Part 10
For this trick, prepare two cards like the accompanying engraving; and have a common ace and five of diamonds. Hold down the five of diamonds and the two prepared cards, as shown in the next engraving; and say, "A certain Frenchman left fifteen thousand livres, which are represented by these three cards, to his three sons; the two youngest agreed to leave their five thousand, each of them, in the hands of the elder, that he might improve it." While you are telling this story lay the five on the table, and put the ace in its place; at the same time artfully change the position of the other two cards, so that the three cards appear as in this engraving. Then, resuming the tale, relate that "The eldest brother, instead of improving the money, lost it all by gaming, except three thousand livres, as you here see (laying the ace on the table, and taking up the five). Sorry for having lost the money, he went to the East Indies with these three thousand, and brought back fifteen thousand." Then show the cards in the same position as at first. To render this deception agreeable, it must be performed with dexterity, and should not be repeated, but the cards immediately put in the packet; and you should have five common cards ready to show, if any one desire to see them.
HINTS TO AMATEURS.
The following hints are of considerable importance to the amateur exhibitor.
1. Never acquaint the company beforehand with the particulars of the feat you are about to perform, as it will give them time to discover your mode of operation.
2. Endeavor, as much as possible, to acquire various methods of performing the same feat, in order that if you should be likely to fail in one, or have reason to believe that your operations are suspected, you may be prepared with another.
3. Never yield to the request of any one to repeat the same feat, as you thereby hazard the detection of your mode of operation; but do not absolutely refuse, as that would appear ungracious. Promise to perform it in a different way, and then exhibit another which somewhat resembles it. This maneuver seldom fails to answer the purpose.
4. Never venture on a feat requiring manual dexterity, till you have previously practiced it so often, as to acquire the necessary expertness.
5. As diverting the attention of the company from too closely inspecting your maneuvers is a most important object, you should manage to talk to them during the whole course of your proceedings. It is the plan of vulgar operators to gabble unintelligible jargon, and attribute their feats to some extraordinary and mysterious influence. There are few persons at the present day credulous enough to believe such trash, even among the rustic and most ignorant; but, as the youth of maturer years might inadvertently be tempted to pursue this method, while exhibiting his skill before his younger companions, it may not be deemed superfluous to caution him against such a procedure. He may state, and truly, that everything he exhibits can be accounted for on rational principles, and is only in obedience to the unerring laws of Nature; and although we have just cautioned him against enabling the company themselves to detect his operations, there can be no objection (particularly when the party comprises many younger than himself) to occasionally show by what simple means the most apparently marvelous feats are accomplished.
CURE FOR TROUBLESOME SPECTATORS.
It will sometimes happen at an early stage of the performance, that the ultimate success of the whole is likely to be endangered by a troublesome person, (generally a naughty boy,) who will persist in crying out, "I know how it is done!"--at the same time continually advancing to the table, from which it is, of course, the business of the conjurer to keep his youthful admirers. Should this be the case, the magic whistles may be produced, and the remark made, that now the troublesome boy shall show the company a trick. Having taken up one of the whistles, which has previously been filled with flour or magnesia, dust or soot, proceed to give a few directions, particularly impressing on him the necessity of blowing hard, because the whistle you place in his hand is perforated with a number of holes. The would-be magician is, therefore, excessively mortified, on applying his mouth and blowing hard, to receive the powder in his face. Any turner will make such a whistle, it being nothing more than the usual shaped toy perforated at the top with a number of holes.
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THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM.
The main secret of this surprising art simply consists in first making a strong, deep inspiration, by which a considerable quantity of air is introduced into the lungs, to be afterwards acted upon by the flexible powers of the larynx, or cavity situated behind the tongue, and the trachea, or windpipe; thus prepared, the expiration should be slow and gradual. Any person, by practice, can, therefore, obtain more or less expertness in this exercise; in which, though not apparently, the voice is still modified by the mouth and tongue; and it is in the concealment of this aid, that much of the perfection of ventriloquism lies.
But the distinctive character of ventriloquism consists in its imitations being performed by the voice _seeming_ to come from the stomach: hence its name, from _venter_, the stomach, and _loquor_, to speak. Although the voice does not actually come from that region, in order to enable the ventriloquist to utter sounds from the larynx without moving the muscles of his face, he strengthens them by a powerful action of the abdominal muscles. Hence, he speaks by means of his stomach; although the throat is the real source from whence the sound proceeds. It should, however, be added, that this speaking distinctly, without any movement of the lips at all, is the highest perfection of ventriloquism, and has but rarely been obtained. Thus, MM. St. Gille and Louis Brabant, two celebrated French ventriloquists, appeared to be absolutely mute while exercising their art, and no change in their countenances could be discovered.
It has lately been shown, that some ventriloquists have acquired by practice the power of exercising the veil of the palate in such a manner, that, by raising or depressing it, they dilate or contract the inner nostrils. If they are closely contracted, the sound produced is weak, dull, and seems to be more or less distant; if, on the contrary, these cavities are widely dilated, the sound will be strengthened, the voice become loud, and apparently close to us.
Another of the secrets of ventriloquism, is the uncertainty with respect to the direction of sounds. Thus, if we place a man and a child in the same angle of uncertainty, and the man speaks with the accent of a child, without any corresponding motion in his mouth or face, we shall necessarily believe that the voice comes from the child. In this case, the belief is strengthened by the imagination; for if we were directed to a statue, as the source from which we were to expect sounds to issue, we should still be deceived, and refer the sounds to the lifeless stone or marble. This illusion will be greatly assisted by the voice being totally different in tone and character from that of the man from whom it really comes. Thus, we see how easy is the deception when the sounds are required to proceed from any given objects, and are such as they actually yield.
The ventriloquists of our time have carried their art still further. They have not only spoken by the muscles of the throat and the abdomen, without moving those of the face, but have so far overcome the uncertainty of sound, as to become acquainted with modifications of distance, obstruction, and other causes, so as to imitate them with the greatest accuracy. Thus, each of these artists has succeeded in carrying on a dialogue; and each, in his own single person and with his own single voice, has represented a scene apparently with several actors. These ventriloquists have likewise possessed such power over their faces and figures that, aided by rapid changes of dress, their personal identity has scarcely been recognized among the range of personations.
Vocal imitations are much less striking and ingenious than the feats of ventriloquism. Extraordinary varieties of voice may be produced, by speaking with a more acute or grave pitch than usual, and by different contractions of the mouth. Thus may be imitated the grinding of cutlery on a wheel, the sawing of wood, the frying of a pancake, the uncorking of a bottle, and the gurgling noise in emptying its contents.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: The figures represent the pairs, _i. e._, the 1 under M signifies that M belongs to the _first_ pair.]
[Footnote 3: This may be done by making the pass.]
THE MAGIC OF CHEMISTRY.
Chemistry is one of the most attractive sciences. From the beginning to the end, the student is surprised and delighted with the developments of the exact discrimination, as well as the power and capacity, which are displayed in various forms of chemical action. Dissolve two substances in the same fluid, and then by evaporation, or otherwise, cause them to reassume a solid form, and each particle will unite with its own kind, to the entire exclusion of all others. Thus, if sulphate of copper and carbonate of soda are dissolved in boiling water, and then the water is evaporated, each salt will be re-formed as before. This phenomenon is the result of one of the first principles of the science, and as such is passed over without thought; but it is a wonderful phenomenon, and made of no account only by the fact that it is so common and so familiar.
It is by the action of this same principle, "chemical affinity," that we produce the curious experiments with SYMPATHETIC INKS. By means of these, we may carry on a correspondence which is beyond the discovery of all not in the secret. With one class of these inks, the writing becomes visible only when moistened with a particular solution. Thus, if we write to you with a solution of sulphate of iron, the letters are invisible. On the receipt of our letter, you rub over the sheet a feather or sponge, wet with a solution of nut-galls, and the letters burst forth into sensible being at once, and are permanent.
2. If we write with a solution of sugar of lead, and you moisten with a sponge or pencil dipped in water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, the letters will appear with metallic brilliancy.
3. If we write with a weak solution of sulphate of copper, and you apply ammonia, the letters assume a beautiful blue. When the ammonia evaporates, as it does on exposure to the sun or fire, the writing disappears, but may be revived again as before.
4. If you write with oil of vitriol very much diluted, so as to prevent its destroying the paper, the manuscript will be invisible except when held to the fire, when the letters will appear black.
5. Write with cobalt dissolved in diluted muriatic acid; the letters will be invisible when cold, but when warmed they will appear a bluish green.
We are almost sure that our secrets thus written will not be brought to the knowledge of a stranger, because he does not know the solution which was used in writing, and therefore knows not what to apply to bring out the letters.
Other forms of elective affinity produce equally novel results. Thus, two invisible gases, when combined, form sometimes a _visible solid_. Muriatic acid and ammonia are examples, also ammonia and carbonic acid.
On the other hand, if a solution of sulphate of soda be mixed with a solution of muriate of lime, the whole becomes solid.
Some gases when united form liquids, as oxygen and hydrogen, which unite and form water. Some solids, when combined, form liquids.
Chemical affinity is sometimes called _elective_, or the effect of _choice_, as if one substance exerted a kind of _preference_ for another, and chose to be united to it rather than to that with which it was previously combined; thus, if you pour some vinegar, which is a weak acetic acid, upon some pearlash, (a combination of potassa and carbonic acid,) or some carbonate of soda, (a combination of the same acid with soda,) a violent effervescence will take place, occasioned by the escape of the carbonic acid, displaced in consequence of the potash or soda preferring the acetic acid, and forming a compound called an acetate. Then, if some sulphuric acid be poured on this new compound, the acetic acid will in its turn be displaced by the greater attachment of either of the bases, as they are termed, for the sulphuric acid. Again, if into a solution of blue vitriol, (a combination of sulphuric acid with oxide of copper,) the bright blade of a knife be introduced, the knife will speedily be covered with a coat of copper, deposited in consequence of the acid _preferring_ the iron of which the knife is made, a quantity of it being dissolved in exact proportion to the quantity of copper deposited.
It is on the same principle that a very beautiful preparation, called a silver-tree, or a lead-tree, may be formed, thus: Fill a wide bottle, capable of holding from half a pint to a pint, with a tolerably strong solution of nitrate of silver, (lunar caustic,) or acetate of lead, in pure distilled water; then attach a small piece of zinc by a string to the cork or stopper of the bottle, so that the zinc shall hang about the middle of the bottle, and set it by where it may be quite undisturbed; in a short time, brilliant plates of silver or lead, as the case may be, will be seen to collect around the piece of zinc, assuming more or less of the crystalline form. This is a case of elective affinity; the acid with which the silver or lead was united _prefers_ the zinc to either of those metals, and in consequence discards them in order to attach the zinc to itself; and this process will continue until the whole of the zinc is taken up, or the whole of the silver or lead deposited.
Again, many animal and vegetable substances consist for the most part of carbon or charcoal, united with oxygen and hydrogen in the proportion which forms water. Now oil of vitriol (strong sulphuric acid) has so powerful an affinity, or so great a _thirst_ for water, that it will abstract it from almost any body in which it exists; if you then pour some of this acid on a lump of sugar, or place a chip of wood in it, the sugar or wood will speedily become quite black, or be _charred_, as it is called, in consequence of the oxygen and hydrogen being removed by the sulphuric acid, and only the carbon, or charcoal, left.
When Cleopatra dissolved pearls of wondrous value in vinegar, she was exhibiting unwittingly an instance of chemical elective affinity; the pearl being simply carbonate of lime, which was decomposed by the greater affinity or fondness of lime for its new acquaintance, (the acetic acid of the vinegar,) than for the carbonic acid, with which it had been united all its life; an example of inconstancy in strong contrast with the conduct of its owner, who chose death rather than become the mistress of her lover's conqueror.
EXPERIMENTS ON COMBUSTION.
Into an ordinary wine bottle put some pieces of granulated zinc, and pour on them a mixture of sulphuric acid and water, in the proportion of about one part of acid to four of water, then close the bottle with a cork having a hole bored through the middle, in which a piece of glass tube is inserted; wait some minutes that the atmospheric air in the bottle may be expelled by the hydrogen gas set free by the decomposition of the water, then apply a lighted taper to the end of the tube, when the gas will inflame, giving out so little light as to be barely visible by daylight, but producing so intense a heat that a piece of platinum wire instantly becomes white hot when held in the flame. If you hold a glass tumbler inverted over the flame, it becomes covered with minute drops of water, the result of the union of the hydrogen with the oxygen of the air, and in this case water is the only product.
If a piece of charcoal, which is pure carbon or nearly so, be ignited, and introduced into a jar, containing oxygen or common atmospheric air, the product will be carbonic acid gas only. As most combustible bodies contain both carbon and hydrogen, the result of their combination is carbonic acid and water. This is the case with the gas used for illumination; and in order to prevent the water so produced from spoiling goods in shops, various plans have been devised for carrying off the water when in the state of steam. This is generally accomplished by suspending over the burners glass bells, communicating with tubes opening into the chimney, or passing outside the house.
To show that oxygen, or some equivalent, is necessary for the support of combustion, fix two or three pieces of wax taper on flat pieces of cork, and set them floating on water in a soup-plate, light them, and invert over them a glass jar; as they burn, the heat produced may perhaps at first expand the air so as to force a small quantity out of the jar, but the water will soon rise in the jar, and continue to do so until the tapers expire, when you will find that a considerable portion of the air has disappeared, and what remains will no longer support flame; that is, the oxygen has been converted partly into water, and partly into carbonic acid gas, by uniting with the carbon and hydrogen of which the taper consists, and the remaining air is principally nitrogen, with some carbonic acid: the presence of the latter may be proved by decanting some of the remaining air into a bottle, and then shaking some lime-water with it, which will absorb the carbonic acid and form chalk.
Into an ale-glass, two thirds full of water at about 140°, drop one or two pieces of phosphorus about the size of peas, and they will remain unaltered. Then take a bladder containing oxygen gas, to which is attached a stop-cock and a long fine tube; pass the end of the tube to the bottom of the water, turn the stop-cock, and press the bladder gently; as the gas reaches the phosphorus it will take fire, and burn under the water with a brilliant flame, filling the glass with brilliant flashes of light dashing through the water.
Into another glass put some cold water; introduce carefully some of the salt called chlorate of potassa, upon that drop a piece of phosphorus; then let some strong sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) trickle slowly down the side of the glass, or introduce it by means of a dropping bottle. As soon as it touches the salt it decomposes it, and liberates a gas which ignites the phosphorus, producing much the same appearance as in the last experiment.
Into the half of a broken phial put some chlorate of potassa, and pour in some oil of vitriol. The phial will soon be filled with a heavy gas of a deep yellow color. Tie a small test tube at right angles to the end of a stick not less than a yard long, put a little ether into the tube, and pour it gently into the phial of gas, when an instantaneous explosion will take place, and the ether will be set on fire. This experiment should be performed in a place where there are no articles of furniture to be damaged, as the ingredients are often scattered by the explosion, and the oil of vitriol destroys all animal and vegetable substances.
Into a jar containing oxygen gas, introduce a coil of soft iron wire, suspended to a cork that fits the neck of the jar, and having attached a small piece of charcoal to the lower part of the wire, ignite the charcoal. The iron will take fire and burn with a brilliant light, throwing out bright scintillations, which are oxide of iron, formed by the union of the gas with the iron; and they are so intensely hot, that some of them will probably _melt_ their way into the sides of the jar, if not through them.
But by far the most intense heat, and most brilliant light, may be produced by introducing a piece of phosphorus into a jar of oxygen. The phosphorus may be placed in a small copper cup, with a long handle of thick wire passing through a hole in a cork that fits the jar. The phosphorus must first be ignited; and as soon as it is introduced into the oxygen, it gives out a light so brilliant that no eye can bear it, and the whole jar appears filled with an intensely luminous atmosphere. It is well to dilute the oxygen with about one fourth part of common air, to moderate the intense heat, which is nearly certain to break the jar, if pure oxygen is used.
The following experiment shows the production of heat by chemical action alone. Bruise some fresh prepared crystals of nitrate of copper, spread them over a piece of tin foil, sprinkle them with a little water; then fold up the foil tightly, as rapidly as possible, and in a minute or two it will become red hot, the tin apparently burning away. This heat is produced by the energetic action of the tin on the nitrate of copper, taking away its oxygen in order to unite with the nitric acid, for which, as well as for the oxygen, the tin has a much greater affinity than the copper has.
Combustion without flame may be shown in a very elegant and agreeable manner, by making a coil of platinum wire by twisting it round the stem of a tobacco pipe, or any cylindrical body, for a dozen times or so, leaving about an inch straight, which should be inserted into the wick of a spirit lamp; light the lamp, and after it has burned for a minute or two, extinguish the flame quickly; the wire will soon become red hot, and, if kept from draughts of air, will continue to burn until all the spirit is consumed. Spongy platinum, as it is called, answers rather better than wire, and has been employed in the formation of fumigators for the drawing-room, in which, instead of pure spirit, some perfume, such as lavender water, is used; by its combustion an agreeable odor is diffused through the apartment. These little lamps were much in vogue a few years ago, but are now nearly out of fashion.
Experiments on combustion might be multiplied, almost to any amount, but the above will be sufficient for our purpose.
POTASSIUM.
Potassium was discovered by Sir H. Davy, in the beginning of the present century, while acting upon potash with the enormous galvanic battery of the Royal Institution, consisting of two thousand pairs of four inch plates. It is a brilliant white metal, so soft as to be easily cut with a penknife, and so light as to swim upon water, on which it acts with great energy, uniting with the oxygen, and liberating the hydrogen, which takes fire as it escapes.
EXPERIMENT.
Trace some continuous lines on paper with a camel's-hair brush, dipped in water, and place a piece of potassium about the size of a pea, on one of the lines, and it will follow the course of the pencil, taking fire as it runs, and burning with a purplish light. The paper will be found covered with a solution of ordinary potash. If turmeric paper be used, the course of the potassium will be marked with a deep brown color. Corollary: hence, if you touch potassium with _wet_ fingers, you will burn them!
If a small piece of the metal be placed on a piece of ice, it will instantly take fire, and form a deep hole, which will be found to contain a solution of potash.
In consequence of its great affinity for oxygen, potassium must be kept in some fluid destitute of it, such as naphtha.
Saltpeter, or niter, is a compound of this metal (or rather its oxide) with nitric acid. It is one of the ingredients of gunpowder, and has the property of quickening the combustion of all combustible bodies.
EXPERIMENT.