2124. Caution in the Use of Chlorate of Potassa

2124.    Caution in the Use of Chlorate of Potassa. This substance should never be kept in admixture with any inflammable matter, especially sulphur or phosphorus, as they explode with terrific violence by the most trivial causes, and not unfrequently spontaneously. All pounding and rubbing must be avoided.

2125. Paper for Producing Plashes of Colored Light

2125.    Paper for Producing Plashes of Colored Light. Soak unsized paper for ten minutes in a mixture of 4 parts, by measure, oil of vitriol, and 5 parts strong fuming nitric acid; wash out thoroughly in warm distilled water, and dry it thoroughly at a gentle heat. The paper thus prepared is similar in its properties to gun cotton, and a small pellet of it, lighted at one point at a flame, and then thrown into the air, will produce a brilliant flash, and leave no perceptible ash. The color is given by saturating the gun-paper in the one of the solutions given below, and then drying it.

A solution of chlorate of strontium makes the flash a bright crimson. Chlorate of barium, green. Nitrate of potassium, violet. Chlorate of copper, blue. Any one of the foregoing chlorates may be prepared by mixing a warm solution of the corresponding chloride with an equivalent quantity of a warm solution of chlorate of potassa; the precipitate formed will be chloride of potassium, and the clear liquid, poured off, will be the desired chlorate, to be used for saturating the gun-paper.

2126. Japanese Matches

2126.    Japanese Matches. Lampblack, 5 parts; sulphur, 11 parts; gunpowder, from 26 to 30 parts, this last proportion varying with the quality of the powder. Grind very fine, and make the material into a paste with alcohol; form it into dice, with a knife or spatula, about 1/4 inch square; let them dry rather gradually on a warm mantel-piece, not too near a fire. When dry, fix one of the little squares in a small cleft made at the end of a stalk of broom-corn. Light the material at a candle, hold the stem downward, and await the result. After the first blazing off, a ball of molten lava will form, from which the curious corruscations will soon appear.

2127. Japanese Firework Mixture

2127.    Japanese Firework Mixture. Finely pulverized nitrate of potassa, 70 parts; washed flowers of sulphur, 30 parts; powdered lycopodium, 12 parts; best and very light lampblack, 8 parts. From l1/2 to 2 grains of this powder are sufficient for use packed in strips of suitable paper.

2128. Colored Flames

2128.    Colored Flames. The flame of alcohol may be colored by mixing certain salts with the spirit. A green color is given by muriate of copper, or boracic acid. Red, by nitrate of strontian, nitrate of iron, or nitrate of lime. Yellow, by nitrate of soda, etc..

2129. Greek Fire

2129.    Greek Fire. True Greek fire is simply a solid, highly combustible composition, consisting of sulphur and phosphorus dissolved in the bisulphide of carbon, to which occasionally some mineral oil is added, with the view of increasing its incendiary powers. "When the liquid is thrown on any surface exposed to the air the solvent evaporates, leaving a film of the phosphorus or sulphide of phosphorus, which then inflames spontaneously. The proper mode of extinguishing such a fire is to throw damp sand, ashes, sawdust, lime, or any powder, wet sacking or carpeting, in short, any material which will exclude the air from the fire. No attempt should be made to remove the covering for some time after the flame has been extinguished. The place should afterward be thoroughly washed by a powerful jet of water forced upon it.