Illuminated Phosphorus
Put some of Canton's phosphorus into a clear glass phial, and stop it
with a glass stopper, or a cork and sealing-wax. If this wire be kept
in a darkened room (which for this experiment must be very dark) it
will give no light; but let two or three strong sparks be drawn from
the prime conductor, when the phial is kept about two inches distant
from the sparks, so that it may be exposed to that light, and this
phial wil
for a considerable time.
This powder may be stuck upon a board by means of the white of an egg,
so as to represent figures of planets, letters, or any thing else, at
the pleasure of the operator, and these figures may be illuminated in
the dark, in the same manner as the above described phial.
A beautiful method of expressing geometrical figures with the above
powder, is to bend small glass tubes, of about the tenth part of an
inch diameter, in the shape of the figure desired, and then to fill
them with the phosphoric powder. These may be illuminated in the
manner described; and they are not so subject to be spoiled, as the
figures represented upon the board frequently are.
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Example Suppose The Person Wishes His Card To Be The Twentieth
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