A still to distill water can be made from a test tube, some heavy rubber hose, and an ordinary bottle. Secure a stopper for the test tube, and bore a hole through the center, into which fit a small piece of tube. The bottle is also fitted with a stopper containing a piece of tube, and both bottle and test tube connected with a rubber tube.
The test tube is partly filled with water and supported or held over an alcohol lamp. The bottle should stand in a basin of cold water. When the water in the test tube begins to boil the steam passes over to the bottle, where it condenses. The basin should be supplied with cold water as fast as it begins to get warm. The rubber tube will not stand the heat very long and if the still is to be used several times, a metal tube should be supplied to connect the test tube and bottle.
Homemade Mariner's Compass
Magnetized Needle Revolving on a Pin
Magnetize an ordinary knitting needle, A, and push it through a cork, B, and place the cork exactly in the middle of the needle. Thrust a pin, C, through the cork at right angles to the needle and stick two sharpened matches in the sides of the cork so that they will project downward as shown. The whole arrangement is balanced on a thimble with balls of wax stuck on the heads of the matches. If the needle is not horizontal, pull it through the cork to one side or the other, or change the wax balls. The whole device is placed in a glass berry dish and covered with a pane of glass.
Brighten White Paint
Add aluminum bronze to a white or light paint that is to be used for lettering on a dark ground.