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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
In "Endless Amusement," the enigmatic author weaves a tapestry of whimsical narratives that explore the intersections of joy, absurdity, and the human condition. Through an eclectic array of short stories, each punctuated with vivid imagery and rich symbolism, the book invites readers into a kaleidoscopic world where laughter often masks deeper existential questions. The literary style is marked by a playful yet profound approach reminiscent of magical realism, echoing the works of literary giants while carving a unique niche that blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The identity of the author remains shrouded in mystery, which adds an intriguing layer to the reading experience. This anonymity could suggest an intentional distancing from authorial bias, allowing the universality of the themes to resonate more powerfully with readers. Drawing from a vast well of cultural influences, the author captures the essence of varied human experiences, perhaps inspired by their own encounters with life's absurdities and the pursuit of joy amidst chaos. "Endless Amusement" is a compelling read for those who appreciate literature that challenges the status quo and revels in the playful exploration of life'Äôs intricacies. The book is recommended for anyone seeking a fresh perspective on entertainment, human experience, and the delightful absurdities we encounter daily.
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Endless Amusement
Table of Contents
ENDLESSAMUSEMENT.
To produce Fire by the Mixture of two cold Liquids.
Take half a pound of pure dry nitrate, in powder; put it into a retort that is quite dry; add an equal quantity of highly rectified oil of vitriol, and, distilling the mixture in a moderate sand heat, it will produce a liquor like a yellowish fume; this, when caught in a dry receiver, is Glauber's Spirits of Nitre; probably the preparation, under that name, may be obtained of the chemists, which will of course save much time and trouble.
You then put a drachm of distilled oil of cloves, turpentine, or carraways, in a glass vessel; and if you add an equal quantity, or rather more, of the above spirit, though both are in themselves perfectly cold, yet, on mixing them together, a great flame will arise and destroy them both, leaving only a little resinous matter at the bottom.
The Exploding Bubble.
If you take up a small quantity of melted glass with a tube, (the bowl of a common tobacco-pipe will do,) and let a drop fall into a vessel of water, it will chill and condense with a fine spiral tail, which being broken, the whole substance will burst with a loud explosion, without injury either to the party that holds it, or him that breaks it; but if the thick end be struck, even with a hammer, it will not break.
The Magic Picture.
Take two level pieces of glass, (plate glass is the best,) about three inches long and four wide, exactly of the same size; lay one on the other, and leave a space between them by pasting a piece of card, or two or three small pieces of thick paper, at each corner.
Join these glasses together at the edges by a composition of lime slaked by exposure to the air, and white of an egg. Cover all the edges of these glasses with parchment or bladder, except at one end, which is to be left open to admit the following composition.
Dissolve, by a slow fire, six ounces of hogs'-lard, with half an ounce of white wax; to which you may add an ounce of clear linseed oil.
This must be poured in a liquid state, and before a fire, between the glasses, by the space left in the sides, and which you are then to close up. Wipe the glasses clean, and hold them before the fire, to see that the composition will not run out at any part.
Then fasten with gum a picture or print, painted on very thin paper, with its face to one of the glasses, and, if you like, you may fix the whole in a frame.
While the mixture between the glasses is cold, the picture will be quite concealed, but become transparent when held to the fire; and, as the composition cools, it will gradually disappear.
Artificial Lightning.
Provide a tin tube that is larger at one end than it is at the other, and in which there are several holes. Fill this tube with powdered resin; and when it is shook over the flame of a torch, the reflection will produce the exact appearance of lightning.
Artificial Thunder.
Mix two drachms of the filings of iron, with one ounce of concentrated spirit of vitriol, in a strong bottle that holds about a quarter of a pint; stop it close, and in a few minutes shake the bottle; then taking out the cork, put a lighted candle near its mouth, which should be a little inclined, and you will soon observe an inflammation arise from the bottle, attended with a loud explosion.
To guard against the danger of the bottle bursting, the best way would be to bury it in the ground, and apply the light to the mouth by means of a taper fastened to the end of a long stick.
Another way.
Mix three ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of salt of tartar, and two ounces of sulphur; roll the mixture up into a ball, of which take a quantity, about the size of a hazel-nut, and, placing it in a ladle or shovel over the fire, the explosion will resemble a loud clap of thunder.
You will produce a much more violent commotion if you double or treble the quantity of the last experiment; suppose you put two or three ounces of the mixture into the shovel. For fear of accidents, it should not be done in the house, but by placing the shovel over a chafing-dish of very hot coals, in the open air, standing a great distance off.
Common prudence will dictate the necessity of using great care in the above experiments, as an accident will soon happen if a person does not get out of the way before the composition explodes.
Money augmented by an Optical Illusion.
In a large drinking-glass of a conical shape, (small at the bottom and wide at the top,) put a shilling, and let the glass be half full of water; then place a plate on the top of it, and turn it quickly over, that the water may not escape. You will see on the plate a piece of coin of the size of half-a-crown; and a little higher up another the size of a shilling.
It will add to the amusement this experiment affords, by giving the glass to any one in company, (but who, of course, has not witnessed your operations,) and, desiring him to throw away the water, but save the pieces, he will not be a little surprised at finding only one.
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 two of them, suppose the first and second; alter the position of your eye, and you will see the first and third: alter your position a second time, you will see the second and third, but never the whole three together; by which it appears, that a person who has only one eye can never see three objects placed in this position, nor all the parts of one object of the same extent, without altering his situation.
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 through this glass. At a distance from it, equal to its focus, place a very white pasteboard, (what is called a Bristol board, if you can procure one large enough, will answer extremely well;) this board must be two feet and a half long, and eighteen or twenty inches high, with a black border round it: bend the length of it inward to the form of part of a circle, whose diameter is equal to double the focal distance of the glass. Fix it on a frame of the same figure, and put it on a moveable foot, that it may be easily placed at that distance from the glass, where the objects appear to the greatest perfection. When it is thus placed, all the objects in front of the window will be painted on the paper in an inverted position, with the greatest regularity, and in the most natural colours. If you place a swing looking-glass outside the window, by turning it more or less, you will have on the paper all the objects on each side the window.
If, instead of placing the looking-glass outside the window, you place it in the room above the hole, (which must then be made near the top of the shutter,) you may have the representation on a paper placed horizontally on a table, and draw at your leisure all the objects reflected.
Observe, the best situation is directly north; and the best time of the day is noon.
The Magnifying Reflector.
Let the rays of light that pass through the magnifying glass in the shutter be thrown on a large concave mirror, properly fixed in a frame. Then take a third strip of glass, and stick any small object on it; hold it in the intervening rays at a little more than the focal distance from the mirror, and you will see on the opposite wall, amidst the reflected rays, the image of that object, very large, and beautifully clear and bright.
To tell by a Watch Dial the Hour when a Person intends to rise.
The person is told to set the hand of his watch at any hour he pleases, which hour he tells you; and you add in your mind 12 to it. You then desire him to count privately the number of that addition on the dial, commencing at the next hour to that at which he intends to rise, and including the hour at which he has placed the hand, which will give the answer: for example.
A intends to rise at 6, (this he conceals to himself;) he places the hand at 8, which he tells B, who, in his own mind, adds 12 to 8, which makes twenty. B then tells A to count twenty on the dial, beginning at the next hour to that at which he proposes to rise, which will be 5, and counting backwards, reckoning each hour as one, and including in his addition the number of the hour the hand is placed at, the addition will end at 6, which is the hour proposed; thus,
The hour the hand is placed at is
8
The next hour to that which A intends to rise at is 5, which counts for
1
Count back the hours from 5, and reckon them at 1 each, there will be 11 hours, viz., 4, 3, 2, 1, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6
11
———
Making
20
A person having an even Number of Shillings in one Hand, and an odd Number in the other, to tell in which hand the odd or even Number is.
You desire the person to multiply the number in his right hand by an odd figure, and the number in his left by an even one; and tell you if the products, added together, be odd or even. If even, the even number is in the right hand; if odd, the even number is in the left. For instance,
I. Number in the right hand is
even
18
In the left hand
odd
7
Multiply by
3
Multiply by
2
———
———
Product
54
Product
14
Add the Product of the left hand
14
———
Which produces a total of
68
II. Number in the right hand is
odd
7
In the left hand
even
18
Multiply by
3
Multiply by
2
———
———
Product
21
Product
36
Add the Product of the left hand
36
———
Which produces a total of
57
Secret Correspondence.
To carry on a correspondence without the possibility of the meaning of the letter being detected, in case it should be opened by any other person, has employed the ingenuity of many. No method will be found more effectual for this purpose, or more easy, than the following.
Provide a piece of square card or pasteboard, and draw a circle on it, which circle is to be divided into 27 equal parts, in each of which parts must be written one of the capital letters of the alphabet, and the &, as in the figure. Let the centre of this circle be blank. Then draw another circle, also divided into 27 equal parts, in each of which write one of the small letters of the alphabet, and the &. This circle must be cut round, and made exactly to fit the blank space in the centre of the large circle, and must run round a pivot or pin. The person with whom you correspond must have a similar dial, and at the beginning of your letter you must put the capital letter, and at the end the small letter, which answer to each other when you have fixed your dial.
Suppose what you wish to communicate is as follows:
I am so watched I cannot see you as I promised; but I will meet you to-morrow in the park, with the letters, &c.
You begin with the letter T, and end with the letter m, which shows how you have fixed the dial, and how your correspondent must fix his, that he may decipher your letter.
Then, for I am, you write b uf, and so of the rest, as follows.
T b uf lh pumrvayx b rvugghm lyy rhn ul b ikhfblyx vnm b pbee fyym rhn mh-fhkkhp bg may iukd pbma may eymmykl, tw. m.
Another Way.
Take two pieces of card, pasteboard, or stiff paper, through which you cut long squares at different distances. One of these you keep yourself, and the other you give to your correspondent. You lay the pasteboard on a paper, and, in the spaces cut out, write what you would have understood by him only; then fill the intermediate spaces with any words that will connect the whole together, and make a different sense. When he receives it, he lays his pasteboard over the whole, and those words which are between crotchets [ ] form the intelligence you wish to communicate. For example: suppose you want to express these word,
"Don't trust Robert: I have found him a villain."
"[Don't] fail to send my books. I [trust] they will be ready when [Robert] calls on you. [I have] heard that you have [found] your dog. I call [him a villain] who stole him." You may place a pasteboard of this kind three other ways—the bottom at top—the top at bottom, or by turning it over; but in this case you must previously apprize your correspondent, or he may not be able to decipher your meaning.
Secret Correspondence by Music.
Form a circle like Fig. 2, divided into twenty-six parts, with a letter of the alphabet written in each. The interior of the circle is moveable, like that in Fig. 1, and the circumference is to be ruled like music-paper. Place in each division a note different in figure or position.
Within the musical lines place the three keys, and on the outer circle the figures to denote time. Then get a ruled paper, and place one of the keys (suppose ge-re-sol) against the time 2–4ths, at the beginning of the paper, which will inform your correspondent how to place his circle. You then copy the notes that answer to the letters of the words you intend to write, in the manner expressed above.
The Magic Vessel.
On the bottom of a vessel, lay three pieces of money, the first at A, the second at B, and the third at C, Fig. 3. Then place a person at D, where he can see no farther into the vessel than E. You tell him, that by pouring water in the vessel you will make him see three different pieces of money; and bid him observe, that you do not convey any money in with the water. But be careful that you pour the water in very gently, or the pieces will move out of their places, and thereby destroy the experiment.
When the water rises up to F, the piece at A will be visible; when it reaches G, both A and B will be visible; and when it comes up to H, all three pieces will be visible.
Artificial Earthquake and Volcano.
Grind an equal quantity of fresh iron filings with pure sulphur, till the whole be reduced to a fine powder. Be careful not to let any wet come near it. Then bury about thirty pounds of it a foot deep in the earth, and in about six or eight hours the ground will heave and swell, and shortly after send forth smoke and flames like a burning mountain. If the earth is raised in a conical shape, it will be no bad miniature resemblance of one of the burning mountains.
Artificial Illuminations.
A very pleasing exhibition may be made with very little trouble or expense, in the following manner: Provide a box, which you fit up with architectural designs cut out on pasteboard; prick small holes in those parts of the building where you wish the illuminations to appear, observing, that in proportion to the perspective, the holes are to be made smaller; and on the near objects the holes are to be made larger. Behind these designs thus perforated, you fix a lamp or candle, but in such a manner that the reflection of the light shall only shine through the holes; then placing a light of just sufficient brilliance to show the design of the buildings before it, and making a hole for the sight at the front end of the box, you will have a very tolerable representation of illuminated buildings.
The best way of throwing the light in front, is to place an oiled paper before it, which will cast a mellow gleam over the scenery, and not diminish the effect of the illumination. This can be very easily planned, both not to obstruct the sight, nor be seen to disadvantage. The lights behind the picture should be very strong; and if a magnifying glass were placed in the sight hole, it would tend greatly to increase the effect. The box must be covered in, leaving an aperture for the smoke of the lights to pass through.
The above exhibition can only be shown at candle-light; but there is another way, by fixing small pieces of gold on the building, instead of drilling the holes; which gives something like the appearance of illumination, but by no means equal to the foregoing experiment.
N.B. It would be an improvement, if paper of various colours, rendered transparent by oil, were placed between the lights behind and the aperture in the buildings, as they would then resemble lamps of different colours.
The Cameleon Spirit.
Put into a decanter volatile spirit, in which you have dissolved copper filings, and it will produce a fine blue. If the bottle be stopped, the colour will disappear; but when unstopped, it will return. This experiment may be often repeated.
Invisible Ink.
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 sun for two or three days, turning it five or six times a-day. Keep the bottle containing this liquor well corked, as the vapour is highly pernicious if received into the mouth.
Write what you wish with a pen dipped in the first liquor; and, to make it visible, expose it to the vapour of the second liquor. If you wish them to disappear again, draw a sponge or pencil, dipped in aqua fortis, or spirit of nitre, over the paper; and if you wish them to re-appear, let the paper be quite dry, and then pass the solution of orpiment over it.
Another.
Dissolve bismuth in nitrous acid. When the writing with this fluid is exposed to the vapour of liver of sulphur, it will become quite black.
Another.
Dissolve green vitriol and a little nitrous acid in common water. Write your characters with a new pen.
Next infuse small Aleppo galls, slightly bruised in water. In two or three days, pour the liquor off.
By drawing a pencil dipped in this second solution over the characters written with the first, they will appear a beautiful black.
Invisible Gold Ink.
Put as much gold in as small a quantity of aqua regia as will dissolve it, and dilute it with two or three times the quantity of distilled water.
Next dissolve, in a separate vessel, fine pewter in aqua regia, and when it is well impregnated, add an equal quantity of distilled water.
Write your characters with the first solution: let it dry in the shade. To make them visible, draw a pencil or sponge, dipped in the second solution, over the paper, and the characters will appear of a purple colour.
Invisible Silver Ink.
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 easily read in an hour, if exposed to the fire, air, or sun.
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 characters visible, which you write with this ink, pass a sponge over the paper, dipped in the following solution:
Take a quantity of flowers of pansy, or the common violet, bruise them in a mortar with water, strain the liquor in a cloth, and keep it in a bottle.
Invisible Red Ink.
To the pure spirit of vitriol or nitre, add eight times as much water.
Use the above solution of violets to make visible the characters written with this ink.
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.
Another Invisible Green Ink.
Dissolve zaffre, in powder, in aqua regia, for twenty-four hours. Pour the liquor off, and the same quantity of common water, and keep it in a bottle well corked.
This ink will not be visible till exposed to the fire or the sun; and will again be invisible when it becomes cold.
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 Grey Ink.
Mix alum with lemon-juice. The letters written with this ink will be invisible till dipped in water.
We now present our readers with a variety of amusing experiments, which may be performed by the foregoing inks; and they will, probably, suggest others equally amusing and useful.
A Secret Correspondence by means of Invisible Ink.
A person wishing to carry on a correspondence with another, and who is fearful of having his letter opened, or intercepted, can adopt the following plan:
Write any unimportant matter with common ink, and let the lines be very wide apart: then between these lines write the communication you wish to make, with any of the above invisible inks you can most readily procure.
Your correspondent is to be previously apprized of the method of making the characters visible: and writing in common ink will serve to lull the suspicions of those who might intercept the letter, and who, not finding any thing important in it, will either forward or keep it. In either case there can be no danger, as the writing will not be visible without the proper application.
The Mysterious Writing.
Write on a piece of paper with common ink any question; then underneath it write the answer either in invisible silver ink, or the invisible green ink, made with zaffre and aqua regia, described in pages 24 and 25.
You give this paper to your friend, and tell him to place it against the wall, or on his dressing-table, keeping the door locked, that he may be sure no person has entered his room: he will next day find the answer written on it.
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 them to the company, observing, that you will restore them to their natural colours, and desiring any person to fix any private mark on them he pleases, that he may be sure there is no deception. You then, unperceived by the company, dip them in the revivifying liquor, used to make the yellow ink visible, described in page 24, and, drawing them gently out, that the liquor may drop, and the flowers have time to acquire their colours, you present them to the company, who will see, with surprise, that they each appear in their natural colours.
Winter changed to Spring.
Take a print that represents winter, and colour those parts which should appear green, with the second green invisible ink, described in page 25; observing, of course, the usual rules of perspective, by making the near parts deeper in colour than the others. The other objects must be painted in their natural colours. Then put the print into a frame with a glass, and cover the back with a paper that is pasted only at its extremities.
When this print is exposed to a moderate fire, or the warm sun, the foliage, which appeared covered with snow, will change to a pleasing green; and if a yellow tint be thrown on the lighter parts before the invisible ink is drawn over it, this green will be of different shades. When it is exposed to the cold, it will again resume its first appearance of winter.
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 quart of common water; to the whole add your dissolved silver, and let it remain untouched.
In a few days the mercury will appear covered with a number of little branches of a silver colour. This appearance will increase for a month or two, and will remain after the mercury is entirely dissolved.
The Lead Tree.
A more modern invention, and an easier method by far than the above, is the following:
To a piece of zinc fasten a wire, crooked in the form of the worm of a still; let the other end of the worm be thrust through a cork. You then pour spring water into a phial or decanter, to which you add a small quantity of sugar of lead; thrust the zinc into the bottle, and with the cork at the end of the wire fasten it up. In a few days the tree will begin to grow, and produce a most beautiful effect.
To produce beautiful Fire-works in Miniature.
Put half a drachm of solid phosphorus into a large pint Florence flask; holding it slanting, that the phosphorus may not 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 tin lamp, filled with spirit of wine. Light the wick, which should be almost half an inch from the flask; and as soon as the water is heated, streams of fire will issue from the water by starts, resembling sky-rockets; some particles will adhere to the sides of the glass representing stars; and will frequently display brilliant rays. These appearances will continue at times till the water begins to simmer, when immediately a curious aurora borealis begins, and gradually ascends, till it collects to a pointed flame; when it has continued half a minute, blow out the flame of the lamp, and the point that was formed will rush down, forming beautiful illuminated clouds of fire, rolling over each other for some time, which disappearing, a splendid hemisphere of stars presents itself: after waiting a minute or two, light the lamp again, and nearly the same phenomenon will be displayed as from the beginning. Let the repetition of lighting and blowing out the lamp be made for three or four times at least, that the stars may be increased. After the third or fourth time of blowing out the lamp, in a few minutes after the internal surface of the flask is dry, many of the stars will shoot with great splendour, from side to side, and some of them will fire off with brilliant rays; these appearances will continue several minutes. What remains in the flask will serve for the same experiment several times, and without adding any more water. Care should be taken, after the operation is over, to lay the flask and water in a cool, secure place.
Artificial Rain and Hail.
Make a hollow cylinder of wood; let it be very thin at the sides, about eight or ten inches wide, and two or three feet diameter. Divide its inside into five equal parts, by boards of five or six inches wide, and let there be between them and the wooden circle, a space of about one-sixth of an inch. You are to place these boards obliquely. In this cylinder put four or five pounds of shot that will easily pass through the opening. When turned upside down, the noise of the shot going through the various partitions will resemble rain; and if you put large shot, it will produce the sound of hail.
Illuminated Writing.
It is well known that if any words are written on a wall with solid phosphorus, the writing will appear as if on fire; but it is necessary to give this caution, lest accidents should occur. In using it, let a cup of water be always near you; and do not keep it more than a minute and a half in your hand, for fear the warmth of your hand should set it on fire. When you have written a few words with it, put the phosphorus into the cup of water, and let it stay a little to cool; then take it out, and write with it again.
A Lamp that will burn Twelve Months without replenishing.
Take a stick of phosphorus, and put it into a large dry phial, not corked, and it will afford a light sufficient to discern any object in a room when held near it. The phials should be kept in a cool place, where there is no great current of air, and it will continue its luminous appearance for more than twelve months.
Curious Transcolorations.
Put half a table-spoonful of syrup of violets and three table-spoonfuls of water into a glass; stir them well together with a stick, and put half the mixture into another glass. If you add a few drops of acid of vitriol into one of the glasses and stir it, it will be changed into a crimson; put a few drops of fixed alkali dissolved into the other glass, and when you stir it, it will change to green. If you drop slowly into the green liquor, from the side of the glass, a few drops of acid of vitriol, you will perceive crimson at the bottom, purple in the middle, and green at the top; and by adding a little fixed alkali dissolved, to the other glass, the same colours will appear in different order.
Another.
If you put a tea-spoonful of a liquor composed of copper infused in acid of vitriol, into a glass, and add two or three table-spoonfuls of water to it, there will be no sensible colour produced; but if you add a little volatile alkali to it, and stir it, you will perceive a very beautiful blue colour. Add a little acid of vitriol, the colour will instantly disappear upon stirring it; and by adding a little fixed alkali dissolved, it will return again.
Another.
Put half a tea-spoonful of a liquor composed of iron infused in acid of vitriol, into half a glass of water; and add a few drops of phlogisticated alkali, and a beautiful Prussian blue will appear.
Curious Account of the Electric Effects of a Russian Climate.
Mr. Æpinus in a letter to Dr. Guthrie, relates the following phenomena, which took place in Russia, when a severe frost had continued for several weeks.
Mr. Æpinus was sent for to the palace to see an uncommon phenomenon. On going into the apartment of Prince Orloff, he found him at his toilet, and that every time his valet drew the comb through his hair, a strong crackling noise was heard; and on darkening the room, sparks were seen following the comb in great abundance, while the prince himself was so completely electrified, that strong sparks could be drawn from his hands and face; nay, he was even electrified when he was only powdered with a puff.
A few days after, he was witness to a more striking effect of the electric state of a Russian atmosphere. The Grand Duke of Russia sent for him one evening in the twilight, and told him, that having briskly drawn a flannel cover off a green damask chair in his bed-chamber, he was astonished at the appearance of a strong bright flame that followed; but considering it as an electrical appearance, he had tried to produce a similar illumination on different pieces of furniture, and could then show him a beautiful and surprising experiment. His highness threw himself on his bed, which was covered with a damask quilt, laced with gold; and, rubbing it with his hands in all directions, the young prince, who had then reached his twelfth year, appeared swimming in fire, as at every stroke flames arose all around him, darted to the gold-laced border, ran along it, and up to that of the bed, and even to the very top.
While he was showing this experiment, Prince Orloff came into the room, with a sable muff in his hand, and showed us, that by only whirling it five or six times round his head in the air, he could electrify himself so strongly, as to send out sparks from all the uncovered parts of his body.
Astonishing Power of Steam.
If you put a small quantity of water into a tea-kettle, and place it on the fire, it will disappear in a short time, having escaped in the steam. But if its escape be prevented by stopping up the spout and crevices, it will force its way by bursting the vessel in which it was confined.
If the steam of boiling water be at liberty, the water never attains more than a certain degree of heat; but if confined in a close vessel, the additional fire not escaping, the power of the steam is increased, it re-acts upon the water, and raises the heat so much higher, that it would keep lead in a melting state; and so penetrating, that it would soften the marrow-bone of an ox, in a few minutes.
There is an instrument contrived for the foregoing purposes, called Papin's Digester, from the name of its inventor, and from its digestive powers on substances exposed to its action. It is a very strong vessel, made of copper, fitted with a thick close cover, and fastened down by several strong screws, so as to render it steam-tight in great degrees of heat. To render it safe, while being used, there is a valve on the cover, to let out the steam, when it is too violent; this valve is kept down by a steel-yard, with a weight moveable upon it, to regulate the degrees of the steam within.
The following account of an accident with one of these instruments, will give some idea of the great force of steam.
Mr. Papin (the inventor) having fixed all things right, and included about a pint of water, with two ounces of marrow-bone, he placed the vessel horizontally between the bars of the grate, about half-way into the fire. In three minutes he found it raised to a great heat, and perceiving the heat in a very short time become more raging, stepped to a side-table for an iron to take the digester out of the fire, when it suddenly burst with the explosion of a musket. It was heard at a considerable distance, and actually shook the house. The bottom of the vessel that was in the fire gave way; the blast of the expanded water blew all the coals out of the fire into the room, the remainder of the vessel flew across the room, and, hitting the leaf of an oak table, an inch thick, broke it all in pieces, and rebounded half the length of the room back again. He could not perceive the least sign of water, though he looked carefully for it; the fire was quite extinguished, and every coal black in an instant.
The following accident was attended with more fatal consequences.
A steam-engine was repairing at Chelsea, and, as the workmen were endeavouring to discover the defect, the boiler suddenly exploded, and a cloud of steam rushing out at the fracture, struck one of the men who was near it, like a blast of lightning, and killed him in a moment; when his companions endeavoured to take off his clothes, the flesh came off with them from the bones.
Account of the Wonderful Effects of two immense Burning-Glasses.
Mr. de Tschirnhausen constructed a burning-glass, between three and four feet in diameter, and whose focus was rendered more powerful by a second one. This glass melted tiles, slates, pumice-stone, &c., in a moment; pitch, and all resins, were melted even under water; the ashes of vegetables, wood, and other matters, were converted into glass; indeed, it either melted, calcined, or dissipated into smoke, every thing applied to its focus.
Mr. Parker, of Fleet-street, made a burning-glass, three feet in diameter; it was formed of flint glass, and when on its frame, exposed a surface of 2 feet 8½ inches to the solar rays. It had a small glass fitted to it, to converge the rays, and heighten the effect. The experiments made by it were more powerful and accurate than those performed by any other glass. The following is a brief epitome of its astonishing power.
