The Boy's Playbook of Science / Including the Various Manipulations and Arrangements of Chemical and Philosophical Apparatus Required for the Successful Performance of Scientific Experiments in Illustration of the Elementary Branches of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy

by John Henry Pepper

Fig. 82.

Geber's filter. a. The solution of acetate of lead. b. The dilute sulphuric acid. c. The clear liquid, separated from the sulphate of lead in b.

The capillary attraction of skeins of cotton for water was known and appreciated by the old alchemists; and Geber, one of the most ancient of these pioneers of science, and who lived about the seventh century, describes a filter by which the liquid is separated from the solid. This experiment is well displayed by putting a solution of acetate of lead into a glass, which is placed on the highest block of a series of three, arranged as steps. Into this glass is placed the short end of a skein of lamp cotton, previously wetted with distilled water; the long end dips into another glass below, containing dilute sulphuric acid, and as the solution of lead passes into it, a solid white precipitate of sulphate of lead is formed; then another skein of wetted cotton is placed in this glass, the long end of which passes into the last glass, so that the clear liquid is separated and the solid left behind. (Fig. 82.)

Fig. 83.

Prawn syphon.

In this filter the lamp cotton acts as a syphon through the capillary pores which it forms. On the same principle, a prawn may be washed in the most elegant manner (as first shown by the late Duke of Sussex), by placing the tail, after pulling off the fan part, in a tumbler of water, and allowing the head to hang over, when the water is drawn up by capillary attraction, and continues to run through the head. (Fig. 83.)

The threads of which linen, cotton, and woollen cloths are made are small cords, and the shrinkage of such textile fabrics, is well known and usually inquired about, when a purchase is made; here again capillary attraction is exerted, and the fabric contracts in the two directions of the warp and woof threads; thus, twenty-seven yards of common Irish linen will permanently shrink to about twenty-six yards in cold water. In these cases the water is attracted into the fibres of the textile material, and causing them to swell, must necessarily shorten their length, just as a dry rope strained between two walls for the purpose of supporting clothes, has been known to draw the hooks after being suddenly wetted and shortened by a shower of rain.

In order to tighten a bandage, it is only necessary to wind the dry linen round the limbs as close as possible, and then wet it with water, when the necessary shrinkage takes place.