Part 5

78. TO MAKE THE COMMON FULMINATING POWDERS.--Grind and mix intimately, three parts of nitrate of potass, with two of sub-carbonate of potass, and one of sulphur. If half a drachm of this compound be placed on a shovel, and held over a gentle fire, it will soon explode with a loud report. It is not, however, attended with any danger. If two grains of chlorate of potass in powder and one of sulphur be mixed together, and wrapped in a piece of strong paper, and the paper be then struck with a hammer, it will also explode with detonation. This experiment may require some caution. _Note._--The percussion powder, such as is used for priming the patent percussion rifles, is composed of chlorate of potass, and flour of sulphur, with a trifling proportion of charcoal and loaf sugar, being made into a paste or dough with alcohol,--then grained and dried.

79. TO MAKE THE MERCURIAL FULMINATING POWDER.--Dissolve half an ounce of mercury in three ounces of nitric acid, assisting the solution by a gentle heat. When the solution is cold, pour it upon an equal quantity of strong alcohol previously introduced into a flask, and apply a moderate heat till effervescence is excited. (Do not forget that the mercurial solution must be poured upon the alcohol, and not the alcohol upon the solution.) A white fume will soon begin to undulate on the surface of the liquor, and flow through the neck of the flask, and a white powder will be gradually precipitated. As soon as any precipitate ceases to fall, quickly pour the contents of the flask on a filter; wash the powder with pure water, and cautiously dry it by a heat not exceeding that of boiling water. The immediate washing the powder is material, because it is liable to the re-action of the nitric acid; and while any of that acid adheres to it, it is very subject to be decomposed by the action of light. This powder, if very pure and nicely made, explodes by percussion, or a moderate degree of heat. _Experiment._--Place one-fourth of a grain of this powder, between the ends of two slips of paste-board, and paste, or bind them firmly together;--hold the ends of the slips over the flame of a candle, and as soon as it becomes warm, it will explode with a loud report. This composition is less dangerous than the fulminating compounds of gold or silver, as it never explodes spontaneously; but yet it cannot be handled with too much caution. _Note._--The silver powder, or fulminating silver, with which torpedoes and waterloo crackers are charged, is prepared in a similar manner; pure silver being dissolved instead of mercury, but it is too dangerous to be trifled with.

80. TO KINDLE A FIRE UNDER WATER.--Put into a deep wine-glass, that is small at the bottom, three or four bits of phosphorus, about the size of flax seeds, and two or three times the quantity of chlorate of potass, in grains or crystals, and fill the glass nearly full of water. Then place the end of a tobacco-pipe stem directly on, or over the chlorate and phosphorus, and pour nearly a tea-spoon full of sulphuric acid into the bowl of the pipe, that it may fall directly on the phosphorus; a violent action will ensue, and the phosphorus will burn vividly, with a very curious light under the water.

81. TO LIGHT A CANDLE BY APPLICATION OF ICE.--Attach to the wick of a candle, a small piece, or globule of potassium (the metallic base of potass) of the size of a small shot. Apply an icicle or point of ice to the metal, and it will instantly inflame. _Note._--This curious substance, which has the peculiar property of being ignited by coming in contact with ice or water, has been lately discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy. It is produced by making pure potass a part of the circuit of a powerful Voltaic battery. It cannot be preserved but by being kept immersed in naptha, a kind of oil of which oxygen is not a constituent.

82. TO FORM LETTERS OR FLOWERS OF REAL FLAME.--Provide a tin chest of about eighteen inches in length, equal in height and one inch in breadth. Chalk any design, of letters or flowers on the face of this chest, and pierce each line with rows of small holes, which should be about half an inch distant from each other.--Make an aperture at the top, through which pour about a pint of a mixture of rum and spirits of turpentine. Place two or three lamps under the bottom of the chest (which must be raised a little from the floor for that purpose) to warm the spirits, but not so as to cause them to boil. Stop the aperture at the top and after eight or ten minutes (which time should be allowed for the vapour to expel the atmospheric air, which otherwise would cause an explosion) apply the flame of a lamp to the pierced lines;--in an instant, all the lines will be covered with flame, which will continue till the spirits are exhausted.

83. TO PRODUCE FLAME OF VARIOUS COLOURS.--This may be effected by mixing certain substances with burning alcohol, or by applying them with the point of a pen-knife, to the wick of a burning lamp or candle. Thus a beautiful rose or carmine coloured flame may be produced by muriate of strontia: this is prepared by dissolving carbonate of strontia in muriatic acid, and evaporating it to dryness. The preparation for an orange colour, is muriate of lime; (a solution of marble in muriatic acid, evaporated to crystallization) which should be exposed to a moderate heat till it is deprived of its water of crystallization and falls to powder. A fine green tinge is produced by acetate of copper, or boracic acid; which last is procured by adding sulphuric acid to a solution of borate of soda (in hot water) till it has a sensibly acid taste; as it cools, the boracic acid is deposited in crystals on the sides of the vessel. Camphor gives to flame a blue colour; and nitrate of strontia (prepared the same as the muriate) a purple. A brilliant yellow may also be produced by muriate of soda. Any of these preparations being reduced to powder, may be ignited with three or four times their weight of alcohol, which should be previously warmed; and if the vessel that contains it be kept heated also, the combustion will be the more brilliant.

84. TO MAKE SKY-ROCKETS AND FIRE WHEELS.--Grind and mix together, (dry) one pound of gun powder, two ounces of sulphur, two ounces of nitrate of potass, and four ounces of newly burnt charcoal. Then make several strong paper cases or cartridges, by wrapping some strong paper (being moistened with paste,) fifteen or twenty times round a mould made of wood, which may be one inch in diameter, and ten inches in length. One end of this mould must be made smaller, being only one fourth of an inch in diameter for the space of an inch of its length. The paper must be drawn up close round this neck, and strongly bound with twine, being thus brought to a shape similar to the neck of a phial. This neck is called the choke of the cartridge. Take the paper from the mould, and proceed in the same manner with another. When a sufficient number of cartridges are thus made and dry, place one of them in a socket which it will fill up closely, and then fill the cartridge with the above described compound powder, which must be thrown into the cartridge in small quantities, and each several quantity must be rammed or beat down very hard, with a suitable sized rammer and mallet. In filling the cartridge, small quantities of any of the flame-colouring preparations, described in the preceding article, may be added occasionally. When the cartridge is nearly full, some small balls of cotton, dipped in spirits of turpentine, may be added, to produce the appearance called stars.--These also, may have some muriate of strontia, or boracic acid strewed on them. Then place a circular piece of thick paste board on the materials in the cartridge, having a small hole through it, communicating with the powder below; lay upon this, half an ounce of fine gun powder, and fold the paper down upon it from all sides, cementing the folds firmly with glue, thus giving the end of the cartridge a conical form. Then bore a hole about two thirds of the length of the cartridge from the choke with a gimblet or bit. Fill this hole (which must be as large as the choke, but tapering towards the other end) with fine gun powder, to the choke, and fill the choke with the compound, the outside of which may be moistened a little, the better to keep it in its place. Finish the others in the same manner, and keep them in a warm dry place till used. They are then to be lashed firmly to the end of a light pine rod, with the choke towards the opposite end. The length of the rod, should be about nine times that of the cartridge. The rocket then being elevated by the rod, and being ignited at the choke, the compound inside burning intensely, acts upon the air, and causes it to ascend. The cartridges for fire wheels, are prepared in the same manner, but are generally smaller; and instead of being lashed to a rod, they are lashed to the arms of a wheel, in such manner, that a violent rotary motion is produced by their combustion.

85. TO PRODUCE DETONATING BALLOONS.--Moisten and compress a bladder till no air remains in it, and tie the neck of it upon a perforated cork; set the cork in a flask containing the materials for producing hydrogen gas (see 9.) Thus convey into the bladder a quantity of the gas, and then remove the cork to another flask, containing two or three ounces of black oxide of manganese, moistened with sulphuric acid, sufficient to form with it a soft paste; apply the heat of a lamp, and oxygen gas will be evolved, and will also rise through the neck of the flask; in this manner, convey into the bladder, nearly half as much oxygen gas, as it previously contained of hydrogen. Then tie the stem of a tobacco-pipe in the neck of the bladder, and dip the bowl of the pipe in a solution of soap in water, (soap-suds) and compress the bladder a little, so as to swell a bubble from the bowl of the pipe;--shake off the bubble, which being lighter than atmospheric air will naturally rise, or float horizontally in the air. If the flame of a candle be brought in contact with one of these balloons, or floating bubbles, it will explode with a violent detonation, resembling the report of a pistol. If this compound gas be forced into the water, so as to form several bubbles on the surface, and flame be then applied to them, a volley of explosions will be the result. Caution is requisite in these experiments, that the fire be not communicated to the bladder, as such an explosion might not be safe.

86. TO PREPARE A PHIAL THAT WILL GIVE LIGHT IN THE DARK.--Fill a small phial about one third full of olive oil; add to this a piece of phosphorus equal to one tenth of the weight of the oil. Cork the phial and wrap it in paper to exclude the light, and set it, or suspend it in a warm place, but where the heat may not be equal to that of boiling water, till the phosphorus appears to be dissolved. This phial may be carried in the pocket, and whenever the cork is started in the night, the phial will evolve light enough to show the hour on a watch.

87. TO MAKE A PERSON'S FACE APPEAR LUMINOUS IN THE DARK.--Prepare some phosphorized oil, (as directed 27,) and rub it over the face. This oil, though it appears luminous in the dark has not power to burn any thing, so that it may be rubbed on the face or hands without danger; and the appearance thereby produced, is most hideously frightful. All the parts of the face that have been rubbed, appear to be covered with a luminous bluish flame, and the mouth and eyes appear as black spots.--The luminous appearance may also be repeatedly heightened, by the friction of a handkerchief, being rubbed over the luminous part.

88. TO FREEZE WATER IN WARM WEATHER.--Draw a thread through a small glass tube; close one end and then fill the tube with water. Mix together equal parts of nitrate of ammonia and water, and immerse the tube in this mixture. The water in the tube will be frozen immediately, and may be drawn out by the thread. The same effect may be produced by a mixture of one part muriate of ammonia, one part nitrate of potass, and three parts of water. For these experiments, the above mentioned salts should be fresh, dry and finely pulverized previous to mixing; the mixture should be made in a tin vessel that is coated inside with bees-wax, and has a flannel wrapper round the outside, and the tube should be immersed quickly, as soon as the ingredients are mixed. To produce a greater, or intense degree of cold, a small vessel of water is first set in one of those freezing mixtures till it becomes very cold, and then the due proportion of the salts are added to that, and the tube, &c. immersed in it. The water in the tube may also be frozen, by continually bathing the outside of it with sulphuric ether: the evaporation of the ether, carries off the caloric of fluidity, and the water congeals.

89. TO CHANGE THE COLOURS OF ANIMALS.--Any black, or dark coloured spots on some animals, especially horses, may be effectually changed to white, by means of any substance that will chafe or blister the skin; thus a white spot of any shape may be produced on a black horse, by shaving off the hair from the part that is to be thus marked, and applying a plaster of spanish flies, or of quick lime moistened with vinegar; this plaster must be cut to the size and form required for the mark, and must be kept bound on, till the skin is blistered, or nearly so. The next coat of hair will infallibly be white. White spots can be changed to black or brown, only by means of oils or grease. Bacon fat has been recommended for this purpose, but if the oil or fat of a bear can be procured, it will prove more efficacious, as this fat is well known to have a remarkable tendency to darken the colour of animals and even complexions. But either of these, and in fact, many other kinds, will answer this purpose if properly applied, and frequently repeated.

90. TO GIVE LEATHER A BEAUTIFUL METALLIC LUSTRE.--Levigate one ounce of soft lead-coloured plumbago, and an equal quantity (in bulk) of lamp-black, in a gill of alcohol; then add half an ounce of loaf sugar, moistened with water and grind all together. The leather must first be brushed over smoothly with this composition, and when dry, it must be brushed hard and quickly with a dry smooth brush; or may be rubbed with a piece of woollen cloth. This blacking will be found useful for some ornamental purposes, but may be rather too brilliant for boots and shoes. This composition, however, may be mixed occasionally with other kinds of blacking, and will tend to increase their brightness.

91. AN EASY METHOD OF EXTRACTING THE ESSENCE OF ROSES.--Take the leaves of roses, and pound or bruise them: then stratify them with an equal weight of muriate of soda, in a glazed earthern vessel:--when thus filled to the top, cover it well, and set it in the cellar, and let it remain at rest a month or more. Afterwards, strain off the essence therefrom, through a strong cloth by pressure. The essence thus procured, is quite equal if not superior for culinary purposes, to that which is procured by distillation.

92. TO PREPARE VARIOUS KINDS OF ESSENCES.--The manner of extracting the essential oils, being attended with considerable expense of preparations, of stills, &c. a particular description of the process, would not, it is presumed, be sufficiently interesting to warrant its insertion. But the manner of reducing the oils to the state in which they are more generally sold, and is distinguished by the term "essences" is as follows. To half a pint of alcohol, add one ounce of any of the essential oils, (lemon, cinnamon, foxberry, peppermint, &c.) and shake them together; set the mixture in a warm place for a few minutes, and if then any opaque or milky appearance remains, a little more alcohol must be added. When this has become clear, it may be diluted occasionally with new rum. The essences of foxberry and cinnamon are coloured with a few drops of tincture of red saunders; and the essence of lemon, with tincture of turmeric.

93. TO PREPARE SODA WATER.--Only two articles are requisite for this preparation; one of which is super-carbonate of soda, or of potass (sal eratus,) and the other is citric or tartaric acid. The super-carbonates are formed by passing a stream of carbonic acid gas (which is produced by adding muriatic acid to pulverized marble) through a solution of soda or potass in water;--then evaporating till it crystallizes. Citric acid is prepared from the juice of lemons; and tartaric acid (which is more generally employed) is procured from super-tartrate of potass. But these being common articles of commerce, a more minute description of the process of preparing them, may not, in this place, be expedient. The compound called soda powders, consists of about ten grains of either of the super-carbonates, with an equal quantity of either of the acids, in each paper; this compound being dissolved in a glass of water, produces violent effervescence, and if drank off at the time, gives the water a smart and agreeable acid taste. The salt and acid, if mixed in powder, must be kept perfectly dry; otherwise, they would act on each other, and soon be spoiled. On this account, they are frequently prepared in separate papers, and sold by sets. Soda water is similarly prepared on the larger scale; the salts and acid being put into a cask of water, which is so confined, that the carbonic acid can have no other vent than by forcing out the water through a pipe fixed for the purpose with a tube, &c.

94. TO PRODUCE METALLIC TREES. _Process 1._--Mix one part of a saturated solution of nitrate of silver, with twenty parts of pure water, and pour the mixture upon two parts of mercury in a phial. After some time (the mercury being left standing quietly,) the branches and the figure of a tree, formed of brilliant silver, will appear to grow from the mercury in a very beautiful manner. The silver in solution being thus robbed of its oxygen by the metallic mercury, and consequently precipitated.

95. _Process 2._--Dissolve two drachms of acetate of lead, in six ounces of water; filter the solution, and pour it into a clean wide phial. Then suspend a granule of zinc, by a thread or wire fastened to the cork of the phial, in the middle of the solution, and place the phial where it will not be disturbed. After a few hours the lead, being de-oxydized by the zinc, will be precipitated on the zinc, in the shape of leaves, which will have a very brilliant appearance.

96. TO TIN COPPER BY BOILING.--Boil half a pound of granulated tin, and six ounces of super tartrate of potass in three pints of water; when they have boiled half an hour, put in any piece of copper ware, and continue the boiling fifteen minutes longer. The copper may then be taken out, and will have been handsomely coated with tin.

97. A METAL THAT WILL MELT IN HOT WATER.--Melt together eight parts of bismuth, five of lead and three of tin. This alloy, though hard and brilliant, when cold, is so easily fusible that it may be melted on a paper, being held over the flame of a candle. Tea spoons may be made of this compound metal, which may be melted by putting them in a cup of hot tea.

98. ILLUSTRATION OF CALICO PRINTING.--It frequently occurs, that substances of different colours, or even without colour, by coming in contact, produce colours very different from that of either of the ingredients when separate; thus, if a sheet of paper be striped in one direction with a hair pencil dipped in a solution of sub-carbonate of potass; and then crossed with a solution of sulphuric acid, diluted with five times as much water, it will be colourless; but dip it in a mixture of a weak solution of sulphate of iron, and infusion of nut galls, and it will instantly become a beautiful plaid; the ground being purple, striped one way with black and crossed with white. If a similar paper be striped with sub-carbonate of potass, and crossed with infusion of galls, and afterward dipped in a solution of sulphate of iron, it will become purple, yellow, black and white. Dip a piece of white calico in a cold solution of sulphate of iron and let it dry. Then imprint any figures upon it with a strong solution of colourless citric acid, and let this dry also. If the piece be then well washed in warm water, and afterwards boiled in a decoction of log-wood, the ground will be dyed either a slate or a black colour, according to the strength of the metallic solution, while the printed figures will remain beautifully white. Stain some parts of a sheet of paper a purple brown, with a mixture of infusion of galls and sulphate of iron; stain other parts green with a mixture of tinctures of turmeric and litmus; stain other parts purple with juice of red cabbage; other parts red with tincture of litmus and muriatic acid; other parts yellow with tincture of turmeric; wash the remainder of the sheet with a solution of sulphate of iron, which will remain white. Then print, or draw with a camel-hair pencil, any figure or figures on every part of the paper, with a solution of sub-carbonate of potass. On the purple brown, the figure will be black; on the green it will be purple; on the purple it will be green; on the red it will be blue; on the yellow, red; and on the white, it will take a yellow colour. Thus the figure will appear in colors different from the ground in every part. Immerse a piece of white cotton in a solution of sulphate of iron--it will remain white; dip another piece in tincture of turmeric, it will take a yellow; wet another piece with juice of red cabbage, containing also, a few drops of muriatic acid,--it will be red; dye another piece green, by immersing it in a mixture of tincture of turmeric and litmus; and another, purple by a mixture of infusion of galls and sulphate of iron. Let them dry; then immerse them all together in a solution of sub-carbonate of potass. The white will be changed to a yellow; the yellow to a red; the red to green; the green to purple; and the purple to black; and it is not improbable that some black might be materially changed or bleached by the same simple solution.

99. TO PREPARE AN IMITATION OF GOLD BRONZE.--Melt two ounces of tin, and mix with it one ounce of mercury; when this is cold pulverize it and add one ounce of muriate of ammonia, and one ounce of sulphur, and grind them all together. Put the compound in a flask and heat it in a clear fire (carefully avoiding the fumes) till the mercury sublimes, and rises in vapour. When the vapour ceases to rise, take the glass from the fire. A flaky gold colored powder will remain in the flask, which may be applied to ornamental work in the manner of gold bronze, of which it is a tolerable imitation.