ENDLESS AMUSEMENT

February 6, 2015 7:27 AM

Have you any spare mercury about the house? Are you well supplied with saltpetre, phosphorus, and oil of vitriol? Such domestic staples can you afford you ENDLESS AMUSEMENT! in the form of hundreds of science tricks from 1847!

And that's not all! The manual also includes

ALL THE
POPULAR TRICKS AND CHANGES OF THE CARDS,
&c., &c.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF PYROTECHNY;
OR,
THE ART OF MAKING FIRE-WORKS.

THE WHOLE SO CLEARLY EXPLAINED AS TO BE WITHIN THE
REACH OF THE MOST LIMITED CAPACITY.

posted by Iridic (36 comments total)

Women at this point in time were expected to do the medical care for their families and also create many products necessary for cleaning, cosmetics, and other household requirements. This included using dangerous chemicals like these in dangerous ways. By the end of the century regulation, better chemistry, and the occupation of previously female areas of expertise by commercial and male interests had reduced this activity, and these chemicals were less readily available.
posted by alasdair at 7:32 AM on February 6, 2015

Have you any spare mercury about the house

God I hope so

Are you well supplied with saltpetre,

Obviously

phosphorus,

Sure

and oil of vitriol

ah, crap.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:35 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]

THE WHOLE SO CLEARLY EXPLAINED AS TO BE WITHIN THE
REACH OF THE MOST LIMITED CAPACITY.

This is a rather daring way to generate interest, noting that your product is usable by even the stupidest consumers.
posted by clockzero at 7:48 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'm continually amazed by the panic generated if someone so much as thinks about a mercury spill. This is due, I'm certain, to the fact that, when I was in school, mercury was about as common as play-dough is now. We had bottles of it in the science class rooms, we would routinely get it out, role it around on a desk, or in the palm of our hands... the good old days...
posted by HuronBob at 7:56 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

When I was a kid, we used to have a little bit of Mercury in a small jar in the kitchen. Sometimes I'd sneak it out of the bottle and make it roll back and forth on the kitchen table.
posted by drezdn at 7:59 AM on February 6, 2015

You mean we're not supposed to play with Hg any more? Since when? I guess I missed the memo...
posted by RSaunders at 8:01 AM on February 6, 2015

HONEY! WE'RE OUT OF OIL OF VITRIOL AGAIN!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:07 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

I remember one kid in grade 6 found that he could get the mercury to stick to his skin, and coated his hands and arms with it, so he had shiny grey alien appendages. Now he's a proctologist.

"Hey kids! Check out this asbestos!"
posted by sneebler at 8:10 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

noting that your product is usable by even the stupidest consumers.

If people have spare mercury around the house, they'll probably be joining this demographic soon.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:14 AM on February 6, 2015

What could possibly go wrong?

Fulminating Mercury.

Dissolve 100 grains of mercury by heat, in an ounce and a half of nitric acid. This solution being poured cold upon two measured ounces of alcohol previously introduced into any convenient glass vessel, a moderate heat is to be applied, till effervescence is excited. A white fume then begins to appear on the surface of the liquor, and the powder will be gradually precipitated when the action ceases. The precipitate is to be immediately collected on a filter, well washed with distilled water, and cautiously dried in a heat not exceeding that of a water-bath. Washing the powder immediately is material, because it is liable to the re-action of the nitric acid; and, while any of the acid adheres to it, it is very subject to the action of light. From 100 grains of mercury, about 130 of the powder are obtained.

This powder, when struck on an anvil with a hammer, explodes with a sharp stunning noise, and with such force as to indent both hammer and anvil. Three or four grains are sufficient for one experiment.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:28 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]

Halfway through it recounts experiments involving suffocating a viper (via vacuum) and various sparrows (via oxygen depletion in an enclosed space).
posted by achrise at 8:35 AM on February 6, 2015

Whatever you do, just don't get your oil of vitriol and your sweet oil of vitriol confused.
posted by TedW at 8:37 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

LOL I am going through the list and I have done more of these "experiments" than I should admit. This is probably because I went to a junior high school that was built in the 19th century and had an astonishing collection of antique scientific apparatus. The collection would be worth a fortune if it hadn't all burned in a fire that started in the chemistry storage closet.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:52 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

THE WHOLE SO CLEARLY EXPLAINED AS TO BE WITHIN THE
REACH OF THE MOST LIMITED CAPACITY.

This is a rather daring way to generate interest, noting that your product is usable by even the stupidest consumers.
posted by clockzero

Well, imagine it with a yellow and black cover and retitled "Practical Chemistry for Dummies"
posted by skyscraper at 8:54 AM on February 6, 2015 [12 favorites]

The Miraculous Luminaries.

This thing is a treasure trove of potential band names.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:00 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

The animated Bacchus.

Construct a figure of Bacchus, seated on a cask; let his belly be formed by a bladder, and let a tube proceed from his mouth to the cask. Fill this tube with coloured water or wine, then place the whole under the receiver. Exhaust the air, and the liquor will be thrown up into his mouth. While he is drinking, his belly will expand.

I think this one's missing a few instructions at the beginning.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:08 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

and oil of vitriol

ah, crap.

Did you try looking in Metatalk?
posted by yoink at 9:15 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

and oil of vitriol

ah, crap.

Did you try looking in Metatalk?

M: Yes, but I came here for an argument!!
A: OH! Oh! I'm sorry! This is abuse!
M: Oh! Oh I see!
A: Aha! No, you want room 12A, next door.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:23 AM on February 6, 2015

The Mercurial Shower.

Cement a piece of wood into the lower part of the neck of an open receiver, and pour mercury over it. After a few strokes of the pump, the pressure of the air on the mercury will force it through the pores of the wood in the form of a beautiful shower. If you take care that the receiver is clear and free from spots or dust, and it is dry weather, it will appear like a fiery shower, when exhibited in a dark room.

Hurrah! I shall immediately try this at home!!
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:31 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

the pressure of the air on the mercury will force it through the pores of the wood in the form of a beautiful shower. If you take care that the receiver is clear and free from spots or dust, and it is dry weather, it will appear like a fiery shower, when exhibited in a dark room.

I really, really want to see this.
posted by yoink at 9:44 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

"HONEY! WE'RE OUT OF OIL OF VITRIOL AGAIN!
... You didn't use up the last of the bottle, did you?"

"I have already TOLD you NO, you venomous, accusatory grotesquerie!"
posted by Auden at 9:58 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

To give a ghastly Appearance to Persons in a Room.

Dissolve salt in an infusion of saffron and spirits of wine. Dip some tow in this solution, and, having set fire to it, extinguish all other lights in the room.

Well, I know what I'm doing Sunday afternoon.
posted by Fizz at 10:06 AM on February 6, 2015

Why do you ask? I have all of these things.

Having done many of the pyro things in Book of Formulas a lot of the stuff was un impressive despite the danger to health. This never stopped me.
I have the entire Audells Audells Engineers & Mechanics handbook series, I think book 10 get into quack medicine devices , the fearsome Galvanic rectal irrigator is explained.
posted by boilermonster at 10:22 AM on February 6, 2015

This is a rather daring way to generate interest, noting that your product is usable by even the stupidest consumers.

Nonsense. It was a downright prescient.
posted by BrashTech at 10:30 AM on February 6, 2015

This sounds like fun ! It'll have to wait until the yard's thawed, though.

Artificial Earthquake and Volcano.

Grind an equal quantity of fresh iron filings with pure sulphur, till the whole be reduced to a fine powder. Be careful not to let any wet come near it. Then bury about thirty pounds of it a foot deep in the earth, and in about six or eight hours the ground will heave and swell, and shortly after send forth smoke and flames like a burning mountain. If the earth is raised in a conical shape, it will be no bad miniature resemblance of one of the burning mountains.
posted by Fig at 10:55 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Of COURSE I have ALL of those things.

Certainly, I can lend you some oil of vitriol- If you like, I can add a bit of oleum? Perchance you desire some spirits of nitre, glycerol and fuller's earth as well...

Besides these common things, should you require an 80:20 mixture of the afore mentioned fulminating Mercury with the chlorate of Potassa?
posted by bert2368 at 11:09 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have to say that this here:

If you would have swans or ducks discharge rockets into the water,


...was a bit of a letdown:

they must be made hollow, and of paper, and filled with small water-rockets

Especially after the sparrows and viper thing.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:39 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Artificial Earthquake and Volcano.

My ground wasp problem is solved.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:17 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

As a co-op student in 1991 I helped clean out the chemical stores at a wastewater plant which had been around since the early 60s. A fist sized chunk of elemental sodium thrown into a primary lagoon makes one hell of a shit shower, I tell you what.
posted by hearthpig at 4:37 PM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

I can imagine having all kinds of chemicals at a wastewater plant, but why would they ever need elemental sodium??
posted by moonmilk at 5:29 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

They found a rather large container of benzoyl peroxide in one of the chemistry storage rooms at my high school once. They had the hazmat or the bomb squad remove it very, very carefully.

A fist sized chunk of elemental sodium thrown into a primary lagoon makes one hell of a shit shower, I tell you what.

So it was like this sodium going into a pond only with...? Oh dear.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:55 PM on February 6, 2015

This book is delightful. The mix of really clever ideas, things that cannot possibly work as described, pointless danger, and tediously celebrating the magic of adding numbers and then subtracting them again is a really weird mix. I'm tempted to quote the whole thing in comments, but will content myself with just one.

If the electrified person put his finger, or a rod of iron, into a dish containing warm spirits of wine, it will be immediately in a blaze; and if there be a wick or thread in the spirit, that communicates with a train of gunpowder, he may be made to blow up a magazine, or set a city on fire, with a piece of cold iron, and at the same time be ignorant of the mischief he is doing.

Surely there must be simpler ways to trick your friend into setting a city on fire, given all the resources assumed elsewhere in the book. But, perhaps it's easier to play this trick on them *after* they've spent a few days inhaling mercury vapor and looking carefully at all the neat ways sealed glass vessels can be made to explode.

Also, Apothecaries' units make imperial units seem sensible. A drachm is 3 scruples? 3‽
posted by eotvos at 7:07 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

A fist sized chunk of elemental sodium

How about 20,000 pounds of sodium?

But sodium metal isn't half as much fun as potassium. My school had a big chunk of potassium metal, which had to be kept in a sealed jar, immersed in liquid paraffin so it wasn't exposed to the air.

And for the record, the chem lab burned down many years after I left town. I lived hundreds of miles away. I swear I had nothing to do with it.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:11 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

charlie don't surf: "A fist sized chunk of elemental sodium

How about 20,000 pounds of sodium? "

Who could ever consider 20k lbs of sodium "surplus?" Killjoys...
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 1:07 AM on February 7, 2015

Metafilter: so clearly explained as to be within the reach of the most limited capacity.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:26 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I can imagine having all kinds of chemicals at a wastewater plant, but why would they ever need elemental sodium??

I asked them that very question at the time.

Several of the original chemists and techs were still on staff. First of all, at that time they made almost all of their reagents and analytical solutions etc from elemental materials and simple acid and base feedstocks; commercial supply houses were few and far between. Secondly at the time it was a pride thing, that they knew how to do it and "could do it better" than those folks at the catalog house, and laughed in the face of danger at the risks of working with, say, metallic sodium or, oh I dont know, mercury or cyanide.

Finally though, they ordered some of this stuff simply because they could, because there weren't many rules and recordkeeping was lax and they'd get stuff they could play with after hours. Apparently they once made up a batch of sodium azide, which is horrifically toxic and hazardous but has the charming side benefit of being explosible due to physical shock. They apparently left a watch glass full of the stuff on a bench next to a sign saying "Don't Hit Me With A Hammer".
posted by hearthpig at 4:24 PM on February 9, 2015 [3 favorites]