THE CONJURER'S ILLUMINATION.
I.—In the wick of a candle is placed a drop of sulphuric acid,
enclosed in a thin glass ball. On breaking this with your wand the acid
fires the wick. Unfortunately for this trick, devised by Herr Wiljalba
Frikell, the fizz betrays its causes.
II.—Insert in the cold wick of a blown-out candle a small
piece of phosphorus. Have a glass rod, instead of your wand, resting on
your table, with one end beyond the edge, and over a lamp or gas jet a
shelf on the side away from the audience. On touching the phosphorus
with this heated end, the wick will be ignited.
III.—A simple apparatus for lighting gas, suggested by the electrophorus, may
be thus described:—A bracket is arranged with a brass cup or vase
resting upon it, with a connecting piece of hard rubber. The cup is
lined with lambskin covered with silk, and contains the hard rubber
electric piece which corresponds in form to the inside of the cup. A
coiled covered wire connects the cup with a wire attached to the
burner, and terminating just above the the burner. In order to light
the gas, the stop is turned, and the hard rubber piece lifted partly
from the cup, thus liberating the spark and lighting the gas. A
portable lighter was also shown, consisting of the same vase or cup,
with the addition of a non-conducting handle. When the brass cup is
lifted from the electric piece and held to the conducting wire of the
burner, the gas is immediately lighted.
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