To nine parts of water in a glass put one part of nitric acid; a red ribbon dipped in this will have its hue “killed,” but it will come again when washed in a solution of fuller’s earth in water.
RED TO PURPLE, GREEN, AND CRIMSON.
Slice a little red cabbage; pour boiling water upon it, and when cold decant the clear infusion, which divide into three wine-glasses; to one, add a small quantity of solution of alum in water; to the second, a little solution of potash in water; and to the third, a few drops of muriatic acid. The liquor in the first glass will assume a purple colour, the second a bright green, and the third a rich crimson.
ENCHANTED TAPERS.
Mr. Panky has concluded a trick in which a borrowed hat was used, and out of it has produced a number of lanterns. These he ranks on the table, and, taking up a glass rod, has but to touch the little tapers to have them catch fire.
Fig. 119.
Explanation.—The lantern frames are telescopic, so that a dozen fold into the space of one. The tapers are prepared by being once lit, blown out, and when cold a grain of phosphorus is put on the wick. One end of the glass rod is red-hot; for a glass stick a foot long may be hot enough at one end to inflame phosphorus, and yet be harmless to finger at the other.
The wicks may be prepared with match composition, and have a glass drop containing sulphuric acid; on breaking this with a pinch the acid will fire the wick, but, unfortunately, the fizz betrays too much.