WARNING: DANGEROUS IF MEDDLED WITH, THIS IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY!!!
Description
This section is from the "Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.
Pyrotechnic Magic
Caution
When about to place any lighted material in the mouth be sure that the mouth is well coated with saliva, and that you are exhaling the breath continuously, with greater or less force, according to the amount of heat you can bear.
If the lighted material shows a tendency to burn the mouth, do not attempt to drag it out quickly, but simply shut the lips tight, and breathe through the nose, and the fire must go out instantly.
In the Human Gas Trick, where a flame 10 to 15 inches long is blown from the mouth, be careful after lighting the gas, to continue to exhale the breath. When you desire the gas to go out, simply shut the lips tight and hold the breath for a few seconds. In this trick, until the gas is well out, any inhalation is likely to be attended with the most serious results.
The several cautions above given may be examined with a lighted match, first removing, after lighting the match, any brimstone or phosphorus from its end.]
To Fire Paper, etc., by Breathing on it
This secret seems little known to conjurers. Pay particular attention to the caution concerning phosphorus at the head of this article, and the caution respecting the dangerous nature of the prepared fluid given.
Half fill a half-ounce bottle with carbon disulphide, and drop in 1 or 2 fragments of phosphorus, each the size of a pea, which will quickly dissolve. Shake up the liquids and pour out a small tea-spoonful onto a piece of blotting paper. The carbon disulphide will quickly evaporate, leaving a film of phosphorus on the paper, which will quickly emit fumes and burst into flame. The once-popular term Fenian fire was derived from the supposed use of this liquid by the Fenians for the purpose of setting fire to houses by throwing a bottle down a chimney or through a window, the bottle to break and its contents to speedily set fire to the place.
For the purpose of experiment this liquid should only be prepared in small quantities as above, and any left over should be poured away onto the soil in the open air, so as to obviate the risk of fire. Thin paper may be fired in a similar manner with the acid bulbs and powder already mentioned. The powder should be formed into a paste, laid on the paper, and allowed to dry. Then the acid bulb is pasted over the powder.
Burning Brimstone
Wrap cotton around two small pieces of brimstone and wet it with gasoline; take between the fingers, squeezing the surplus liquid out, light it with a candle, throw back the head well, and put it on the tongue blazing. Blow fire from mouth, and observe that a freshly blown-out candle may be lighted from the flame, which makes it more effective. After lighting candle chew up brimstone and pretend to swallow.
Blazing Sponge Trick
Take 2 or 3 small sponges, place them in a ladle; pour just enough oil or gasoline over them to wet them. Be very careful not to have enough oil on them to cause them
to drip. Set fire to the sponges and take one of them up with the tongs, and throw the head back and drop the blazing sponge in the mouth, expelling the breath all the time. Now close your mouth quickly; this cuts off the air from the flame and it immediately goes out. Be careful not to drop the sponge on the face or chin. Remove sponge under cover of a handkerchief before placing the second one in the mouth.
Burning Sealing Wax
Take a stick of common sealing wax in one hand and a candle in the other, melt the wax over the candle, and put on your tongue while blazing. The moisture of the mouth cools it almost instantly. Care should be taken not to get any on the lips, chin, or hands.
Demon Bowls of Fire
The performer has three 6.5-inch brass bowls on a table, and openly pours ordinary clean water (may be drunk) into bowls, until each is about half full. Then by simply passing the hand over bowls they each take fire and produce a flame 12 to 20 inches high.
Each bowl contains about 2 tea-spoonfuls of ether, upon which is placed a small piece of the metal potassium, about the size of a pea. If the ether be pure the potassium will not be acted upon. When the water is poured into the bowl the ether and potassium float up, the latter acting vigorously on the water, evolving hydrogen and setting fire thereto, and to the ether as well.
The water may be poured into the bowl and lighted at command. In this case the potassium and ether are kept separated in the bowl, the former in a little cup on one side, and the latter in the body of the bowl. The water is poured in, and on rocking the bowl it is caused to wash into the little cup, the potassium floats up, and the fire is produced.
N. B
The above tricks are not safe in any but specially made bowls, i. e., bowls with the wide flange round edge to prevent the accidental spilling of any portion of the burning ether.
The Burning Banana
Place some alcohol in a ladle and set fire to it. Dip a banana in the blazing alcohol and eat it while it is blazing. As soon as it is placed in the mouth the fire goes out.
Sparks from the Finger Tips
Take a small piece of tin about 0.5 inch wide and 1.5 inches long. Bend this in the shape of a ring. To the center of this piece solder another small piece of tin bent in the shape of a letter U; between the ends of this U place a small piece of wax tape about 0.5 inch long. Take a piece of small rubber tubing about 2 feet in length and to one end of this attach a hollow rubber ball, which you must partly fill with iron filings. Place the rubber ball containing the iron filings under the arm and pass the rubber tube down through the sleeve of the coat to the palm of the hand; now place the tin ring upon the middle finger, with the wax taper inside of the hand. Light this taper. By pressing the arm down sharply on the rubber ball, the force of the air will drive some of the iron filings through the rubber tube and out through the flame of the burning taper, when they will ignite and cause a beautiful shower of sparks to appear to rain from the finger tips.
To Take Boiling Lead in the Mouth
The metal used, while not unlike lead in appearance, is not the ordinary metal, but is really an alloy composed of the following substances:
Bismuth............ 8 parts
Lead............... 5 parts
Tin................ 2 parts
To prepare it, first melt the lead in a crucible, thou add the bismuth and finally the tin, and stir well together with a piece of tobacco pipe stem. This " fusible metal" will melt in boiling water, and a teaspoon cast from the alloy will melt if very hot water be poured into it, or if boiling water be stirred with it. If the water be not quite boiling, as is pretty sure to be the case if tea from a teapot is used, in all probability the heat will be insufficient to melt the spoon. But by melting the alloy and adding to it a small quantity of quicksilver a compound will be produced, which, though solid at the ordinary temperature, will melt in water very much below the boiling point. Another variety of easily fusible alloy is made by melting together
Bismuth.......... 7 to 8 parts
Lead............. 4 parts
Tin.............. 2 parts
Cadmium......... 1 to 2 parts
This mixture melts at 158°, that given above at 208° P.
Either one of the several alloys above given will contain considerably less heat than lead, and in consequence be the more suitable for the purposes of a "Fire King."
When a body is melted it is raised to a certain temperature and then gets no hotter, not even if the fire be increased— all the extra heat goes to melt the remainder of the substance.
Second Method
This is done with a ladle constructed similarly to the tin cup in a previous trick. The lead, genuine in this case, is, apparently, drunk from the ladle, which is then tilted, that it may be seen to be empty. The lead is concealed in the secret interior of the ladle, and a solid piece of lead is in conclusion dropped from the mouth, as congealed metal.
To Eat Burning Coals
In the first place make a good charcoal fire in the furnace. Just before commencing the act throw in three or four pieces of soft pine. When burnt to a coal one cannot tell the difference between this and charcoal, except by sticking a fork into it. This will not burn in the least, while the genuine charcoal will. You can stick your fork into these coals without any difficulty, but the charcoal is brittle and hard; it breaks before the fork goes into it.
Chain of Fire
Take a piece of candle wick 8 or 10 inches long, saturated with kerosene oil, squeeze out surplus oil. Take hold of one end with your fire tongs, light by furnace, throw back your head, and lower it into your mouth while exhaling the breath freely. When all in, close your lips and remove in handkerchief.
Note
Have a good hold of the end with the tongs, for if it should fall it would probably inflict a serious burn; for this reason also no burning oil must drop from the cotton.
Biting Off Red-Hot Iron
Take a piece of hoop iron about 2 feet long, place it in a vise and bend it backwards and forwards, about an inch from the end, until it is nearly broken off. Put this in a furnace until it becomes red hot, then take it in your right hand, grasp the broken end in your teeth, being careful not to let it touch your lips or your tongue, make a "face" as though it was terribly hard to bite off, and let the broken end drop from between your teeth into a pail of water (which you should always have at hand in case of fire), when the hissing will induce the belief that the portion bitten off is still "red hot"—it may be, for that matter, if the iron be nearly broken off in the first place and if you have good teeth and are not afraid to injure them.
Water Stirred Yellow, Scarlet, and Colorless
Obtain a glass tube with one end hermetically sealed and drawn into a fine point that will break easily. Into an ale glass put a solution of mercury bichloride (corrosive sublimate, a deadly poison) and into the tube a strong solution of potassium iodide so adjusted in strength that it will redissolve the scarlet precipitate formed by the union of the two liquids. While stirring the solution in the glass the bottom of the tube (apparently a glass rod) is broken and a small portion of its contents allowed to escape, which produces a beautiful scarlet. The balance of the fluid in the tube is retained there by simply keeping the thumb on the open top end. Continue the stirring, allowing the balance of the contents of the tube to escape, and the scarlet fluid again becomes colorless. Before the scarlet appears the liquid is yellow.
To heighten the effect, another ale glass, containing only clean water and a solid glass stirring-rod, may be handed to one of the company, with instructions to do the same as the performer; the result is amusing.
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