346 Chemical Contributions. 
The beak of a broken retort, of a suitable size, is ground with em- 
ery into one of the necks, till itis found to be perfectly air tight, and 
reaches very nearly to the bottom of the bottle. ‘The part project- 
ing above, is cut off with a hot iron, at a small distance above the 
no The lower end is then closed by means of the blow-pipe; 
or when it is so thick as to render this method inconvenient, it is 
filled with a glass plug ; the lower or round part of the stopper of a 
tincture bottle or retort, (and such articles are apt to accumulate in ev- 
ery laboratory) of a suitable size, is cemented with sealing wax to the 
end of a glass or wooden rod, and ground into the tube with emery, 
till it fits it accurately, and is nearly at its lower extremity, (6, fig- 1.) 
the grinding being from the larger towards the smaller part, that 
there may be no danger of its falling out. A hole is now cut with a 
round file in its side, (an operation that is soon finished ; and if the 
file be kept wet during the process, it will answer a great number of 
times) so as to be just within the bottle, when the tube is put into its 
place, (a, fig. 1.) All that is now necessary, is to pass the stem of 
a small funnel—the stem itself being five or six inches long, through 
a cork : insert the cork into the upper end of the tube, and intro- 
duce the tube into the nozle of the bottle.t The funnel itself may 
i es ee ee 
- . . . 
* Mr. Faraday has deyoted four pages of his recent work on chemical manipulation, 
to an account of the methods of cutting glass with a hotiron. His directions are val- 
tion, which I have found important in cutting large tubes, vials, etc.—that of not 
making the iron-too hot. . It should be heated to a redness barely visible in day light. 
If in this state, it be caused to vibrate a few times around the tube, along the track 
where the division is to be made, and a drop ef water put upon the spot, @ simple 
fracture, w 
if a trace be made beforehand, with a file, a long tube may be cut up into sounds 
+ Instead of making the cork apply itself directly to the side of the orifice thatis 
be closed, I have found it of ad tage, not only in this case, but i ny other siin~ 
ilar ones—in fitting in the tube that is to convey away the gas from the other nozle 5 
A large tapering glass tube, such as the beak of a retort, is cut with a hot ies at 
a point where it is not greater z= Se } little less, than the orifice to 
distance 
of two or three inches from its smaller end; forming, in fact, @ ori 
‘Lute. | pering tube, two or three inches in length, and having the ¢1 3 
» Cork. =] ter of its larger end a little greater than that of the orifice. This 
Lute. 2 easily grewnd into the opening, so as to fit it accurately, and make 
| it perfeetly tight. A cork, considerably shorter than the tube, is fit- 
