TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page.
1.Water-proof gilding and silvering,[9]
2.The art of burnish gilding,[11]
3.Ornamental bronze gilding,[13]
4.To enamel picture glasses with gold,[15]
5.To wash iron or steel with gold,[15]
6.To wash brass or copper with silver,[16]
7.To give wood a gold, silver, or copper lustre,[17]
8.To print gold letters on morocco,[18]
9.To dye silk a brilliant gold colour,[18]
10.To dye silk a brilliant silver colour,[19]
11.To silver looking glasses,[20]
12.To write on paper with gold or silver,[22]
13.To make good shining black ink,[23]
14.Blue ink,[23]
15.Red ink,[24]
16.Yellow ink,[24]
17.Green ink,[25]
18.Purple ink,[25]
19.To write in various colours with the same pen, ink and paper.[25]
20-26.Sympathetic inks for secret correspondence,[27]
27.Luminous ink that will shine in the dark,[28]
28.To make a writing appear and disappear at pleasure,[29]
29.To make a writing vanish and another appear in its place,[29]
30.To restore old writing that is nearly defaced,[30]
31.To paint a picture that will appear and disappear [30]
32.Landscape painting on walls of rooms,[31]
33.To paint in figures for carpets or borders,[34]
34.To paint in imitation of mahogany and maple,[35]
35.The art of painting on glass,[36]
36.Best method of polishing steel,[37]
37.To make letters of blue on polished steel,[38]
38.To preserve the brightness of polished steel,[39]
39.To give steel a temper to cut marble,[40]
40.To wash iron or steel with copper,[41]
41.To give iron the whiteness of silver,[42]
42.To wash iron with tin,[42]
43.To give tin the whiteness and brilliancy of silver,[44]
44.To crystallize tin,[44]
45.To make a gold coloured varnish for tin,[45]
46.To make shellac varnish for japanning,[46]
47.To make the best copal varnish,[47]
48.To make a spirit varnish for maps,[48]
49.To make elastic varnish for umbrellas,[49]
50.To varnish maps and pictures,[49]
51.To make brunswick blacking,[50]
52.To make a print appear on a gold ground,[51]
53.Best method of tracing or copying a picture,[52]
54.The construction and use of a copying machine,[53]
55.To produce the exact likeness of any object instantly,[54]
56.Copper plate engraving,[57]
57.Etching on copper plates,[60]
58.Engraving and scraping in mezzotinto,[63]
59.Etching in aqua-tinta,[64]
60.Copper plate printing,[65]
61.Etching letters and flowers on glass,[67]
62.To print figures with a smooth stone,[68]
63.To cut glass with a piece of iron,[69]
64.Best cement for joining glass,[70]
65.Best cement for joining china or crockery,[70]
66.To make a strong water proof glue,[71]
67.The art of moulding figures in relief,[72]
68.To cast images in plaster,[73]
69.To produce embossed letters on marble,[74]
70.To soften stone,[75]
71.To change wood, apparently, to stone,[76]
72.To render wood, cloth or paper, fire proof[77]
73-75.To produce fire readily,[77]
76.To make super-combustible matches,[78]
77.To make gun powder,[79]
78.To make the common fulminating powder,[80]
79.To make mercurial fulminating powder,[80]
80.To kindle a fire under water,[82]
81.To light a candle by application of ice,[82]
82.To form letters or flowers of real flame,[83]
83.To produce flame of various colours,[84]
84.To make sky rockets and fire wheels,[85]
85.To produce detonating balloons,[87]
86.To prepare a phial that will give light in the dark,[89]
87.To make a person's face appear luminous in the dark,[89]
88.To freeze water in warm weather,[90]
89.To change the colours of animals,[91]
90.To give leather a beautiful metallic lustre,[92]
91.An easy method of extracting the essence of roses,[92]
92.To prepare various kinds of essences,[93]
93.To prepare soda water,[94]
94-95.To produce metallic trees,[95]
96.To tin copper by boiling,[96]
97.A metal that will melt in hot water,[96]
98.Illustration of calico printing,[96]
99.To prepare an imitation of gold bronze,[99]
100.To procure the exhilarating gas,[99]
101.Construction of the galvanic pile or battery,[101]
102.Construction of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe,[102]
103.To make a dry phosphorescent powder,[104]
104.Curious experiment of precipitation,[105]
105.To make a beautiful soft glass for jewelry,[105]
106.Composition of various kinds of glass,[106]
107.Composition of various alloys,[107]
108.To produce various kinds of gas,[108]
109.Various chemical tests,[110]
110.To produce a picture instantly,[111]
111.A cheap imitation of silver bronze,[112]
112.To make crayons of various colours,[113]
113.To make hard sealing wax,[115]
114.The art of manufacturing paper hangings,[116]
115.To make elastic blacking for leather,[118]
116.Sundry experiments,[119]

CURIOUS ARTS.

1. Water-proof gilding and silvering.—This kind of gilding, usually termed oil gilding, being the cheapest and most durable, is in general use for gilding or silvering letters on signs, labels, &c. and may be performed as follows:—Grind one ounce of white lead and two ounces of litharge, very fine, in a gill of old linseed oil, and if convenient, add nearly one-fourth of a gill of old copal varnish, and half an ounce of stone yellow; but neither of these last, are very essential ingredients. Expose this composition to the rays of the sun for a week or more in a broad open vessel, observing, however, to keep it free from dust. Then pour off the finest part, and dilute it with as much spirits of turpentine as will make it work freely with a brush or camel-hair pencil. (Oil that will answer exceedingly well for this purpose, may sometimes be collected from the top of oil paints that have been long standing, and may be used directly, without being exposed to the sun as directed above.) Whatever letters or figures you would gild, must be first drawn or painted with this sizing, the ground having been previously painted and varnished; and when the sizing is so dry as to be hard, but yet remains slightly adhesive, or sticky, lay on gold or silver leaves smoothly over the whole, pressing them down gently with a soft ball of cotton. The most convenient manner of performing this, is to lay the leaves of gold or silver, first on a piece of deer-skin or glove-leather, and cut them into pieces of a convenient size, by drawing a smooth (not sharp) edged knife over them. Then take a small block of wood, of a triangular form, about half an inch thick, and two inches in diameter, and bind a strip of fine flannel round the edges;—breathe on this, and press it gently on a piece of the leaf, which by this may be taken from the leather, and carried to any part of the sizing where it will best fit, and to which it will readily adhere: thus the sizing may be readily covered with the leaf, very little of which will be wasted. Afterward the whole may be brushed over lightly with cotton, or a soft brush, and the superfluous gold or silver will be brushed off, leaving the letters or figures entire. When the work has thus remained two or three days, it may be rubbed with a piece of silk, which will increase its metallic lustre. Note.—It is very essential that the varnish of the ground should be thoroughly dry, that it may not be adhesive in the least degree, otherwise the leaf will stick where it should not, and materially injure the work. When plain gilding is required for vanes, balls, &c. the leaves of gold or silver may be applied to the work directly from the book, without cutting or dividing them.