[setting fire to a piece]; it is very different from the other, because the oxygen that must be present in its proper amount is put there beforehand. And I have here some pieces of paper which are prepared like the gun-cotton[1], and imbued with bodies containing oxygen. Here is some which has been soaked in nitrate of strontia—you will see the beautiful red colour of its flame; and here is another which I think contains baryta, which gives that fine green light; and I have here some more which has been soaked in nitrate of copper,—it does not burn quite so brightly, but still very beautifully. In all these cases the combustion goes on independent of the oxygen of the atmosphere. And here we have some gunpowder put into a case, in order to show that it is capable of burning under water. You know that we put it into a gun, shutting off the atmosphere, with shot, and yet the oxygen which it contains supplies the particles with that without which chemical action could not proceed. Now I have a vessel of water here, and am going to make the experiment of putting this fuse under the water, and you will see whether that water can extinguish it; here it is burning out of the water,
- ↑ Page 100. Paper prepared like gun cotton. It should be bibulous paper, and must be soaked for ten minutes in a mixture of ten parts by measure of oil of vitriol with five parts of strong fuming nitric acid. The paper must afterwards be thoroughly washed with warm distilled water and then carefully dried at a gentle heat. The paper is then saturated with chlorate of strontia, or chlorate of baryta, or nitrate of copper, by immersion in a warm solution of these salts. (See Chemical News Vol. I. page 36.)
