FIRE FROM WOOD.
Dry rattan, or bamboo, struck together or on steel, will emit sparks, on account of the flint minutely intermingled with its outer coating.
HARMLESS EXPLOSION.
Powder four grains of chlorate of potash in a mortar, and add a little flower of sulphur, pulverized very finely. On rubbing the two powders together, a sharp but harmless detonation will result.
GUNPOWDER IGNITED WITHOUT EXPLOSION.
Expose a towel or cloth to a strong fire till it becomes very hot; carry it into a dark room, and, while it is cooling, throw upon it some grains of gunpowder, which will at first inflame. Leave it to cool a little, till the powder no longer detonates. If you then cover it with fresh powder, the latter, when it acquires the same heat as the cloth, will emit in the dark a faint light or weak flame, which will consume all the sulphur without causing the nitre to detonate.
SALAMANDER PAPER.
Tightly and smoothly wrap a clean piece of writing-paper around a smooth metal cylinder, half a dozen inches in length, and an inch and a half thick, and, though held in the flame of a spirit-lamp, it will not catch fire; and yet, apart from the metal cylinder, it will readily ignite.