To give a ghastly Appearance to Persons in a Room.
Dissolve salt in an infusion of saffron and spirits of wine. Dip some tow in this solution, and, having set fire to it, extinguish all other lights in the room.
To change Blue to White.
Dissolve copper filings in a phial of volatile alkali; when the phial is unstopped, the liquor will be blue; when stopped, it will be white.
Magical Transmutations.
Infuse a few shavings of logwood in common water, and when the liquor is sufficiently red, pour it into a bottle. Then take three drinking-glasses, and 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 recently washed, and leave the third without any preparation. If the red liquor in the bottle be poured into the first glass, it will appear of a straw colour; if into the second, it will pass gradually from bluish-grey to black, when stirred with a key, or any piece of iron, which has been previously dipped in strong vinegar. In the third glass, the red liquor will assume a violet tint.
To make Pomatum with Water and Wax.
Water and wax are two substances that do not naturally unite together; therefore, to those who witness the following process, without knowing the cause, it will have the appearance of marvellous. Put into a new glazed earthen pot, six ounces of river water and two ounces of white wax, in which, you must previously conceal a strong dose of salt of tartar. If the whole be then exposed to a considerable degree of heat, it will assume the consistence of pomatum, and may be used as such.