™ a 
. * 
524 Miscellancous. 
Mr. Laidlaw’s workshop, through the explosion of Chinese 
fire-paper. Parents will do well to forbid the introduction 
of such dangerous toys into the nursery. There are several 
of these toys in use which are by no means, as termed by 
the papers, fashionable trifles. The one popularly known 
as Will-o'-the-Wisp, which caused the disaster alluded to, 
is highly combustible and inflames at a low temperature ; 
it is made of pyroxilin or “gun cotton,” which is formed of 
bibulous paper, acted upon by concentrated nitric and sul- 
phuric acids, and impregnated with a salt which colours 
flame. Everyone will allow that it is desirable that children 
should receive practical instruction in natural science, so 
far as it can be done safely, but the knowledge gained by 
lighting the toys in question must be exceedingly mild, 
and certainly is not worth the risk incurred; in fact, they 
are all dangerous playthings. “Pharaoh’s Serpents,” 
which are formed of sulphocyanide of mercury, and 
which, when ignited, emit poisonous vapours; sensation 
cigarettes, charged with gun-cotton, which, when lighted 
and put in the mouth, give off noxious vapours ; Larmes du 
Diable, the name for balls of sodium, which, when heated or 
moistened, burn diabolically, and sprinkle caustic alkali 
around. Toys made of magnesium, which burn rapidly, 
and frequently occasion severe injuries, together with a 
host of other mischievous and strangely named inventions 
of the same kind, are all equally deserving of emphatic 
condemnation. ; 
'  STEAM-POWER FROM PETROLEUM.—Ever since steam- 
ships took to crossing the ocean, the disadvantage of their 
requiring so large a space for fuel has been more and more 
strongly felt, and many are the attempts that have been 
made to obviate it by different inventions of compact 
artificial fuel. They all failed; but when the enormous 
supplies of mineral oil in America became an article of 
commerce, a more favourable opportunity seemed to pre- 
sent itself than ever before for sending a steamship to sea 
with the largest part of her interior available for cargo—in 
fact, for making a line pay. Experiments were set on foot, 
and at length there is promise of success. By trials made 
last week at the great works-at Millwall, it has been de- 
monstated that oil, or petroleum, can be used to generate 
steam. The oil drops on a red-hot plate, is converted into 
heat-producing gases, while the deposition of carbon is 
prevented by the introduction of a jet of steam. The 
action is so rapid that—to use technical language—5 lbs. 
