1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
423 
1B0YS <k ©HIEILS 7 <B©IE/£rMI^ 
The Doctor^ Talks— About Mak- 
ing; a Fire. 
Two ways of making a fire have been described, and in 
both, of these eome force to produce motion was used. 
You will recollect that the Indian had to rub very hard. 
Onr ancestors, who used the flint and steel, made a fire 
only by hard knocks, but this was a great improvement 
upon the method of the savage. The next etep in ad- 
vance, so far as I know, was an arrangement for procur- 
ing fire by chemical means. It is a little difficult to ex- 
plain to boys and girls exactly what is meant by chemi- 
cal means. You will doubtless learn more about it when 
you. get older— at least you will if you take my advice. 
It will be sufficient now to say that widely different sub- 
stances unite or act upon one another, and that this union 
or action is often attended by the pro- 
duction of heat. I am afraid that tho 
statement is not very clear, but it 
would take too long to make it any 
plainer. Chemists found out that if a 
mixture of a substance called Chlorate 
of Potash and loaf sugar, both in fine 
powder, was touched with a drop of 
Oil of Vitriol (sulphuric acid) it would 
burst into a flame. This knowledge 
was turned to account in furnishing 
a means of getting a fire. When I 
was a boy the arrangement shown in 
figure 1 was quite frequently used, 
though its cost prevented it from gener- 
ally taking the place of tb.0 flint and 
Etcel. The engraving represents a 
sort of two-story box. A is the cover, 
b, the portion containing the matches, 
the lower part of which served as a 
cover toe, the bottom part, which held 
a little bottle. In the engraving the 
parts are shown separately, but you can 
readily see how it would go together 
and make a neat, long box. The figure 
is only half the real size. The matches 
were first dipped in melted sulphur, 
Y\.r i and then tipped with the mixture be- 
fore spoken of, viz.: Chlorate of Pot- 
ash and loaf sugar, mixed with just enough of gum 
water to make it stick. Yon have probably already 
guessed that the bottle at the bottom held Oil of Vitriol — 
which was the case ; but as this is a very dangerous and 
destructive substance if it falls upon one's skin or cloth- 
ing, it was very ingeniously prevented from spilling. 
The bottle was filled with Asbestos, which is a curious 
mineral, found in fine, silky threads, and which the Oil of 
Vitriol cannot destroy. The Asbestos was moistened 
with the Oil of Vitriol, which was prevented from spill- 
ing, and yet there was enough of it in the bottle to 
answer its purpose, which was, of course, to set fire, to 
E 
■" '■■''*/!■ mii ~-.., ndeSSK l 
Fig 
-ClILoP.ATE MATCH. 
the mixture on the end of the match. This is the way 
fire was made by this contrivance — one of the matches 
had its prepared end thrust into the bottle and suddenly 
withdrawn. Enough Oil of Vitriol would touch the mix- 
ture to set it on fire, this would set the sulphur on fire, 
which, in turn, would light the wood of the match. There 
were several inconveniences attending the use of this 
fire-making contrivance, but as it is now among the 
things of the past, they are of no consequence. About 
the same time that the match box we have described was 
in use, there was another way of using tho same mate- 
rials. It was still more expensive, and was to be seen 
more as a curiosity than as an article of every-day use, but 
I mention it to show how hard people tried to find somo 
easy means of making a fire. Figure 2 represents the 
match, if I may so call it ; I have forgotton what name 
it went by. A strip of paper woe folded two or three 
times, and at one end was a 
small quantity of the pow- 
dered Chlorate of Potash and 
loaf sugar, and in its midst 
i*V 
l r ig. 3.— LUCIFER. 
4.— SANDPAPER. 
a very small glass tube, about half an inch long, which 
was sealed at each end, and contained a drop of Oil of 
Vitriol. These, which are shown by a removal of a part 
of the paper, were secured by pasting so that they could 
not get out of place. To get a fire with this match it only 
had to b- laid upon a table and struck with some hard 
substance to break the thin glass tube, Tho instant 
the Oil of Vitriol touched the powder, it burst into flame 
with a.Jlzz, lighted the paper, dud then we had a fire made 
in an ingenious but rather roundabout way. 
The next step in matches was the " Lucifers." These 
were made of thin, flat slices of wood, which were tip- 
ped with a mixture of Chlorate of Potash and a mineral 
called Sulphnret of Antimony, made into a paste with 
gum water. Here we have more of the work of the 
chemists in helping people to make a fire. It was dis- 
covered that a mixture of the two articles we have nam- 
ed could be set on fire— not by touching with Oil of 
Fig. 5.— MANNER OF LIGHTING A LUCIFEK. 
Vitriol, as in the case of t.ic matches just described, but 
by rubbing, or by a smart blow. The Lucifers were put 
up in small boxes, each furnished with a piece of folded 
sandpaper. The match and paper arc shown in figs. 3 
and 4, and the manner of using them in fig. 5. The 
match was placed in the fold of the paper, 
which was held with a moderate pressure 
by the thumb and finger of one hand, and 
the match briskly pulled out by the other 
hand. The Lucifers were a great improve- 
ment upon all the fire-making inventions that 
had gone before, and were for a long time in 
general use, but now other and better kinds -~^= 
have taken their place. Though they gave 
fire instantaneously, they were not altogether 
pleasant to use. The match would explode 
while being drawn through the sandpaper if held too tight, 
ly, and careless people frequently had their fingers burned. 
A 'Western paper states that a boy in Iowa has caught 
over seven hundred gophers within two months. He re- 
ceives a bounty of ten cents a scalp from the fanners, ten 
cents from the County, and ten cents each for the hides— 
not a bad spring's job for the lad. But what are these 
gophers? asks an Eastern boy. They are sometimes 
called the Prairie Squirrel, and are about the size of tho 
familiarly known squirrel. They 
abound in our Western, Southern, and 
Pacific States, and particularly infest 
the rich farms of Missouri, Illinois, and 
Iowa. They burrow like moles, sleep 
during the day, and prowl about for | 
their food at night, eating the roots .g§ 
of trees and shrubs, and feasting, to 
the great disgust of farmers, upon 
melon patches and garden vegetables. 
On this account the large bounty is 
offered to the trappers, who catch 
them while engaged in their nocturnal 
raids. In Florida and other Southern 
States, there is a tortoise that is also 
called a gopher. He has nearly the 
same habits, but is larger, nc burrows in sandy plains and 
upon pine barrens, basks in the sun through the day, and 
then strikes at night for the sweet potato fields and the 
garden melons. These animals have their use, undoubt- 
edly; the egg3 and flesh of the latter are esteemed as 
wholesome food, and the fur and skin of the former are 
made to do good service, but still, they havo so little 
consideration for other people's property, that their 
absence is rather sought for than their presence. 
Learn to Observe 
Most young people have great respect for men of sci- 
ence, and are apt to think that it is impossible that they 
can ever know as much as Doctor or Professor so and so. 
All the persons whose great knowledge you wonder at 
were once as ignorant as any boy or girl who reads this. 
If any of you desire to become learned about natural 
things,— the rocks, trees, animals, and the like,— you must 
in the first place learn to use your eyes, or make observa- 
tions, as it is called. One of the most celebrated nat- 
uralists once said to us in speaking of some of his im- 
portant discoveries, "All I had to do was to look and see 
the thing just as it was made." Of course one, to make 
new discoveries, must know what has been done be- 
fore, and that can only be learned from books which re- 
cord what other people have done. Every boy and girl 
should lsarn to observe and note down what he or she sees. 
Keeping a record of the thermometer will do much to fix 
a habit of accuracy and regularity. Note tho first appear- 
ance of snow, the number of the snow-falls and their 
depth. The first appearance of the blue-birds and wrens, 
the blossoming of the Red Maple, Dogwood, and other 
early trees and shrubs, should be recorded each year. 
Theso show the comparative carliness of spring,— and how 
interesting it would be to look over the notes of many 
years! Those who begin by carefully observing theso 
common things will soon wish to know something more 
about them. It is a beautiful thing about the study of 
nature in any form, that the knowledge we obtain not 
only prepares us for receiving more, but it gives ns the 
desire to learn more. The fountain is inexhaustible. 
Answers to Prolilems ami Puzzles. 
By some oversight we have for a few months omitted to 
give the answers, and now include those published in Au- 
gust, September, and October. August. Conundrum 352 
—Silence. 353— They arc pitchers, tumblers, and slippers. 
351— One has a little brood (brewed), and the other hae a 
little Bruin (brewing). 355— If reversed, will show where 
the wood-demons are. September. 35G — Father and sou 
had married mother and daughter. 357— One is catching 
(ketching) and the other is sketching it. 358 — Think 
over what you hear and learn to be wise. (TeaJI in K 
over W-hat-ewe-n-car-and-L-urn-Srbce-Ys.)— October. 350 
—Heroine. Hero, Her, ne. 330— Good-by. Guinea has 
six letters, one of which, 1-Cth, is g, and so on through 
ounce, rod, etc. 362— Watch over your heart. Therein 
let not deceit be found. (Watch over ewor-hcart. 
T-hare in lct-knot-D-seat-beef-hound.) 
Fig. 1.— JAPANESE BOX 00311*1 
A Cni'ious Japanese Box. 
We give here engravings of a very ingenious box (fig. 
1) which contains two drawers, one at each cud. When 
cither of these drawers is pulled out or closed, the other 
follows its motions and opens and shuts too. In figure 
2 the box is shown opened from the bottom, and the parts 
laid in a manner to show the arrangement. A and b 
are the two drawers resting upon the case. The case or 
box has a partition running lengthwise, and at each cud 
of the partition there is a notch through which a cord 
runs. At c, in the drawer «, a cord starts through a hole, 
Fig. 2.— BOS LAID OPEN. 
which has a knot at its end to keep it from coming 
through. It goes through the notch in the partition atrf, 
it then runs to e in the box b, where it passes through n 
hole and is secured by a knot on the other side ; it then 
passes through a notch in the partition at /, and back to 
the starting-place c, where it goes through a hole and has 
a knot made in the end upon the inside of the drawer. 
The notches in the partition are lined with a bit cf 
smooth ratan, to prevent wearing out the string. 
No. 363. Picture Puzzle. By removing the insects tho 
remaining articles can bo mado to road and epcak. 
