Page:Magic oracle, or, Conjuror's guide.pdf/21



If twenty grains of phosphorus, cut very small, and mixed with forty grains of powder of zinc, be put into four drachms of water, and two drachms of concentrated sulphuric acid be added thereto, bubbles of inflamed phosphoretted hydrogen gas will quickly cover the whole surface of the fluid in succession, forming a real fountain of fire.

Drop apiece of phosphorus, the size of a pea, into a tumbler of hot water; and, from a bladder, furnished with a stop-cock, force a stream of oxygen directly upon it. This will afford a most brilliant combustion under water.

Take half a pint of spirits, and having warmed it, put a handful of salt with it into a basin, then set it on fire, and it will have the effect of making every person within its influence look hideous. This feat can only be performed in a room.

Previously to performing this feat, you must have a powder composed of the following ingredients in your pocket:—One ounce of saltpetre, one ounce of cream of tartar, and half an ounce of sulphur, pulverized singly, and then mixed together. Convey a single grain of this powder into a tobacco-pipe, and when it takes fire, it will produce a noise like that of a gun, without breaking the pipe.

Half a grain of fulminating silver is to be wrapped up with a hard pea, in a piece of tissue paper, this, when thrown smartly on the ground, or when trod npon, explodes with a loud report.

A very small quantity of the silver, enclosed in a piece of sandpaper, and placed under the foot of a chair, will explode when any one sits down on it. A little of it placed in the heel of a boot or shoe, with a piece of paper pasted over it, will explode on the heel being pressed to the ground. Placed in a snuffers, it will go off with a smart report when they receive the hot snuff of the candle.

Some stout cartridge paper must be cut into pieces three inches and a-half broad, and one foot long; one edge of each