Of Lightning And The Best Method Of Guarding Against Its Mischievous
Effects.
Experiments made in electricity first gave philosophers a suspicion,
that the matter of lightning was the same with the electric matter.
Experiments afterwards made on lightning obtained from the clouds by
pointed rods, received into bottles, and subjected to every trial,
have since proved this suspicion to be perfectly well founded; and
that, whatever properties we find in electricity, are also
properties of lightning.
This matter of lightning, or of electricity, is an extreme subtle
fluid, penetrating other bodies, and subsisting in them, equally
diffused.
When, by any operation of art or nature, there happens to be a greater
proportion of this fluid in one body than in another, the body which
has most will communicate to that which has least, till the proportion
becomes equal, provided the distance between them be not too great;
or, if it be too great, till there be proper conductors to convey it
from one to the other.
If the communication be through the air, without any conductor, a
bright light is seen between the bodies, and a sound is heard. In
small experiments, we call this light and sound the electric spark and
More
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Invisible Green Ink
Dissolve salt of tartar, clean and dry, in a sufficient quantity of river water. Use the violet solution to render it visible. ... Invisible Grey Ink
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Put litharge of lead into very strong vinegar, and let it stand twenty-four hours. Strain it off, and let it remain till quite settled; then put the liquor in a bottle. You next dissolve orpiment in quick lime water, by setting the water in the s... Invisible Red Ink
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Dissolve fine silver in aqua fortis; and after the dissolution, add some distilled water in the same manner as in the gold ink. What is written with the above ink will remain invisible for three or four months, if kept from the air; but may be eas... Invisible Violet Ink
Express the juice of lemons, and keep it in a bottle well corked. Use the violet infusion to make the writing visible. ... Invisible Yellow Ink
Steep marigold flowers seven or eight days in clear distilled vinegar. Press the flowers and strain the liquor, which is to be kept in a bottle well corked. If you would have it still more clear, add, when you use it, some pure water. To make the... Iron Transformed Into Copper
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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, wh... Method Of Rolling Rocket Cases The Cases Must Be Made Of The
strongest cartridge-paper, and rolled dry. The case of a middling-sized rocket will take up paper of four or five sheets thick; having cut your papers to a proper size, and the last sheet with a slope at one end, fold down one end, and lay your former... Method Of Taking The Impression Of Butterflies On Paper
Clip the wings off the butterfly, lay them on clean, in the form of a butterfly when flying. Spread some thick clean gum-water on another piece of paper, press it on the wings, and it will take them up; lay a piece of white paper over it, and rub it... Money Augmented By An Optical Illusion
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Where there is a natural cascade, near the lower stream, but not in it, let there be placed a large wheel, equal to the breadth of the cascade: the diameter of this wheel, for about a foot from each end, must be much less than that of the middle par... Neptune In His Chariot
To represent Neptune in his chariot, you must have a Neptune (made of wood, or basket-work) as big as life, fixed on a float large enough to bear his weight; on which must be two horses' heads and necks, so as to seem swimming. For the wheels of the... 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 p... Note All The Vents In The Under Side Of The Cases Must Be Lighted
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You first draw on a paper, the size of the glass, the subject you mean to paint; fasten this at each end of the glass with paste, or any other cement, to prevent it from slipping. Then with some very black paint mixed with varnish, draw with a fine ... Of Saltpetre
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Within the case A B C D, place four mirrors O P Q R, Fig. 22, so disposed, that they may each make an angle of 45 degrees, that is, that they may be half-way inclined from the perpendicular, as in the figure. In each of the two extremities A B, make... Pipes Of Communication For Water
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