EXPERIMENTS WITH FIRE.
The flame of spirit of wine may be coloured by the addition of various bodies which the spirit holds in solution, or which are mixed with it.
The flame of alcohol, or spirit of wine, is tinged red in the following manner: put into a small iron ladle, one part ofmuriate of strontia, and pour over it three or four ofalcohol; then set it on fire with a candle, or a piece of burning paper; it will burn with a bright red carmine flame, especially if the mixture be heated, by holding the ladle over a candle or lamp, to cause the alcohol to boil rapidly.
The muriate of strontia left behind, after being again thoroughly dried, may be used again for the same purpose repeatedly.
Putmuriate of limedeprived of the water of crystallization, into an iron ladle, cover it with spirit of wine, and it will then burn in the manner stated.
To prepare the muriate of lime, dissolve common marble in muriatic acid, and evaporate the solution to perfect dryness.
Fill with hydrogen gas a bladder with a cock fixed to it; to which adapt a copper tobacco pipe: dip the bowl,of the pipe into soap-lather; press gently on the bladder filled with inflammable air, and a small soap bubble will issue, which, instead of falling to the ground, will rise most rapidly.
Instead of pure hydrogen gas only, fill the bladder with a mixture of one third of atmospheric air and two thirds of hydrogen gas: and, when they arise in the air, hold a candle to them, and the report will be like that of a pistol.
Mix boracic acid in spirits of wine, set the solution on fire, and the above effect will ensue.
Prepare nitrate of copper, thus:—let copper clippings or filings be dissolved in a sufficient quantity of nitric acid, of a moderate strength; when no further effervescence ensues, boil the acid gently upon the copper, until a pellicle appears; decant the solution, evaporate it slowly, and, when a very strong pellicle or skin appears, suffer it to crystallize. The salt is of a fine blue colour. Then cause the alcohol (spirit of wine) to burn upon this nitrate of copper, and it will exhibit a beautiful emerald green colour.
Put into a bottle, not quite transparent, half an ounce of iron filings, over which pour four ounces of pure water; add one ounce of sulphuric acid, and shake the mixture.
If you apply a lighted paper tied to the end of a stick, near the top of the bottle, an instantaneous vivid flame will suddenly dart from the bottom, accompanied by a tolerably loud detonation.
Fifteen or twenty successive loud reports may likewise be obtained, by touching the aperture of the bottle with a lighted wax taper, fastened to a stick.
Though this experiment offers no very evident danger to the operator, it would be as well to envelop the bottle in a cloth, to guard against accidents.
Add gradually one ounce, by measure, of sulphuric acid, to five or six ounces of water, contained in an earthenware basin, and add to it also, gradually, about three quarters of an ounce of granulated zinc. A rapid production of hydrogen gas will instantly take place. Then add, from time to time, a few pieces of phosphorus of the size of a pea. A multitude of gas-bubbles will be produced, which take fire on the surface of the effervescing liquid; the whole surface of the liquid will become luminous, and fire-balls, with jets of fire, will dart from the bottom, through the fluid, with great rapidity, and a hissing noise.
Take sal ammoniac half an ounce, camphor one ounce, aquæ vitæ two ounces; put them into an earthen pot in the fashion of a chamber-pot, but narrow something upon the top; then set fire to it, and the room will seem, to them that are in it, to be all on fire.
Take half an ounce of camphor, dissolve it in two ounces of aquæ vitæ, add to it one ounce of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which hinders the camphor from firing; take also two ounces ofhematitis, a red stone, to be had at the druggist’s; and when you buy it, let them beat it to powder in their great mortar, for it is so very hard that it cannot be done in a small one; put this to the above-mentioned composition, and, when you intend to walk on the bar, you must anoint your feet well therewith, and you may walk over without danger. By this you may wash your hands in boiling lead.
Anoint your tongue with liquid storax, and you may put a pair of tongs into your mouth, red hot, without hurting yourself, and lick them till they are cold. Bythe help of this ointment, and by preparing your mouth thus,
you may take wood-coals out of the fire, and chew them as you would bread; dip them into brimstone powder, and the fire will seem more strange. The sulphur puts out the coal, and shutting your mouth close puts out the sulphur. You may then chump the coals and swallow them, which you may do without offence to the body. In the same way, if you put a piece of lighted charcoal into your mouth, you may suffer a pair of bellows to be blowing in your mouth continually, and receive no hurt; but your mouth must be quickly cleaned, otherwise it will cause a salivation. It is a very dangerous thing to be done; and although those that practise it use all the means they can to prevent danger, yet I never saw any of those fire-eaters that had a good complexion. Some put bole ammoniac into this recipe, a thing which spoils the whole composition, and so leave out hematitis and liquid storax; but let them beware how they use it.
Take a little piece of phosphorus of the size of a pinhead, and with a piece of tallow stick it on the edge of a drinking-glass. Then take a lighted candle, and, having blown it out, apply it to the glass, when it will immediately be lighted. You may likewise write with a bit of phosphorus on paper some horrible words, which will appear awful when the candle is withdrawn from the room.
Take three parts of saltpetre, two parts of salt of tartar, and one part of sulphur pounded and mixed together; heat sixty grains of this composition in a spoon, and it will fly away with a fearful noise, like thunder. A grain by weight of this powder, put into a tobacco-pipe, will cause a loud report and much merriment, particularly if the smoaker is not aware of the trick put upon him.
The rays of a luminous body, placed in the focus of a concave mirror, being reflected in parallel lines, if a second mirror be placed diametrically opposite the first, it will, by collecting those rays in its focus, set fire to a combustible body.
Place two concave mirrors at about twelve or fifteen feet distance from each other, and let the axis of each of them lie in the same line. In the focus of one of them place a live coal, and in the focus of the other some gunpowder. With a pair of double bellows, which make a continual blast, keep constantly blowing the coal, and, notwithstanding the distance between them, the powder will presently take fire.
It is not necessary that these mirrors be of metal or glass; those made of wood or pasteboard, gilded, will produce the explosion, which has sometimes taken effect at the distance of fifty feet, when mirrors of eighteen inches or two feet diameter have been used.
Dissolve some common salt in spirits of wine, and pour the whole on some saffron in a saucer. Take away the candle from the room, and set fire to the spirit with a little burning tow. The countenances of every person in the room will, by this light, put on a cadaverous, deadly appearance, the fairest complexion appearing green, whilst the red of the lips and cheeks will be of an olive hue.
Take two little figures of wood or clay, or any other materials you please, only taking care there is a little hole at the mouth of each. Put in the mouth of one a few grains of bruised gunpowder, and a little bit of phosphorus in the other, taking care that these preparations are made beforehand; then take a lighted wax candle, and present it to the mouth of the figure with the gunpowder, which, taking fire, will put the candle out; then present your candle, having the snuff quite hot, to the other figure; it will light again immediately by means of the phosphorus. You may propose the same effect to be produced by two figures, drawn on a wall with a pencil or a coal, by applying, with starch or a wafer, a few grains of bruised gunpowder to the mouth of one, and a bit of phosphorus to the mouth of the other.
Make a lantern of a cylindric form, or shaped like a small cask placed lengthways, so that its axis may be horizontal, and fix in one end of it a parabolic or spheric mirror, so that its focus may fall about the middle of the axis of the cylinder. If a small lamp or taper be placed in this focus, the light, passing through the other end, will be reflected to a great distance, and will be so bright, that very small letters on a remote object may beread, by looking at them with a good telescope. Those who see this light, if they be in the direction of the axis of the lantern, will think they see a large fire.