5th. A small coil of platinum wire put in, or a little oxide of zinc poured on, the flame of a lighted jet of hydrogen gas will furnish a bright light.
6th. Magnesium ignited gives a brilliant flame. The wire is to be fed by clockwork to a light, or simply held by the hands.
7th. A red-hot iron wire dropped into a jar of oxygen gas, tightly covered over, will scintillate and be strongly luminous. The sparks that fall will break the glass, except for the precaution of a layer of fine sand at the bottom. Into the same gas place a firefly, “lightning bug,” or glow-worm, and the light will be uncommonly vivid. So with a lighted candle.
TO BURN THE POKER IN THE CANDLE.
File off an ounce from the fire-end of a poker. The iron filings produced are perfectly combustible, as may be proved by sprinkling them over the flame of a candle. As they descend into the flame they take fire, each particle burning like a star—producing, in fact, miniature fireworks. Any iron filings will burn in the same way; but a poker is the handiest means to prove that while iron, in a solid mass, will not burn, in small atoms it takes fire readily. It is just for the same reason that a fire is better lighted with chips than with a log of wood.
FIRE FOR AMATEUR THEATRICALS.
Put a lump of fresh quicklime in a cup, pour water it, and the heat will be very great. A pailful of quicklime, if dipped in water, and shut closely into a box constructed for the purpose, will give sufficient heat to warm a room, and is the source of steam vapour in theatrical representations.
A LAMP WITHOUT FLAME.
Wind a platinum wire spirally round the wick of a spirit-lamp; light the wick, and let it burn till the wire is red-hot; then remove the wick, but the wire will remain red as long as there is spirit in the lamp; and though there be no flame, it will give out enough light for one to read by, if not too far off.