The Unconscious Incendiary
Let a person stand upon a stool made of baked wood, or upon a cake of
wax, and hold a chain which communicates with the branch. On turning
the wheel he will become electrified; his whole body forming part of
the prime conductor; and he will emit sparks whenever he is touched by
a person standing on the floor.
If the electrified person put his finger, or a rod of iron, into a
dish containing warm spirits of wine, it will be immediately in a
blaze; and if there be a wick or thread in the spirit, that
communicates with a train of gunpowder, he may be made to blow up a
magazine, or set a city on fire, with a piece of cold iron, and at the
same time be ignorant of the mischief he is doing.
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The Philosophical Candle
Provide a bladder, into the orifice of which is inserted a metal tube, some inches in length, that can be adapted to the neck of a bottle, containing the same mixture as in the last experiment. Having suffered the atmospheric air to be expelled from... The Power Of Water
Let a strong small iron tube of twenty feet in height be inserted into the bung-hole of a cask, and the aperture round so strongly closed, that it shall be water-tight; pour water into the cask till it is full, through the pipe; also continue fillin... The Power Of Water When Reduced To Vapour By Heat
Whatever force water may have while its parts remain together, is nothing, if compared to the almost incredible power with which its parts are endued, when they are reduced to vapour by heat. Those steams which we see rising from the surface of boil... The Pressure Of Water
The pressure of water may be known to every one who will only take the trouble to look at the cock of a water-butt when turned: if the tub or cistern be full, the water runs with much greater velocity through the cock, and a vessel will be filled fr... The Restored Flowers
Make a bouquet of artificial flowers; the leaves should be formed of parchment. Dip the roses in the red invisible ink, the jonquilles in the yellow, the pinks in the violet, and the leaves in the green ink. They will all appear white; and you show ... The Self-moving Wheel
Take a circle of tin, about ten inches in diameter, or of any other size that will go into the receiver, and to its circumference fix a number of tin vanes, each about an inch square. Let this wheel be placed between two upright pieces on an axis, w... The Self-moving Wheel
The self-moving wheel is made of a thin round plate of window-glass, seventeen inches in diameter, well gilt on both sides, to within two inches of the circumference. Two small hemispheres of wood are then fixed with cement, to the middle of the upp... The Silver Tree
Dissolve an ounce of fine silver in three ounces of strong aqua fortis, in a glass bottle. When the silver is dissolved; pour the aqua fortis into another glass vessel, (a decanter will be best,) with seven or eight ounces of mercury, to which add a... The Solar Concerto
In a large case, similar to what is used for dials and spring clocks, the front of which, or at least the lower part, must be of glass, covered on the inside with gauze, place a barrel organ, which when wound up is prevented from playing by a catch ... The Solar Magic Lantern
Make a box, a foot high, eighteen inches wide, and about three inches deep. Two of the opposite sides of this box must be quite open, and in each of the other sides let there be a groove wide enough to admit a stiff paper or pasteboard. You fasten t... The Sublimated Tree
Into a large glass jar inverted upon a flat brick tile, and containing near its top a branch of fresh rosemary, or any other such shrub, moistened with water, introduce a flat thick piece of heated iron, on which place some gum benzoin, in gross pow... The Talking Busts
Procure two busts of plaster of Paris; place them on pedestals, on the opposite sides of the room. Let a thin tube, of an inch diameter, pass from the ear of one head through the pedestal, under the floor, and go up to the mouth of the other; taking... The Ten Duplicates
Select any twenty cards; let any person shuffle them; lay them by pairs on the board, without looking at them. You next desire several persons, (as many persons as there are pairs on the table,) each to look at different pairs and remember what card... The Three Magical Parties
Offer the long card to a person, that he may draw it, and replace it in any part of the pack he pleases. Make the pass, and bring that card to the top. Next divide the pack in three parcels, putting the long card in the middle heap. You then ask the... The Transmuted Cards
In a common pack of cards let the ace of hearts and nine of spades be something larger than the rest. With the juice of lemon draw over the ace of hearts a spade, large enough to cover it entirely, and on each side draw four other spades. Present... The Transposable Pieces
Take two guineas and two shillings, and grind part of them away, on one side only, so that they may be but half the common thickness; and observe, that they must be quite thin at the edge; then rivet a guinea and a shilling together. Lay one of thes... The Travelling Of Light
Light travels at the rate of a hundred and fifty thousand miles in a single second; and it is seven minutes in passing from the sun to the earth, which is nearly a distance of seventy millions of miles. Such is the rapidity with which these rays dar... The Travelling Of Sound Experimentally Proved
There is probably no substance which is not in some measure a conductor of sound; but sound is much enfeebled by passing from one medium to another. If a man, stopping one of his ears with his finger, stop the other also by pressing it against the e... The Unconscious Incendiary
Let a person stand upon a stool made of baked wood, or upon a cake of wax, and hold a chain which communicates with the branch. On turning the wheel he will become electrified; his whole body forming part of the prime conductor; and he will emit spa... The Water Sun
Provide two portions of a hollow sphere, that are very shallow; join them together in such a manner that the hollow between them be very narrow. Fix them vertically to a pipe from whence a jet proceeds. Bore a number of small holes all around that p... Three Objects Discernible Only With Both Eyes
If you fix three pieces of paper against the wall of a room at equal distances, at the height of your eye, placing yourself directly before them, at a few yards' distance, and close your right eye, and look at them with your left, you will see only ... To Cast Figures In Imitation Of Ivory
Make isinglass and strong brandy into a paste, with powder of egg-shells, very finely ground. You may give it what colour you please; but cast it warm into your mould, which you previously oil over. Leave the figure in the mould till dry, and you wi... To Cause A Brilliant Explosion Under Water
Drop a piece of phosphorus, the size of a pea, into a tumbler of hot water; and, from a bladder furnished with a stop-cock, force a stream of oxygen directly upon it. This will afford a most brilliant combustion under water. ... To Change Blue To White
Dissolve copper filings in a phial of volatile alkali; when the phial is unstopped, the liquor will be blue; when stopped, it will be white. ... To Change The Cards Which Several Persons Have Drawn From The Pack
On the top of the pack put any card you please--suppose the queen of clubs; make the pass, bring that card to the middle of the pack, and offer it to a person to draw. Then, by cutting the cards, bring the queen again to the middle of the pack. Make... To Construct Paper Balloons
Take several sheets of silk paper; cut them in the shape of a spindle; or, to speak more familiarly, like the coverings of the sections of an orange; join these pieces together, into one spherical or globular body, and border the aperture with a rib... To Construct The Camera Obscura
Make a circular hole in the shutter of a window, from whence there is a prospect of some distance; in this hole place a magnifying glass, either double or single, whose focus is at the distance of five or six feet; no light must enter the room but t... To Discover The Card Which Is Drawn By The Throw Of A Die
Prepare a pack of cards, in which there are only six sorts of cards. Dispose these cards in such manner that each of the six different cards shall follow each other, and let the last of each suite be a long card. The cards being thus disposed, it fo... To Diversify The Colours Of Flowers
Fill a vessel of what size or shape you please, with good rich earth, which has been dried and sifted in the sun, then plant in the same a slip or branch of a plant bearing a white flower, (for such only can be tinged,) and use no other water to wat... To Draw Easily And Correctly A Landscape Or Any Other Object
without being obliged to observe the Rules of Perspective, and without the Aid of the Camera Obscura. Procure a box of pasteboard, A B C D, Fig. 13, of about a foot and a half long, and made in the shape of a truncated pyramid, whose base, B D F... To Drive Or Ram Rockets Rockets Are Filled Hollow Otherwise They
would not ascend, and there is not a part that requires greater attention than this stage of the process. One blow more or less with the mallet will spoil the ascent. The charge of rockets must always be driven above the piercer, and on it must be ... To Extract The Silver Out Of A Ring That Is Thick Gilded So That The
Gold may remain entire. Take a silver ring that is thick gilded. Make a little hole through the gold into the silver; then put the ring into aqua fortis, in a warm place: it will dissolve the silver, and the gold will remain whole. ... To Fill A Bladder With Hydrogen Gas
Apply a bladder, previously wetted and compressed, in order to squeeze out all the common air, to the piece of tobacco-pipe inserted in the cork stopper of the phial, (as described in the experiment above.) The bladder will thus be filled with hydro... To Find How Many Square Yards It Would Require To Write All The
Changes of the Twenty-four Letters of the Alphabet, written so small, that each Letter should not occupy more than the hundredth part of a square Inch. By adopting the plan of the preceding article, the changes of the twenty-four letters will be fo... To Find The Difference Between Two Numbers The Greatest Of Which Is
unknown. Take as many nines as there are figures in the smallest number, and subtract that sum from the number of nines. Let another person add that difference to the largest number, and, taking away the first figure of the amount, add it to the la... To Find The Number Of Changes That May Be Rung On Twelve Bells
Multiply the numbers from 1 to 12 continually into each other, as follow: and the last product will give the number required. 1 2 -- 2 3 -- 6 4 ...