden spoon, and taking off the scum.
The liquor being sufficiently adhesive, take it off the fire, let it
cool a little, and then pour it on the medal or coin you wish to copy,
having first rubbed the coin over with oil. Let the composition lay
about the thickness of a crown-piece on the medal. Then set it in a
moderate air, neither too hot nor too cold, and let it cool and dry.
When it is dry, it will loosen itself; you will find the impression
correct, and the finest strokes expressed with the greatest accuracy.
You may give a most pleasing effect to the composition, by mixing any
colour with it, red, yellow, blue, green, &c., and if you add a little
parchment size to it, it will make it harder and better. This size is
made by gently simmering the cuttings of clear white parchment in a
pipkin, with a little water, till it becomes adhesive.
_To tell a Person any Number he may privately fix on._
When the person has fixed on a number, bid him double it and add four
to that doubling; then multiply the whole by 5; to the product let him
add 12, and multiply the amount by 10. From the total of all this, let
him deduct 320, and tell you the remainder; from which, if you cut off
the two last figures, the number that remains will be what he fixed
upon. For instance,
Suppose the number chosen is 7
Which doubled 14
Add 4 to it, and it will make 18
Multiply 18 by 5, gives 90
To which add 12, is 102
Multiply that by 10, makes 1020
From which deducting 320, the remainder is 700
And by striking off the two ciphers, it becomes
the number thought on 7
_To tell any Number a Person has fixed on, without asking him any
Questions._
You tell the person to choose any number from 1 to 15; he is to add 1
to that number, and triple the amount. Then,
1. He is to take the half of that triple, and triple that half.
2. To take the half of the last triple, and triple that half.
3. To take the half of the last triple.
4. To take the half of that half.
Thus, it will be seen, there are four cases where the half is to be
taken; the three first are denoted by one of the eight following Latin
words, each word being composed of three syllables; and those that
contain the letter i refer to those cases where the half cannot be
taken without a fraction; therefore, in those cases, the person who
makes the deduction is to add 1 to the number divided. The fourth case
shows which of the two numbers annexed to every word has been chosen;
for if the fourth half can be taken without adding 1, the number
chosen is in the first column; but if not, it is in the second.
_The words._ _The numbers they denote._
Mi-se-ris 8 0
Ob-tin-git 1 9
Ni-mi-um 2 19
No-ta-ri 3 11
In-fer-nos 4 12
Or-di-nes 13 5
Ti-mi-di 6 14
Te-ne-ant 15 7
For example:
Suppose the number chosen is 9
To which is to be added 1
----
10
The triple of that number is 30
The half of which is 15
The triple of that half must be 45
And the half of that[A] 23
The triple half of that half 69
The half of that[A] 35
And the half of that half[A] 18
[A] At all these stages, 1 must be added, to take the half
without a fraction.
While the person is performing the operation, you remark, that at the
second and third stages he is obliged to add 1; and, consequently,
that the word _ob-tin-git_, in the second and third syllables of which
is an i, denotes that the number must be either 1 or 9; and, by
observing that he cannot take the last half without adding 1, you know
that it must be the number in the second column. If he makes no
addition at any one of the four stages, the number he chose must be
15, as that is the only number that has not a fraction at either of
the divisions.
_The Lamp Chronometer._
Figure 4 represents a chamber lamp, A, consisting of a cylindrical
vessel made of tin, in the shape of a candle, and is to be filled with
oil. This vessel should be about three inches high and one inch
diameter, placed in a stand, B. The whole apparatus, of lamp and
stand, can be purchased, ready-made, at any tin-shop in London. To the
stand, B, is fixed the handle C, which supports the frame D, about 12
inches high, and four inches wide. This frame is to be covered with
oiled paper, and divided into 12 equal parts by horizontal lines, at
the end of which are written the numbers for the hours, from 1 to 12,
and between the horizontal lines, and diagonals, divided into halves,
quarters, &c. On the handle C, and close to the glass, is fixed the
style or hand E.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
Now, as the distance of the style from the flame of the lamp is only
half an inch, then, if the distance of the frame from the style be six
inches, while the float that contains the light descends by the
decrease on the oil, one inch, the shadow of the style of the frame
will ascend 12 inches, being its whole length, and show by its
progression, the regular increase of the hours, with their several
divisions.
You must be careful always to burn the same oil, which must be the
best; and the wick must never vary in size; if these precautions are
not attended to, the dial never can be accurate.
_The Phial of the Four Elements._
Take a phial, six or seven inches long, and about three quarters of an
inch in diameter. In this phial put, first, glass coarsely powdered;
secondly, oil of tartar per deliquum; thirdly, tincture of salt of
tartar; and lastly, distilled rock oil.
The glass and the various liquors being of different densities, if you
shake the phial, and then let it rest a few moments, the three liquors
will entirely separate, and each assume its place; thus forming no
indifferent resemblance of the four elements, earth, fire, water, and
air: the powdered glass (which should be of some dark colour)
representing the earth; the oil of tartar, water; the tincture, air;
and the rock oil, fire.
_The Magic Bottle._
Take a small bottle, the neck of which is not more than the sixth of
an inch in diameter. With a funnel, fill the bottle quite full of red
wine, and place it in a glass vessel, similar to a show-glass, whose
height exceeds that of the bottle about two inches; fill this vessel
with water. The wine will shortly come out of the bottle, and rise in
the form of a small column to the surface of the water; while at the
same time, the water, entering the bottle, will supply the place of
the wine. The reason of this is, that as water is specifically heavier
than wine, it must hold the lower place, while the other rises to the
top.
An effect equally pleasing will be produced, if the bottle be filled
with water, and the vessel with wine.
_The Globular Fountain._