Part 2

Lime-water is quite transparent, and clear as common spring water; but if we breathe or blow into it, the bright liquid becomes opalescent and as white as milk.

The best way to try this simple experiment is to put some powdered quicklime into a wine bottle full of cold water; shake them well together, now and then, for a day; then allow the bottle to remain quiet till the next day, when the clear lime-water may be poured off from the sediment. Now fill a wine-glass or tumbler with the lime-water thus made, and blow through the liquid with a glass tube, a piece of new tobacco-pipe, or a clean straw, and in the course of a minute or so--as the magicians say--“the water will be turned into milk.” By means of this pastime “Wise Men” can ascertain which young ladies are in love and which young gentlemen are not. With a shrewd guess they present, as a test, a glass of lime-water to the one and of pure water to the other, with unerring effect.

The Mimic Vesuvius.

This experiment is a demonstration of the heat and light which are evolved during chemical combination. The substance phosphorus has a great affinity for oxygen gas, and wherever it can get it from it will, especially when aided by the application of heat. To perform this experiment, put half a drachm of solid phosphorus into a Florence oil-flask, holding the glass slantingly, that the phosphorus may not take fire and break the glass; pour upon it a gill and a half of water, and place the whole over a tea-kettle lamp, or any common lamp filled with spirits of wine; light the wick, which should be about half an inch from the flask; and as soon as the water is boiling hot, streams of fire, resembling sky-rockets, will burst at intervals from the water; some particles will also adhere to the sides of the glass, immediately displaying brilliant rays, and thus continue until the water begins to simmer, when a beautiful imitation of the aurora borealis will commence and gradually ascend until it collects into a pointed cone at the mouth of the flask; after a half a minute, blow out the flame of the lamp, and the apex of fire that was formed at the mouth of the flask will rush down, forming beautiful illumined clouds of fire, rolling over each other for some time; and when these disappear, a splendid hemisphere of stars will present itself. After waiting a minute or two, light the lamp again, and nearly the same phenomena will be displayed as at the beginning. Let a repetition of lighting and blowing out the lamp be made for three or four times, so that the number of stars may be increased; and after the third or fourth act of blowing out the lamp, the internal surface of the flask will be dry. Many of the stars will shoot with great splendor from side to side, while others will appear and burst at the mouth of the flask. What liquid remains in the flask will serve for the same experiment three or four times, without adding any water. Care should be taken, after the operation is over, to put the flask in a cool and secure place.

The Real Will-o’-the-Wisp.

Into a small retort place about an ounce of strong liquor of potash; that is, pure potash dissolved in water, together with about a drachm of phosphorus. Let the neck or beak of the retort dip into a saucer of water, say half an inch deep; now very gently heat the liquid in the retort with a spirit-lamp until it boils. In a few minutes the retort will be filled with a white cloud; then the gas generated will begin to bubble at the end of the saucer; a minute more, each bubble, as it issues from the boiling fluid, will spontaneously take fire as it comes into the air, forming at the same time the philosopher’s ring of phosphoric acid. Care is required in handling phosphorus; but our young chemical readers will, we think, not forego this wonderful experiment for the want of due attention; for, without proper care on their part, we must give up showing them wonders even greater than these.

The Paper Oracle.

Some amusement may be obtained among young people by writing, with common ink, a variety of questions, on different bits of paper, and adding a pertinent reply to each, written with nitro-muriate of gold. The collection should be suffered to dry, and put aside, until an opportunity offers for using them. When produced, the answers will be invisible; desire different persons to select such questions as they may fancy, and take them home with them; then promise, if they are placed near the fire during the night, answers will appear written beneath the questions in the morning; and such will be the fact, if the paper be put in any dry, warm situation.

The Mimic Gas-House.

This shows a simple way of making illuminating gas, by means of a tobacco-pipe. Bituminous coal contains a number of chemical compounds, nearly all of which can, by distillation, be converted into an illuminating gas; as with this gas nearly all our cities are now lighted in the dark hours of night. To make it, obtain some coal-dust (or walnut or butternut meats will answer), and fill the bowl of a pipe with it; then cement the top over with some clay; place the bowl in the fire, and soon smoke will be seen issuing from the end of the stem; when that has ceased coming apply a light and it will burn brilliantly for several minutes; after it has ceased, take the pipe from the fire and let it cool, then remove the clay, and a piece of coke will be found inside: this is the excess of carbon over the hydrogen contained in the coal, for all the hydrogen will combine with carbon at a high temperature, and make what are called hydrocarbons--a series of substances containing both these elemental forms of matter.

Alum Basket.

Make a small basket, about the size of the hand, of iron wire or split willow; then take some lamp-cotton, untwist it, and wind it around every portion of the basket. Then mix alum, in the proportion of one pound with a quart of water, and boil it until the alum is dissolved. Pour the solution into a deep pan, and in the liquor suspend the basket, so that no part of it touch the vessel or be exposed to the air. Let the whole remain perfectly at rest for twenty-four hours; when, if you take out the basket, the alum will be found prettily crystallized over all the limbs of the cottoned frame.

In like manner, a cinder, a piece of coke, the sprig of a plant, or any other object, suspended in the solution by a thread, will become covered with beautiful crystals.

If powdered tumeric be added to the hot solution, the crystals will be of a bright yellow; if litmus be used instead, they will be of a bright red; logwood will yield them of a purple, and common writing-ink, of a black tint; or, if sulphate of copper be used instead of alum, the crystals will be of fine blue.

But the colored alum crystals are much more brittle than those of pure alum, and the colors fly; the best way of preserving them is to place them under a glass shade, with a saucer containing water. This keeps the atmosphere constantly saturated with moisture, the crystals never become too dry, and their texture and color undergo but little change.

The Magic Bottle.

This trick, if well managed, is one of the most wonderful that can be performed in a drawing-room without apparatus; but it requires dexterity at the conclusion.

The person performing the trick offers to pour from a common wine-bottle, port-wine, sherry, milk, and champagne, in succession, and in any order.

To accomplish the trick, you must make solutions of the following chemicals, and label the bottles with numbers, thus:

No. 1. A mixture of two parts perchloride of iron, and one part sulphuric acid (vitriol).

No. 2. A strong solution of the sulphocyanate of potash.

No. 3. A strong solution of acetate of lead.

No. 4. A solution of bicarbonate of soda, or potash.

No. 5. A clear solution of gum arabic.

Procure a champagne-bottle, and wash it out well; then pour three teaspoonfuls of No. 1 into it. As the quantity is very small, it will not be observed, especially if you are quick in your movements. Pour some distilled or rain water into a common water-bottle, or jug, and add a tablespoonful of No. 5 to it; then set it aside, ready for use.

Provide some wine-glasses, of four different patterns, and into one pattern put one drop of solution No. 2; into another, three drops of solution No. 2; rinse the third with solution No. 3, and the fourth with solution No. 4.

Arrange the glasses on a small tray, remembering the solutions that were poured into each pattern.

Everything being ready, take the champagne bottle that you have prepared, from two or three others, and holding it up, to show the company that it is clear and empty; you must desire some person to hand you the water-bottle or jug, and then fill up the bottle with the water.