Part 3

Pour some of the contents of the bottle into an unprepared glass, in order to show that it is water; then say: “Change to champagne,” and pour the liquid from the bottle into one of the glasses rinsed with No. 4; then pour into the glass containing three drops of No. 2, and it will change to port wine; but if poured into the glass rinsed with No. 3, it will change to milk; and if into the glass with one drop of No. 2, it will produce sherry.

Be careful in pouring the fluid from the bottle, not to hold it high above the glasses, but to keep the mouth of it close to the edges, otherwise persons will observe that it undergoes change of color after it is poured into them; and, on this account, the glasses should be held rather high.

As all the solutions used in the above trick are deleterious, they should not be left about in the way of children, and, of course, the fluid in the wine-glasses must not even be tasted; but if any of the company wish to drink the wines you have made, then the tray must be adroitly exchanged for another with the proper wines placed on it.

The Faded Rose Restored.

Take a rose that is quite faded, and throw some sulphur on a chafing-dish of hot coals; then hold the rose over the fumes of the sulphur, and it will become quite white; in this state dip it into water, put it into a box, or drawer, for three or four hours, and when taken out it will be quite red again.

The Protean Liquid.

A red liquor, which, when poured into different glasses, will become yellow, blue, black, and violet, may be thus made: Infuse a few shavings of logwood in common water, and when the liquor is red, pour it into a bottle; then take three drinking-glasses, rinse one of them with strong vinegar, throw into the second a small quantity of pounded alum, which will not be observed if the glass has been newly washed, and leave the third without any preparation. If the red liquor in the bottle be poured into the first glass it will assume a straw color; if into the second, it will pass gradually from bluish-gray to black, provided it be stirred with a bit of iron, which has been privately immersed in good vinegar; in the third glass the red liquor will assume a violet tint.

The Changeable Ribbon.

Dip a rose-colored ribbon into nitric acid, diluted with eight or ten parts of water, and as soon as the color disappears, which it will do in a short time, take out the ribbon and put it into a very weak alkaline solution, when the alkali will quickly neutralize the acid, and the color will reappear.

The Chemical Chameleon.

Put a drachm of powdered nitrate of cobalt into a vial, containing an ounce of the solution of caustic potash, when the decomposition of the salt, and precipitation of a blue oxide of cobalt will take place. Cork the vial, and the liquid will assume a blue color, from which it will pass to a lilac, afterward to a peach tint, and finally to a light red.

Musical Flame.

Fit a good cork into a wine-bottle; burn a hole through the cork with a round iron skewer, and into it fix a piece of tobacco pipe about eight inches long. Put into the bottle about two or three ounces of zinc, in slips, such as the waste cuttings from a zinc-worker; now pour water on to the zinc until the bottle is more than half full; then add about three parts of a wine-glassful of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol); this causes a rapid effervescence at first, but which subsides to a moderate and continuous boiling for a lengthened period; as soon as the boiling is regular, the cork with the pipe through it may be inserted into the bottle. If a light be placed to the end of the pipe, a flame will be produced, which will continue to burn so long as there is any visible action in the bottle. This flame is the ignited hydrogen gas (water gas), resulting from the decomposition of water by the acid and zinc, and as such is an exceedingly interesting experiment. Now, to be musical, procure a glass or metal pipe, about sixteen or eighteen inches long, and from half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter; place the tube over the flame, and allow the pipe to be about three to five inches up the tube, which will act as a kind of high chimney; it must be held perfectly steady and upright, at a particular distance up the tube, which varies according to the size of the flame. A beautiful sound is thus produced, similar to an organ-pipe. This sound, or “musical flame,” varies in note according to the diameter of the tube, being deeper or more bass as the tube is increased in size. By using various-sized tubes, different sounds are thus readily produced. The true explanation of this singular experiment remains yet to be solved.

Optical Amusements.

The science of optics affords an infinite variety of amusements, which cannot fail to instruct the mind, as well as delight the eye. By the aid of optical instruments we are enabled to lessen the distance to our visual organs between the globe we inhabit and “the wonders of the heavens above us;” to watch “the stars in their courses,” and survey at leisure the magnificence of “comets importing change of times and states;” to observe the exquisite finish and propriety of construction which are to be found in the most minute productions of the earth;--to trace the path of the planet, in its course around the magnificent orb of day, and to detect the pulsation of the blood, as it flows through the veins of an insect. These are but a few of the powers which this science offers to man; to enumerate them all would require a space equal to the body of our work; neither do we propose to notice the various instruments and experiments which are devoted to purposes merely scientific; it being our desire only to call the attention of our juvenile readers to such things as combine a vast deal of amusement with much instruction, to inform them as to the construction of the various popular instruments; to show the manner of using them, and to explain some of the most attractive experiments which the science affords. By doing thus much, we hope to offer a sufficient inducement to extend inquiry much further than the information which a work of this nature will enable us to afford.

The Camera Obscura.

This is a very pleasing and instructive optical apparatus, and may be purchased for a small sum. But it may be easily made by the young optician. Procure an oblong box, about two feet long, twelve inches wide, and eight high. In one end of this a tube must be fitted containing a lens, and be made to slide backward and forward, so as to suit the focus. Within the box should be a plain mirror, reclining backward from the tube at an angle of forty-five degrees. At the top of the box is a square of unpolished glass, upon which, from beneath, the picture will be thrown, and may be seen by raising the lid. To use the camera, place the tube with the lens on it opposite to the object, and having adjusted the focus, the image will be thrown upon the ground glass, as above stated, where it may be easily copied by a pencil or in colors.

The Magic Lantern.

The object of this ingenious instrument is to represent, in a dark room, on a white wall or cloth, a succession of enlarged figures of remarkable, natural, or grotesque objects. It consists of a tin box, with a funnel on the top, and a door on one side of it. This funnel, by being bent, serves the double purpose of letting out the smoke and keeping in the light. In the middle of the bottom of the box is placed a movable lamp, which must have two or three good lights, at the height of the center of the polished tin reflector. In the front of the box, opposite the reflector, is fixed a tin tube, in which there slides another tube. The sliding tube has, at its outer extremity, a convex lens fixed in it, of three inches in diameter. The focus of the smaller of these lenses may be about five inches. Between the stationary tube and the lamp, there must be a split or opening to admit of the passage of glass sliders, mounted in paper or wooden frames, upon which sliders it is that the miniature figures are painted, which are intended to be shown upon the wall. The distinctness of the enlarged figures depends not only upon the goodness of the magnifying glass, but upon the clearness of the light yielded by the lamp. It may be purchased ready made of any optician.

To Paint the Glasses.--The slides containing the objects usually shown in a magic lantern are to be bought of opticians with the lantern, and can be procured cheaper and better in this way than by any attempt at manufacturing them. Should, however, the young optician wish to make a few slides, of objects of particular interest to himself, he may proceed as follows: Draw on a paper the subject you desire to paint. Lay it on a table or any flat surface, and place the glass over it; then draw the outlines with a very fine pencil, in varnish mixed with black paint, and, when dry, fill up the other parts in their proper colors. Transparent colors must be used for this purpose, such as carmine, lake, Prussian blue, verdigris, sulphate of iron, tincture of Brazil wood, gamboge, etc.; and these must be tempered with a strong white varnish, to prevent their peeling off. Then shade them with black, or with bistre, mixed with the same varnish.

To Exhibit the Magic Lantern.--The room for the exhibition ought to be large, and of an oblong shape. At one end of it suspend a large sheet, so as to cover the whole of the wall. The company being all seated, darken the room, and placing the lantern with its tube in the direction of the sheet, introduce one of the slides into the slit, taking care to invert the figures; then adjust the focus of the glasses in the tube, by drawing it in or out, as required, and a perfect representation of the object will appear.

Effects of the Magic Lantern.--Most extraordinary effects may be produced by means of the magic lantern; one of the most effective of which is a tempest at sea.

This is effected by having two slides painted, one with the tempest as approaching on one side, and continuing in intensity till it reaches the other. Another slide has ships painted on it, and while the lantern is in use, that containing the ships is dexterously drawn before the other, and represents ships in the storm.

The effects of sunrise, moonlight, starlight, etc., may be imitated also, by means of double sliders; and figures may be introduced sometimes of fearful proportions.

Heads may be made to nod, faces to laugh; eyes may be made to roll, teeth to gnash; crocodiles may be made to swallow tigers; combats may be represented; but one of the most instructive uses of the slides is to make them illustrative of astronomy, and to show the ratio of the seasons, the cause of the eclipses, the mountains in the moon, spots on the sun, and the various motions of the planetary bodies and their satellites.

The Phantasmagoria.

Between the phantasmagoria and the magic lantern there is this difference: in common magic lanterns the figures are painted on transparent glass; consequently the image on the screen is a circle of light, having figures upon it; but in the phantasmagoria all the glass is opaque, except the figures, which, being painted in transparent colors, the light shines through them, and no light can come upon the screen except that which passes through the figure.

There is no sheet to receive the picture, but the representation is thrown on a thin screen of silk or muslin, placed between the spectators and the lantern. The images are made to appear approaching and receding, by removing the lantern further from the screen, or bringing it nearer to it. This is a great advantage over the arrangements of the magic lantern, and by it the most astonishing effects are often produced.